Lehigh University’s deadline for undergraduate college admissions responses is May 1, which gives accepted students only a few more days to make their decision.
To help with the process, here are seven of current Lehigh Business students handling some of the most frequently asked questions that incoming students have.
(Watch videos with more FAQs.)
Jenny Lin, junior, accounting and business information systems, minoring in political science and Chinese
What is something that stands out to you about the business program?
“You can really make the program as personalized as you want it. It's flexible. I have to take at least 30 non-business credits, so it gives me the opportunity to explore things outside of the business school. For me, that means I could create double minors. I didn’t come in with any credits, I have a double major and double minor, and I'll still be able to complete it within four years.”
Julia Pardee, junior, marketing and business information systems
Are you involved in any clubs at Lehigh?
“Club sports are popular, as well as academic-focus clubs, and pre-professional clubs. For me personally, I spend a lot of time with Student Senate, so we work a lot with different administrators and get to enact real change and communicate with students and convey that feedback. I am also a TRAC writing fellow, so I'm a peer tutor for students writing for a specific class each semester, and I play club tennis when I have the time.”
Alexis Holder, senior, marketing major and engineering minor
What did you enjoy most about experiential learning?
“I had the opportunity to go abroad in Lehigh's Lehigh in Belgium program, where you take two marketing courses in Belgium with about 20 other students and a marketing professor from Lehigh. This was really great because I met people I hadn't met before and they were all in marketing. I also had the chance to study abroad last semester in Capetown, South Africa, where, again, it was very much learning outside of the classroom and relating what I learned there to marketing. I ended up doing a marketing internship there that I found on my own because I just wanted to apply my Lehigh knowledge to the real world.”
Abby Gabriel, senior, accounting, minoring in both real estate and Jewish Studies
What helped you find a job?
“I declared my major at the end of my sophomore year, so from there I started loading up on credits, because I knew that I was going to have to reach 150 credits to get my CPA. I started taking all the basic accounting classes and at the beginning of junior year, I applied for an internship at Ernst & Young and got it, and now I will begin working there upon graduation. Also, the accounting department at Lehigh was just so helpful and so amazing in bringing in recruiters and meeting alumni that are working at the company now.”
Jessica Fitter, senior, finance and economics
What is one of the benefits about an education at Lehigh?
“Lehigh has given me access to a network. Not only alumni, but friends and parents of friends. Speaking with them either on the phone or during on-campus events has taught me a lot that I've been able to take into interviews and internships, and that I will continue to apply for the rest of my career.”
Matt Horning, junior, finance and accounting and music
What makes the faculty so important at Lehigh?
“A lot of faculty that I have had the pleasure of interacting with have had a lot of real world experience that they share, which is more helpful then just learning academics from a textbook. My professors have ranged from currency traders, cost accountants at Bethlehem Steel, an internal auditor, and a former supply chain executive at Giorgio Mushrooms. They really leverage that experience in the real world to shape what is shared with students. You come away sort of having learned, in a very applicable way, a lot of the content that you'll use later on in your career.”
William Pemberton, senior, finance
What was it like changing majors?
“Changing directions was a combination of having conversations with my professors who were always available, and the experiences that I had in my internships, which the Lehigh business curriculum and having Lehigh on my resume, contributed to. After an internship in consumer finance and being exposed to accounting courses, I realized that maybe accounting isn't my thing. In the spring of my sophomore year, I decided to declare a finance major.”
Faculty kudos
“My biggest influence was Professor [Joseph] Manzo, my sophomore year accounting professor,” says Gabriel. “I had him for both Intro to Financial Accounting and Intro to Managerial Accounting. He just made the class so interesting and intriguing and encouraged me through every step of the way.”
“You'll never have an issue finding a faculty advisor in the business college because they're always all-hands-on-deck,” says Pemberton. “It's not just about the in-class experience, but they also deeply care about the out-of-class experience in the way that they support their students in that regard.”
“I took Marketing 111 and my professor is still one of my biggest mentors,” says Holder. “I reach out to him often. He's given me advice from the job process. I remember just going into class, and I've never had such an enthusiastic teacher who genuinely wanted the best out of his students.”
Lehigh’s College of Business will do its part to make your college experience exceptional. From declaring your major, to studying abroad, to preparing you for your transition from student to professional, we have so much to offer.
(Watch a video of these seven students answering the most frequently asked questions they get from incoming students.)
By Rob Gerth
