I hate numbers, with an absolute passion. I have a negative capacity for mental math, as in I cannot multiply 2 basic numbers together without counting on my fingers. That's just the way I have always been. My talent, and my passion, lies in words. I love to communicate with others, both in person and through the written word, and knew that was the one thing I would be happy doing for the rest of my career. I have been told I had a knack for connecting with people and getting my point across with a confident ease. So I guess it makes sense that after signing the form and submitting it to the Dean of Artis and Sciences, I decided to sign another part of my life away - to the business school.

Since freshman year I had witnessed the harsh differences on my campus between the business school and the college of arts and sciences. Yes, the business school had the beautiful and new shiny building. They had the fancy and upscale dining hall, which you had to pay an additional meal plan fee to use, and free stuff was always being given out in the lobby. As for the college of arts and sciences, well I guess you could say they had a "building" to themselves. Mostly made up of offices, one obscure basement-level enigma of a coffee shop, and 1 or 2 randomly placed classrooms, this building on campus was barely ever occupied by students unless they were in need of visiting office hours. So when I saw a program offer to receive a business minor through the business school all during the academic-year calendar, I was immediately intrigued.

My Dad is in the business industry, and has instilled in me from an early age the importance of understanding the world economy and ones personal finance. Especially once I get to the age of managing my own finances and doing taxes, all that fun adulting stuff, it is important that I have a grasp on what is going on. With that, I applied for the program. It was a difficult process, I actually had to be fully accepted into the business school. The program was simple - take all of the basic core business classes to receive the minor. Now, in my senior year, I am currently in a marketing class working on a semester-long project with all sophomores. It is definitely not the senior year class experience I figured I would be getting! But at the same time, I would not trade it for the world. Through all of the hard work and late nights I have put into these business classes, and all of the GPA crushers I have faced, I have persevered. Not only has being a student in the business school greatly challenged me on an academic level with new and difficult concepts, but it has challenged me on an individual level. The network within the business school, as well as the effort they put into having students actively connect to this network, I believe has put me far ahead of many of my fellow arts and science peers in terms of future careers. I have met so many incredible Professors, alumni, and job recruiters all through business school resources. I have been given real and hard life advice in classes such as accounting that I never would have received in my public speaking class. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Although I may be an arts and sciences girl at heart, and I can assure you I will never go into the world of finance or accounting (just ask the sympathetic teachers who had to hold my hand through each of those classes), I can say that going through the struggles of these business classes has given me a completely new perspective on the professional world. My only advice to anyone considering a career in business, and even just looking to challenge your professional skills, would be to go for it. See how you can get involved with it, and let the rest fall into place. I can assure you it will give you a leg up, if not in terms of careers at the very least in terms of your mindset towards the career world.