Summer Opportunities: Economics and Business

Webinar Transcription

2021-04-04 Summer Opportunities Economics & Business

[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisor’s webinar on summer opportunities and economics and business. To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start off with the presentation. Then answer your questions in a live Q and a on the sidebar. You can download our slides and you can start submitting questions in the Q and a tab.

Now let’s meet our panelists.

Hi. Um, my name is Anika Brito. Um, I’m a senior at the university of Pennsylvania. Um, I’m majoring in math and minor in statistics and Hispanic studies. Um, and I got involved with CollegeAdvisor because I work at the admissions office here at Penn, and I give a lot of, um, tours to prospective students and work on, um, engagement with high school students and really got into the college process.

Um, so now I’m here with. Advisor giving a presentation on economics and business opportunities for the summer. Um, I’ll get into it a little bit [00:01:00] later, but I think they’re really, really valuable opportunities that you can have. Um, if you choose to start applying and researching them. So we’ll have some tips on that, uh, towards the end as well.

Um, so just starting off, um, there’s really a wide range of programs that you can apply to in research across the entire country. But I wanted to start off just with my personal experience. So you could hear a little bit about maybe where I’m coming from, when I’m giving my advice. Um, so in summer 2014, the summer after my freshman year, I did summer at brown.

Um, I did the leadership institution. Uh, there, they have a really, really wide range of programs that they offer for pre college programs, summer in labs. Um, some are just like a regular college class of courses. And then mine was kind of a bit of a combination of classes and then also activities and things like that.

Um, so for mine, it focused on some economics concepts that I hadn’t really learned in school cause I hadn’t taken any economics classes yet. So I got a bit of an introduction to the. And then one of the best parts about it was that you got to feel [00:02:00] it, it was like to be called shooting and then experience the greater Providence area where brown is located.

So, um, on our own, we got to do some of our own, uh, excursions and field trips. And then the program itself, uh, connected us with some local businesses. Um, for example, we visited a power plant in Providence, and we learned a little bit more about how different businesses operate. And then I enjoyed that program so much.

Like at the time I was like, that was the best two weeks of my life. So I was like, next summer I have to do something very similar. I found it so valuable. Um, I got to meet so many people from across the country, which is something that I never really had done before. Cause I lived in the same town, my whole life.

Uh, so. And went to Northwestern the next summer for a similar two week ish program, um, for the national student leadership conference. And this was a little bit less like classroom focused. Um, and it was more focusing on a lot of, uh, business aspects. We wanted a lot more field trips around, um, Chicago. We did a lot more group activities.

We ended up with doing, um, like kind of like a shark tank [00:03:00] pitch presentation because I was in the entrepreneurship program. So it was a little less classroom focus, even though we did have some classes from Northwestern professors and professors from other business schools over the country. But, um, a little bit of a contrast and experience the summer at brown.

Just to give you another idea, but business program that you could do over this. And how I found out about these opportunities. So I actually didn’t really think about much, uh, like going into high school, what I would do during the summer. But I was starting to realize that that’s like a free chunk of time that you have to do valuable things that you can, you know, add to your resume, to.

Explore areas of knowledge that you want to improve on, or you want to learn more about, um, or just do things over some of that feel like you do something valuable with your time. Um, and I knew some people at my high school that had done somewhere at brown, so that’s how I kind of felt encouraged to apply to it.

But there’s definitely other resources that you can look through. Like you can do some independent research, which is what I did for the following summer. Um, I kind of just like looked up school. [00:04:00] Uh, that I wanted to go to and want to experience, because also at the end of the day, it’s a great opportunity to just experience what it’s like to go to a school that you might have on your list.

Um, and then I asked my guys a lot of times your guidance counselors or teachers, um, or if you have like a college counselor or something, like if you have someone at CollegeAdvisor, like they might know about things that they could tell you, um, they might have known a programs or maybe the college they go to a run two has a specific program.

So you can just look that up on their websites and learn a little bit more about that. Um, and I kind of went over a little bit, what a day was like in these programs, but just to give you a little more specific idea, um, I kind of described it as a hybrid between like summer camp that you go to like sleepaway camp, but then also like how it is now for me being in college.

So you’re a little bit supervised, cause like you’re still in high school, but then you also get a lot more freedom to do things and explore things and things, um, and other activities. So in the morning, uh, you’d usually take classes. Um, have group discussions do some activities. [00:05:00] One should be somewhere on campus with other students.

So it kind of feels like you’re having lunch. Like you’re an undergraduate student and that’s a really great opportunity to meet professors that go to that school network with people, whether it’s other peers of the program, other professors, other administrators, um, and afternoon. Very, depending on what stage of the program we were in, sometimes you would have more class.

Sometimes you would do your group work and we’re going to project a lot of times, really cool speakers came, or you even just given a list of activities and opportunities because on college campuses, there’s just so many things going on that you really have a lot of freedom to explore and take advantage of all the opportunities you have while you’re.

Specific location. Um, and then in the evening there would be a wide range of activities. So this is kind of like sometimes when it feel more like college and you could just do whatever you want, you look off campus and explore the city that you’re in. Um, you could plan your own day trips and excursions.

A lot of times the programs would have planned ones for you. Like they would have, like for summer at brown, for example, like they had a bus that went to Boston for the day on a Saturday. [00:06:00] Um, or like same thing at Northwestern. Like they ha they had planned things on the campus for us to do so. I mean, it really was a wide range.

