My Journey in Discovering My Niche in Business and Policy
In the early years of my college career, I pondered what exactly I wanted to do with my BBA degree from the Ross School of Business. The possibilities felt limitless and limited at the same time.
Since I was not familiar with many careers that exist in business, I felt bound to the careers my peers were interested in or going into after graduation. All I knew was that I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and work closely with others. I was bouncing around, exploring different things through clubs and info sessions. The Michigan Ross Career Development Office also had tons of opportunities to explore unique industries and career paths. One of them was a fintech (financial technology) trip to Chicago with other Ross students where we visited several fintech companies and talked to the C-suite executives. Even though it was not a space I am specifically interested in pursuing after graduation, it was very enlightening to learn all about what I could do with my degree.
Learning about business and policy as a Carson Scholar
During my junior year, I decided to join a committee in the Central Student Government at the University of Michigan to apply my passion for helping others. At the same time, I was in a business law class for our Ross Integrative Semester. I was introduced to how my people/policy interest could intersect with my business interests. That's when I learned about the Carson Scholars program offered in the winter semester. In this class, students who majored or minored in business are able to take a seven-week-long course where we hear from speakers about their careers combining policy and business. At the end of the class, we would take a week-long trip to Washington, D.C. to hear from even more speakers and political leaders. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to explore my interest, as it combined perfectly the things I was passionate about. There, I learned more about political and public service consulting. I found out there are small and mid-sized firms that specialize in this, and large firms that have a large portion dedicated to this sector like Deloitte or Accenture. In fact, during the trip, we got to hear from a Michigan grad about their experience working in the government sector of a consulting company and how much they enjoyed it. It was very exciting to hear that.
Then, soon after learning about the niche, I even had the opportunity to work in the public sector during my internship at Accenture this past summer. I assisted my team with the implementation of a platform that would disperse COVID-19 relief funds from the state to eligible employers for the client, who was working on behalf of the state.
Gaining real experience working in my niche
I really appreciated how Michigan Ross gives students the ability to explore very niche industries and even new and upcoming industries like fintech. The classes, treks, career fairs, and more, all gave me the opportunity to discover all the options out there, both through Ross and the university at large. I’m extremely happy to say that I was able to find something that I’m truly passionate about in such a short period of time, and that means a lot to me for my college career and my future. Upon graduation, I will be working at Accenture full-time in New York, and I am very excited to continue to work on projects in this space after meeting people and learning so much about it through school and my internship.
