Last year for March Break I visited Mont Tremblant with some friends, and though it was a lot of fun I missed the opportunity to visit open houses at Queen’s and other universities. I’m sure many of you are in the same boat – whether you were vacationing down south or had trouble finding the right day to drive out to Kingston.

Though I was not able to come to Queen’s for the Open House, I was fortunate enough to visit Kingston twice during my second semester of grade 12. The first time, I got to stay with an older friend at her house in the student village, just 5 minutes north of the campus. The second time, I took a guided tour of the university on a Saturday with my parents. Both of these experiences greatly contributed to my decision to come to Queen’s. Once I had the opportunity to walk around the campus, I got a positive feel for the environment and was able to picture myself as a student at Queen’s.

I definitely encourage all of you to take the time and visit the campus, especially if you didn’t get the chance to during March Break. Here are some easy ways to do so:

1. Prospective students from all faculties can join in a guided campus tour, which gives a brief tour of the business building, Goodes Hall. You can find the information to sign up for one of these tours at http://www.queensu.ca/admission/contacts/campustours.html.

2. If you’re interested in a more in-depth guided tour of Goodes Hall, feel free to email the Commerce office at commerce@business.queensu.ca. Usually, there is a standard meeting time of Fridays at 3:00pm where anyone can drop by for info and a tour. As part of the High School Liaison Committee, I help run the tours, and I find most prospective students learn a lot about the Commerce program that they didn’t know before visiting.

3. If you do not have the opportunity to visit Kingston, you still have the ability to use the Commerce office as a resource for answering any questions you may have. Also, feel free to e-mail me at 9dvl@queensu.ca. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about the Commerce program, Queen’s, or Kingston in general!

- Danielle Lucchese, COMM’14

One of most important lessons the Queen’s Commerce program teaches you is how to work as a team. Coming out of high school where assignments are done individually, it can seem strange to write a group paper or to depend on another team member to deliver an effective presentation. However upon graduation, the ability to effectively work in a team is even more highly-valued.

Having multiple teams (one team for each Commerce course) teaches you how to become more organized, how to keep appointments and how to work with different people. Of course, all of these lessons didn’t happen overnight–I learned by making observations and through trial and error.

Before any meeting, I read over the assignment and bring along notes or lecture slides that I think are relevant. I learned very quickly to do readings prior to a meeting. Without preparation, meeting as a group is a waste of time as everyone scrambles to understand the assignment objectives without any real knowledge of how to complete it. By being organized and preparing in advance, it allows you to have a valuable discussion with team members.

Keeping appointments and showing up on time is another important aspect of working as a team. Being on time and showing up to every meeting reflects how committed you are. As a Commerce student, this can be a challenge as so many students are involved in clubs, work part-time or volunteer in addition to being part of teams from other Commerce courses. I like to look at my course deadlines well in advance and estimate how much time I’ll need to spend with each team.

The last aspect I’d like to touch upon is the issue of working with so many different personalities. The best way to work is to figure out everyone’s strengths and to utilize those strengths to the team’s advantage. Those who are better at research can step up to take on a bulk of the reading, while those who enjoy speaking in front of a class can present on behalf of their team. If you have a lot of experience in PowerPoint–volunteer to make the slide deck.

Keeping in mind these tips, I haven’t mentioned what happens if you fail to be a contributing team member. People notice when you never do any work year after year. Students talk about who to avoid when hiring for an executive team or organizing a prestigious event. Professors know who isn’t pulling their weight through peer evaluations and adjust marks accordingly. Word gets through the grapevine quickly and it negatively affects your reputation. This reality seems harsh, but think about what happens in the real world: You’re fired.

Wouldn’t you rather have the chance to learn from your mistakes?

Katherine Wong Too Yen, BCom’12

As Samir mentioned in his blog post, currently student-run executive hiring is at its busiest in the Commerce program. As Co-Chair of the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition Executive, I recently sat through over 40 interviews in two days as we tried to find the best candidates to join the QEC 2012 team.

The whole hiring process has been a great learning experience. As first and second year students, you are primarily the ones who are sending in applications, sitting through interviews, and receiving feedback from the interviewers, who are mostly upper year students. This year, I got to experience what it was like to sit on the other side of the table–from publicizing open positions, to reading through applications, and of course, conducting interviews. It was really interesting to observe which applicants had done their research and who were truly passionate about something, compared to other students who failed to prepare in advance of their interview. Similar to job interviews you may have had outside of school, showing up late or having your cell phone ring definitely left a negative impression. Those who were well-spoken and had confidence in themselves gave me more confidence in their skills and qualifications.

