Monthly Archives: September 2011

Business, Career Counseling, Healthcare, Majors

Business Majors for Students Who Like to Help

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One of the more challenging aspects of selecting a major and career goal is when a student believes that their primary interests are in direct opposition to one another.  Rather than a challenge, consider such a scenario as an opportunity to get creative.

Many students come to us who are attracted to the job opportunities available with a business major, yet they question if the resulting careers will allow them to help and serve other people.  They often emphasize that they want to make a difference in the world.  Here are a few options to ponder:

  • Business for Secondary Education– This major allows students to gain a broad business background, as well as the opportunity to pursue a teacher certification upon graduation.  You can share your business savvy with future generations, providing students with necessary skills for the workforce, and possibly even inspiring them to pursue a career in business.
  • Human Resource Management– This major offers training in conflict resolution, staffing, and other subjects that prepare you for working with the employees of an organization.
  • Marketing- Nonprofit and Development Track– Students can use this version of the marketing major to launch a career with agencies that have helping as their mission.
  • Financial Planning– Assisting individuals with decisions regarding their finances is a role with long-term impact.
  • Prehealth students might find the Bachelor of Science in Economics and Baylor Business Fellows programs to accommodate their prehealth courses a bit more easily than the traditional Bachelor of Business Administration.
  • A business major is also strong preparation for a career in healthcare administration.
  • Depending on how you choose to apply your business knowledge in the workforce, any business major can lead to a rewarding career that allows you to contribute to society in meaningful ways.

For more information, follow the hyperlinks above, or contact Career Counseling to begin your journey in combining your unique interests.

Occupations

Career Spotlight: Arbitrator

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According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, arbitrators play an important role in resolving conflicts outside of the court system:

“All hearings are private and confidential, and the processes are less formal than a court trial. If no settlement is reached, no statements made during the proceedings are admissible as evidence in any subsequent litigation.

There are two main types of arbitration: compulsory and voluntary. During compulsory arbitration, opposing parties submit their dispute to one or more impartial persons, called arbitrators, for a final and nonbinding decision. Either party may reject the ruling and request a trial in court. Voluntary arbitration is a process in which opposing parties choose one or more arbitrators to hear their dispute and submit a final, binding decision.

Arbitrators usually are attorneys or businesspeople with expertise in a particular field. In arbitration, parties identify, in advance, the issues to be resolved, the scope of the relief to be awarded, and many of the procedural aspects of the process.”

Professor John Ferguson, Lecturer at Baylor, shared that arbitration is typically only a part of an attorney’s practice, rather than a full-time occupation.  He also noted that the few arbitrators who are not attorneys have usually accumulated years of professional experience in the industry where they would like to serve as an arbitrator.

If this career is interesting to you, consider visiting Baylor’s pre-law website.

Healthcare

On-Campus Resource: Prehealth Studies Office

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With approximately 1/3 of Baylor freshmen entering as “pre-med” each year, it makes sense that our campus would want to provide information and guidance to help these students be successful.  Going beyond pre-medicine, the Prehealth Studies Office also serves students on the following pre-professional tracks:

  • Predentistry
  • Preoccupational Therapy
  • Preoptometry
  • Prepharmacy
  • Prephysician Assistant
  • Prephysical Therapy
  • Preveterinary Medicine

Keep in mind that these tracks are not academic majors.  Rather, they are tracks that a student can elect to pursue, in preparation for applying to professional schools.  The application process is complex, which is why students should take advantage of the wisdom of the advisors in the Prehealth Studies Office.

If you are on one of these tracks, or even considering it, visit the Prehealth Studies website or meet with an advisor one-on-one to discuss how a prehealth track could fit into your academic plan.

Majors

Considering an anthropology major?

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For students who enjoy hard sciences, arts, and social sciences, the Anthropology major just might offer the perfect blend.  According to the Princeton Review:

“Anthropology is the broad study of humans and human cultures throughout the world and throughout history and prehistory. It’s part natural science, part social science, and part humanistic study. If you major in Anthropology, you’ll compare and contrast biological, social, and cultural similarities and differences among humans and human societies…The field of Anthropology is conventionally divided into four sub-fields: (1) archaeology, (2) biological anthropology, (3) linguistic anthropology, and (4) cultural anthropology.”

