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Getting the most out of college

November 3, 2007

Baida CenterMidterms are over, assignments are in. I set up a wiki, Subversion repository, trac and Bugzilla for my senior design project team. Time to work on the business again. No time to sleep in, though… Saturday morning I’ll be up early for a workshop on testing business concepts at the Baida Center.

Drexel University’s Lebow College of Business was ranked in the top 10 schools for entrepreneurs in the nation by Princeton Review. The college’s Baida Center for Entrepreneurship runs classes as well as workshops, business plan competitions, and actual incubation of winning startups with office space, mentoring and funding. The center has a large network of contacts and brings in experienced business leaders to teach and run workshops. That’s what earns the college its recognition.

I didn’t know until reading others’ posts on SitePoint that not all universities let students take classes outside their concentration freely. At Drexel, everything is available to all students as long as graduation requirements are met. Considering how much I’m apparently overpaying for this education (and unlike my friends, I’m the one paying, not my parents), I’ve always tried to get the most out of my time here. My major is in computer science but I’ve taken elective courses in organic chemistry, management, law, psychology and international politics. In each area I found new people, passionate professors, and generally had a good time learning about something other than the computers I spend so much time working with.

If only I didn’t have a class Thursday nights, I’d be able to see the weekly movie at the anime & gaming club. I really wanted to see Bleach: Memories of Nobody this week.

Categorized under: Business, Personal

3 comments

  1. November 3rd, 2007

    ses5909 wrote —

    I always wondered if what you get out of college really depends on who is paying for it. My sister went to school, did the whole sorority life, almost failed out of college, and my parents paid for it all. She experienced the college life but she didn’t get anything from her classes.

    I was the complete opposite though. I paid for about 6 years of college (that happens when you transfer schools 3 times and switch majors).I really tried to diversify and take as many classes as I could. I was the pita student who always asked questions in class and was always harassing my professors. The way I saw it was this, how often would I get to pick the brains of these experts in their fields? I did everything I could to maximize my education and I’m glad I did :)

  2. November 3rd, 2007

    Brendon Kozlowski wrote —

    At least you had professors who truly were, or are, experts in their field. For the majority of my 6 years of higher level education, I’d have to say that only 5-7 professors were actually intelligent enough within their field to be labeled as a true professor, and even fewer that I would consider an “expert” in their field. Ah, the choices we make. I should have gone to Boulder instead of a local state university. Regardless of that, I try to remember and use everything that was taught to me, whether through interaction, textbooks, hands-on experience, or anything else… By the way, Dan, I think you mispelt Baiada twice – at least in comparison to the logo graphic. :)

  3. November 7th, 2007

    Ram wrote —

    Oh….atleast you guys are lucky enough to get good facilities, never mind the quality of the professors…we in India are used to getting taught at a very different level altogether…from about the sixth grade in the chemistry class the teacher says “Imagine there is a test tube in my leftt hand and I am pouring sulphuric acid from the beaker (imaginary as well) placed on the table into it” No wonder many of the Indians make very good sotware engineers….

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