So You Declared a Major in Business… Now What?

So you declared a major in business… now what? First things first, congratulations! Declaring a major in anything is awesome, especially business (but I might be a bit bias!) When I got to college I declared I was going to be getting a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Marketing Concentration. Two years later I’m about to start my junior year and I definitely want to share some of the things I have learned going to a small, private school.

 

If you have no idea what you want to study in the field of business, that’s totally okay!

No one expects you to make a decision on what you want to do with the rest of your life when you are 18 years old entering college. Most schools are pretty forgiving on when you have to officially declare which area of business you want to study. On the other hand, if you know what you want to study, good for you! I came into college knowing I wanted to concentrate in Marketing, but this could have changed. When I ended my freshmen year, I had a revelation that I also wanted to add a second concentration in Applied Analytics. If you asked me if I ever thought I would be studying this in college, I would have called you crazy. Take time to figure out what interests you as it might change!

 

You need to bring a suit with you!

If you’re going to a school where you are going to take business classes, come to college with at least one suit and a few different pieces you can mix together for a few different business casual looks. Every freshman takes an introductory business course at my university, and trust me you need a suit. For boys, bring one suit that actually fits you! And girls-  I love Banana Republic for their suiting options. The amount of times I’ve heard people panic when they realized they needed business clothes is almost unreal. Bring the business clothes and thank me later. Now go rock those presentations!

 

Expect to learn a little bit of everything.

The great part about working in business is every department has to work together to make the business run. What marketing does affects sales, and sales affect finance, and so on. Do yourself a favor and understand now that you’re going to be taking classes in almost all of these disciplines, and then you will take more classes in your concentration. At my school as I concentrate in Marketing, I will have taken two accounting classes, one finance class, two management classes, one Excel based class, and many marketing classes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you are in one class and don’t enjoy it as much as you would think, just know that there are others that you might enjoy more. I know this was the case for me. Try to do your best in all classes as what you learn transfers into the classes that you do enjoy.

Establish Yourself Differently

When I chose Bryant University, I knew I would be pushed beyond my limits and that was something that I was definitely looking forward to. What I did not expect was to be around truly motivated individuals with such strong entrepreneurial spirits. Students would continually introduce themselves and tell me about businesses they created, companies they were working for, and ideas they wanted to pursue. Being in this atmosphere made me hungry for knowledge and to do something of my own, a passion project. This blog was one of the ideas that came out of that feeling.

 

Going to a smaller university is an absolute blessing. Professors want to get to know you, a close-knit community, and people who truly want to see you succeed are so important for your success. Look at these elements wisely and you will have an amazing time!

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