Baylor offers the Anthropology major with your choice of a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree plan.  Bachelor of Science students must choose a concentration in General Anthropology or Forensic Anthropology.

The College of Arts and Sciences at Baylor states that

“Graduates of this major go on to:

• work in museums or cultural organizations
• take jobs that can include excavation, research, marketing or advertising
• attend graduate school
• work in a number of government agencies such as the CIA, the FBI, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, historic preservation offices, or environmental agencies.”

Obviously, the major is versatile, both in the subjects studied within the discipline, as well as the career opportunities that this major affords.  Students considering this major might also be interested to know that the Anthropology major requires six credit hours of summer field work or original research.  Not only do such opportunities help students to learn more about professional anthropology, but they look great on those all-important resumes and graduate school applications.  Click here to read more about summer field experiences.

If your interest has been piqued, you are encouraged to visit the website for the Department of Anthropology, Forensic Science, and Archaeology.

http://www.princetonreview.com/Majors.aspx?cip=450201

Creativity, Occupations, Web Resources

Web Resource: Careers in Interior Design

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Each year, students inspired by HGTV and Southern Living magazine question if a career in interior design might be a good fit for them.  There are many ways to learn about the profession, such as college courses, job shadowing, and conversations with faculty.

What if you want to learn more about this career at 2:00 a.m.?  In that case, you might want to begin with this web resource:  Careers in Interior Design.  Several associations made up of interior designers came together to provide a thorough explanation of the career to students.  They address questions like, “How is an interior designer different from a decorator?”

If designing useful and aesthetically appealing spaces sounds like a good career choice for you, keep in mind that Baylor offers an interior design major, which you can learn more about on the Baylor website.

Announcements

Chemistry, Biology, and Math…Oh, My!

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Was your first test grade lower than you were expecting? Follow the lead of some of Baylor’s most successful students and take advantage of FREE tutoring.

Starting TODAY, students in chemistry, biology, math, and physics classes can drop in for FREE tutoring in BSB A.235, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.. This is a satellite location of the Tutoring Center in the Paul L. Foster Success Center, which is still available for tutoring in more than 50 subjects! Click here for more information.

You might be surprised to learn that the majority of students who visit the Tutoring Center are “A” and “B” students. If career success, is your goal, do what you can now to make sure your grades don’t hold you back from achieving your dreams.

Creativity, Occupations

Music Therapist

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What is music therapy?  According to the American Music Therapy Association,

Music Therapy is an allied health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, psychological, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, the client’s abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of his or her life. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in the music therapy profession supports the effectiveness of music therapy in many areas such as facilitating movement and overall physical rehabilitation, motivating people to cope with treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for the expression of feelings.

http://www.musictherapy.org/careers/employment/

Music therapy courses are not offered at Baylor, so current students interested in this field are encouraged to pursue either a Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Music Education degree.  After graduation, students can apply to a graduate program specifically for music therapy.

Please visit Musictherapy.org for more specific details about this fascinating and enriching field.  You may also want to do some informational interviewing with music therapists in your area.  Musictherapy.org provides a directory where you can search for music therapists.  The Center for Music Therapy, located in Austin, TX, offers a workshop to discover more about this field and also has lots of information on their website: www.centerformusictherapy.com.

If you are looking for a way to blend your musical gift with an active helping profession, music therapy might just be the direction to take!

Career Counseling

10 Major Links

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Today we will explore a list of links available on the Career Counseling website for exploring your major, so grab a cup of coffee and join me on the tour!

1.  Majors and Prehealth Programs at Baylor

 

Our first stop is a list of all the majors and prehealth programs Baylor has to offer.  One really nice feature of this list is that each program is linked to the departmental website where you are sure to find even more information about the particular area, especially the list of courses you would need to take.

2.  GPA Calculator

If you are ever curious about your gpa status, this link can be very useful.  Just follow the steps for inputting your hours and grades (or anticipated grades) for your courses and you will gain a clear picture of what your gpa might look like.

3.  Majors in Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences has done a tremendous job, taking each of their majors and giving a description, course examples, and potential job opportunities.  I think this resource can be quite valuable if a major in the College of Arts and Sciences is on your list.

