Prospective freshmen who meet certain qualifications may be granted early assurance to the 150-hour 4+1 MBA in professional accountancy program, which allows students to first earn a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) with a major in accounting and then a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, all in 5 years or less.
Graduates automatically qualify to sit for the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) Exam in New York state.
Freshmen are accepted to the Early Assurance Program with provisional status. Upon the successful maintenance of certain academic and behavioral standards over a five-semester period, students earn regular acceptance status.
The normal admission requirement of a minimum acceptable score on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) is waived for students qualifying for the Early Assurance Program.
Requirements, benefits & maintenance standards
- high school GPA of 90 or above and SATs (Math + Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) of 1100 (or equivalent ACT score)
- must maintain a minimum overall GPA of 3.3 and accounting GPA of 3.0 through undergraduate studies, and be in good standing with Student Life*
- excused from taking the GMAT
- students may take up to three MBA courses during final year of undergraduate study
- students will be eligible for a graduate assistant position or a dean’s scholarship
- students become free members of the Bonaventure Accounting Association
- students may participate in Department of Accounting social and professional programs beginning freshman year
- student advisement is targeted toward the goal of enrolling in the MBA in Professional Accountancy Program
*Students failing to meet maintenance standards will be terminated from the Early Assurance Program. They may still seek admission to the 4+1 Accounting Program during the regular application process, normally near the end of the first semester of junior year. They would have to satisfy all admission criteria, including a minimum acceptable score on the GMAT.
Applying for the Freshman Early Assurance Program
Freshman applicants to St. Bonaventure who intend to major in accounting and who meet the 4+1 Early Assurance Program qualifications will be contacted to determine their interest in applying to the program. For more information, please email our Admissions Office at
admissions@sbu.edu.
Transfer students are not eligible for the Freshman Early Assurance Program but may qualify for admission to the 4+1 Accounting Program through the transfer student admission process.
Students may choose to opt out of the 4+1 Accounting Program and complete only the BBA portion of the program at any time before the first semester of their senior year.