A professor explains something to students in front of a whiteboard.
Program Overview

Business

Jump into the professional world head (and heart) first

Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Discover our exciting new major–coming in Fall 2025

More than ever before, business professionals want to see their values reflected in their career journeys, which makes it no surprise that business and finance constitute the third largest career path for Oberlin graduates. These grads bring their unique perspectives and passions to their work to create positive change in the world.

What can you do with a business degree from Oberlin? The sky’s the limit. By complementing your studies with another program you’re passionate about—like studio art, psychology, or politics, to name a few—you can gain professional experience while exploring the rich creativity that only Oberlin can offer.

Oberlin business in action

Being part of Oberlin College means you have lifelong connections to alumni who are as passionate and ambitious as you are. Our graduates form a robust, inclusive group across the world—giving you access to powerful networking opportunities. Whether you’re diving into the corporate sector, launching a freelance consulting career, or even opening your own restaurant, we give you the industry expertise you need to let your creativity soar.

You’ll reach new heights of preparation and personal enrichment with the vast resources at Oberlin—including the Ashby Business Scholars program and Startup Weekend. Recent students have completed internships at Google, NASA, Columbia Pictures, Sony Music Entertainment, Salon.com, the Brooklyn Museum, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Rachel Carson Council. The possibilities for business majors are endless; just bring your imagination and determination with you.

The business major will be available starting Fall 2025.

The Pathfinder Program is where it all starts. In just 3 steps students can create a roadmap to plan and prioritize their next entrepreneurial steps.
Learn more about the Pathfinder Program

Ashby Business Scholars

Build your network, delve into case studies, and travel to New York, Boston, or San Francisco to meet with leaders in the fields of business and finance. Recent Ashby Business Scholars have interned at firms including JP Morgan, Deloitte, and McKinsey.

Business Scholars lined up in suits.
In collaboration with the Case Western Weatherhead School of Management, Oberlin College offers a unique 4+1 pathway leading to a Master of Finance degree
Learn more about the 4+1 finance program

Business, Finance and Consulting

Oberlin’s Career Communities provides structured opportunities for students to pursue their postgraduate career plans, placing interested students at a range of organizations from the World Bank to Marathon Capital and Riverside Company.

A student in a suit having a conversation with a business person.

Featured Courses

ECON 099

Principles of Accounting

How is data used by people outside an organization—for example, investors and regulators—to evaluate its financial performance? Through this course, students gain experience in the creation, reporting, and interpretation of financial information. Students also explore how accounting data can be used within an organization as a planning and management tool.

Taught by
Paul Pahoresky
BUSI 100

Fundamentals of Sustainable Business Management

Analyze the evolving role of business in society, corporate accountability, circular economy, impact investing, and social enterprises. Students will engage with management theory, case studies, and critical discussion while building the basic tools they will need to harness the potential of business to act as a force for good.

Taught by
Business Faculty
ECON 206

Principles of Finance

This course provides a thorough foundation in financial economics with applications to investment decisions and the management of business enterprises. Topics include capital budgeting, financial statement analysis, interest and risk calculations, principles of market valuation, the capital asset pricing model, financial funding decisions, dividend and cash flow analysis, and taxation.

Taught by
Business Faculty
THEA 240

Arts Management I

Develop an understanding of the critical areas that comprise Arts Management including: organization structure, management theory, budgeting and fiscal theories, Marketing and Audience Development. They will also begin to develop the ability to understand and navigate the challenges of competing priorities in today’s world, specifically, reconciling aesthetic, managerial and economic considerations.

Taught by
Eric Steggall

Student Profiles

Economics Team Wins First Place at Business Competition

For the second year in a row, Oberlin College was awarded first place in the Eighth Annual Peoples Bank Undergraduate Business Case Competition. The Oberlin team surpassed 15 other schools to secure the first place honor during the competition which asked teams to prepare case studies to present for Peoples Bank senior management.

Oberlin College econ team.

The Path to Entrepreneurship

Robert Palacios ’14 came to Oberlin with an enterprising spirit, securing a summer internship at the consulting firm Monitor Deloitte and participating in the Ashby Business Scholars program. After graduation, Palacios was awarded a Venture for America fellowship to work for two years at emerging start-ups and early-stage companies.

Robert Palacios.

Combining Business and Social Consciousness

At Oberlin, Ty Diringer ’14 majored in politics while gaining experience with several entrepreneurial efforts, such as Kenya Reads, ObieWear, Project Unbound, and InTown. Diringer spent the year after graduation as the entrepreneurship fellow for the Creativity and Leadership and LaunchU programs before being named a Venture for America fellow.

Ty Diringer.

What does Business at Oberlin look like?

A student in a suit having a conversation with a business person at a round table.

The business scholar program hosts regular networking events with alumni and industry leaders.

Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko
12 business scholars.

Oberlin’s Business Scholars at the Google campus.

Photo credit: Yingran Zhang ’16
Four students sitting at a table.

Students attend a panel on careers in science and technology.

Photo credit: Mike Crupi
Steve Dolcemaschio and students.

As part of a Winter Term workshop, students learned the basics of business and finance from Hollywood producer and Oberlin trustee, Steve Dolcemaschio.

Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko
Five students lines up outside the Sony Pictures Studios.

Students in the Arts and Creative Professions Career Community at the Sony Pictures lot.

Photo credit: Ron Knerem
LaunchU winner and two judges.

LaunchU gives students the opportunity to pitch startup ideas to industry judges who give feedback and award seed funding for new ventures.

Photo credit: Dale Preston ’83

Next Steps

Get in touch; we would love to chat.


Lobby of the Hotel at Oberlin.
Photo credit: Yvonne Gay