Ready, Set, Succeed
McCombs BBA Program Combines Academic Rigor with Innovative Leadership Opportunities
by Cory Leahy & Sandie Taylor
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“Global involvement is critical,” says Leah Miller,
Undergraduate International Program advisor. “We won’t
be competitive if our students aren’t globally
proficient.”
International experience not only gives students an advantage to play up during interviews, it also strengthens their confidence and often causes them to rethink their long-term goals and direction.
“I have a different perspective of people from different parts of the world other than myself, and I now understand how cultural differences explain differences in business operations and economic development,” says Charissa Grubbs, BBA ’06. Grubbs was an exchange student at Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina. “I gained a lot of self-confidence and I realized that I am strong enough and capable of accomplishing anything.”
EYES ON THE PRIZE
Perhaps because of their myriad leadership opportunities—or maybe due to having grown up during a historic economic boom—today’s undergraduate students are more career-focused than ever before. Just spend one afternoon walking through the business school and you’ll find the hallways teeming with students dressed for success, carrying neat black leather notebooks alongside backpacks, ties straight, skirts pressed, hair combed.
But at the turn of the decade, a mere seven years ago, the number of students who focused on their careers and how to get them was vastly fewer, says Velma Arney, director of undergraduate career services. When she joined McCombs in July of 2000, “career services wasn’t a big part of student life back then.”
One challenge was the volume: 4,500 students were being served by two advisers, so only the most ambitious students took advantage of on-campus corporate recruiting. The result was a small number of students received the lion’s share of the job offers—which meant that lots of employers were turned down. Arney realized all students needed to be coached on how to think about life after college—and they needed to start thinking about it as early as freshman year.
Career Strategies (a.k.a. BA 101) was born. The one-hour class became a requirement for business majors and helped introduce new students to McCombs, providing information about the different majors; teaching students how to write résumés, cover letters and thank-you notes; and requiring group projects and presentations to develop poise, teamwork skills and confidence.
As the class began to produce results, the BBA career services office went a step further. In an effort to reduce the overall class size and make it a more personal experience, Arney hired both new advisers and peer mentors—upperclassmen who had been through the career journey and could act as role models to the younger students.
“Freshmen who just see the upperclassmen outside the interview suites in their suits wonder, ‘How do I get there?’” By bringing the peer mentors into the process, Arney increased her exposure to underclassmen with a group they would be sure to listen to: fellow students. They share their internship experiences, show their résumés from various stages of their career-preparation journeys and offer suggestions to younger students about how to seek out leadership roles in extracurricular activities to develop the skills employers seek.
Arney also opened lines of dialog with employers, asking recruiters what they look for in less-experienced students who are interviewing for internships, what they’d like to see in upperclassmen who are seeking their first post-graduation job and how McCombs students could improve their chances for employment.
The results of these efforts speak for themselves. During this year’s Career Week in September, over 150 employers attended the BBA Career Fair and more than 400 recruiters participated in mock interviews, both record numbers. And the employers have taken note of McCombs students’ enthusiasm.
“They’ve said that at other schools they can’t get as many upperclassmen to attend events as we have freshmen coming to the programs,” Arney says. “And the students are making an impression—employers are beginning to create jobs and internships for underclassmen. Being a four-year business school is a real advantage.”
LOOKING FORWARD
McCombs’ undergraduate program was ranked for the first time this year by BusinessWeek magazine. The top-ten assessment (McCombs was #9 in the nation) affirms the school is heading in the right direction. Adding faculty, continuing to increase the rigor of the curriculum, and developing more and better ways for students to gain leadership skills and experience are among the jobs facing the program as we head into the second half of the decade.
It is clear the McCombs undergraduate program is highly regarded by its peers. Innovative programs such as LeaderShape (see sidebar below) and the BBA internship requirement offer students unparalleled access to business leaders and hands-on business experiences. Career Services’ engaging student programs and relationships with hundreds of top employers ensure that McCombs students have the opportunity to put their business education into immediate use upon graduation.
These successes will help lead the McCombs BBA program through upcoming challenges, including improving students’ quantification and writing skills, ensuring the record number of students get the classes they need and integrating university curricular reform into the requirements for business majors. As these goals are accomplished, McCombs—already the top business school in the state—will be well on its way to its ultimate ambition: becoming the best public business school in the country.