4.  Minors List

This link provides a list of all the minor options available at Baylor.  Since not all majors are minors and not all minors are majors, this resource can be a valuable way to gain a clear understanding of the minors offered.

5.  The Princeton Review’s Major Descriptions

The Princeton Review offers an alphabetical search of a wide variety of majors, listing descriptions of each.  If you want to get another perspective of what is involved in a particular major, this resource might be what you are looking for.

6.  What Can I Do With This Major?

Career Services has put together a generous list of resources that address this very question.  Search the list for majors of interest to you and click the bold heading for a link to a PDF with valuable information about different possible areas to pursue with the major, employers for that major, and also strategies for pursuing a career in that field.  I find the PDFs to be full of practical information.  The link below the bolded one is also filled with valuable resources ranging from links to professional associations related to the major field to actual job listings in the area, so you can see exactly what employers are looking for in the hiring process.

7.  What Can I Do With a Major In…?

For this link, we go to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  They provide a rich list of majors their school provides, linking each to a list of information and valuable resources that students with interest in that field may find useful.  One of my favorite pieces of information they provide is a list of careers that may be pursued with that major.  This list is very detailed, so you may find other careers related to your major field that you might not have thought of yet.

8.  Major Weblinks

Northern Illinois University has also put together a list of majors linked to valuable information for each.  This website is another great resource to peruse to discover more information regarding majors you are interested in.

9.  What can I do with my liberal arts degree?

If you have been asking yourself this question, then this link might be just right for you.  A click on this link will take you to an article from the Winter 2007 edition of the Occupation Outlook Quarterly that specifically explores this topic.

10.  Baylor’s Pre-Law Program

While not a major itself, Baylor’s Pre-Law program is a valuable pre-professional program that will help you prepare well for a future in law school and beyond.  This link takes you to Baylor’s Pre-Law website, which is chock full of key information necessary for pursuing the field of law, from pre-law contacts in different university departments to a timeline that will help you stay on track as you pursue your goals.

 

I hope these resources are helpful as you explore majors of interest to you.  Enjoy your weekend and Sic ‘Em, Bears!!!

Announcements, Majors, Web Resources

What majors will get me a job?

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The short answer:  any of them.  The longer answer is that any major can provide a solid foundation for career success.  However, simply possessing a degree is likely not going to ensure employers come looking for you.  Successfully landing a job requires strong academic performance, relevant experiences, and keen job search skills.  With that being said, many students ask me about whether or not a given major leads to careers that are “in demand?”  Here is one strategy to consider when trying to answer this question for yourself.

Imagine that you have been able to fast forward to the time in your life when you are starting your job hunt.  Consider employers for whom you might like to work.  Review job listings on the company websites, paying particular attention to the qualifications.  Do you notice any trends regarding the level of education, area of study, or relevant experiences they are seeking?

The beauty of performing this exercise early in your academic career is that it allows you time to acquire education and skills that are “in demand.”  If you wait until your last semester of college, there may not be much time left to gain sales experience, learn a foreign language, or demonstrate leadership.

What if you don’t know what employers to consider?  Maybe you aren’t even sure of your career goals.  That’s okay.  A strategy for you could be to review the company websites of organizations who actively recruit at Baylor.  There are several career fairs coming up, and the Career Services office updates their website with lists of the companies that will be represented.

Log in to your HireABear account for more information on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Job Fair and the Hire a Bear Career Fair.  Click the “Career Events” tab at the top, then search “Career Fair.”  Each of the fairs listed in your search results will offer a link to “Search Employers.”  You will have many criteria from which to select as you search those who will be in attendance.  If you click on an employer’s name, you will see a list of majors they recruit.

If you are undecided on your major, or unsure of your major, this is a great way to discover what majors can prepare you for a career with the employer of your dreams.

Mark your calendar!  The STEM Job Fair is TOMORROW, September 15.  The HireABear Career Fair is September 29.  You can register for the events through your HireABear account, and you can also get specifics on times and locations.  These fairs are for all students, whether you are exploring opportunities, looking for an internship, or trying to secure that first full-time position.  Take advantage of this wonderful service that Baylor offers you!