How I Decided to Major in Business: Real Students’ Stories
This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Moriah Kofsky, Hannah Jian, Brian Ibe, Kathryn Jordan, and Grace McInnis in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.
What’s Covered:
In this article, we share insight from current business undergraduate students about how they decided to major in business. Hannah Jian from Emory University, Grace McInnis from Drexel University, Brian Ibe from Texas Tech University, and Kathryn Jordan from Georgetown University all share their experiences in deciding that business was the right choice for them.
Taking a Different Path
For some students, their pursuit of a business degree may be influenced by their interest in taking a different path from what they are familiar with. This is the case for Brian, as he has chosen to pursue business instead of medicine, which is what most of their family has degrees in. Studying business is an opportunity for Brian to learn something new and, ultimately, share those skills and experiences with their family.
Brian’s interest in business was solidified when he took his first financial accounting course. While this class was notoriously difficult for students, Brian found it fascinating as he began to understand how businesses actually run by looking at the numbers and accounting.
The Business Community
Some students are inspired to study business because of the characteristics of business students on their campus. Grace did not go to college knowing that she was interested in business. But once she experienced the culture of business students at her school, a mental switch was flipped, and she realized that business was her desired major. Grace found business students to be highly motivated and ambitious, and being surrounded by students like this with whom she shared common goals was attractive to her.
Some folks may stereotype business students as lazy, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Grace has never met anybody as ambitious as a business major. They don’t spend hours in the library because their efforts are being spent on applying to multiple internships, pursuing informational interviews, or starting their own businesses.
Hannah also finds the culture of business students to be compelling. She loves the culture of business school because everyone is driven, creative, and innovative.
Passion for Innovation
Hannah’s Experience
Students are often drawn to business through their creativity and passion for innovation. Hannah knew from a young age that she wanted to do business, especially since she had observed the field through family members who were entrepreneurs in the fashion industry.
Growing up, Hannah noticed that whenever she saw a cool concept or product, her first instinct wasn’t to purchase it, but rather to consider how she could take that product, improve it, and then make money from it. While she didn’t have exposure to business through her high school, she knew that she was interested because of these personal experiences.
Kathryn’s Experience
Kathryn also appreciates the creativeness involved in business. For her, consulting is great because it prompts people to think of innovative solutions to specific problems. Business is not just all numbers and coding; it also involves creativity.
Additionally, Kathryn feels that people often think of business as a soulless major, but there are many ways to positively impact the world through business. Examples include doing pro bono consulting for small businesses or benefiting schools with quantitative and qualitative skills. Kathryn often considers how she can use psychology or sociology to impact the capitalistic market and help people.
Leverage Your Network
Business was something that Kathryn knew that she wanted to pursue before college, but she first discovered her interest in the field by leveraging her personal network. She had an aunt who worked in marketing, and she asked if she could shadow them at work to learn what marketing actually entailed. Kathryn was able to sit in on calls with her aunt and observe the work day, which ended up being a formative experience.
Kathryn suggests that students connect with the folks in their lives, like family members, friends, and neighbors, to either talk to them about their work or see if they can shadow them as they work. Leveraging your network can expose you to great experiences in many different fields.