International experience not only gives students an advantage to play up during interviews, it also strengthens their confidence and often causes them to rethink their long-term goals and direction.
“I have a different perspective of people from different parts of the world other than myself, and I now understand how cultural differences explain differences in business operations and economic development,” says Charissa Grubbs, BBA ’06. Grubbs was an exchange student at Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina. “I gained a lot of self-confidence and I realized that I am strong enough and capable of accomplishing anything.”
EYES ON THE PRIZE
Perhaps because of their myriad leadership opportunities—or maybe due to having grown up during a historic economic boom—today’s undergraduate students are more career-focused than ever before. Just spend one afternoon walking through the business school and you’ll find the hallways teeming with students dressed for success, carrying neat black leather notebooks alongside backpacks, ties straight, skirts pressed, hair combed.
But at the turn of the decade, a mere seven years ago, the number of students who focused on their careers and how to get them was vastly fewer, says Velma Arney, director of undergraduate career services. When she joined McCombs in July of 2000, “career services wasn’t a big part of student life back then.”
One challenge was the volume: 4,500 students were being served by two advisers, so only the most ambitious students took advantage of on-campus corporate recruiting. The result was a small number of students received the lion’s share of the job offers—which meant that lots of employers were turned down. Arney realized all students needed to be coached on how to think about life after college—and they needed to start thinking about it as early as freshman year.
Career Strategies (a.k.a. BA 101) was born. The one-hour class became a requirement for business majors and helped introduce new students to McCombs, providing information about the different majors; teaching students how to write résumés, cover letters and thank-you notes; and requiring group projects and presentations to develop poise, teamwork skills and confidence.
As the class began to produce results, the BBA career services office went a step further. In an effort to reduce the overall class size and make it a more personal experience, Arney hired both new advisers and peer mentors—upperclassmen who had been through the career journey and could act as role models to the younger students.
“Freshmen who just see the upperclassmen outside the interview suites in their suits wonder, ‘How do I get there?’” By bringing the peer mentors into the process, Arney increased her exposure to underclassmen with a group they would be sure to listen to: fellow students. They share their internship experiences, show their résumés from various stages of their career-preparation journeys and offer suggestions to younger students about how to seek out leadership roles in extracurricular activities to develop the skills employers seek.
Arney also opened lines of dialog with employers, asking recruiters what they look for in less-experienced students who are interviewing for internships, what they’d like to see in upperclassmen who are seeking their first post-graduation job and how McCombs students could improve their chances for employment.
The results of these efforts speak for themselves. During this year’s Career Week in September, over 150 employers attended the BBA Career Fair and more than 400 recruiters participated in mock interviews, both record numbers. And the employers have taken note of McCombs students’ enthusiasm.
“They’ve said that at other schools they can’t get as many upperclassmen to attend events as we have freshmen coming to the programs,” Arney says. “And the students are making an impression—employers are beginning to create jobs and internships for underclassmen. Being a four-year business school is a real advantage.”
LOOKING FORWARD
McCombs’ undergraduate program was ranked for the first time this year by BusinessWeek magazine. The top-ten assessment (McCombs was #9 in the nation) affirms the school is heading in the right direction. Adding faculty, continuing to increase the rigor of the curriculum, and developing more and better ways for students to gain leadership skills and experience are among the jobs facing the program as we head into the second half of the decade.
It is clear the McCombs undergraduate program is highly regarded by its peers. Innovative programs such as LeaderShape (see sidebar below) and the BBA internship requirement offer students unparalleled access to business leaders and hands-on business experiences. Career Services’ engaging student programs and relationships with hundreds of top employers ensure that McCombs students have the opportunity to put their business education into immediate use upon graduation.
These successes will help lead the McCombs BBA program through upcoming challenges, including improving students’ quantification and writing skills, ensuring the record number of students get the classes they need and integrating university curricular reform into the requirements for business majors. As these goals are accomplished, McCombs—already the top business school in the state—will be well on its way to its ultimate ambition: becoming the best public business school in the country.
