Another great thing about volunteering is the low commitment aspect. As a first year student, it can be hard to manage your work-life balance. Volunteering will typically include taking part in a training session and then attending the event weekend itself, rather than a year-long commitment if you are on the executive. You can volunteer in as many or as few ComSoc conferences or competitions as you would like – just be sure that the events are not taking place simultaneously. As a volunteer, you get to experience the fun parts of an event, like the socials, wine and cheese receptions and dinners as well as network with keynote speakers and/or judges and sponsor reps who attend the events.

There are conferences and competitions to suit a lot of varying interests, such as Queen’s Business Forum on the Fashion Industry (QBFFI), Queen’s Finance Association Conference (QFAC), Queen’s Marketing Association Conference (QMAC), and Queen’s Sports Industry Conference (QSIC), to name a few. If you’re a first year student, or if you’ll be joining the Queen’s Commerce family this fall, make it a priority to volunteer for a ComSoc event!

Until next time,
Kat Wong Too Yen, BCom’12

There were some interesting themes prevalent throughout the weekend that gravitated about the idea of pursuing a career in the finance industry. What I found was that many of these themes are directly relatable to the university decisions process. At the core of it all is the idea that you shouldn’t be doing something simply based on how others will perceive your actions (ie. don’t pick a university because all your friends and people in year above have gone there).

Here are some takeaways from the speakers, and my adaptations for university selection:

• You have to love what you’re doing. You should enter a program of study that you’re really going to enjoy. Whether this means choosing between sciences or business, or choosing between finance or accounting, you have to find something that you’re going to have fun doing. If you don’t know what you love yet (which is likely the case), you should set yourself up with the opportunities to explore a diverse range of studies to figure out what you really enjoy.
• You have to enter a career for the right reasons. You should choose your program of study for reasons that are important for you, and not for your friends or parents. A criterion that one person finds important may be immaterial for someone else, so make sure you’re not lying to yourself to try and rationalize something that’s not right for you.
• Innovation is needed in the finance industry. This is less directly related, but essentially it means you do something different. When it comes to university applications or job resumes, the truth is that a lot of people have similar profiles because they pursue extracurricular activities they think will “look good”. You want to “look different” by doing something that makes you stand out.
• Hard work trumps dependence on innate talent. This is the cookie cutter perseverance lesson, but I’ll offer a twist. If you work hard and you’re good at what you do, you don’t have to follow some “predetermined path” to be successful.

On a different note, just over 2 months until I leave for exchange!

Zeya Yang ‘13

To satisfy your cravings further, dining halls also offer nutritious salad bars, grab-and-go sandwiches, daily hot soups, and Ontario’s fruits and vegetables. And oh! Who can forget the welcoming smiles of the hospitality staff, eager to serve you!

If you have alternative dietary needs, Queen’s got you covered! Halal, Kosher, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose free and other special dietary offerings are available especially for you. Check out the mouth-watering menu to see what’s cooking today! Furthermore, for your convenience, each food option is labelled with its ingredients and allergy precautions. Yes, at Queen’s Dining Halls, there is something new daily to surprise your taste buds.

Other than the three residence dining halls, there are numerous retail dinning locations as well. These include Pizza Pizza, Tim Hortons, Booster Juice, Teriyaki, and Ignite Grill all in once convenient location, Queen’s Centre. As a commie, you will find yourself grabbing coffee and snack-to-go from Goodes’ Hall Cafe. For a full list of places to grab a bite from, check out the campus food location map.

Lastly, I cannot help but brag about the friendly service of Queen’s hospitality staff. Their awards speak for themselves, so instead of me bragging about them, I encourage you to read the awards section of hospitality services website.

I encourage you to visit the newly launched hospitality services website to further explore food adventures at Queen’s. If you have any questions regarding the hospitality services, you can skim through the FAQ section or contact them directly.

- Jawwad Siddiqui, COMM’ 15

Things have been so busy with midterms and group projects that I haven’t had the chance to post a blog in a while. On top of that, the date for second years to submit their international exchange applications is fast approaching! By the beginning of December, I have to rank my top choices and complete an application consisting of essay-type questions explaining where I want to go and why. I’m hoping to head to Europe – specifically France or Belgium.

Here are a few of many factors second years consider when going on exchange:

1. Location: Some students choose to study in a country they’ve visited before and love, others choose to go somewhere totally new. I narrowed my location down to central Europe so I can easily travel when I don’t have class.

2. Reputation: The Commerce program has affiliate partnerships with some of the world’s most popular and prestigious business schools, such as HEC School of Management in Paris and ESADE in Barcelona.

3. Culture: This is definitely an exciting factor to consider. Whether it’s living in an old historical city in Europe, on the beach in Barbados, down under in Australia, or in a fast-paced city in Asia, every student will have the chance to experience a culture change coming from Canada. Furthermore, some students have studied languages within their time here at Queen’s that they hope to put to use in their country of residence overseas next year.

