The 3 Most Influential Classes

"Why am I taking this class? I'm never going to use this." 

I've heard and said that plenty of times all throughout school. It's hard to see the ROI of most of the classes we take; all of those essays, tests and all-nighters don't seem worth it when you supposedly "put things into perspective." But every now and then during my internship I've had to go back in my mental file cabinet to pull something out from high school, undergrad and grad school. After 8 weeks at Dell, I noticed that I kept using tidbits from the same three classes, so I've deemed them "The Most Influential Classes."

High School: Donna Parker's English Classes 

I've been told I'm a good writer, but I stay humble by reminding myself, "It's still not good enough for DParker." Nearly six years later, I'm still afraid of her beady little eyes looking for mistakes in my writing. Nevertheless, she trained me to always write a good thesis statement, prepare an outline, and start each sentence with a different word. She set a good foundation for business writing, which somehow gave me the confidence to write this blog; it's because of her that writing became a puzzle to solve. I still abuse commas and cringe at the mention of Eudora Welty, but I owe my 'good writing' to Ms. Donna Parker.

Undergrad at LSU: The Entrepreneurship Fellows 

The curriculum in business school gave me the tools I needed to do my job, but the Entrepreneurship Fellows prepared me to be a business professional. The Fellows are a select group of students who are provided with the social network and knowledge to quickly contribute to the region's economic development. Being exposed to business leaders taught me the power of networking; it's easy to be lazy and therefore forgotten, but putting effort into being memorable can be rewarding. At every speaker session at Dell I've asked a question but only after first thanking the speaker because this class not only taught me to be engaged, but also to show respect and gratitude. Through the Fellows I met many admirable people who are now my friends and mentors and they motivate me to never settle for mediocrity in my business career. A huge shoutout to Jarett Rodriguez and Jill Roshto for launching this program!

Grad School at Texas A&M: Project Management 

The graduate-level marketing curriculum at Texas A&M is brilliant and I have repeatedly applied what I've learned towards my project.  However, the class that had the highest ROI was MGT 658: Project Management with Dr. Victoria Buenger. Management of your own time and ability is mostly intuitive, but effectively managing others' time and responsibilities is a skill that gets better over time with the support of formal training. We not only discussed Gantt charts and schedules, but conflict resolution and best practices. I've progressed from putting a to-do list on sticky notes to timelines and reports. It seemed like an "easy A" class, but I worked really hard for my A and I started my internship with the confidence to do my best because I had the tools to prove my value.

Runner-ups were:
Marketing Research helped me identify which method(s) to use for my project
Marketing Strategy put me in the right mindset to think like a marketing manager
Consumer Behavior is just awesome and everyone should take it!


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