By Ben Anderson (McIntire ’24)
Frankly, when I was a senior in high school, I did not expect to be a McIntire student during my time here at UVA. I had some experience in the business world during my years in high school—most notably competing in DECA, a marketing competition organization—but I actually chose to come to Charlottesville for a different reason. Virginia requires every student to come in undecided in the College of Arts & Sciences, which appealed to me, someone who truly had no idea what they wanted to major in.
I took the first semester to try out different majors, but nothing really stuck out to me except for the Commerce prerequisites, which I took to give myself the option at the end of my second year to apply. Even my extracurriculars don’t scream McIntire student, even now. Instead of being president of an investment banking club or marketing CIO, I’m a resident adviser and write for the sports section of the student newspaper.
But once I enrolled in my first semester of classes at McIntire, I found all that the School could do for me both inside and out of the classroom. In the ICE curriculum, I was exposed to any variation possible of what you could do in the business world, which really helped me narrow down what I wanted to pursue after graduation. In addition, Commerce Career Services helped guide me through fall recruitment for internships—perhaps the most foreign experience during my time here—to help me find a summer position I’m truly excited for. So for a high school senior who didn’t even see a path to McIntire in his future, the School has still been immensely valuable during my time in Charlottesville.
