Business Administration

The Business Administration Program at Carnegie Mellon prepares students for a future fueled by data, powered by technology, and unleashed by human intelligence.

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Business Administration at Carnegie Mellon

The Carnegie Mellon Bachelor of Science in Business Administration prepares students for leadership in a data-driven world. With a curriculum grounded in analytics, economics, and management, the program emphasizes problem-solving, teamwork, and innovation.

Students gain hands-on experience through research, experiential learning, and campus-wide collaboration, equipping them for careers in an AI-driven business landscape, including consulting, finance, technology, and beyond.

Business Administration students have identical graduation requirements as students at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Graduates have CMU degrees, conferred from the U.S. campus.

Program at a Glance

With an emphasis on analytics and leadership development, students are prepared for the challenges of the AI-driven global business landscape.

Students explore five main areas during their degree programs:

  • Foundational courses in quantitative analysis
  • Business core courses in finance, accounting, communications, marketing, organizational behavior and operations management
  • Concentration courses in focused areas of business practice
  • A required minor in a second field
  • University core courses in general education

Through experiential learning opportunities, including project courses and leadership development activities, students put into practice the knowledge they learn in the classroom.

Most students pursue internships in organizations around Qatar, applying the knowledge they learn in the classroom to real-world scenarios.

Program at a Glance

Degree Program Details

Curriculum

Courses build on leading business practices while being informed by the innovative research of our faculty. The business curriculum is designed around core courses covering business, economics, mathematics, and statistics. Concentrations allow students to go deep in their specific business area of interest.

The first-year curriculum is devoted to building foundational analysis, communication, and context skills through courses in economics, math, and the liberal arts. First-year students also enroll in Business Science, a course that sets the foundation for their business education.

During sophomore and junior years, students concentrate on business core classes, electives, and general education while also selecting a minor.

Senior year includes a capstone course and is flexible so students can finish their degree requirements according to the pathway that suits their interests and ambitions.

College Honors

College Honors offers an opportunity for students to conduct an independent project and to prepare a formal thesis. College Honors is excellent preparation for graduate studies.

Business Administration Degree Breakdown

  • Standard Completion Time: 4 Years
  • Minimum units required for degree: 364 units
    • Mathematics: 38
    • Economics: 27
    • Statistics: 18
    • Business Core: 111
    • Business Electives: 18
    • Concentration: 36
    • University Core and Minor: 113
    • Core@CM: 3

Minors and Concentrations

Business Administration students must complete a minor and a business concentration.

Required minor

The minor must be in a second field of study, and students can choose from several options delivered at the Qatar campus. Students are encouraged to explore their interests, and to develop an understanding of the world beyond business administration.

Concentrations

Students in Business Administration gain knowledge and expertise through a concentration in a specific area of business practice. Concentrations provide more focused preparation for career pursuits.

Concentration areas include:

  • AI in Business
  • Business analytics and technologies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Finance
  • Global economics and business
  • Islamic business management
  • Marketing management
  • Operations management*
  • Product management*
  • Strategic management

*This concentration has some requirements that must be completed at the Pittsburgh campus.

AI in Business

The Business Administration Program is built on the philosophy that artificial intelligence should complement and enhance human innovation. This core principle is woven into the curriculum to prepare students to lead in a world driven by data and AI.

Students learn to apply AI to complex business challenges, from improving productivity to optimizing processes. Students who would like a deeper study of AI in business can pursue several options.

  • AI in Business
  • AI + Finance certificate
  • Computer Science minor
  • Individual AI-related courses, both within the BA program and in other disciplinary areas

Student Projects and Research

Research at Carnegie Mellon

At Carnegie Mellon, our mission is to investigate questions that will have a real impact on the world.

As our undergraduates engage in research, we encourage them to think about the question, “why does this research matter?” This is a hallmark of Carnegie Mellon’s approach.

Students in every major can engage in faculty-guided projects in their early years and pursue independent studies and senior thesis projects as they gain knowledge and experience.

What kind of projects do CMU-Q students do?

  • Would you buy that? Review variance and emotions
  • The impact of country-level factors (culture, corruption) on firm investment: A comparative analysis of shariah-compliant and non-compliant firms
  • The impacts of US tariff policies on Chinese industries: An analysis using input-output tables
  • Strategic adjustments in figure skating: Analyzing changes in technical difficulty based on short program rankings
  • National champion strategy: Strategic analysis of Baladna
  • Does access to digital financial services promote women’s economic empowerment: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
  • What is the effect of Dutch disease on Kazakhstan?
  • Educational inequality in the college admissions: The role of high school type in elite university access
  • Operational agility in times of disruption: Entrepreneurial approaches to process adaptation and performance resilience
  • Digital transformation in SMEs: A sector-wise comparative analysis in OECD countries
  • Psychological safety and employee voice: The role of hierarchical norms and voice appropriateness
  • Startup readiness assessment in Qatar’s incubation ecosystem
  • Can options market activities predict earnings outcomes? A machine learning approach
  • Challenging the efficient market hypothesis: Evidence from the Qatar stock market
  • Building a sustainable foundation: Replicating sustainability research in marketing

The Educational Experience

Career Pathways

Graduates in business administration are highly sought after and pursue careers such as financial reporting analyst, management consultant, executive director, economics researcher, markets and clients executive, and corporate and markets analyst. 

Learn more about our graduates and where they are working to impact the world around them.

Map of Business Administration Alumni working around the world.

Meet the Faculty

Faculty members include experts in fintech, algorithmic trading, mathematical/statistical modeling, Islamic finance, entrepreneurship, political economy, revenue management, supply chain, business applications of AI, machine learning and deep learning.

Iman Adeinat External profile link

Iman Adeinat

Associate Teaching Professor, Operations Management

Business Administration

[email protected]

Serkan Akgüç External profile link

Serkan Akgüç

Associate Teaching Professor, Finance

Business Administration

[email protected]

Hussein Fadlallah External profile link

Hussein Fadlallah

Assistant Teaching Professor, Strategy

Business Administration

[email protected]

Muhammad Farooqi External profile link

Muhammad Farooqi

Area Head, Business Administration / Teaching Professor, Finance

Business Administration

[email protected]

Ki-Won Haan External profile link

Ki-Won Haan

Assistant Teaching Professor, Organizational Behavior and Theory

Business Administration

[email protected]

Maher Hakim External profile link

Maher Hakim

Distinguished Career Professor, Entrepreneurship

Business Administration

[email protected]

Agustín Indaco External profile link

Agustín Indaco

Associate Area Head, Business Administration / Associate Teaching Professor, Economics

Business Administration

[email protected]

J Mcginnis External profile link

J Mcginnis

Distinguished Career Professor, Business Management Communication

Business Administration

[email protected]

Veli Safak External profile link

Veli Safak

Associate Teaching Professor, Economics

Business Administration

[email protected]

Varun Sharma External profile link

Varun Sharma

Associate Teaching Professor, Marketing

Business Administration

[email protected]

Andrés Castaño Zuluaga External profile link

Andrés Castaño Zuluaga

Assistant Teaching Professor, Economics

Business Administration

[email protected]