Like I remember one day we went and just played pickup soccer. We explored like the pool and the gym. So there’s really a lot of things that you can do that make you feel like college. You can explore some more enrichment opportunities. You can explore the city, you can go to museums. Um, so that’s where you feel a lot more independent and especially as a high school student, like the first time I did, when I was like 14, it was really, really great to feel that own independence and make a lot of friends at the same time going through all of that.

So I really appreciated the freedom that you got through that, but also like they do kind of still supervise you and give you a set schedule and a lot more structure than it would be if you were actually in college. Um, in terms of how this affected my college application, uh, I think this depends on which program you go to.

I’m being totally honest. I think that it, there are some [00:07:00] programs, for example, that are known for like having very selective application processes and getting into it can be really difficult. And then there are some others that it’s more like you kind of just pay to have this experience. So, but for the ones that I think that are very.

Um, hard to get into and have like lower acceptance rate or, or more prestigious. It did kind of feel like I was, it was almost like another reward listed on my resume. Like I got into this and I participated in that as an, I graduated from this program in two weeks or whatever. Um, but regardless of that, I still think it’s a very valuable experience for several reasons.

Some of them, I didn’t list on here, but I kind of mentioned, so one is like, if you really want to go to a school, if you go and experience at school, you experienced the professors, the academic buildings, the opportunity just being in that environment. I felt like my supplements for those schools were much more specific and authentic because I had so much school, but school specific content that I was able to include in my supplements.

Um, [00:08:00] almost any school has a college supplement on their application. There’ll be an essay that will be like, why this school, why duke, why UNC, why UCLA? And one of the keys of those in my opinion is really including a lot of specific information to show that you’re really passionate about the school that you did the research about that school.

Um, that you really care about the school and you’re going to have a value add when you go there. And I think that there’s a lot more content that can come from that, especially if you’ve been on that campus. Um, and that’s not to say like, you should just do that so that your, your one supplement is better, but I think that’s definitely an added plus to it.

No matter which program you go to and then kind of like how it was speaking of before. Like, especially for me since like I had. Come from like my town in high school, where I had gone to the same school since I was in kindergarten. It was such a great opportunity to meet people from all across the country.

There’s actually quite a few international students that go to a lot of these programs too. So my biggest actually takeaway from this other than learning a lot about business and [00:09:00] having this help me with kind of like my business internships and excursions later on in the opportunities I had in college and now going full-time after I graduate, I think it was really meeting a lot of new people.

Was the most valuable for me, the friends that I made over those two weeks, the bonds that I made and I, it almost created kind of network for me. Like there are still some kids from summer at brown where like, you know, if I see them post something on Instagram, you know, I’ll swipe up on it and say hi to them or something.

So it really feels like you, you create a network. And like, those kids went to colleges all over the place and some of them actually ended up going to Penn. So it was kind of like, I had a couple of friends when I came here too. So I think that networks that come out of those are really strong. Um, and I think that just the opportunity you have to meet of such a diverse set of people from across the country and the world that, um, are kind of interested in the same thing as you, like, there’ll be interested in business or economics or whatever program that you applied to.

I think that’s also probably one of the most valuable things that came out of it. Um, and then lastly, like you just get to [00:10:00] experience what it’s like to be in college. Um, and you get to meet a lot of professors. You get to meet a lot of people and faculty that worked for those schools or people that are in that program that they invite that you probably wouldn’t have gotten to meet.

Otherwise. Like for example, we went to make magnificent island. We got to in Chicago, it’s like a, um, a strip in Chicago that has a lot of, um, stores. And we got to know. Like managers and CEOs of companies, we got to go to small businesses. Like you have a lot of those opportunities, um, that would kind of be hard to seek it on your own.

So I think that kind of helped me with deciding what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go to college to, um, So as I was talking about kind of preparing me for what I wanted to do, um, in college. So I chose to be a math major when I went to college because I knew I kind of wanted to do business. And I knew I really liked math, but I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, which of course, like a lot of people apply to college undecided.

So that’s like a thousand percent, not [00:11:00] even a requirement for you when you applied. But I knew I really liked math. Like I had taken all the AP math and stat classes at my school. Um, but I knew that I wanted to do something in business maybe, but I didn’t know exactly how it would apply. So I was actually very fortunate to have a pretty diverse set of experiences throughout my internships, um, in college.

Um, so my AP statistics teacher actually recommended me for an internship at the Nielsen company, my first summer. Um, the summer after my senior year where I did like marketing analytics, um, and then the next year I worked for startups the next summer or first startup. So that was cool to see how a business operated, um, like a growing really fast growing business, how they wanted to receive funding, how they were starting to grow across the country in the world.

Um, and I was working a lot more closely with really high up executives because of the company was so small. Um, and they had a lot less regulations and restrictions because they were so small. So that was very interesting to see like how a small business operates. [00:12:00] Um, and even now, like during the COVID pandemic, I think I have sort of like a mindset, like learning about how small businesses work and startups work from.

Um, and then summer 2019, I worked at CGI, which is a tech consulting company. So I learned a lot about business processes for companies. Um, and then finally last summer I did invest in banking at JP Morgan. Um, when I worked in their leverage finance group, which is, uh, doing debt. So I think I pretty, I have a pretty wide range of experiences and I think each one kind of built up on it cause they were all had something to do with like analytics, um, or using numbers.

Are using my quantitative skills. So, um, even though I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I think both my high school experiences kind of made me realize I wanted to do business along with like my field of study. That was very quantitative, right. Math and statistics that I wanted to do. Uh, something that was working a lot with my quantitative strengths.

So I think it was kind of like a streamlined process and to [00:13:00] finally knowing what I’m going to do, I’m going back to JP Morgan after graduation. So just learning from it from that perspective.

