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Met the B-Orgs? Join some, FSB students say

Students talk with members of business organizations at the 2019 Meet the B-Orgs

A first-year student who attended Meet the B-Orgs this week and learned a little something about more than 50 business-oriented groups and fraternities might wonder why they should try to add more to their already-busy college life only days after starting it. But Farmer School students who’ve taken part in those organizations say there’s a lot of good reasons to do it.

“I think a business organization can really help someone develop outside of the classroom,” senior finance and accountancy major Collin O’Sullivan explained. “There's something for everyone, varying from professional development to specific career interests to just getting involved to help build the Farmer School of Business as a whole.”

“Business organizations, I think, do as much if not more for you on Miami's campus as business classes,” senior finance major Andy Newman noted. “I think that the amount of work that you do for your organization can lead to professional development that is unrivaled by other things on campus.”

What a student gets out of joining an organization depends as much on the student as it does the people and goals of the organization. “I've received not only the professional development that I was expecting from the business organization, but also the connections to various other organizations as well as friendships with people within the business school that I don't think I would've gotten if I hadn't been a part of an organization,” senior accountancy major Madison Johns said.

“The people in the organization felt like the best part of joining. This summer, I would meet people who are also from Miami and as soon as you say you're part of this organization, they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, you know all these people too!’” senior accountancy major Cara Kroeger pointed out. “It's all these connections that you make on campus and it makes the campus so much smaller. It also like makes Farmer a lot smaller because you get to know so many different people, and they're always in your classes.”

Finding an organization that’s the right fit may require some homework, Johns said. “Listen to what they're saying about their professional development events. See if you can see yourself in that organization through the people you meet, through the people you interact with, and really find the organization where you feel most at home because that's going to be the one where you meet the most people and grow with most in your four years.”

“Do you get along with the people really well? Are they your type of people? Are they talking about positive things about the organization?” Kroeger remarked. 

“What can I bring to the table?  Once you realize your own value proposition, you just make that group so much more dynamic,” junior finance major Benjamin Phillips III said. “Asking questions, looking inward, and reflecting on ‘What can I bring to the group, my skillset, my experiences, my network?’ Because that's going to make everybody at the table better.”

Photos from the 2019 Meet the B-Orgs