Spring 2026 enrollment will soon open for C. T. Bauer College of Business students. No matter what point students are at in their academic timeline, Bauer College has resources to assist them toward the finish line. As undergraduate students start shopping for next semester's classes, Bauer academic advisers shared a few words of wisdom for finishing a bachelor’s degree.

Brent Spraggins

Director of Pre-Business Advising

Q: What do pre-business students need to keep in mind before course registration opens?

A: The first thing they need to keep in mind is to register on their enrollment date. The most important thing that they can do is to enroll on time. Even if students haven't had a chance to see an adviser yet, they can use the academic map for their intended major to get an idea of what classes they can take and can go ahead and enroll.

After that, they can follow up with their adviser, and we can always help them adjust their schedule if necessary.

The other thing that students don't realize is that you don't have to make payment arrangements for the upcoming semester until about two weeks prior to the start of the term.

Even if they don't know where their money is coming from yet, they should go ahead and enroll.

What should students keep in mind if they have a goal of graduating in four years, six years or what they consider on time?

The bachelor's degree in business is 120 hours. Take 120 hours and divide it by the number of semesters that you want to take to finish the degree. Think about the credit that you already have, and then figure out what you need to do.

Typically, students who want to graduate in four years need to take 30 hours each academic year. That can be 15 hours every semester. That could be 12 hours in the fall and spring and summer classes. Winter-minis or May-minis are also an option for some courses.

Make a plan, use your academic map and follow up with your academic adviser. We can help them figure it out so that they can graduate in a timely manner.

What advice do you have for business students who can't decide on which specific business discipline they want to major in?

The first thing is to take the BUSI 3302 class as soon as possible. That class exposes you to all the different majors in business and the different careers that you can go into with those majors. They do panels where they bring back recently graduated alumni who are working in those fields, and they talk about their experience and how they're using their degree.

In that class, you also have the opportunity to take the Career Leader assessment. That helps you identify your skills, interests, motivators and culture fit. Those are the kinds of questions that you need to be able to answer when you're making career decisions.

The other thing is to schedule an appointment with a career counselor. You can schedule an appointment with all of the career counselors if you want to, because they're divided up by major. If you have one or two majors that you're interested in, then schedule the career counseling appointment and have those conversations.

Asha Thomas

Director of Major Advising

Q: What is important for students to keep in mind after they're no longer pre-business, and they know what discipline they're studying?

A: It's important for students to meet with their major adviser because there are a lot of opportunities within the majors for specialty tracks or ways to tailor their degree. It's great for them to know all the opportunities that are available.

We can also talk to them about double majors, minors and ways to enhance their degree as much as possible.

What are some ways that students can stay academically on top of things and make sure they're not kind of getting in any academic trouble?

They should really utilize their resources — everything from tutoring to academic coaching and making sure that they're keeping in touch with their academic adviser.

The most important thing is reaching out for help before they get into trouble. Once you're too far in, it's all the harder to get out. They should reach out to us as soon as they see the signs of struggling. Then we can at least refer them to the resources that might be able to help.

What should students do if they're considering changing their major?

The first thing is to talk to their academic adviser. We can explain to them what it means to change their major and how that could impact their timeline on graduation.

They can also work with the Rockwell Career Center. That's important to understand how changing their major could influence their career outcomes.