And then I guess I kind of talked about this a little bit, but how this impacted my interests and my education. So like I said before, it was just really fun to feel like what it was like to be a college student. Um, because like, especially in high school, it’s just so, so different. And I was so excited, especially when I met all the new people.

That was probably the most valuable thing that I took away from it. So, um, that really impacted my interest in going to college and going to specific colleges. I applied to brown and Northwestern because I really, really liked my experiences there. And then they give you a pretty good overview of different business opportunities, depending on which one you go to.

So the summer at brown on this a little bit more about economics, it was almost like I was taking classes in the college of arts and science. Um, at a, at a college and learning about economics versus the national student leadership conference was a lot more about business itself. So I got a good [00:14:00] overview of different industries of entrepreneurship.

Um, and I just kind of started to think about, oh, like after high school and going into college, like, what would I want to do in business as I started deciding. But again, like I said before, it’s definitely not a requirement to no, it’s like, no one knows what they want to do when they’re 15 years old. But just to get yourself a little bit of a.

Experience and exposure to it. It can be really valuable. And like that enrichment that you get outside of your classes that you go to during school is very important. Um, and then finally, even the college courses and the exposure I got to that was really interesting cause they almost run the class as like a college course.

So it’s kind of interesting to see how that might change after you graduate from high school. Um, it goes, is that super stressful? Like they don’t give you really hard exams or five hours of homework every night. Cause they want you to experience the city and the college and all the opportunities, opportunities they have.

But in terms of like core structure, it’s a little bit more similar to what it would be like college. Um, in terms of what summer programs might look like this summer. [00:15:00] I’ve heard just through some of the clients that I have being an advisor. Like I know they have applied to some, um, programs and then also just being at Penn.

And I got an email about it a couple of weeks ago, but like, it really is going to be very variable and unpredictable based on, I guess, how COVID is playing out. So for example, at Penn, it’s completely virtual. I mean, we’ve been completely virtual this semester, but even in the summer, like anyone taking summer courses, doing their summer programs, It’s all completely virtual.

Um, so like one of my clients got into the Wharton program, but he’s like just got also notified that it’s going to be virtual. Um, but at temple, which is also in Philadelphia where, uh, the university of Pennsylvania is, um, They’re having some in-person summer programs. For example, they have a small science program where they let students do research in a lab and that’s going to be held in person.

I don’t know what sort of restrictions are in terms of being vaccinated or anything, but like for example, they are planning on holding it in person. Um, so [00:16:00] what I was giving the advice I was giving to my clients, um, about December programs is I think regardless of if you think you’ll go or not, depending on if it’s virtual or you don’t know, I think you should still apply.

Um, Given, if you, like, you want to pay for the application. If they have an application fee, you should still apply. And then like, it doesn’t hurt to apply. Cause like, if you don’t get in, then, you know, whatever. But if you do get in, you can evaluate your options and your pros and cons going forward.

Because like I said, I really think that these are really valuable experiences that you could have in college, in high school, um, that will really help you with not only your college applications, but for me, it was. Choose my career path and choose what industries I was interested and really tap into what I wanted to do using this field of study that I chose in college.

So there are a lot of ways that you can benefit from it. So even if it is virtual, you could kind of think about how could I benefit from this. And like, given that we’re in a pandemic, pretty much [00:17:00] everything is virtual. So it’s not really going to affect your resume. Oh, I did this program, but I did it virtually.

You still got into the program and you still did it. Like, you just may not benefit as much from the side is, like I said, like, you feel like you’re actually in the college experience, like more of that in-person aspect, but in terms of learning, like. Uh, getting an education. I mean, education is the most important thing and most important thing you have in your toolkit as a person.

So if you have the opportunity, why not take it? And if you’re interested in economics and interested in business, you could definitely only benefit from learning more like there’s sort of an infant value add that you could have. Um, and in terms of applying to them, I feel like they all kind of have different timelines.

Like it’s not like college applications where it’s like pretty much all or the decision is like November 1st, all regular, January 1st or something like that. Um, it kind of depends on the program. So. Start researching as early as you can and start working on applications early, because like they’re not huge deadlines.

So like, it [00:18:00] could just be like a random Thursday. Um, so sometimes missing that can happen a lot more often than you think. Um, and just continue to research programs. So like I was saying before, like if you, like, I really, really wanted to go to duke in high school. So I would look up like programs at duke that they had for the summer.

I didn’t end up getting in, but just to think about things that way, like, if you want to experience a school. Um, or some close to it or different part of the country, like that could also be something on your, on your checklist of pros and cons. Um, and also like what, what does the program look like? Cause I kind of gave two examples of one where I was more like having an undergraduate experience and taking classes.

And then one that was more like, like a conference, uh, where they had a lot of activities for us and we had a lot of different experiences. So that kind of depends on. What you’re what you’re looking to gain out of this, because at the end of the day, like it’s what you’re going to take from this. Like, you’re making this personal choice for your personal investment as a high schooler, but that would be my advice in terms of applying to these programs, [00:19:00] especially if they have essays or something like that, you probably want to get started on a little early and like I’ve helped a couple of my clients with like their essays, especially because you can always benefit from, um, having some advice or some proofreading, um, in that case.

I can take this one Nika. Um, so CollegeAdvisor now has the summer opportunity database. Um, and this database was constructed by six advisors in a variety of fields over the course of one to two months, uh, to help clients, uh, and students find a variety of opportunities in various fields, both remote in-person paid unpaid.

