Open for Business (Minors)
Cornell University students can declare a business minor through the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. And Dyson students may find the perfect minor in another school or college at Cornell.
Practical business skills, leadership experience, and an understanding of economic principles can help you succeed, no matter what your chosen profession. You’re already getting a world-class education at Cornell. Enhance your academic credentials even more by adding a minor from an internationally renowned business college.
Specialized knowledge and a broader perspective can add value to any corporate career. Supplement your applied economics and management education with a minor related to your goals and interests, whether it’s a program from within the college of business or one of the 120+ minors offered across campus.
Cornell University’s Leadership Minor not only strengthens your confidence and career potential, but will also enrich your life as you discover more about yourself, your professional values, and what it means to lead others.
A partnership between Dyson and the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the leadership minor is a highly experiential program. Beyond the required coursework, you’ll participate in an array of activities and events that allow you to put leadership into action.
If you’re interested in learning more about this exciting program or are ready to declare a leadership minor, visit the official CALS program page.
Students of all majors from all corners of the Cornell campus make their way to the college of business to learn alongside AEM students and faculty. Sometimes it’s to take an elective or two, but often it’s because they’ve declared a business-related minor.
Business minor options for non-Dyson students include:
We’ll cover each of these business minor options in more detail in the next section.
The business minor at the college of business is one of the largest undergraduate minors on campus. In this minor, you’ll explore the basics of business—finance, accounting, marketing, and management—while learning from top business scholars and practitioners.
This exciting minor stems from Dyson’s connection to CALS and is ideal for anyone pursuing a career in food production, processing, distribution, or marketing—or within a business that supports food and agriculture in some way.
Applied economics is the heart of the Dyson curriculum—and it’s also an attractive minor for students all across the Cornell campus. Whatever career path you choose, you will benefit from a solid foundation in economic principles and an understanding of how they’re applied in the real world.
Innovation happens in every industry. Whether you’re interested in bringing an idea to life or want to bring an entrepreneurial approach to your chosen field, this business minor will deepen your creative thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
Along with a core focus on perspectives, people, and teams, you’ll also see entrepreneurship in action in hands-on classes like Designing New Ventures, The Business Idea Factory, and Intellectual Property Management. Plus, with course options related to technology and product development, the entrepreneurship and innovation minor complements engineering and computer science majors well.
In today’s global marketplace, knowledge of international finance and trade policy can be beneficial in industries and roles of all kinds. In addition to foundational coursework, as an international trade and development minor, you can choose from electives such as Economics of Developing Countries, Policy Analysis, and Political Economy of the World Trade Organization.
As more and more companies adopt a “planet over profits” approach, knowledge of sustainable business practices can give you an edge within your organization or industry. This minor was designed to give you the framework and tools to understand the relationship between the economy and the environment. Along with introductory and core courses, you can take electives like Strategies for Sustainability, Business and Economics of Energy, and Environmental and Finance Markets.
In addition to its minors open to all Cornell students, the SC Johnson College of Business also offers two industry-specific business minor programs geared toward life sciences and engineering majors.
The Business Minor for Life Sciences explores careers at the intersection of science and business and is designed to connect business fundamentals to health sciences career paths. It is also popular among Cornell pre-med, pre-dental, and pre-vet students. In this minor you’ll take courses in entrepreneurship, management, marketing, accounting, finance, as well as a capstone geared toward the life sciences.
The minor is open to students studying life sciences in select programs in the following colleges:
Designed for students pursuing the Business Minor for Life Sciences, the Mullarkey Fund provides financial support for a summer internship, research experience, or other approved experiential learning opportunity.
Engineers are experts at understanding how things work… and adding a business minor helps engineering professionals better understand how people and processes work.
In addition to foundational courses, you can choose business electives that align with your specific career interests. Example courses of interest to engineering majors include Innovation & New Production Management, Technology Strategy, and Environmental Economics.
The Business Minor for Engineers is open to undergraduates in the College of Engineering; biological engineering, environmental engineering, and information science majors in CALS; and computer science and information science majors in the College of Arts & Sciences.
So you’ve explored and researched all available business minor options and found one that fits your professional interests. What next?
Like any program at Cornell, minors usually have GPA or prerequisite course requirements. Be sure to review the specific admissions criteria for your desired minor, including internal and external transfer credit policies.
If you have questions about how to incorporate a business minor into your overall academic plan, contact your academic advisor or consult the business minors office. They’ll be glad to help you figure things out.
Submit your intent to minor at the Business Minors Dashboard (accessible by CUWeb login); this online hub also allows you to track your progress. Students can sign up for their minor as early as their first year. Selecting your minor early will ensure you can plan out your courses.
Learn more about declaring a business minor at our FAQ and policies page.
Many of the business minor options for non-Dyson students overlap with concentration areas for AEM majors, such as sustainable business, international trade, and food and agriculture. (This means AEM students can’t also minor in these areas.)
However, AEM majors are eligible for two minors offered by CALS and the SC Johnson College of Business: the Cornell University Leadership Minor and the Nolan School Real Estate Minor.
Open to all Cornell undergraduate students, the real estate minor focuses on key aspects of commercial real estate including investment, finance, consulting, and transaction support. Led by expert faculty, the courses and experiential learning opportunities in Cornell’s real estate minor also help Dyson students build connections in this rapidly evolving industry.
From computer science and creative writing to Spanish and smart cities, you’ll find more than a hundred minors across Cornell’s 12 undergraduate colleges and schools.
So, what else are you passionate about? Where do you envision your business career taking you? We see AEM majors make all sorts of connections and combinations as they customize their Dyson experience with a minor.