Bachelor in Business - Eastern Oregon University (Winner)
Editors Note: This student story essay was selected as second place winner in BrainTrack's Business Schools Scholarship for fall 2009. At the time of submittal this winner, Laura Thompson, was studying for a Bachelor in Business Administration at Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande, Oregon.
Wishes Had Known | Program Likes/Dislikes | Choosing BusinessWhat do you wish you had known about selecting and entering your business school that would be helpful to others going into business?
In high school, I wasn’t required to take two years of a foreign language, so I didn’t. In order to get a bachelor’s degree, you have to take foreign language. I wish I had known that in high school! I would also say to look into the school you want to select and figure out what is important to you in a school. I love the fact that mine is in Oregon and I can do classes online or in person. Its versatile and flexible to fit my schedule. Everyone is different and you have to decide what is important to you, not anyone else.
What have you enjoyed most and least during your business degree program so far?
I have enjoyed learning about things that I feel I can actually apply to my life. Some degrees make you take classes that I don’t feel I will ever use, foreign film studies for example). With business, I feel like the classes will actually benefit me in my future and lead to my success.
What I have not enjoyed about my business degree program has been the cost. I pay up to $3000 a term in tuition alone and then an easy $500 in books after that! Other than the cost, I have had a great experience with college and my business school in particular.
What led you to choose business as a career path?
I started going to college full-time when I was 17 and still a senior in high school. At my first advising appointment, I was asked to pick a major. My first thought was, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” I started thinking about all of the possibilities. I instantly became overwhelmed! The rest of my life was going to be determined by this one decision, at 17! With every career I imagined, nursing, accounting, firefighting, tourism, CEO, etc; I realized they all had one thing in common: business.
Anywhere I would chose to work, whether it was my own company, a local store, a giant corporation, or the government, they were all forms of a business. It didn’t matter what career I was to chose, I was going to be part of a business, someone else’s or my own. I also starting thinking about the job I had at the time. I hated it and I always found myself wondering what I would do differently if it were my business. I decided I wanted to learn more about businesses and how they worked so I could start my own business and do things right. I started looking at business degrees and realized that the classes applied to my life and would benefit me no matter what I decided to be when I “grew up”.