In order to boost students’ resumes and involvement in careers. They’re interested in, uh, we wanted to create this as a jumping off point for freshmen through seniors to start to film really your eyes familiarize themselves with what opportunities are out [00:20:00] there and what is required to apply. Um, so this database is also going to continue to grow.

At this point in time and is only available to CollegeAdvisor clients. Uh, but you can access it through your advisor and it is an incredibly helpful tool. Um, just to sort of see some stuff that’s out there.

Oh, no worries. Okay. So that’s the end of the presentation part of the webinar we got through that real fast. Um, I hope you found this information helpful. I don’t remember that you can download the slides in the handouts tab, moving onto the live Q and a, uh, read through questions you submitted in the Q and a tab, paste them in the public chat so you can see and then read them out loud before our panelist gives you an answer.

As a heads up, if your Q and a tab, isn’t letting you submit [00:21:00] questions, double check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. Okay. Our first question is what’s the price range on different programs that usually will depend on what the program is in terms of the length of the program.

Some are completely free. Some have scholarship options, some have financial aid and then some, uh, I don’t have any at all, and they’re pretty expensive. So that’s also something, I guess you want to take into consideration when you’re applying. Cause they can range from, it depends like if you do want to six weeks long, like it’s probably going to be a couple thousand dollars, especially if it’s one that’s like where you’re, you have to like pay for room and board, but then there’s other ones that could be shorter.

Um, and maybe not as expensive. So I don’t know. I’m sorry if that’s not specific. Um, It definitely does have a pretty big range, but I would say like the most that some are [00:22:00] probably like couple of thousand dollars if you’re going for the whole summer or something like that. Um, it depends on the school as well.

Uh, someone else asked when do the courses start and, and will it be on. Um, so that depends also on the program as well. They usually start around. So most colleges end around, um, by the latest they probably undergrad like their semesters for students and around the latest is like Memorial day. So usually the programs run through like from Memorial day weekend, starting, they get like have a summer session.

One that’s like usually like the month of June to mid July and then other ones like mid July, August, um, somewhere in the middle of the summer. Like the ones I did were just like the third session and it was two weeks. So it depends on the length of the program too, because you could do multiple programs in the summer.

If you’re interested in multiple things, it’s also an option and you want to see different schools. Um, but it depends on the weight for the program, but usually they start offering them around [00:23:00] the end of may and then probably mid August is when they end, just because that’s around when colleges start their fall semester.

Um, so we got two questions that are pretty similar, but, uh, one of them is, are, are these programs important for college applications and which programs are difficult to get into and therefore, you know, better on a college application. So I wouldn’t say they’re necessary for college applications, but they are important.

Um, I think it’s important to show that, like I said, you’re doing something valuable with your, um, summertime. Like if you have three months off of school, what are you doing with your summertime? Are you, do you have a job? Are you doing research? Are you going to one of these programs? Like how are you spending your time?

So in that sense, that’s why I do think that they are important, but I wouldn’t say they’re absolutely necessary. I think they have a lot of value add. Um, and it’s, [00:24:00] it’s a very good investment that you can make for yourself and for your education. But I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily. Um, but they definitely are important because there it’s something that you can add to your college application that can just show you that you’re a more well-rounded applicant.

Um, and then in terms of which of them are harder to get into, or which ones are more prestigious. So I would say in general, regardless of if it’s selective or not just the name of the school, kind of help. I don’t know if that sounds superficial, but I think that kind of is the case, but like, there are definitely there also our summer programs that aren’t psychologists, like there are some that are at.

I think it’s called the governor’s academy or something, but there’s some that are at, um, private schools too. And that some of those are really prestigious and hard to get into. So, um, honestly your guidance counselors at your school might know a little bit more about those, but I remember reading about some of those.

So some of those are really hard to get into. Um, and then I suppose like specifically I know at Penn, like the Wharton one is really selective and I know the one at temple, the [00:25:00] science one at temple is also really selective. Um, but then there’s some where you can more of get a feel where it’s more like, if, as long as you pay, you can go or as long as you submit your application, you can go.

Um, but yeah, I would say if you look into some of, like, I think it’s ex the Exeter one is pretty selective. So some of the ones that are at private schools, like boarding schools, they offer those a lot. In some of those ones can be a little bit more selective. And even if they’re not on a college campus, you’re definitely still getting a similar experience.

And like I said, No matter what, like there’s no education that is not valuable for yourself throughout your entire life. That’s something that no one can take away from you. You always have your education. So even if you choose one, that’s not on a college campus, like you’re still going to be gaining so much by, by going there no matter what.

Absolutely. I will also say that regardless of the prestige of any kind of program, um, if you can write about it, compellingly in a college application that almost matters more than. How hard it program is to get into. [00:26:00] Um, okay. So our next question is where do we search for these program options for university?

Um, so like I said before, like a good starting point that I had after summer bound was like, I just thought about universities. I wanted to go to or areas I want to experience. Um, and then, like I said, I, I had heard about some or brown through some students at my older students at my school. So you can ask your peers, you can ask your guidance counselor.

Um, we just talked about like really great resource at CollegeAdvisor has, um, if you had an advisor, they might know a little bit about it. So, uh, there’s a lots of different resources that you have for that. Um, and in terms of what you want to search for, uh, usually like you’ve probably just search the university and then like summer program.

Cause sometimes it might be hard to find it like directly from their website, but, um, that’s probably how you could get more information on, uh, the different program options that they have.

Okay, our next question [00:27:00] is if a student is interested in a career in business, would you recommend applying to a university with an undergraduate business school or is it okay to apply to liberal arts college or university with an economics? Oh, I’m actually, I’m glad you asked this because I’m very passionate about this question.

