Ask me anything about Business at UCI - internships, clubs, majors, etc.

Colleges & Universities University of California - Irvine
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<p>As the thread states, ask me anything you want about business at UCI. I’m a graduating senior with an econ major with a management and sociology minor. I was heavily involved in founding and presiding over business clubs, held several internships, and I want to let others who aspire to be great business leaders at UCI know what I’ve learned through out my last four years.</p>

<p>Why am I doing this? Because it’s all about succession plannning and we need ambitious people to keep our undergraduate business community striving towards our goals.</p>

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<p>can i major in poli sci or sociology and still get into business schools? what would be the benifit of majoring in business over of poli sci/sociolgy to get into business schools. would i be at a disadvantage?</p>

<p>also, would you recommend majoring in business to go into law school?</p>

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<p>Go Sonic One! We must create ambitious people to make UCI even cooler =).</p>

<p>BTW, how hard is it to grab an engineering internship? I know you aren’t in the engineering field, but maybe the internship rates are the same for business?</p>

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<p>"can i major in poli sci or sociology and still get into business schools? what would be the benifit of majoring in business over of poli sci/sociolgy to get into business schools. would i be at a disadvantage?</p>

<p>also, would you recommend majoring in business to go into law school?"</p>

<p>Business schools take all types of majors, from art and dance to engineering, biology, etc. As long as your GPA supports your decision to be a poli sci major, it will work for b-school. For business school, it’s a three sided triangle, academics, GMATs, and work experience. You will definitely not be at a disadvantage if you are a poli sci major. The only disadvantage I see is if the curriculum is too hard and you end up with sub 3.00 GPA.</p>

<p>“also, would you recommend majoring in business to go into law school?”</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I don’t have much experience with law so I’ll with hold comment. However, UCI has a great criminology, law, and society major that all of my colleagues rave about. Many take that or poli sci if they are going to law school.</p>

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<p>“how hard is it to grab an engineering internship? I know you aren’t in the engineering field, but maybe the internship rates are the same for business?”</p>

<p>You’re right in that I don’t dabble in engineering but I know that engineering is very prominent at UCI and there is a lot more activity around engineering than business because our undergraduate engineering majors are defined and solid. We’ve had our engineering school for a while now, named after Broadcom founder Henry Samuali. The Engineering Student Council is pretty active and holds an engineering career fair annually. I would recommend checking them out at the start of the year.</p>

<p>Also, be sure to check out the career center website since we have our own internship/job search engine dedicated to UCI. It’s located at <a href=“http://www.career.uci.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.career.uci.edu</a> and many students use Zotlink to find their jobs and internships.</p>

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<p>what are the strengths of the economics program? I am transferring this fall and plan to major in business economics with an emphasis on finance and minor in accounting. Also do you know how competitive the accounting minor is and what kind of internship opportunities there are for Economics/Accounting majors. I was also surprised that there is not an investnment club within in the economics department and do you know if there are econ students that are interested in trading or I-Banking? I am also interested in joining the accounting society so if you have any info on that that would be great. Finally do you know anything about the economics fraternity. I noticed you have to be in Honors and maintain a strict GPA, do you know if you are a little under the GPA requirement of 3.5 can you still apply and get in. Also am I at a disadvantage because I haven’t taken calc 2A&2B yet and have to catch up the next 2 quarters? will this also affect my getting into the economics department?</p>

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<p>Let’s break this down shall we?</p>

<p>what are the strengths of the economics program? I am transferring this fall and plan to major in business economics with an emphasis on finance and minor in accounting. Also do you know how competitive the accounting minor is and what kind of internship opportunities there are for Economics/Accounting majors. </p>

<p>A: The economics program is splitting into 3 parts, econ, quantitative econ, and business econ. We have no emphasis in finance but business econ might me what you need. </p>

<p>The accounting minor is very competitive. The cut off I believe was a 3.60 GPA last year and It’s only climbing. There are plenty of opportunities in accounting at UCI. Grant Thornton recruits heavily at UCI and the big four also recruit as well.</p>

<p>I was also surprised that there is not an investment club within in the economics department and do you know if there are econ students that are interested in trading or I-Banking? I am also interested in joining the accounting society so if you have any info on that that would be great. </p>

