Personal Reflective Essay

1. Being in the Division of Undergraduate Studies has been very beneficial and helpful in my academic career at Penn State so far. The most valuable aspect about it is the advisor’s imperativeness to give students the help they need to further explore their academic options. When I first came to Penn State, I had a goal of getting into the Smeal College of Business. Coming into such a big school and not knowing what I wanted to major in yet was very intimidating for me. With the help of DUS, they gave me a road map of my requirements in order to be accepted into the business school, making sure I never fell behind. Throughout my time in DUS, I had three different advisors. Even though I had several advisors, they always e-mailed me making sure

They encouraged me to make appointments to talk about my schedule and help me find the right classes. With the help of the Division of Undergraduate Studies and my advisors, I declared a Finance Major in the Smeal College of Business. The Business school is not easy to get into, but my advisors provided me with all of the resources I needed to succeed. Every meeting, I was given pamphlets and brochures that assisted me in researching more in depth about the business school. Any time I had a question my advisor would always provide me with resources to help answer what I wanted to know. When I wanted to get more involved by joining a club, my advisor handed me a brochure and went through each club with me to give me more of an understanding. With the great knowledge of my advisor I was able to get involved in the Finance Honors Society, which I didn’t know about previous to asking my advisor. Every week I received e-mails with information about upcoming events that would further benefit my education. I was able to go to workshops for internships or interviews, which helped me become more equipped for future interviews and

As an undergraduate student, I joined a sorority on campus my first semester. A lot of people might not think of a sorority as something to benefit you, but personally I think it has given me more opportunities than I would have had if I didn’t join one. Throughout my experience in a sorority, I have been given many service, leadership, and education opportunities. Philanthropy is a big part of sororities, raising thousands of dollars every year for the Starkey Hearing Foundation. We host a carnival event every year, raising money to give young deaf children the ability to afford hearing aids. We also have a second philanthropy called The Painted Turtle, which is a foundation to help terminally ill children. For this foundation we have an event called Turtle Tumble, where every sorority comes out to help support us. Not only am I involved in my own sorority’s philanthropy, but other sororities as well attending their philanthropy events and donating money. Leadership has also been a big part of being in a sorority. There are many positions you can get involved in including assistant executive chairs, philanthropy chair, THON chair, etc. My freshman year I decided to take on assistant philanthropy chair. I helped organize and collect money for upcoming philanthropy events with other girls in my sorority. Another big part of being in a sorority is your education and grades. We have study hours once a week and are given mentors, which are older girls in the sorority that