STUDENT STORY

“I chose UM-Flint because it was close to where I live, it’s a highly regarded school, and it is relatively affordable.

The main obstacles I had to overcome while at UM-Flint were time management and workload. I was able to overcome these two obstacles by buying a planner and writing down everything I must do each week for school and personal life. Seeing everything on paper makes it much easier to plan what I need to do each day.

I am still figuring out exactly what I want to do for a career. I am majoring in both international business and marketing, with a German minor. As I took more classes at UM-Flint, gained more work experience, and gained more life experience, I slowly started narrowing down who I am, what I like, and what career path I can take that matches my interests. As of right now, I would really like to work with a professional sports team. Ideally it would be a professional soccer team in Europe. This profession would allow me to do all the things I like: soccer/sports, traveling, and learning other languages.

Some of the opportunities at UM-Flint that have helped me with my career goals include becoming president of the International Business Student Organization (IBSO), becoming a mentor for incoming business students, and completing an internship in Germany through UM-Flint.

The first piece of advice I would give to freshmen would be to get a planner and make it a habit to write down everything they need to do. The second piece of advice I would give to freshmen would be to be active in the university community by partaking in events around campus and joining clubs and organizations. I know adding one more thing to college students’ calendars may feel like too much to handle. But it makes the whole experience at UM-Flint a thousand times better. Finally, I would tell freshmen to have fun, enjoy their time at the university, expand their social group, and try to stress out as little as possible. Speaking from experience, time flies. I cannot believe that I am already in my fourth and final year. I wish I had gotten more involved with clubs and organizations as a freshman and sophomore, but I do not regret anything I have done so far. All you can do is live in the moment and decide what to do from there.”

(Ben, International Business and Marketing, UM-Flint)