<p>A: You’re in luck. There is an investment club started last year by two of my friends, both of which were the youngest to get accepted into Stanford B-school, straight from undergrad. They are a young club but are a steady growing organization. Make sure to look for them at the club fair.</p>

<p>Also, the Accounting Association is pretty active on our campus and bring on the big four and other firms to speak every year. I applaud them for their work and many of their members get internships and jobs through networking with the firms at their info sessions.</p>

<p>Finally do you know anything about the economics fraternity. I noticed you have to be in Honors and maintain a strict GPA, do you know if you are a little under the GPA requirement of 3.5 can you still apply and get in. </p>

<p>A: Economics fraternity. I assume you’re talking about omicron delta epsilon, which is the honor society. It is not a fraternity (the only business fraternity on campus is Alpha Kappa Psi, which I have nothing but good things to say about them). Indeed, acceptance into the honor society is not totally contingent on GPA (as I would know since I am a member). They take into account your resume and peripheral activities as well.</p>

<p>Also am I at a disadvantage because I haven’t taken calc 2A&2B yet and have to catch up the next 2 quarters? will this also affect my getting into the economics department?</p>

<p>A: While the requirements may have changed since the days when I became an econ major, I had to take Math 2A and 2B as well and was not allowed into the major until I completed them. </p>

<p>Check out the major description and requirements here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.economics.uci.edu/underprog.html#business[/url]”>http://www.economics.uci.edu/underprog.html#business&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>WoW, a 3.6 gpa cutoff!! So if I have a 3.40 as a transfer will I not make it in, or does it solely rely on my performance at UCI from here on out because I really want to get into this program. Do they also take into consideration work experience because I have worked as a tax preparer for 2 years.</p>

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<p>“also, would you recommend majoring in business to go into law school?”</p>

<p>I’ll handle this one. I recommend majoring in whatever interests you if you want to go to law school. There are no prerequisite classes that you need to take to get into law school (as opposed to medical school). So if you have an interest in business, then major in that. If you have an interest in English, major in that. Most people think that you have to major in Poli Sci or Crim to get into law school, but that’s untrue. </p>

<p>Law schools place a huge emphasis on LSAT scores and GPA. So major in something you like, but also make sure it’s something you’re good at so you can maintain a high GPA.</p>

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<p>“WoW, a 3.6 gpa cutoff!! So if I have a 3.40 as a transfer will I not make it in, or does it solely rely on my performance at UCI from here on out because I really want to get into this program. Do they also take into consideration work experience because I have worked as a tax preparer for 2 years.”</p>

<p>I don’t know how it works for transfers. Give Burt Slusher a call in the Merage school. He’s at 949-824-1609 and he’ll let you know what it takes. Also, make sure to enroll in those accounting classes fast. There is very very limited availability and the intro courses are taken in succession and not out of order. I believe they do take into account prior experience but GPA is the biggest factor.</p>

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<p>Thanks Alicantekid. I’d give it a shot but I figured somebody with more experience there could help.</p>

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<p>what do you know about alpha kappa psi @ uci? are u a member? how is the networking potential? would u recommend joining akpsi over other business clubs? thanks</p>

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<p>“what do you know about alpha kappa psi @ uci? are u a member? how is the networking potential? would u recommend joining akpsi over other business clubs? thanks”</p>

<p>This is a personal decision. I am not a member of AKPsi but it is one of my ABS member organizations. As chair of the Alliance of Business Students, one of my most trusted board members was a member of AKPsi and I love their dedication to their organization and I know they utilize networking as a strong tool within their organization.</p>

<p>I can’t tell you which clubs to join because frankly, I don’t know what you want to get out of an organization. I started the American Marketing Association because I wanted to learn about marketing. I co-founded and presided over the Alliance of Business Students because I wanted to further business education to the farthest edges of UCI and create more exposure. What is it you want? Do you want brotherhood and strong bonds amongst your friends? Do you want to learn purely about a specific industry? These are questions you have ask about yourself.</p>

