Gettin’ Corporate
Vanderbilt does not offer a major in Business, and that freaks a lot of people out.
However, there’s a nifty little department here at Vanderbilt called Managerial Studies. As the Managerial Studies website will outline for you, having a major besides Business when you’re going into the business field can oftentimes be an advantage!
Vanderbilt’s Managerial Studies departments offers two minors: Financial Economics and Corporate Strategy.
One of these minors paired alongside a non-business major allows students to differentiate themselves in an over-saturated market of Business majors.
This. Is. Awesome.
As an English major and Corporate Strategy minor, I’ve had employers tell me that I stood out simply because “I wasn’t another Business major”. Vanderbilt knows what employers are looking for! My English major allowed me to specify that I would be an asset to content writing and could contribute my strong writing skills!
Plus, the classes for Corporate Strategy are SO FUN!
Last semester, I took Fundamentals of Management with Professor Garnett Slatton, a former consultant at Bain & Co., CEO, and pastor. Yeah, he’s really cool. The class was centered around real-world applications, team projects, and analyzing companies for profitability and successfulness. For anyone interested in business management, there’s no better class for getting your feet wet in the process, and you’re never bogged down with textbook based learning. Instead, you learn the more real life examples of how to manage a business.
This semester, I took two Corporate Strategy classes: Financial Accounting and Marketing!
Despite not initially being interested in the wild world of accounting, I ended up loving the intricacies of accounting and how that applied to the marketing and management aspects of marketing (none of this is boring, I swear). The professor was an absolutely incredible woman, Professor Alice Goodyear, who I swear could convince anyone to love accounting. Plus, a basic knowledge of accounting is always a differentiator in getting a job in the business world!
My marketing class, however, is the real reason I’m writing this post! From my last post, it’s pretty apparent that I LOVE MARKETING, but I wouldn’t have ever known that if it were not for Professor Cherrie Clark and her marketing class!
This semester, we were given the task of working on develop a marketing plan for Nashville’s own BEN FOLDS (seriously, one of my favorite musicians EVER). I was thrilled! All semester long, my team and I worked to pitch an idea to Ben’s manager (no, actually) and the CEO of the advertising agency he’s currently working with. It was such an honor and an adventure into all the wonders that marketing could be! I fell in love, and I had SO MUCH FUN! Plus, the networking opportunities were amazing! The guest speakers were incredible (former CEO of Kraft, anyone?), and Professor Clark (who will be teaching at Owen in the near future) brought so much experience and perspective to the table that you can’t help but fall in love!
Okay, I digress, but I love this minor! It’s genius, it’s useful, and it is so insanely fun that I often forget I’m in class and not working at Bain & Co. (let me dream, okay?)
So if you ever, even for a second, think that Vandy not having a Business major is a weakness and not a strength, think again then talk to me because there’s nothing better than Corporate Strategy!
CorpStrat4Lyfe