Um, especially because of my school, like there is a business school specifically and like my major is not in the business school. So my honest opinion for business is the answer is no, you don’t have to apply to undergraduate business school. However, if you are interested in business, any school that does have an undergraduate business school, you should probably apply to.

Um, but like you should study what you want to study. And for me, especially, I want to say that me studying math helped me stick out a lot more when I was applying to internships and, um, different business opportunities, because like most people are applying from an undergraduate business school and I was majoring in math.

So I kind of had a more unique experience. Um, and in terms of [00:28:00] like, just through my internship experience, I will say that a lot of business is learned at the job or at the company and the industry that you’re working in. So like, you’ll take your valuable experiences in terms of. I am really detail oriented or I am really good at synthesizing information and putting it on a slide deck or things like that.

I’m really analytical. I have really good interpersonal skills. Those are the things that you’ll take from what you studied in college and apply it to business. So it’s not entirely necessary to go to undergraduate business school, but I will say if you’re understanding. If the school you’re applying to has an undergraduate business program, you should definitely apply to it because usually the networking opportunities are a little bit better.

Um, you’re learning a lot more specific like business content, like, you know, like just accounting principles, marketing, you probably take more econ classes and things like that. Um, but there were a lot of schools that are really good. Like a lot of really good colleges that just are like liberal arts schools.

So they don’t have a business school. And in that case, like you should study what you want, if it’s economics, cause that’s most related [00:29:00] to what you want to do, then, then go for it. But like, I guess the short hand version of my answer is no, it does not matter if you study, um, undergraduate business or not.

But if the school does offer or does have a business school and it has an undergraduate program, you should definitely apply to it.

An add-on from the previous question is what universities would you recommend specifically for. Um, well, like privately I’ll recommend my school. Um, so Wharton has a summer business program. I know. Um, I’m trying to think of other ones that I know specifically that have some or undergraduate business schools, um, like university of Michigan, I think has a program.

Um, university of Virginia, a lot of like the state schools that have, um, undergraduate business schools usually have programs. Um, more of the liberal arts schools have like specific business programs, because that’s like not a huge focus that like their professors have a lot. It’s more like academia focus.

[00:30:00] Um, but if you’re talking about specifically for summer programs, um, but in general, yeah, like a lot of, uh, business schools, I’m trying to think of a lot of state schools have business schools. Um, I know Cornell has a really good business school. Northwestern has a graduate business school. Um, so it kind of depends on, um, if they have a graduate school, if they have an undergraduate program.

So like for example, Penn has the Wharton school and they have an undergraduate program for it. So, um, yeah, but some of the ones off the top of my head would be, I don’t think university of Virginia has a, it’s very competitive to get into their undergraduate, um, business school once you get there. Um, Vanderbilt wake forest.

Um, UCLA Cornell, I already said, but those are some off the top of my head that I can think of. Yeah.

I will also say as someone who went to a liberal arts school, it it’s [00:31:00] very possible to go to a great liberal arts school, get a great education and then go into business. But no one at my school was able to specifically study business. A lot of them did study economics. Um, okay. Where there any, I think summer programs, were there any summer programs that you considered to be a waste of time and what programs would you avoid?

Um, so like I said, I don’t think that any really are wasted time because. First of all, it can’t be a waste of time if you’re learning things like that will never be wasted time for yourself. Like just in life, if you’re having an educational experience, is that no one can take that away from you. But, um, in terms of, yeah, I mean, the ones I did, I did not feel like they were waste of time.

Like I said, the one at summer band, which I thought was the best two weeks of my life at that time. And I really enjoyed the one at Northwestern too. Um, If there’s anything, any reason that you wouldn’t want to go to one, I think like factors you would consider would maybe just be the price. [00:32:00] Um, in terms of like the investment that you’re making, um, and maybe like some of the other costs, like location and things like that.

But I really don’t think that they’re a waste of time and like, no matter what, it’s something really like Hannah was saying, like, when you’re writing your college applications, like a huge part of it is the essay. And the way that you’re able to present your experiences and shape yourself as an applicant through some of those experiences you had, like it’s only going to give you more to talk about and more to show how you’ve developed as a student and how you’ll, um, be an asset to the college that you’re applying to.

Our next question is, do you need strong writing abilities in business? Um, Well coming from someone who actually don’t think I’m a very great writer, I would say, not specifically, but I think in life, like in general, being a good writer is definitely a good skill to have in business specifically. I think being an effective communicator is very, very [00:33:00] important because.

Teamwork. I mean, a lot of business programs are like usually like leadership teamwork, cause that’s such a big part of business, no matter what industry you’re in. Um, so I think being an effective communicator is very, very important. And if you can write well, that helps a lot too. Um, and I will say being a good writer definitely helps when you’re applying to business schools or is it college because like it’s all about how you present your experiences and how you present yourself as an applicant.

So like, no matter what, it’s very important, but. Um, there also are a lot of industries that you can go to in business. Like if you’re very analytical or quantitative, but aren’t a great writer, um, like a lot of sales and trading roles that do like, um, computer science to use like their algorithms for trading and things like that.

So if you’re interested in like computer science or math, there’s a lot of opportunities of business because a lot of businesses and finances are really shifting over towards like FinTech and adding a lot more tech to them. Their business model. So if you’re not the [00:34:00] best writer or communicator, I wouldn’t say don’t worry about that because there are some jobs that like, don’t really require you to have a ton of interpersonal skills.

