Sophomore Year: Identify & Prepare

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the transition to college and are now ready to start your second year. During your sophomore year you will be making choices about academic options and other aspects of your college career. Now is the time to seek leadership roles in extracurricular activities and build your academic career.

The following activities should be completed by the end of the year:

Academics

Determine the major or other academic programs you wish to pursue

• • Continue to explore options as needed and declare when you are ready.
  • Assess your academic standing and consult with your academic advisor about retaking courses to improve your GPA if needed.
  • Complete the ‘Application to Degree Plan’ form in the Office of Student Services to declare your major. You must have completed at least 45 total credit hours to declare.
  • Join the business student club related to your major.

Consider studying abroad

• • Talk to your academic advisor about the value of studying abroad and how to fit it into your program.
  • Attend the Study Abroad Fair to learn more about study abroad destinations, application process and scholarships.
  • Talk to other students that have studied abroad.
    

Excel in business core classes

• • Monitor your grades and performance in the program on an on-going basis.
  • Retake courses as needed to ensure that you have solid preparation from BAPP and business core classes for success in upper level and major classes.
    
  • Your GPA is not everything but DOES matter!

Career Development

Talk to your advisor to enroll in the Career Accelerator course.

Leadership

Identify job shadowing, internship or other relevant work experience opportunities

• • Connect with the Career Center to explore opportunities.
  • Seek opportunities that will give you early exposure to your intended career field to assure a good fit between your interests, values, skills, goals and expectations of anticipated field.
  • Gain experiences that will make your more competitive for future internships and jobs.

Seek out leadership roles within an organization or activity

• • Leverage your previous experiences and secure leadership roles.
  • Commit to one or two activities as depth and quality of your activities will make more of a difference in the future than quantity of activities.
  • Pursue opportunities that are related to your major and career goals.

Engage in community service

• • Broaden your experiences and give back to the community.
  • Make yourself more marketable as companies place importance on civic involvement and leadership.
  • Expand your network of professional contacts.