<p>AKPsi has rush every fall and spring. This is the best time to learn more about them as an organization. Check out their website at <a href=“http://www.pipsiakpsi.com%5B/url%5D”>www.pipsiakpsi.com</a>. For more info on other clubs, check out <a href=“http://www.absuci.com%5B/url%5D”>www.absuci.com</a> for info on ABS and its member organizations.</p>

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<p>Hey Sonic One, im thinking of doing Business Economics @ UCI, so my questions to you are,</p>

<p>what do you plan to do once you finish school? </p>

<p>What job are you aiming for? </p>

<p>What job(s) would pay the best while utilizing the economics/business degree the best? thanks!</p>

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<p>has any one taken calculu 2a in the summer? How was it if you have.</p>

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<p>what do you plan to do once you finish school?</p>

<p>A: I accepted my job at Procter & Gamble as an account manager in January. The offer was provided after I fulfilled my 4th summer with this in August. I’ll be working in the health, beauty, and oral care Global Business Units. My main purpose is to grow the business of these sectors in So Cal at various regional customers.</p>

<p>There are plans to go to B-school in a few years but those plans are still up in the air.</p>

<p>What job(s) would pay the best while utilizing the economics/business degree the best? thanks!</p>

<p>A: Well in terms of salary, I-banking and consulting pay the “best” but it comes at a price with long hours and possible sacrifice of work-life balance. I took the marketing route because I enjoy the creative side and I want to have personal time for myself plus the salary is comfortable enough for me.</p>

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<p>has any one taken calculu 2a in the summer? How was it if you have.</p>

<p>I haven’t take 2A during the summer but summer school is pretty intensive. 2A isn’t that bad if you are coming right out of high school. Much of it may be repetitious if you took Calc AB or BC during senior year. The rigor of the course also depends on the professor (the professor matters a lot in college. Some are easy and lenient, others are difficult with tons of homework and back breaking tests).</p>

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<p>Dude sonic1 u are the coolest. just a few more questions,… hope u dont mind ^^</p>

<p>How successful are (econ) graduates at finding a job? Cal Poly’s program FORCES you to get like an internship or something, how’s UCI’s route? </p>

<p>Do you plan on staying in Irvine or just in SoCal area in general?</p>

<p>thanks… ur service has provided us with many answers =)</p>

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<p>Sonic One — Thanks for helping future business students out. I’m interested in doing accounting, finance, or marketing. Which one is better suited for someone who is really good with numbers and problem solving. I was thinking I would be better at Finance or Accounting but I’m not sure.</p>

<p>What are some possible careers in finance or accounting that a degree from UCI lead me to? Not to sound shallow or anything, but I want something that is high paying.</p>

<p>Also, If you don’t mind me asking what would be your hours and your starting salary???</p>

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<p>How successful are (econ) graduates at finding a job? Cal Poly’s program FORCES you to get like an internship or something, how’s UCI’s route?</p>

<p>A: I don’t have the statistics as to where econ students go post graduation. However, I do have MANY personal friends who have gone on to work for prestigious companies like Toyota, KPMG, Boeing, etc. The formula to success is no secret. It’s just that unfortunately students don’t have the ambition to look for a job until they near graduation and by the time they reach that point, it’s too late.</p>

<p>Start early. The job seach process starts the moment you decide to ACT on your career goals I got my first internship at P&G at the age of 17. P&G only hired high school seniors at the time because they liked to mold their interns for four straight summers. Although I gave up four college summers (:(), I secured my job offer before I started my senior year and I felt as secure as can be through out my senior year.</p>

<p>I would recommend you start doing your research as early as your freshman year. Prepare yourself to be the best possible candidate you can be for your desired candidates. Freshman year is the time to start looking for the right club to get involved with (and become a leader in down the line). It’s the time to start building your network through the career center and at club functions. You can never start too early.</p>

<p>Do you plan on staying in Irvine or just in SoCal area in general?</p>

<p>A: Personally, I love So Cal. I was raised in Orange County and both my friends and family reside here. P&G made a special exception to keep me here in California, which is rare because we don’t have office here ( I work from home).</p>

<p>With that being said, P&G is the type of company to relocate their workers quite a bit if they are in the field. It just depends on the needs of the customer. I believe I’ll be here at least a few more years but after that, we’ll see.</p>