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Road Map
Start planning out your college journey in the School of Business.
In Brief
- Year 1: Build a foundation
- Year 2: Focus your interest and start your professional network
- Year 3: Gain experiences and expand your professional network
- Year 4: Leverage your network + tell your story → launch
- Example academic plans
Year 1: Build a foundation
Career Works offers AMP Connect Sessions and Career Accelerators on topics ranging from building your strengths, creating your first resume, picking a major, and more. These sessions offer you the opportunity to plan out your first few semesters and in doing so, gain some professional skills right from the start.
Get involved. Take advantage of the co-curricular opportunities, including Investment Club, Marketing Club, Women in Economics and Business club, MakerLab, Beloit Mixed Media, Buccaneer Boathouse, and other clubs and organizations.
Year 2: Focus your interest and start your professional network
Complement your major with minors, such as Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, or Sport Management. Try some Coursera mini-certifications in Marketing & Ecommerce, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Project Management, Sales, Logistics, and more.
Develop an individualized career plan with a career advisor and be assigned a career coach who’s an industry professional. Receive personalized feedback on your resume and LinkedIn profile. Start building your professional network. As part of your coursework, you’ll learn how to do an informational interview and be matched with an alumni in a field of your choice.
Year 3: Gain experiences and expand your professional network
Attend the Business School’s annual Business Networking Summit in February in Chicago, at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Connect with alumni industry professionals, expand your network, and in the process, learn about internship opportunities.
Spring semester junior year is the most popular and recommended time to study off campus or abroad. Popular off-campus domestic programs for Business School’s students include a semester in Washington, DC at the American University and “Intern Philly” (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). For overseas study, consider programs at universities in the UK, Belgium, and Australia.
Year 4: Leverage your network + tell your story → launch
Graduates of the Business School secure employment in a variety of fields. Most popular are finance, consulting, marketing, entrepreneurship, and data/business analytics. The median early-career annual salary for graduates is $85,000 (based on 2023 career outcomes survey) with recent placements at JP Morgan Chase, Ziegler Capital, Group One Trading, Deloitte Consulting, NERA Consulting, and others.
Through the Upton Forum, learn to think big to become a visionary business leader. As part of the senior capstone, engage with and get feedback on your senior projects from the Upton Scholar - a leading thinker in the field of economics and business (see the list of scholars, including three Nobel Memorial Prize Winners).
Example academic plans
When | Academic Planning | Career Planning |
---|---|---|
Year 1 |
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Summer |
Find a summer job, while continuing to research and explore career options. |
|
Year 2 |
|
|
Summer |
Get an internship or summer job (ideally it should be marketing-related) |
|
Year 3 |
|
|
Summer |
Do an internship on marketing. Apply for internship award. |
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Year 4 |
|
|
Results
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You’ve acquired your knowledge and skills in business and marketing.
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You’ve built your professional network.
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You’ve accumulated marketing-related experiences on your resume.
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You are ready to launch, so go out there, compete, and get your first job in marketing.
When |
Academic Planning |
Career Planning |
---|---|---|
Year 1 |
|
|
Summer |
Find a summer job, while continuing to research and explore career options. |
|
Year 2 |
|
|
Summer |
Get an internship or summer job (it’s probably not finance-related yet) |
|
Year 3 |
|
|
Summer |
Do an internship on finance. Apply for internship award. |
|
Year 4 |
|
|
Results
- You’ve acquired your knowledge and skills in economics, business and finance.
- You’ve built your professional network.
- You’ve accumulated finance experiences on your resume.
- You are ready to launch, so go out there, compete, and get your first job in finance.