Business Pathways

Why Choose Lewis & Clark for Business?

Learning about business is about asking the right questions, crafting persuasive narratives, and making decisions that matter. While Lewis & Clark does not offer a business major, our entrepreneurship minor and advanced business degree pathway programs will give you the tools, mindset, and network needed to build a meaningful career. Whether you’re launching your own venture, joining a growing organization, or pursuing a graduate business degree, you will be prepared to tackle the business challenges of today and tomorrow.

Connect With Lewis & Clark!

What You’ll Study

Lewis & Clark offers courses in entrepreneurship, finance, leadership, and marketing across academic programs so you’ll develop technical knowledge in addition to the interdisciplinary skills you’ll receive from your liberal arts education. Our Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership houses our entrepreneurship minor and a wide range of courses so you can develop the skills necessary to start/market a business or create change at any level. In addition to foundational courses, we offer Investing and Influence, Real Estate and Society, and Sales and Negotiations (taught by the head of sales strategy at Spotify!).

Throughout your time at Lewis & Clark, you will be able to collaborate with staff, alumni, and professional mentors to brainstorm, collaborate, design, pitch, and market your ideas. Additionally, many alumni on the Bates Center’s Advisory Board have master’s of business administration (MBA) degrees and would be happy to talk with you.

Complement Your Education With One of These Programs

The most popular majors and minors for our business-minded students are economics, entrepreneurship, and international affairs.

Learning Outside the Classroom

Find Your People

Our students interested in business school participate in a wide variety of cocurricular programs at Lewis & Clark, including

• our nationally ranked speech and debate team,
• annual symposia on ethnic studies, gender studies, and international affairs,
• and the Student Senate.

Business School Pathways

Thinking ahead to an MBA, or wondering how to make your undergraduate degree work harder? Our curated pathways have you covered.

MBA Pathway Program: Lewis & Clark + Babson College

Lewis & Clark has a partnership with Babson College, home to the No. 1 entrepreneurship program in the country, per U.S. News, and the No. 2 Best College in America, per Wall Street Journal. L&C students—along with alumni, faculty, and staff—can participate in a number of 4+1 programs to earn one-year master’s degrees in the fields of management, finance, and business administration. They can also bypass Babson’s regular application process with a waived application fee, attend special information sessions, and receive at least a $10,000 scholarship upon acceptance, among other benefits.

Accelerated MSF Pathway Program: Lewis & Clark + Portland State University

Students majoring in economics can take advantage of our partnership with Portland State University, which offers an accelerated track to earn a master of science in finance (MSF). This program allows students to begin the application process in their junior year, and provides waivers for both the application fee and the GMAT/GRE requirement. The program includes robust job placement services. Many of Portland State’s MSF students go on to work at globally focused organizations, presenting an excellent opportunity for graduates to apply the critical-thinking skills and global literacy they develop at Lewis & Clark to their careers.

MBA Program: Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester 

Through an agreement with the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester, Lewis & Clark students, regardless of major, receive priority consideration for admission to the full-time MBA program. As a Lewis & Clark nominee of the Early Leaders Award, your application fees to the MBA program are waived, and, if accepted, you receive a minimum $10,000/year merit-based scholarship. Students are encouraged to apply by the end of their junior year, in part so that pre-MBA internships for accepted students can be provided. For more information contact Chrys Hutchings, director of the John E. and Susan S. Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

After Lewis & Clark

Our alumni have pursued myriad paths, including:

• Joining the innovation team at Nike
• Running an expedition company with an environmental focus
• Starting sustainable businesses, such as a refill technology startup to reduce plastic consumption and a circular sanitation company that raised $5M of investor funding this past year
• Working for KPMG, adidas, Adobe, and Intel
• Starting a business in Uganda exporting cassava and dried fruit
• Developing and eco and novel public restroom business
• Starting a vegan mousse business
• Starting an eco-friendly, refillable personal care product business
• Project Management
• Journalism graduate school
• Starting a platform for elevating and celebrating voices of female-identifying people of color
• Securing positions in financial and insurance industry
• Securing positions in sustainability and renewable energy fields
• Working for political campaigns
• Working in user experience

Dedicated Faculty

Our expert professors are your expert mentors. You will learn directly from faculty (no graduate assistants here!) that are nationally recognized in their fields of study and who love to work with and learn from their students. Your professors will inspire you to be a thoughtful and passionate participant in a diverse world. Your small classes will support you as you explore new ideas, find your voice, and speak your truth.

Invest in Yourself

A private liberal arts education is often more affordable than you think. Last year, Lewis & Clark distributed over $74 million in assistance from institutional, federal, state, and private sources. Additionally, we’re so confident that our first-year students will graduate with their bachelor of arts degree in four years that if you don’t, we’ll cover the extra semester of tuition.

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  The ELI minor offers so many opportunities, workshops, and classes that are directly applicable to the real world and the workplace.

  Lauryn Frederickson BA ’27

  Rhetoric and Media Studies | Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation | Maple Valley, Washington

  More about Lauryn
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  I am a psychology major with an entrepreneurship minor, and my internship perfectly aligns with my aspirations for a potential career in organizational development.

  Mia Marinovic BA ’25

  Psychology | Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation | Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

  More about Mia
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  The entrepreneurial leadership minor is the best program on campus; it has given me interesting classes, dedicated professors, and many professional connections on and off campus.

  Tara Elsa BA ’25

  Rhetoric and Media Studies | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Innovation | Santa Rosa, California

  More about Tara

Lewis & Clark Business Pathways FAQ