And it really is like your hard Coneys, those or whatever, but in general, for business, like what business is, is like you’re selling something to someone else or like you are making different transactions. So like, it is important to be very good communicator. And that’s where writing kind of comes in. So, this is a bit related to your last answers, but what are different careers that are related to business and economics?

Uh, there were a ton of careers that are related to business economics, um, off the top of my head ones that I think of, or so like marketing, for example, um, finance. So like what I’m doing, investment banking, um, And sales and trading is part of that as well. You can do accounting, like a lot of schools. I would say if you really, really, really want to do accounting specifically, you might be better off applying to a school that’s not liberal arts.

Um, because that one [00:35:00] does like require a lot of like technical classes for accounting that you would probably be, you would benefit a little bit more from taking those classes undergrad. And not to say that again, you can’t do it from a liberal arts school, but that’s probably the only one I would think of.

That you probably would want to go to undergraduate business school versus like in my group at JP Morgan, there were people that majored in like history, economics, like all these different things from undergraduate, um, liberal arts schools. So that’s not a big deal. Um, So, yeah, you can work in marketing, you can work in operations.

So kind of like from the inside of the company, figuring out how different processes work and different, um, like pipelines within your company. Um, you can work for specific industries and like corporate companies. So like, if you’re really interested in energy, for example, or you’re really, you’re sitting retail, like those are other ways you could work in business.

Um, like I said, there’s more technical roles. Like you could do like work at a hedge fund or do you like trading also? I’m not sure if I’m like using too much vocabulary that, because I just realized, I probably [00:36:00] wouldn’t know a lot of this vocabulary in high school. Um, but those are like kind of the industries that, um, you could work in.

Um, and you do get a lot of exposure to those in college, especially because even if you don’t know what you want to do right now, like you get a lot of career fair opportunities and things like that. So you can learn a lot more about business and different companies through that as well. So even if you don’t know what you want to do in business right now, like I learned a lot through career fairs and through these summer programs, they’re my internships.

A lot businesses.

All right. All these questions are great. Keep them coming. Uh, are there any opportunities for students who have zero experience? Definitely would hundred percent because. Whenever you like everyone starts off with zero experience, um, in terms of summer programs. Yes. I don’t think there really is any experience of harder to do a lot of summer programs because they know that you’re in high school.

And this is like your first chance [00:37:00] that you really have to delve into some of your interests or extracurricular interests that you want to do. Um, in terms of college as well. And I would say for internships, um, that kind of depends. So even if you don’t have a lot of specific experience, there’s a lot that you can show yourself about an applicant that you would be a strength to that job.

So, for example, I never had any financial experience when I applied to JP Morgan, but I really tried to, um, emphasize to them that I was very detail oriented. I was very interested in finance. Like I talked about a lot of articles that I would read, um, and how I would learn about the market. And then just some of the strengths that I had from doing statistics at Wharton, and that kind of helped, even though I didn’t have any specific financial experience.

Cause that’s something that I was really worried about. Like, would that take away from my strength as an applicant? So even if you have your experience as a high schooler, like you’re not at a disadvantage at all, like the more that you just show your interests in different things and try different things, you’re just going to end up adding more to your repertoire to your resume.

And that will [00:38:00] take you really far. Um, and once you start thinking about doing internships, especially at a young age, like at our age, it’s, it’s not a huge requirement because a lot of entry level positions or internships or opportunities that you have, like I said, you learn a lot of it on the job. You learn a lot about business by doing it.

So there’s not like specific experiences required, especially if you’re really young. So.

Okay. Uh, we’re going to take a quick break and, um, I want to let you know what you can do after this webinar. If you want to get help on your college apps from any of our advisors at CollegeAdvisor, we have two monthly advising plans and larger packages that come with a set number of hours as advisors, we will work with you on your college essays, choosing schools, interviews, and more.

I’m sending everyone to this panel, a link to get started right now. The offer links to our page to sign up and get [00:39:00] started. Our students in CollegeAdvisor have had a ton of success. This past admission season. We had CollegeAdvisor clients get into all of the IVs and every top 25 school in the country.

Our clients rate us at 9.8 out of 10, and that’s because our advisors put a ton of care into working with you. One-on-one through every step of your application. If you want to discuss this, one-on-one with an advisor. This is a great chance to work with us now, back to the Q and a,

um, our next question is, uh, w uh, sorry. Um, how does an internship look and how do you apply? Well, or what’s the process, the application process. Like that’s a great question. I kind of realized I was, might be using words that people didn’t, weren’t super familiar with, but so an internship is almost like [00:40:00] a mini job experience.

Um, a lot of times they’re over the summer, that’s when like a lot of students, our age have time to do like, to have time to work a lot, like apart from school. So it’s kind of like a mini experience with the job. Um, that you have when you’re in high school or when you’re in college or something like that.

And to apply to one, um, there’s very many different ways that you can apply to one. So. Why don’t we just be sending your resume into specific companies to HR. So that’s human resources and they’re very much involved in the recruiting process and reading applications and getting you interviews. Um, so applying to one can really just vary from, you know, looking up the company’s website and submitting in your application or submitting your resume.

Um, by word of mouth. So like, if you know, people that work at specific companies or, you know, someone that has a job, even if you know, someone that has a job in something that you want to do, like you can like your friend’s mom, like they might know other companies or other people that you could talk to to [00:41:00] get an internship.

Um, your school might have a lot of opportunities for you. Like, like I said, my first internship was I was talking to my AP statistics teacher. And he used to work at this company. And then he referred me to work there because I told him that I was really interested in doing something that involved analytics and statistics.