Interviews for hiring in the Commerce program are run as fairly as possible. From ensuring gender representation on the panel, to bringing in a third-party Commerce Society (ComSoc) representative from outside of the hiring committee, to asking a standard set of screening questions, these hiring requirements are in place to ensure that potential bias is minimized. If a candidate has any concerns during the interview, he or she is able to contact the Human Resources Officer of ComSoc who will work to rectify the situation.

The interviewing process is a valuable tool for Commerce students of all years. Whether you’re receiving interview feedback or learning to remain professional amongst your peers; executive hiring is a good way to prepare for interviews with future employers. Getting to experience the hiring process in the Queen’s Commerce program gives you insight from both sides of the equation.

Katherine Wong Too Yen, BCom’12

Reading week is now a thing of the past and as the month of March dawns upon Queen’s Commerce students in all years, so too does the Commerce Society’s period of committee and executive hiring. “March Hiring,” aptly titled, is the time at which the Queen’s Commerce Society, or ComSoc, hires students to fill over three hundred positions at all levels within the internal arm of the organization. All students are encouraged to apply—the welcoming and open nature of the whole process makes the society particularly attractive to many first years (like myself) who, after learning the ropes a bit for the past few months, would like to further their involvement within the Commerce environment. With the team of Kelsey Paterson, Robert Hoy, and Kathryn Wizinsky being elected as ComSoc executive just before reading week, excitement as to what the 2011-2012 year has in store for all of Queen’s Commerce continues to grow.

The society’s internal arm consists of a C-level organizational team, overseeing marketing, PR, IT and financial operations, as well as five “commissions”—Academics, Community Activities, Industry Relations, Outreach, and Student Services. Each has its own student commissioner, mandate and set of sub-committees that manage everything from program-wide social events, to tutoring services for students. I had the opportunity to work with the High School Liaison committee (which falls under the Academics commission) as a frosh rep this past year, and found it to be one of the best aspects of my first year experience in the program. March will see the High School Liaison committee hiring two new co-chairs as well as a whole executive, which I hope to be a part of. I’m sure I speak on behalf of all students when I say that March is an exciting time for all as the opportunity to take a more active role in the Commerce community makes itself readily available to everyone! For more information on the Queen’s Commerce Society, and the range of activities it offers, I encourage you to visit comsoc.queensu.ca

Samir Kulkarni

As Queen’s University transitions its transcripts from a percentage grading system to the GPA system, an obvious question is, “will the GPA system be better?”

My article on GPA vs Percentage grading is now posted on DayonBay.ca and can be read by clicking here.

Here is a summary:

Mark adjustments to final grades are common practice and when applied, percentage grades on a transcript say little about the true achievement of a student. Further, it does not reflect the student’s relative standing in a course. Lastly, percentage grades will always favour quantitative courses. Assigning letter grades based on the distribution of the percentage grades, and then converting the letter grades into a GPA is arguably the best system for grading. Such a mechanism provides the following benefits:

1. The GPA system provides for greater transparency and consistency.
2. The GPA system reduces the disparity in grades between quantitative and qualitative courses, and encourages academic risk taking.
3. The GPA system discourages students from spending unnecessary effort at the point of indifference, thereby reduces stress.
4. The GPA system offers, to an extent, inter-collegiate standardization.
5. The GPA system produces rankings that favour holistically adept students.

The inherent principle behind broader letter grades is that grades need not be categorized down to the “exact” percentage. Rather, letter grades are just as reflective of ability and more beneficial to judge students based on their levels of achievement.

In business schools, the GPA system will place students on a more even playing field when it comes to averages, regardless the area of specialization. It will also promote more variety in electives, adding breadth to the educational experience. Rankings will favour the students who are able to excel in any course matter. Given the extent to which employers use grades in assessing candidates, the differences between the percentage and GPA systems should be immaterial.

When adopting the GPA system, an institution needs to implement a proper system to assign letter grades. It is meaningless to have a conversion scale to turn percentage grades directly into letter grades and then convert those letters grades on to the GPA scale. Once the system is implemented at Queen’s, it needs to promote the assignment of letter grades based on the distribution of percentage grades, and it should continue to release grade distributions to the students.

Oh and I’ll be on the March Break Open House panel on Tuesday, so I’m pretty excited to meet this year’s prospective students!

Zeya Yang, Comm 2013