What I Learned as a Business Law Student
- Nov 9, 2017
- 3 min read
I have found that most new Business Law students that I have spoken to are unsure of what this degree really entails. As I am finishing up my final courses towards my degree, I would like to share some of the things I have learned along the way.
Customize Your Experience
W. P. Carey does a great job of allowing students to have their own unique experiences as students. When it comes to classes, there are obviously the required courses that need to be taken, but you have more freedom with your electives. As most of you may know, the elective courses for Business Law are taken at other schools within the university. The classes currently offered range from Justice Studies, Political Science, and Philosophy. Although there are a limited number of classes that currently count towards your major, it is important to know that any course you are interested in taking can be petitioned. Please keep in mind that the committee is able to deny your petition, and that you should make sure the course you are asking to take applies in some way to the major. If you find a course you are interested in, ask your advisor about how you can fill out a petition. If you find a course that may not directly apply to business law, you can always take the course as an upper division elective. Law schools like to see that you have challenged yourself with your coursework. ASU offers some amazing courses, so don’t limit yourself!
Get Involved
This, along with networking, is probably the most common advice you will get in the business school. We have an entire post about getting involved on campus, but I wanted to provide a couple more examples of what I have done and how it has helped me. I believe the most important aspect is finding what you really love doing, otherwise with all of the distractions of being a college student, you won't commit. Getting involved with W. P. Carey specifically has been very beneficial to me. Whether that is teaching WPC 101, being a peer advisor, or mentoring over the summer for the Fleischer Scholars Program, you will learn something from each experience. As a business student you also have a large amount of internships at your fingertips. Attend the career fairs and try to get an internship! Experience will never hurt and you may find that you are interested in something you never thought you would be. Getting an on campus job is another great way of getting involved. The convenience of working on campus is a huge plus and often times you have the opportunity to work with other great students. Here is a link to additional recources if you are interested: https://students.asu.edu/employment/search.
Build Relationships
As you have probably heard before, networking is a big deal. For me, I try to build relationships with people strong enough to where I feel comfortable asking them for a letter of recommendation if I need one. If there is one thing I have learned, it is to start this process early. You do not want to get to your senior year trying to figure out who is going to write your letter of recommendation for law school, a job, or another program. If you find that there is a professor that you really like, visit them at their office hours and build a relationship. Participate in class and even take courses with them in the future so they can better speak to your academic achievements. If there is one mistake I have made, it is that I have created a lot of relationships but have not put in the effort to nurture them. Stay in contact and work for additional opportunities that will make you stand out from other students.
Ask Questions
Finally, ask A LOT of questions! The business school offers tons of recourses for students. Visit your career coach and advisor regularly and ask questions. Reach out to other students that are in your major and learn from their experiences.
With all of that, the only other thing I can add is to have fun! You’ll never get these moments back so don’t have any regrets, it’ll be great :)
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