We all remember the grueling application process for business majors: we had to submit tons of cover letters, resumes, and personal statements. Getting into a business program is becoming more competitive, as it requires high grades, good extracurriculars, and excellent communication skills. But once you get into the business program, you find plenty of things that you didn’t expect. Just a few of them include:
1. Accounting is hard.
For business majors, it’s more than crunching numbers on a calculator or trying to figure out balance sheets. While you’re studying, you’re wondering what actually is the difference between an asset, liability, or equity.
2. Math is actually complicated.
“Hold on, aren’t we in business?” Yes, but apparently, these mathematics professors really do want to trick us.
3. You have due dates and assignments every week.
And for every course as well….
4. You have your first networking event.
You walk to the room and see tons of students in business suits shaking hands with others. Now, you legit feel that you’re in some movie scene.
5. You become an Excel expert at a cost.
While the others are trying to figure out how to enter words in a spreadsheet, you’re there doing VLOOKUP and calculation functions.
6. You only meet other students in the business department.
Because you take very specialized courses, you tend to struggle to meet others in different departments. And whenever you take electives, you often find yourself hanging out with other business students during the lecture.
7. You spend more time on LinkedIn than Instagram or Tik Tok.
After all, you have to connect with others and follow them for inspiration, right?
8. You feel the opportunity cost of the economics class.
Hold on, why do we have to learn about supply and demand curves? And why are they moving?
9. You have so many presentations.
In every class, you seem to have a form of presentation where you have to speak about some random topic.
10. You have a lot of group work.
Whether it is in-class or out-of-class, you’re all forced to work with people that you may know, or don’t know. And that can be challenging.
11. You feel pressured to join an extracurricular activity.
Ah gosh – don’t remind me of how many applications I have to fill out.
12. The professor always talks about their career.
It seems that every professor in the business department likes to talk about their career. They always talk about what they studied, and how they got the position. Well, business is career-focused after all.
13. You have to juggle tests, projects, and quizzes.
You know how many programs are either assignment-based, project-based or test-based? Unfortunately, business isn’t one of them – you can’t choose one, but you have to choose all. So you’re here, trying to stay afloat.
14. You struggle to dress up every morning.
You want to look your best either way. And because you’re in business, you feel pressured to dress professionally.
15. Your courses ramp up immediately (unlike other programs).
You’re here looking at your computer science friends, and asking why they don’t have that much work until the third week.
Being first-year business majors bring their own difficulties, as you try to learn multiple skills and take multiple courses at the same time. You take accounting for 3 hours, then run to a communications class. But in the end, you’ll notice that you’ve gained incredibly important skills, which will better prepare you for the future.
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