So I talk to as many people as you can, um, look up any companies or websites that you know that you would think about. Um, I don’t know if people in high school have LinkedIn. That’s the only reason I didn’t mention it, but if you have LinkedIn, it’s, it’s kind of like a networking website. Sometimes they have job opportunities on there and once you get to college, Pretty much, every college has a website, like almost like, um, Like, it’s like basically a hub for all like the companies to put in their application information.

So it’s super easy to just like, hit, send my resume there. Um, and like I was saying before career fairs happen at colleges. So that’s how you find out about a lot of [00:42:00] internships. That’s where most people end up getting their internships. And then just like applying through, like, for us, it’s called, it’s a website called handshake and it has literally every, you can like say marketing in, uh, Chicago.

Summer 2020. And it’ll come up with all the listings you can read about it. Like they’ll have the HR, the human resources contact, and then you can also just send in your resume. So, um, it’s kind of like at the pace that you want to go and then what, like interests you. So that’s how you apply to them. Um, any other, usually like a summer experience, but there are some that are over the winter or just even during the school year that are part-time and a lot, maybe like 10 hours a week or something, but it’s kind of like a mini job experience that you have, um, In high school or in college,

we also use handshake. Um, what is more important job experience or volunteer work? Um, [00:43:00] I’ve this kind of goes to what Hannah was saying before, about what you present in your college essays. I think both are important. I honestly would say in high school, that volunteer is probably more of a necessary than job experience.

Although it really depends on your personal situation. Like if you have to work and you don’t have time to volunteer, then you know, that’s something you can write in your application or if you’re really, really passionate about volunteering. And that’s how you spent all of your time on volunteering projects or organizations or boy Scouts, or, you know, whatever you’re part of or passionate about.

That’s totally fine too. Um, I think something that I learned a lot throughout high school and college is not to always do things just so you can put it on your resume and your application. Like if you do things that interest you the most and that you find the most valuable, whether it’s, you know, volunteering for something for the environment or helping people in this way.

You will realize that your application ends up showing you, like showing you authentically you and that’s how you [00:44:00] want to apply to schools. So I would say do what you’re interested in and make sure that you’re very passionate and you’re like, you’re always working hard at it. Like this is not to say like, you know, just don’t do anything because it doesn’t really matter.

Like do what you’re passionate about and work hard. Yeah. But, um, you don’t have to just pick one because you think it will be better on an application or you can try both. Um, but I th I would be a little more inclined to say that in high school, it’s kind of a little more necessary that you have volunteer experience.

Um, I guess how that’s it’s used to be, like I applied to college four years ago. That’s changed recently. And I know with COVID, it’s very hard to get into, um, opportunities right now just with everything being virtual. But that’s what I would say just from my experience, but some of the clients I’ve worked with to, uh, through CollegeAdvisor.

Okay. Our next question is what opportunities or what are opportunities that you highly recommend we take from your personal experience?[00:45:00]

Okay. And going into applying to college, I think some of the most important things that I was a part of, or that I had the opportunity to include where, um, the summer programs were definitely up there. But then apart from that would probably be, um, like leadership. So I would say like, whatever you’re part of in your school, Um, or your, or extracurricular organizations, like try to bring some element of research into that?

Um, I honestly think, especially if you’re like the oldest sibling or you don’t have a lot of experience, like applying to college, having an advisor was really, really helpful. Um, and something that helped me apply to college just because sometimes like, There’s just small, like little tips of advice that like, you may want to just keep asking, um, to help you navigate through that process.

So that was very, very valuable for me. Um, like I said, the summer programs were, um, and [00:46:00] what else?

Yeah, I would say my leadership experiences, because that was also something that like, It definitely helped me develop as a person and as an individual, but it was also a great talking point that I had in my essays and, um, and interviews and things like that because I had a lot to say about it and I had kind of something to show for it too.

Okay. Our next question is, uh, what is better internship or a summer program? Um, so this was kind of like the job where we were. Or a job or volunteer experience question. I think again, it’s kind of like what you’re interested in, what you want to pull from it. Um, so for an internship, for example, like some are unpaid, some are paid, so that’s something to consider.

Um, some are like, if it’s really my, the industry that you want to work in or something that you’re interested in learning more about, or having a couple of weeks doing some, some time in like, that’s really important. Also, if [00:47:00] you do an unpaid internship for the most part, like it, they’re probably a little bit more flexible because you’re basically giving them.

Assistance like free labor basically. So you could maybe make your internship shorter or asked to be part of things that you’re more interested in. And then for summer program, I think, like I said, those are important because you can like put that on your resume as well. Like you put an internship on, um, and they’re important for learning more about like, The specific college you want to go to, although it’s not completely necessary.

Um, I don’t think one’s better, but I think they like bring different value adds. And again, it’s kind of more about what you’re interested in. So like, if you’re really interested in economics and like more theoretical side or something like that, like maybe take a course on it over the summer or do a summer program in it.

Or if you’re really interested in entrepreneurship, like take an entrepreneurial. Um, summer program, where you get cohere from a ton of entrepreneurs, you do a simulation, you get to visit like businesses that were started. Every business kind of started by an [00:48:00] entrepreneur, but you could also do an internship with like a startup.

That’s a startup is basically like a new company. So those are entrepreneurs as well. So you can get that experience from both sides. I think that’s really important. So I don’t think one is better, but they kind of just show different things about the experience you had. Like if you work at one, like what you learned from it, or if you went to a summer program, Who you would meet and what you learned from Anderson like that, I’ll also say in terms of that, that summer programs, like as the Nika said, your day is going to be much more laid out for you.

