Leeds School of Business Orientation, 10/11/14

Credits to CU Boulder for this picture. (Yes, it was taken the day I was there). The original can be found on their twitter, https://twitter.com/CUBoulder.

On Saturday, October 11 I had the chance to go to the CU Boulder Leeds School of Business Orientation with my mom. The schedule was as follows:

• 8:15-8:45 Welcome and Introductions (Math 100)
• 9:00-9:45 Leeds Academic Experience with Associate Dean Al Smith (Math 100)
• 10:00-10:45 and 11:00-11:45 Leeds School of Business Experiences (attend sessions)
  Mom attended Leeds Residential Academic Program and Career Development and Mentorship while I attended Leeds Scholars Program and Honors Experience Pilot and Faculty Experience and Academic Advising.
• 12:00-12:45 Lunch in the "Center for Community" where freshmen eat!
• 1:00-1:45 Parent or Student Panel (Physics or Math halls)
• 2:00-2:15 Closing Session
• 2:15 Tour Leeds Business School (optional)

We had a busy, but very productive day. I took lots of notes about my thoughts and things that I thought were interesting. Now that I've had some time to reflect, I have a better idea of what I want to do and where I want to be within the next few years.

CU Boulder's Leeds school offers four "areas of emphases" that you can choose to specify in once you reach the end of your sophomore year. The four areas are finance, accounting, marketing, and management. However, there are seven "certificate programs" that you can complete and use as what is basically a minor. The seven certificate programs are Business of Sports, Entrepreneurial Studies, International Business, Operations and Information Management, Quantitative Finance, Real Estate, and Socially Responsible Enterprise. All of the employees that spoke stressed the importance of finding a good "fit" for you and also stressed that international business, while a great choice of major 20 years ago, is implied. Many of their students study abroad, which is something that I would like to do. However, most colleges nowadays are encouraging students to have a global experience. I had the chance to attend an informational session about the honors program and scholar experience for the business school and it seems like a great opportunity. Should I attend the business school, this program is certainly one to get involved in. This society requires a 3.9 HS GPA and a 30+ ACT to get into and a 3.3 CU GPA. Students involved with the program also get to go to Argentina at the end of their second semester as a global experience. From what I know about the people I got the chance to meet, this seems like a great opportunity.

I had the opportunity to listen to faculty of each area of emphasis speak about what their area was and jobs that students could eventually get. I was impressed with the accounting and finance professors (and there's no coincidence that both of my parents are in those areas, right?) but didn't feel incredibly impressed with the marketing or management professors and now feel that my area of emphasis will most likely be in accounting or finance because I have better skills and impressions of those areas. However, I cannot say that definitively yet because I haven't taken the introductory courses and explored all areas of business before specifying.

Eating lunch in the CU Community Center was a lot of fun. I enjoyed being around the CU students and feeling like a member of the community. Also, the food was good and there were plenty of options, so there won't be repetitiveness unless I want that. 

Being involved in the Boulder community was a lot of fun this Saturday (and I get to do it again on 10/17). In all honesty, the beauty of Boulder rivals that of Cal Berkeley and Stanford. It's simply different! (I mean honestly, where else can you see Flatirons in the background of your campus?!?) Also, Pearl Street is wonderful and being close to that every night is exciting. Seeing the business school specifically meant a lot to me because I hadn't gotten the chance to do that at Stanford, where they only offer graduate business school. It is important to me to attend a business school that I can get a useful undergrad business degree at, have good connections, and earn my success. I enjoyed the fact that CU's business school is mostly focused on their undergraduate students because that gives me a chance to attend a highly ranked undergrad business school that is also in-state (yay for lower tuition) and close to home. I've spent lots of time on the Boulder campus with football games, the Bolder Boulder, eating/golfing up there, and just walking around. I am leaning towards being a buffalo right now, so it will be interesting to see if my opinion is at all swayed by seeing the CSU campus this Thursday. 

I'm really excited to be exploring college campuses and figuring out what works for me. 

QOTD: "Iz Aimee gong too kAwlwdge?"
- a very concerned Duffy when I went to CU on Saturday

Thanks for reading!

Amy