I am currently studying Economics and am a part of one RSO on campus to further my career experiences and abilities as I graduate. I wanted to study Economics because I have a great interest in the business industry as well as the mathematical aspects of the real world and the economy of large businesses. I applied and got into a non-profit student run consulting organization called CUBE Consulting where we work with local start-ups and help them build marketing strategies and financial models for long term growth. I talked to a lot of friends and family who were in the business industry and they recommended me try out consulting as a profession and I found this organization to be a perfect fit for me to grow and learn more. I started off as a consultant and then applied and became a project manager. This position has prepared me a lot for what is to come as a potential career as a consultant in the real world.
My first internship after my sophomore year was at a biotechnology company as a research and development engineer and I learned a lot of data analytics skills and a lot about the industry itself. It taught me professionalism and what it is like to be out in the real world. My second internship was closer to what I wanted to do since it was after I had joined CUBE Consulting and I was starting to find my career path. I had also switched from engineering to economics at this point in my college career and worked last summer at an AI(Artificial Intelligence) Marketing startup. I was a product marketing intern but due to the startup culture I had the opportunity to work on financial models, marketing campaigns, as well as some customer consulting. I developed a lot of important skill sets and learned to work independently. These experiences along with those I have gained on campus through academics and extracurriculars are really preparing me for what is to come after college. All these variables factor into how much I know exactly where I want to be and what kind of job I want. Having made money from both these internships, I have a good amount of savings which allow me to start somewhere as I begin my full-time career. Knowing what kinds of companies I want to work at allow me to know what my potential salary looks like and what living expenses could be, For the future, I want to be able to manage my income in an efficient and responsible way.
I have a lot of older cousins who are currently in the job market. One in particular, who also graduated from UIUC, now works at Uber. He is a good role model for managing finances since he has not only saved a lot of money by living at home early in his career but has paid off his college debts faster than most students. He saved his internship money and saved his early paychecks and now is able to afford to own an apartment in San Francisco. This is a good example to look at for me and I have already attempted to follow some of his income managing techniques. I lived at home during both my internships and saved a lot of my earned money from avoiding rent. I want to be able to be financially responsible after I graduate to make sure that I have a good amount of my income saved as I grow older. Whether that means saving on rent or saving in other methods, I would love to implement those behaviors to maximize the income I make.
My first internship after my sophomore year was at a biotechnology company as a research and development engineer and I learned a lot of data analytics skills and a lot about the industry itself. It taught me professionalism and what it is like to be out in the real world. My second internship was closer to what I wanted to do since it was after I had joined CUBE Consulting and I was starting to find my career path. I had also switched from engineering to economics at this point in my college career and worked last summer at an AI(Artificial Intelligence) Marketing startup. I was a product marketing intern but due to the startup culture I had the opportunity to work on financial models, marketing campaigns, as well as some customer consulting. I developed a lot of important skill sets and learned to work independently. These experiences along with those I have gained on campus through academics and extracurriculars are really preparing me for what is to come after college. All these variables factor into how much I know exactly where I want to be and what kind of job I want. Having made money from both these internships, I have a good amount of savings which allow me to start somewhere as I begin my full-time career. Knowing what kinds of companies I want to work at allow me to know what my potential salary looks like and what living expenses could be, For the future, I want to be able to manage my income in an efficient and responsible way.
I have a lot of older cousins who are currently in the job market. One in particular, who also graduated from UIUC, now works at Uber. He is a good role model for managing finances since he has not only saved a lot of money by living at home early in his career but has paid off his college debts faster than most students. He saved his internship money and saved his early paychecks and now is able to afford to own an apartment in San Francisco. This is a good example to look at for me and I have already attempted to follow some of his income managing techniques. I lived at home during both my internships and saved a lot of my earned money from avoiding rent. I want to be able to be financially responsible after I graduate to make sure that I have a good amount of my income saved as I grow older. Whether that means saving on rent or saving in other methods, I would love to implement those behaviors to maximize the income I make.
I felt reading this that I was getting an annotated version of your resume. So I'd like to take a step or two back from this and ask about the road not taken.
ReplyDeleteFirst, regarding choice of university to attend, did you consider alternatives to Illinois? If so, can that choice be considered as impacting income risk in some way? Second, regarding which major you have at the university, I'm aware that many econ majors are business major wannabes and quite a few of them do a business minor. Did you contemplate that? Again I'd ask, can that choice be considered as impacting income risk? And then with regard to RSOs that do business consulting, I'm under the impression that there are a few of these. Is that right? If so, how did you choose CUBE and not one of the others?
Now let me ask this from still a different angle. While I don't want to pry into your family life, a significant issue is how much parents of students contribute to paying college tuition. One might imagine, as a general proposition not just in your case, that parents who pay a significant chunk of tuition, perhaps all of it, have some stake in their child's choice of major and expected future career. Is there some linkage of that sort in your case? If so, is that a different way that income risk is being managed, by you not otherwise carrying as large a debt burden after you graduate.
The point you made at the end about living at home is a good one in addressing the prompt. Presumably the rent is lower (and maybe it's zero). Likewise expenditure on food and other living costs will be less. This enables more income to be saved early on. It's a pretty common strategy these days and quite sensible for the new graduate.
Let me close with a little levity. From the parents' perspective, while they might want to help their children financially - life begins again when the kids move out of the house. Yes, indeed!