So, you know, you’re going to be doing exactly this for this chunk of time. And then everyone’s going to go to lunch together and afternoons will be this, whereas internships are much more like a job where it’s sort of like, okay, here are your tasks. Here are the things you’re doing. And not that one is better or worse, but, um, Spending your time one way or the other sounds way better to you.

That’s a good thing to, uh, to keep in mind, uh, uh, Nica. The next question is, what do you think [00:49:00] about Harvard business school? Um, I don’t know. Do I don’t think Harvard has an undergraduate business program? I’m not entirely sure. So I guess if you’re talking about the graduate of business school, um, I mean, I know it’s really high ranked and they have a lot of networking opportunities and job opportunities.

Um, I think that’s something that you can consider when you’re applying to schools and businesses schools. Like, um, it’s something I have learned is like, it really is what you do with the opportunities that you have. So it doesn’t really matter, like. Once you, once you get into your school, something that you could evaluate or things like that, like what kind of opportunities that they offer post-grad what kind of networking do they have?

Um, how are their professors will academic opportunities? Do they offer you? Can you do research with professors, things like that. So those are all things to look into. Um, I would say somewhere where you could really learn a lot about that is on college tours and something that is actually a benefit that you have from right now is I think most [00:50:00] colleges are doing virtual tours, so it’s not like you have to travel.

Like all the way across the country to get a lot of this information from college tours, because those are always really valuable. Um, I mean, you can always do the research on your own when you go on college websites, but just like hear from tours. Like for example, at 10, like all our tours are virtual now, so that’s probably an easier way for you to like, learn a lot more about the specific opportunity schools offer, like, get really excited about like different professors or different courses or different majors programs that they offer.

Um, in terms of what you want to do for college and beyond.

That was funny because the question I was going to ask next is can we ask a university for a tour of their business to. Um, yes. So, I mean, it depends like maybe some of them will say no, but honestly, again, since this is like a much more virtual setting, I know a lot of schools have a lot more resources on their websites to learn about things.

And pretty much every school that has a [00:51:00] business department or like every school has a business department or business school, like they usually have a separate website. Like, like if you go to. This is the co the college. Like if you go to like university of Virginia, like they’ll have a page just for their, um, business school.

So you can learn a lot more about it. There, you can learn about the different professors at different majors that they offer, like within the business school, what the curriculum looks like while your academic enrichment spirit experiences can be like, what, what different opportunities you have. Um, and then also on college tours, for example, like when I give the tour, there was a whole stop on the tour at the business school and we talk all about it.

Um, and give a lot of like unique details that might be kind of hard to find on the website that you hear from students or admissions representatives or things like that. Uh, and that’s something you can do too. You can like, if you have the contact information for your admissions representative, you can always email them with questions.

If you have.[00:52:00]

Okay, our next question is, do you need strong mathematic skills for business? I would say no. Um, it depends on what industry you’re applying to. Like if you’re working in sales, like you actually need to be a lot more, have more interpersonal skills. Or if you’re working in like wealth management, you have to have a lot more interpersonal skills.

It really depends on the industry that you’re going to. Into. Um, so like I said, there are some where you do a lot more quantitative things like computer coding or statistical analysis, or you use different softwares. And then in that case, yeah. You have to have mathematical skills. Um, what if it’s not your strong suit?

It’s not necessary to like for many, many industries and positions and business. And like I said, a lot of the skills that you get in business, like. You bring your skill set that you have from your undergrad, from, you know, being able to have effective time management, to, you know, be able to have grit and, and study for a [00:53:00] test and things like that.

You bring to your, those, like those soft skills you bring to the job. And if you don’t have a lot of hard skills, like that’s okay, you learn a lot of them on the job. So if you’re not really good at math, it’s not required for everything. You’d go into. Can you be a quantitative analyst, maybe not, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t go into business.

There’s so many different opportunities that don’t require a mathematic skills. And if you’re a great writer, that’s even better because that, that like strength that you have, like, if you’re an English major and you were really, really great writer, that’s going to take you really far in business.

Because a lot of it, like I said is about communication and. Giving products to clients and like, how is it presented as like such a big part of it? So being a great writer, like could be more important, specific fields in business and not having math skills.

Okay. I think this is going to be the last question, but what was the best part of the summer programs you did? Um, like I said before, [00:54:00] I think for me, the best thing that I took away from it was the people that I. Um, and that’s why, like, I don’t think it ever could have been a wasted experience, even if it added nothing to my college application.

I felt like I met such a diverse group of people and I made such a strong connection with them. It was such a great experience to just like, be thrown into a program with people from all across the country and the world around my age had similar interests. We did so many activities together that bonded us a tripsy excursions.

Like that was a hundred percent why I love summer brown. I wanted to go back to a different, or just do a different program when I did the one at Northwestern was because. I really found value in the people, the experience I have with the people that I met, even the professors that I met, the faculty that you had the opportunity to meet, like really, really great experience, to just add more people to your network.

Even, like I said, like when I came to Penn, I knew some students that I met in the summer and we like met up. So it’s something that you can always [00:55:00] also carry with you, the friendships that you make, but even while you’re there, like, that was definitely the biggest takeaway that I had. Um, Apart from everything that I learned.

So even if like you don’t, you, you realize you don’t want to do economics or business after the program, like you’re still going to come away with a really great experience at a whole new set of friends and a network that you can take with you when you graduate and go to college. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight and thank you so much on eco.

So this is the end of the webinar. Um, we had a really great time telling you about summer opportunities and economics and business, and here’s our whole April webinars series. Uh, thank you for coming out and I hope you have a great night.