FAQ - IB Program
Due to globalization, all economies are interconnected and all companies are affected by global business. Consequently, more and more companies/organizations are looking for employees who are familiar with issues in global economy. Therefore, studying international business would:
- enhance your employability
- help you develop stronger competencies in interacting with foreign suppliers, partners and competitors while working in the U.S.
- improve your chances of working for domestic companies, foreign-owned companies in the U.S. or working abroad
The major similarities are that our students in all the degrees in our department take several common Core Business courses such as accounting, finance, marketing and management to develop a solid set of skills in different business fields. Students in Business or IB then select a concentration in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Marketing, Management or Entrepreneurship by taking advanced courses in these fields in the last two years of study at Etown. All of the courses are taught by the professors with many years of work experience, not by graduate students.
The major differences between the IB major and the other majors in the Dept. of Business are:
| IB | BA | Finance | Marketing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proficiency in A Modern Language | ✓ | |||
| One Semester of Study Abroad | ✓ | |||
| Required Internship | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Mentoring with A Business Executive | ✓ | |||
| Specific Courses and Practical Experiences, Related to IB | ✓ | |||
| Highly Selective Admission | ✓ |
If you would like to develop proficiency in a foreign language, are interested in studying abroad for at least one semester and are academically strong, you should consider applying for IB.
On average, we receive over 100 applications each year for admission into our IB Major. However, given the highly selective nature of this program, we enroll only up to 20 students in this major each year. Anyone admitted to International Business major may change to another major at any time, whereas a student enrolled in another area cannot change to the International Business Major, unless space is available, and he or she is formally admitted into the program.
Those who:
- have SAT score (Critical Reasoning + Math) of at least 1200
- are in the top 15% of your class
- have at least 2-3 years of a foreign language in high school
- are somewhat interested in some aspect of business (accounting, finance, marketing, management or economics)
- interested in traveling abroad and learning more about other countries/cultures
- have strong leadership and communication skills
There is no separate application for IB. All you need to do is to identify IB as your intended major on your Etown application. If you have already applied to Etown, contact the Admissions Office and let them know that you are interested in applying for IB as an intended major. We will evaluate the application of eligible students within 2-3 weeks of being accepted by Etownand notify them on the status of their application to IB.
In order to maintain the quality of the program and to provide the necessary assistance for each student to succeed (internship opportunities, job placement, graduate school application, mentoring relationship with an international business executive, practical consulting projects with regional Multinational Corporations, etc.), admission to the international business major is limited to about 20 first-year students each year.
Yes! About 25% of our IB students are from other countries who bring diversity and different perspectives to our program.
If you (1) take a full load of courses including a foreign language course and either Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, or an Accounting course, (2) receive a minimum 3.00 GPA at the end of the first semester or in the first year of study at Elizabethtown College, and (3) wish to pursue International Business, space permitting, we will admit you into the IB major at that time.
A degree in IB does not mean you will be working abroad after graduation. More than 90% of our graduates work in the US in companies that do business in other countries.
Our students could apply for any job open to Business graduates. In addition, they could also apply for jobs that require specific “IB-related” skills set. Examples of entry-level jobs that IB graduates from Etownhave received are: Global Wealth Management Associate, Import Coordinator, Import Specialist, Operations Coordinator, International Export Coordinator, International Marketing Representative, International Tax Analyst, Logistics Coordinator, Business Development Analyst, Quality Assurance Coordinator and Treasury Management Analyst.
- The IB major is an integrated program in language, foreign cultures, international interactions and business skills.
- The program also has an experiential learning component which includes a study abroad experience, an internship in the U.S. or overseas, and a mentoring relationship with an international business executive.
- In addition to upgrading our program based on comments from our faculty and alumni, we rely on input from more than 50 International Business executives who are members of the IB Advisory Board to improve our curriculum on a regular basis to make sure our students are prepared to enter the real world.
- Our student to faculty ratio of 14:1 provides small classes, academic advising by our professors in the Department, and personal attention.
- The highly selective nature of the program allows us to bring in exceedingly motivated group of students to our program each year.
- Our graduates have had 100% placement in jobs either before graduation or within a few months of graduation or they have entered graduate schools.
- Our IB students score in the top 5%-8% of all the test takers on the Major Field Test (MFT) in Business, given to students in over 600 colleges/universities nationwide every year.
IB students normally study abroad either during the fall or the spring semester of their junior year in approved programs with no additional cost. We also offer several optional short term study abroad experiences to our students who like to have multiple study abroad experiences.
In addition to study abroad, internships, field trips and mentorship with business people, IB students gain practical experiences through their engagements in Collaborative Industry Partnership (CIP) projects whereby they work in a small team with regional Multinational companies as consultants to help these companies with a realistic problem in their overseas operation. Our student team, under the supervision of the faculty and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Harrisburg, conducts a semester-long research and presents its recommendations to company executives for their implementations.
For more information about the IB major at Elizabethtown College, visit our website or contact Dr. Hossein Varamini at 717-361-1278 or varaminih@etown.edu.