Smith School
My friend — we’ll call him John — is a brilliant guy. He’s got ambition, passion and even boasts a fantastic palate. He recently was promoted to the executive board of a renowned business club and is clearly passionate about the position. Unfortunately, he didn’t recognize his passion for business before applying to the University of Maryland and is therefore enrolled in letters and sciences. Generally, the letters and sciences program is helpful, as it assists students in finding their academic passions. The large exception to this is the pool of students wishing to get into the business school.
John wants to major in finance. He realized this three weeks into his first semester of college and has been determined to make it happen. When students want to transfer to the business school, they are required to take at least three prerequisite courses. Fine, that’s fair. The business school is a Limited Enrollment Program and inherently more difficult to get into than some other colleges in the university. All is well and good until you hear about the actual process of applying as an internal transfer student.
There are an abundance of perks to being in the business school. As a finance major, I can attest to the fantastic job the faculty and staff do in bringing experts from various industries to speak at events. John was rejected from attending a seminar a month ago, despite leading a club that directly relates to the work of the speaker that night. He was rejected because he wasn’t in the business school. Fine — maybe this is a larger pill to swallow, but it can’t get much worse for prospective students than just missing out on speakers (who can directly influence their career path), can it? You bet it can.
It wasn’t the business school’s exclusivity that disillusioned John. It was the attitude conveyed through rude and passive-aggressive experiences with employees in the Office of Undergraduate Studies. John is in the Honors College and has made the dean’s list each semester so far. He has the experience on his resume to demonstrate his intent of pursuing a career in business, yet none of the advisers will give him five minutes of their time. If you applied this semester to the business school before getting at least 45 credits under your belt, then odds are you won’t be hearing your decision until winter break. John ranted to me about how his registration date passed last week but that he couldn’t sign up for his (potentially) required classes because he wasn’t accepted into the business school yet. This can be a huge problem for students who are unsure of the result of their pending decision, as it will be difficult to sign up for proper classes when they aren’t given a clear path until break. But fine, the business school can’t really do anything about the influx of applications it receives, and John understands that. He then continued with his rant, perhaps highlighting the true absurdity of the process.
Academic advisers help students take the proper classes to fit their degree requirements. After realizing that he may not sign up for classes until winter, John went to the business school Undergraduate Program Office, asking to speak with an adviser. He was asked immediately whether he was a business student, to which he replied in the negative. After John responded, the employee told him the advisers couldn’t help him. John then asked to speak with one for only a few minutes, just to show them his four-year plan and to check whether he would cover everything for his potential degree. Once again, he was denied. Even if he were to stay in the program office all day, as he outrageously suggested, he would not be allowed one minute of an adviser’s time. He was told (for the third time) to speak with an adviser in the LEP office. The problem is: Nobody has worked as an LEP adviser for more than two semesters. This only exacerbated John’s belief that the business school has an uncaring attitude toward internal transfers and that he didn’t even seem welcome to pursue his passion in business by the very same people responsible for driving and engaging students in all things business. His story shed light on some unaddressed flaws in the business school transfer process that hopefully will be tackled in the coming year.
Aren’t faculty supposed to further our educational pursuit at this university, not drive us away?
