Designed to Combine

Broad interests? No problem! QAMO gives you space to explore

QAMO is built from the ground up for students who want options. Requiring only 40 to 50 credits (depending on your math preparation), the QAMO major allows space in your schedule to pursue a variety of interests.

Craft a unique college experience by combining QAMO with an emphasis, minor, double major, or honors. Nearly half of QAMO majors declare a minor or an emphasis within the David Eccles School of Business. Another third opt for a minor outside the School of Business. Around a fifth declare a double major. And QAMO is honors-friendly, with a large fraction of graduates completing an honors thesis.

13

Optional Business
Minors/Emphasis

~100

Double-Major
Combinations

~90

Non-Business
Minors

QAMO and…

Our QAMO classrooms are full of intellectual diversity. On the left sits a student double-majoring in QAMO and Computer Science (CS), headed for a data science career. On the right, a classmate is earning a QAMO and an English minor, applying to law school. In the back? QAMO and a Finance Emphasis, just returned from a Wall Street internship. The kid in the front? QAMO and Honors, halfway through a year-long honors thesis project.

…a business minor or emphasis…

Is your heart set on marketing or finance, but intrigued by QAMO? No problem! Our QAMO program combines effortlessly with topic areas within the David Eccles School of Business. QAMO students can pursue any of the nine minors offered by the Eccles School, with Advanced Financial Analysis and Information Systems as popular choices. And we have built areas of emphasis for business topics that don’t offer a minor. For example, QAMO with a marketing emphasis pairs QAMO quant skills with upper-division marketing coursework. Around half of QAMO majors pursue a minor/emphasis within the Eccles School.

… a non-business double major or minor…

Many of our QAMO students have one foot in the Eccles School and one foot out. Around 20% of QAMO students declare a non-business double major, with Math, Computer Science, and International Studies as top choices. But don’t hold your imagination (and interests) back – current students are also doubling in English, Japanese, Biology, and Psychology, to name just a few. Another 30% of QAMO students declare a non-business minor, with Math, Computer Science, and Political Science leading the pack. But hey, college is short – so why not minor in Music Technology, Cognitive Science, or Philosophy? With QAMO, you’ll be able to fit in all your interests.

…an honors degree.

Among business majors, QAMO typically has the highest proportion of students graduating with honors. A QAMO Honors Thesis is a year-long effort in which students take on an independent research project under the supervision of a professor. QAMO’s focus on data lets students pursue their interests while enhancing skills they’ve developed in the major. Past research topics include behavior of not-for-profit hospitals, attendance patterns in minor league baseball, the effects of incentives on performance for tech-industry salespeople, and the impact of water pricing on residential usage.

Analytical Depth with Room to Explore

QAMO is designed to combine because it leaves space in a student’s schedule for exploration. The tradeoff? QAMO does not require the BCOR business courses that focus on the various functional areas of business. So, while QAMO offers analytical depth and a business econ focus, the other business majors offer business breadth with a full set of courses in functional business areas such as Marketing, Management, Operations, Finance, and Accounting. Requiring only 40 to 50 credits (depending on your math preparation), QAMO gives students more room to choose their college experience.

Of course, QAMO majors can still access highly sought-after skills in functional business areas. Around half of QAMO majors select a business emphasis or minor. This results in a strong combination of skills: analytical depth from QAMO and functional business knowledge from the emphasis or minor.

QAMO Major
122 credits to graduate

Business Major
122 credits to graduate

Major Focus:
The QAMO program offers analytical depth with ample room for electives. The Eccles School business majors offer business breadth with a focus on business core courses.

“I majored in QAMO because it’s a program that provides a combination of all the skills I wanted to leave college with; problem-solving, critical thinking, and the ability to apply math to a business setting.”

Alicia Baker
QAMO Major,
Environmental and Sustainable Studies Minor

“I am minoring in sociology because it would be good to have a more human perspective if I wanted to go into policy. It actually works really well with QAMO because I’m learning the quantitative side and the more human side of economics and data.”

Emma Summerhays
QAMO Major,
Sociology Minor

“The QAMO program allowed me to pursue both my academic interests, double- majoring in QAMO and math in just XX years.”

Annie Alumna
BS, QAMO 2021

“With QAMO you have enough room and freedom in your academic schedule to diversify your education to be more competitive in niche positions.”

Bradley Bigbrain
BS, QAMO 2021

Common and Less-common QAMO Questions

QAMO is designed to combine, which means we’ve made it easy to earn a double major, a minor, or an emphasis. A QAMO degree requires only 40 to 50 credits (depending on your math preparation), so there’s plenty of room in your schedule to explore additional academic interests. To combine QAMO with business disciplines, you can earn an emphasis in Entrepreneurship, Operations & Supply Chain, Marketing, or Finance. Alternatively, you can earn a business minor in Information Systems, Management, Accounting, or Advanced Financial Analysis.

In terms of the curriculum,…. not much. A QAMO student earning a management minor will complete five management classes (in addition to fulfilling QAMO requirements). A student who earns an emphasis in Operations & Supply Chain will enroll in five operations classes (in addition to fulfilling QAMO requirements).

So why is one a “minor” and one an “emphasis”?
The Management Department at the Eccles School offers a minor open to all UofU students, regardless of major. The Eccles School’s Operations & Supply Chain Program does not offer a minor that is open to all students, but they allow QAMO students into their program. This arrangement is recognized on students’ transcripts as an emphasis.

What’s the difference to employers?
Not much! Both a minor and an emphasis demonstrate that you’ve mastered an additional subject area.

There is no right or wrong answer. For example, a student who majors in marketing will take the undergraduate business core (about 54 credits) and then take upper-division marketing classes (21 credits). A student who pursues QAMO with a marketing emphasis will take the QAMO major (40 to 50 credits, depending on your math preparation) and upper-division marketing classes (15 credits). Either way, a student learns a lot about marketing.

So what’s the difference?
A marketing major gains business breadth (through the undergraduate business core) and marketing depth. A student doing QAMO with the marketing emphasis gains quantitative depth (through the QAMO curriculum) along with marketing depth. What’s the tradeoff? Business breadth vs. quantitative depth, so make the choice that’s right for you!

QAMO is developed in partnership with the UofU’s Department of Economics, with some QAMO classes taught by Econ Department faculty. The key differences are these: (1) QAMO focuses on the applications of economics to business decision-making; (2) QAMO is more quantitative, requiring more math up front and building stronger quantitative skills throughout.

QAMO is built for honors! First, the QAMO major is designed to combine, which means we’ve made it easy to combine QAMO with a double major, a minor, an emphasis, or an honors degree. QAMO requires only 40 to 50 credits (depending on your math preparation), so there’s plenty of room in your schedule to explore everything the Honors College offers. Second, QAMO skills are thesis skills. An honors thesis is a self-directed “create new knowledge” project; the task is to ask and then answer a question that nobody knows the answer to! A typical QAMO honors thesis is student-driven and student-directed; we simply ask students what topics they’re interested in and then point students to data sources on that topic. Combine QAMO data skills with a student’s natural curiosity, and an honors thesis is the result.

Still have questions? Reach out to a QAMO representative.