Many students in college can benefit from some tips and tricks regarding housing, diet, and balancing coursework with extracurriculars and jobs. However, each major and minor will have different aspects that require different tips. Here are five useful tips for business students in college.

1. Choose Your Major And Classes Carefully

• Many business majors simply call themselves business majors, but the reality is that business encompasses several varied and interconnected disciplines, including business administration, marketing, and economics. You should choose your business major and the classes you take to gain your degree carefully, based on your interests, career objectives, and course requirements. For example, if you want to get involved in sales at some point in your career, look for classes that will teach you and help you build skills in both the customer-facing part of sales work, such as giving pitches and the supportive aspects of sales work, including concepts such as sales enablement.

2. Make Sure You Know How To Study Strategically

• All students need to know how to study strategically, but for business majors, this is particularly important. Other majors, such as English, foreign languages, and history will place the focus on researching and writing papers. Majors such as chemistry and mathematics tend to be straightforward in their exam questions and work. Business majors may have a combination of both types of coursework and exams, so you need to be able to prepare for research projects, presentations, practical work such as developing marketing campaigns, and written exams. Each of these will require a unique method of preparation and may overlap with any of the others, so you need to be able to balance all of them as needed.

3. Manage Your Time Wisely

• Part of studying strategically means being able to manage your time wisely. College students tend to juggle several classes and extracurricular activities with jobs, internships, study time, and their free time to spend on enjoyable activities such as spending time with friends. You shouldn’t cut any of these activities, but you also need to make sure you don’t engage in any of them to excess. Find ways to manage your time and ensure you can finish everything you need to do without overwhelming yourself. Some people find physical or app-based calendars and schedules helpful. Others may find methods such as time blocking to be helpful. Whatever method you choose should be one that helps you successfully manage your time. (Doug: Research shows that you should spread out your study of any subject rather than cramming just prior to exams or deadlines.)

4. Set Short-term And Long-term Goals

• The long-term goal of most college students is to graduate and get a job, but a business major should strive to be as specific as possible in his or her long-term goals. Think about where you want to work, the type of career you want, and how you want that career to advance or change over time. Consider the stepping stones, the short-term goals, you’ll need to achieve those long-term goals. Think about the classes you need to take and any electives that will benefit your goals. Look into extra-curricular activities, student employment opportunities, and networking opportunities too. From there, get even more granular. Base your class goals on the syllabus and what you need to achieve in your course work, for example.

5. Start Considering Internships As Early As Possible

• One thing business majors especially should do in college is start researching potential internships and networking appropriately as early as they can. Depending on your major, your career goals, and where you attend school, there may be stiff competition for internship opportunities, so you want to prepare for and seek opportunities early. Internships are vital aspects of business major curricula and are gateways to potential future employment and networking opportunities that can benefit you after graduation. Some aspects of being a business major can benefit from general college tips while others will require more specific tips. You should make yourself aware of a mix of both these types of tips so you’re better able to develop your own unique strategies and methods.

Craig Middleton

• Craig is a New York City-based retired business consultant, who is an expert in education and cultural trends. He has a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters in Education from St. Johns and loves sharing his knowledge on the side through his writing. If you have any questions or comments you can direct them to Craig at craigmiddleton18@gmail.com.

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