I don’t think really that my experience in this course has really affected me in any real impactful way in the past 10 weeks. However I think that it will impact me more as the year and following years progress. Being only 10 weeks (and honestly only 7 due to syllabus week, Thanksgiving, and class being over during dead week), it doesn’t really give you the opportunity to apply the information we have been presented with in real life. For instance I know about curiosity questions regarding networking but in my first term at college, away from home I’m more focused and concerned with making personal friends rather than professional friends. And I am trying to figure out how to manage my time and live without my parents so going to meetings for many different clubs was also off of my radar for the past few weeks. However I know throughout the rest of the year now that I am aware of these opportunities I will begin to use more of the concepts brought up in class practically in real life.
In the course I feel like I am able to answer the course objectives in an adequate way and that I understand the different topics we discussed in class thoroughly. However, I really struggled with the courses’ focus on steps you can take to further your path towards your degree in the chosen concentration. Personally, not knowing what I want to concentrate in caused this course to be more difficult since many of the assignments needed me to reflect on my journey towards that goal. However not knowing a field of study I didn’t know how I could move forward since there isn’t an LCB club for generally exploring concentrations or that really presents unbiased opinions on all of the different fields surrounding the concentrations.
It is also hard to apply the knowledge given right now in general since as freshmen we are often overlooked when trying to apply for leadership roles or internships which is what many of the classes’ context focused on in my opinion. For instance networking as freshman without a clear knowledge of our future is difficult because when discussing curiosity questions if someone asks what you want to concentrate in you have no answer. To combat these difficulties however I really just talked to my peers about what they are doing and tried to build an idea for myself off of that. Next term I will go to the Women in Business meetings that I was unable to attend due to classes in order to learn more about different job opportunities to base my path off of more established professionals instead of other freshmen.
One of the biggest impact things was the assignment requiring me to go to the career fair or a meeting and network got me thinking about what internships and employers are looking for so I can start to make sure to have experiences in those things. For instance I know that the holistic review to get into the College of Business here at the UO values “a global mindset, and demonstrated leadership on campus and/or in the community.” Being that I was already getting involved with Hall Government as a programming coordinator and also the Best Buddies club on campus, I think I was already starting to plan towards those things. However next term I will go to at least 3 Women in Business meetings in the Lillis Business Complex to expand my horizon of possible future careers and paths to get there.
To prepare for future opportunities that may arise through the University and off campus one of my goals is that by week 5 I will go to the Career Center on campus to get help creating a resume that I can use when applying to jobs over the summer. And I hope to learn how to manage it in order to keep it up to date when it comes time to apply for internships and eventually careers in years to come.
Going back through my blog posts I don’t feel like my views in the first assignment are very different from my views today. I still have no concrete idea of what I want to do with my future. The only real difference is that when the professor of Accounting came into our class during one of the first few weeks she really interested me in the field of accounting and the future of the field.
Coming into college I knew that I wanted to travel and still have a stable job. Being that I can’t take an accounting class until next fall I am still very unsure of if I will even enjoy that field but I am still open to exploring that and other concentrations now. For instance through talking to peers and upper classmen I think I have solidified my idea that entrepreneurship is not for me and expanded it to also include sports business. Going to the games of different sports on campus I have realized that I enjoy experiencing the game much more than what is involved with the industry.
I feel like this project was a really great learning experience. I was really lucky and I had an amazing group and we worked really well together. However because of my friend’s experiences with their groups I learned about different ways to work through problems that may arise. For instance sometimes you just have to step up to make sure you don’t fail even if that means doing all of the work. Or if you guys can’t come to a decision to narrow it down to two and then come back to it at a different time. Group projects are about compromise and working together and I think that those are both really good skills to have not only in school but in life as well.
Based on this course I am curious to learn how I will apply all of the tips and knowledge we have been presented with. To ensure I use them one of my goals is that by finals next term I will have gone to office hours 2 separate times preferably for 2 separate courses. I also will be more aware of job opportunities as the year progresses so I can set myself up for success in the upcoming years when internships and jobs really count.