4. Cost: The great thing about the exchange program at Queen’s School of Business is that we don’t pay international student rates while studying abroad. In fact, tuition cost oversees is exactly what we pay in Kingston. The difference is the cost of living, which varies depending on where you want to go and how much you travel. Keep in mind, there are some exchange bursaries as well.

There are over 80 partner schools in 30 different countries to choose from! With all these options, many students turn to the Centre for International Management for individual advising appointments to get more detailed information and further solidify their decisions. Check out their list of all the partner schools at: http://business.queensu.ca/bcom/international_study.php

- Danielle Lucchese, COMM’14

Every 4th year Commerce student, regardless of specialization, is required to take COMM401 – Business Policy. While this course is particularly heavy in terms of workload, it is also one of the most relevant courses you will take while at Queen’s. Taken directly from my course syllabus, “COMM401 is positioned as a capstone course which integrates the functional knowledge which students have developed over their undergraduate tenure into discussions surrounding the development of business strategy.” In other words, this is a course where you can directly apply your knowledge learned over the past 3 years to business concepts covered in class.

One of my favourite parts of this course is the Capstone Simulation. To give you a bit of context, as a 1st year Commerce student, you complete a simplified version of the simulation, called Capsim. 3 years later, Capstone gives you the chance to complete the simulation again. Doing the simulation the second time around allows students to learn from their previous mistakes and to make more informed decisions. In the simulation, you compete as part of a team to improve your company’s financial position within an industry, comprised of other companies run by your classmates. You are given the opportunity to make key business decisions, from deciding when to produce or upgrade new products, invest in TQM (Total Quality Management) initiatives, and determine your marketing budget and sales force. All of these decisions impacts your profitability and market share, and directly affects your company’s position in a competitive industry. With Capstone, decisions become increasingly complex, from making ethical choices, to dealing with labour negotiations and wage hikes. As a team, you quickly learn how to “specialize” in an area, like R&D, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources, Production, or Finance in order to make smart business decisions and to anticipate moves from your competitors. The simulation allows us to collaborate and work with students in different business streams, interpret data, review financial performance, and to build and revise business strategies.

While this is by far one of the more challenging and time-consuming courses I’ve taken at the Queen’s School of Business, I can definitely see the real-life applications and value of the concepts covered in class.

Until next time!
Kat Wong Too Yen, BCom’12

P.S. Just a reminder that the Queen’s Fall Preview is taking place this Saturday, November 12th! For a schedule of all the events happening on campus, click here. It’s the perfect chance for you and your family to take a tour of Goodes Hall and visit the student residences.

Such a mindset didn’t last very long in business school. For most people, summer jobs become pursued, and by the senior years, finding a full-time job is certainly a priority. Last year, I wrote a brief post about how recruiting is different between 1^st and 2^nd year. Well, 3^rd year is a HUGE jump. Now every recruiter takes you seriously.

This year was also different in that all the consulting firms moved up summer recruiting to September/October to join the likes of pretty much every other recruiting category (industry and summer vs full-time), the only exception being finance summer recruiting. There was a noticeable buzz around Goodes Hall and Gordon Hall as you saw a disproportionate number of your peers walking around in suits with a black portfolio in hand. And it’s hard to ignore when this is the case every day for several weeks straight. It’s definitely an exciting time of the year and something to look forward in the junior years of the program.

The final thing I’d like to share is the camaraderie and support that comes out during recruiting season. For many industries, there’s not necessarily a set quota with which the recruiters come to campus. Rather, there’s a “bar” or “hurdle” to pass. When this is the case, you’re not competing with your classmates for spots. This is especially true in consulting recruiting, where practising cases with peers is essential – the mindset that practising would be helping the “competition” won’t get very far. Consequently, you see more of a joint effort amongst everyone where the ultimate goal is to see as many people have offers as possible.

I’ve refrained from writing anything recruiting related until I was completely done interviewing. Looking back at the past few weeks, it’s been a (stressful) blast and a very positive overall experience. For prospective students, I would encourage a deeper dive into the recruiting element when considering schools. For junior students, I would advise keeping your mind open and not narrowing yourselves into a specific industry too early. For senior students, I wish the best of luck to anyone who’s still wrapping things up or getting reading for the winter recruiting season.

Zeya Yang ‘13

I moved from Toronto, provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. Living in a highly dense city, I wanted to enjoy the peace of mind and stronger bond within community that a small city like Kingston had to offer. Furthermore, living on campus in my first year allowed me to have a greater sense of the new community, opportunities for on-campus leadership, flexible meal options, and overall convenience that made my university transition a whole lot easier. Culture transition was made a whole lot easier by countless cultural clubs at Queen’s, many of my friends who took an active part in Queen’s culture satisfied their traditional culture by joining clubs such as Queen’s Hong Kong Student association etc. Furthermore, Queen’s hospitality services are very understanding in terms of individual’s dietary needs ensuring your pleasant experience on campus.

