To complete a degree, a minimum of 120 credits is required, with no more than four of those credits in physical education, and no more than another four credits from INFO 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168 and 169. These courses may be counted as non-business electives. The foundation program specifies course work required during the freshman and sophomore years. Students who successfully complete a minimum of 54 credits in the foundation program — including UNIV 111, 112, and 200 (with a minimum grade of C in UNIV 112 and 200), ECON 210-211, MGMT 171 and 212 and ACCT 203-204 — and meet the course and GPA requirements are eligible for admission into a major in the School of Business. All students entering junior-level business and economics courses are expected to have competency in computer-based word processing and spreadsheet skills. Students are strongly encouraged to take SPCH 121 Effective Speech or SPCH 321 Speech for Business and the Professions.

The admission requirements for the School of Business detail the requirements for students to be admitted to the advanced business program with a major in the school. Candidates for the bachelor’s degrees offered in business must complete the 120 credits outlined in the combination of the foundation and advanced programs. At least 30 hours of the required business courses for the Bachelor of Science must be taken at VCU.

Students must receive a minimum grade of C in each of their required and elective real estate major requirements.

The major in real estate prepares students for the graduate-level study of real estate, economics and finance, as well as careers in land development, brokerage, valuation and investment counseling, site analysis and selection, real property management, mortgage lending, and bank trust and corporate real estate departments, in addition to other real estate-related careers in the public and private sectors.

Learning goals

To support career advancement over time by giving our students the academic foundation in information systems needed for continued professional development.
To help students develop the professional skills that will be needed by the businesses and organizations that hire our graduates.
To help our students develop ethical awareness so that they are able to deal with an ethical dilemma in the workplace.
To ensure that students understand and can apply appropriate analytical methodologies and technology to the discipline of real estate.
To prepare students for professional licensing, certification and/or professional designations.

Degree requirements for Real Estate, Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Learning outcomes

Upon completing this program, students will know and know how to do the following:

Graduates will be able to understand the role of information systems and information technology in the organization, especially as a source of information.
Graduates will be able to understand the value of, and be able to use, financial/accounting data to make decisions at both strategic and operating levels within the context of their discipline-specific knowledge.
Graduates will be able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
Graduates will be able to understand the importance to themselves, their organization and the larger community of working effectively in teams.
Graduates will be able to use the appropriate quantitative/statistical analysis and reasoning to make business decisions.
Graduates will be able to demonstrate an ability to respond appropriately to ethical dilemmas in business. From a scenario (i.e., what is good for some consumers might not be good for society as a whole), the student will be required to identify both sides of the dilemma, state what action they would recommend and incorporate the marketing concept and the American Marketing Association Code of Ethics in developing their recommendation.
Graduates will be able to understand the legal foundations of real estate including contracts, options, title transfer, easements, conveyances, liens and recording statutes.
Graduates will be able to apply mathematical techniques to real estate financial analysis, including the financing process, mortgage risk analysis and loan underwriting.
Graduates will be able to apply the highest and best use analysis (cost, market and income approaches) in valuing real estate property and will be able to understand/calculate the mathematics of yield capitalization.
Graduates will apply Time Value of Money concepts to real estate applications involving present value, future value, interest rates, number of periods, payment and loan balance calculations.

Business Foundation (63 credits)	Credits

General Education Requirements
University Core Education Curriculum (minimum 21 credits)
UNIV 111 Focused Inquiry I	3
UNIV 112 Focused Inquiry II	3
UNIV 200 Writing and Rhetoric	3
Approved humanities/fine arts	3
Approved natural/physical sciences	3-4
Approved quantitative literacy	3-4
Approved social/behavioral sciences	3-4

Business General Education requirement
ECON 210-211 Principles of Economics	6

Business General Education electives	9-12
Select credits from the following list:
CHEM 101-102 General Chemistry
ENVS/GEOG 105 Physical Geology
PHYS 101 Foundations of Physics
PHYS 107 Wonders of Technology
PHYS 201-202 General Physics
Any ANTH, PSYC or SOCY course except PSYC 214 Applications of Statistics, which business majors cannot take for degree credit
Any ARTH, DANC, MHIS, or THEA course open to non-arts majors
Any HIST, INTL (except INTL 493 International Studies Internship), PHIL, POLI or RELS course
Any foreign language course
Any honors module
Any additional University Core Education Curriculum approved courses
Approved English literature course (ENGL 201-206; ENGL 211; ENGL 236; ENGL 241; ENGL 291; ENGL 295)

Additional Business Foundation requirements (24-27 credits)

ACCT 203-204 Introduction to Accounting I and II	6
MGMT 171 Mathematical Applications for Business (satisfies University Core Education Curriculum quantitative literacy)	0-3
MGMT 212 Differential Calculus and Optimization for Business	3
Business and/or non-business electives	3
Non-School of Business electives	12

Advanced business program (57 credits)
Advanced business core (30 credits)
ECON 303 Managerial Economics	3
FIRE 311 Financial Management	3
INFO 360 Business Information Systems	3
MGMT 301 Business Statistics I	3
MGMT 319 Organizational Behavior	3
MGMT 320 Production/Operations Management	3
MGMT 323 Legal Environment of Business	3
MGMT 325 Organizational Communication	3
MGMT 434 Strategic Management	3
MKTG 301 Marketing Principles	3
Major requirements (27 credits)
FIRE 316 Principles of Real Estate	3
FIRE 326 Real Estate Law (spring semester)	3
FIRE 425 Real Estate Appraisal (fall semester)	3
FIRE 429 Real Estate Finance and Capital Markets (fall semester)	3
FIRE 431 Real Estate Investment Analysis	3
Approved real estate electives (choose four)	12

Total minimum requirement	120

Approved real estate electives

ECON 307 Money and Banking
FIRE 312 Intermediate Financial Management
FIRE 314 Investments
FIRE 317 Real Property Management
FIRE 333 Risk and Insurance
FIRE 424 Property and Liability Insurance
FIRE 437 Funds Management in Financial Institutions
FIRE 455 Options, Futures and Swaps
FIRE 492 Independent Study in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
MGMT 302 Business Statistics II
MGMT 491 Topics in Management

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