In The Classroom
Business Honors Major (BHNR)
Business Honors is both an honors program and an academic major (BHNR). Upon graduation, you will earn a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Business Honors. Most Business Honors students also pursue a second business major of their choice. The Business Honors curriculum is designed to allow you to complete both majors in four years.
Honors Requirement
The BHNR major is 120 credit hours. You will complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of honors-level coursework, consisting of 9 hours of required courses, 15 hours of Core Business Knowledge (CBK) courses, and 6 hours of your choice. You may elect to take more than 30 hours of honors-level coursework, but must meet the minimum of 30 hours to graduate with a BBA in Business Honors.
- Required courses (9 hours): BUSN 125H (freshman learning community) your freshman year, BUSN 225H (team-based leadership) your sophomore year, & MGMT 466H (strategic management) your senior year
- Core Business Knowledge (CBK) courses (15 hours): All business majors complete all CBKs. You must complete at least 5 CBKs at an honors level.
- Honors Electives / Flex Options (6 hours): You can earn these hours in a variety of ways, including additional honors-level CBKs, honors courses in non-business subjects, or other honors-equivalent opportunities.
All honors courses listed below are offered each semester, with the exception of BUSN 125 (only offered to new freshman students in the fall semester). You will work with your advisor to develop a schedule each semester, including enrolling in honors business courses.
More information, including course descriptions, can be found in the Texas A&M Undergraduate Catalog. Please note: student requirements are based on the term, or catalog year, you begin enrollment at Texas A&M.
| Required Courses
(9 hours) |
Core Business Knowledge (CBK) Courses
(15 hours) |
Electives / Flex Options
(6 hours) |
| BUSN 125H | Business Honors Learning Community | ACCT 229H | Introductory Accounting – Financial | Additional honors CBKs |
| BUSN 225H | Business Competency | ACCT 230H | Introductory Accounting – Managerial | Non-business honors courses |
| MGMT 466H | Strategic Management | BUSN 203H | Statistical Methods for Business | Honors contract courses |
| FINC 341H | Business Finance | BUSN 403 | |
| ISTM 210H | Fundamentals of Information Systems | Teaching for credit | |
| MGMT 311H | Legal & Social Environment of Business | Research for credit | |
| MGMT 363H | Managing People in Organizations | Independent study | |
| MKTG 321H | Marketing | Other options as approved | |
| SCMT 364H | Operations Management | ||
Honors Courses @ Mays
Are honors courses harder than non-honors (or “regular”) courses? Not necessarily. Honors courses tend to cover roughly the same content as non-honors courses. Honors courses at Mays typically consist of 25-35 students and require you to engage with the course content in an active, not passive, way. You will benefit from increased interaction with your professor, engage in regular discussion and application-based learning (case studies, projects), work with teams, and give presentations. In this environment, you will develop critical and creative thinking skills, teamwork, and public speaking skills in addition to technical knowledge.
BUSN 125H : Business Honors Freshman Learning Community
Your Business Honors experience starts your first semester in BUSN 125H. This 3-credit hour learning community course will help you:
- connect with a community of high-achieving peers and peer mentors
- manage a smooth transition from high school to the university’s intellectual and social environment
- develop personal and business competencies needed to be successful in college and your career
Class meets twice a week, once in a large group and once in small group.
Large group meetings will help you build an understanding of core business competencies and how to apply them to real-world business scenarios through case studies, guest speakers, an end-of-semester group presentation, and other valuable learning activities. Large group meetings are lead by a professor in a room of approximately 24-36 students.
Small group meetings take place once a week with approximately 12 fellow freshman from your large group class and two peer leaders. Peer leaders are successful sophomore Business Honors students who have been highly trained to support your learning and success your first semester. Your peer leaders will lead lessons related to large group lessons that week, discuss college success strategies, goal setting, team building, Career Fair preparation, and so much more. BUSN 125 small groups will provide you with a core network of support and friendships your first semester and beyond.
Second Major
Most Business Honors students also pursue a second business major of their choice. The Business Honors curriculum is designed to allow you to complete both majors in four years. Upon graduation, you will earn one degree (BBA) with two majors (Business Honors and your second major). Your academic advisor is available to assist you in developing your goals and planning the logistics of your academic plan.
You can add a second major in Accounting, Finance, Management (4 tracks available), Management Information Systems, Marketing (5 tracks available), or Supply Chain Management.
View the latest Mays Business School handbook or website for more information on opportunities within each major.
Mays Core Competencies
In addition to learning specific technical skills through the major, Mays Business School has identified a set of seven core competencies that are required to be a successful business professional, as well as a successful person in life. Business Honors courses emphasize the knowledge and skills that make up these competencies:
- The ability to get your ideas across with effective communication
- Identifying and fixing performance gaps with problem solving
- Creating new opportunities for organizational or personal growth
- Leading others to accomplish a shared goal
- Managing a project or yourself
- Working with others in a work group or team
- Maintaining your character and integrity by acting ethically