In order to ensure my success, I had to change some of my habits and take on more responsibilities as well as develop new abilities. Examples of a few that you and I will most probably face are as follows;

- Responsible for course selection, attendance, deadlines and course material.
- Financial budgeting and paying your bills for the first time.
- Doing your own laundry and cleaning your room.
- If you obtain a job, finding the balance between work and school.
- Setting your own goals and expectations.

Preparing myself mentally and practicing living in such an environment earlier was the key factor to my pleasant transition. Begin managing your whole day, doing your own laundry, cleaning your own room, grocery shopping, budgeting and prioritizing activities to hit the ground running at Queen’s.

- Jawwad Siddiqui, Comm’15

QCC stands for the Queen’s Case Competition and is a two day event split up into two streams: the maroon stream, for first and second years, and the gold stream, for second to fourth years (second years get to pick which stream they’d like to be in). I had the opportunity to participate in last year’s QCC in the maroon stream, and as it was my first true case competition experience, had my eyes opened to the intense yet rewarding world of formulating solutions to business scenarios in a group.

This year, I served on the committee that oversaw and ran the Queen’s Case Competition and was amazed by the quality of work put forth by competitors. Students from all years of the Commerce program brought forward their best analytical and communication skills to put together some of the most incredible presentations Goodes Hall has probably ever seen! Whether outlining a franchising strategy for a new fast-food chain, or revitalizing brand interest for an age-old consumer product, competitors truly embraced the spirit of QCC.

Case competitions are a great way to apply in-class knowledge to real world scenarios and serve as a great medium in which to test your analytical and organizational skills. Working in a team on a case for 4 to 5 hours may seem daunting to the best of us, but often putting in the required effort yields a final product that everyone can be proud of. I think that QCC is a great way to start the new school year and hope that if case competitions are your thing, you consider getting involved!

-Samir Kulkarni, COMM ‘14

Looking ahead, this week I’m excited about travelling to Toronto to take part in a client meeting for a consulting project that I am working on for one of Canada’s largest banks. This independent consulting project is part of the APSC400 Technology, Engineering and Management (TEAM) course, open to all 4th years. Working on a team of 3-5 students from the business, engineering and law faculties, this course gives students valuable, hands-on experience during an 8-month period working directly with their client to solve a high-level business problem. I highly encourage all 3rd year students reading this blog to learn more about this course by visiting http://team.appsci.queensu.ca/

Outside of class, as Co-Chair of the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, my team is working hard to plan the QEC Taster and Elevator Pitch Competition. This event is taking place on Tuesday, October 18th right on-campus, at Alfies starting at 6:30 PM and open to students of all ages. In particular, we are encouraging first year students to come out and attend. The QEC is letting students from all faculties pitch their unique business idea to our panel of judges in 45 seconds or less for the chance to win a $500 paycheque. For more information, you can visit http://theqec.com where all the details will be posted up shortly.

Until next time!
Katherine Wong Too Yen, BCom’12

However, I am currently going through a different transition. Having finished my first year in the Commerce program, I am just beginning my second year and faced with a whole new set of challenges. Most students do their research and try and prepare for what to expect before they start first year, but I’ve found second year to be more of a jump into unchartered waters.

Here’s a few changes I’ve had to (or will soon have to) deal with, allowing you guys to take a glimpse outside of the first year realm.

1. Pace of classes and extracurriculars: Both professors and co-chairs are expecting students to take on more responsibility once you’re in second year. One month into school and I’ve already had two formal class presentations, and am already assigned to more than one duty for an individual committee. Using the experience I learned as both a first year student and a Frosh Rep has proven to be one of the clues to succeeding in this faster-paced year two.

2. Residence vs. student village: Last year, I had a great experience living in a double room in Victoria Hall. That being said, it’s definitely been a wake-up call having to cook my own meals and clean a whole house, as I’m currently living in the student village with four other girls. Nonetheless, living in such close proximity to the campus and downtown area, as well as all my other friends, has been great so far. I think that the student village at Queen’s is one of its most unique elements, allowing for the community feel students of all faculties love.

3. Exchange talk: By the end of first semester, I will already have submitted my application for international exchange. Criteria for exchange placement includes grades, extracurriculars, and essay response questions. As a bilingual student, I’m currently hoping to study in Belgium or France, but there are so many options it’s hard to imagine where I’ll end up! Check out http://business.queensu.ca/bcom/international_study.php for all our partner schools.

Please feel free to send me an e-mail at 9dvl@queensu.ca with any questions regarding first or second year.

- Danielle Lucchese, COMM’14