Where do we go from here?

Following up on my last post about graduation, I thought I would write really quickly about what types of careers my friends have gone on to in their first year out of JMC. I feel like I have a unique perspective as a fifth year senior in Madison. A large majority of students graduate from the college in four years, which means this year I've been able to see how many of my friends have launched their career paths right from my facebook newsfeed. Here's a little sample of what some of my friends have gone on to do in their first year after graduation (I included the person's major at the end of the line):

• Pilot in the US Air Force (IR)
• Staffer for MI Governor Rick Snyder (PTCD)
• Elementary School Teacher with Teach for America in Detroit and Houston (SRP)
• Staff Member at a non-profit in northern Michigan (SRP)
• Campus Coordinator for a Boston non-profit (CCP, IR)
• Student teacher at a mid-Michigan high school (PTCD, Secondary Education)*
• Accounting staff member at Goodyear Tires (SRP, Accounting)
• Community & Volunteer Organizer at a non-profit in Detroit (SRP)
• Economic Analyst for the State of Michigan (IR, Economics)
• Project Manager at a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. (SRP)
• Graduate School at University of Miami, Ohio (PTCD)
• Cast Member at Walt Disney World (IR)
• Corps Member with City Year Detroit (SRP)
• Tax Associate at a national accounting firm (IR, Finance)
• Staff member at Georgia-Pacific (IR)
• Staffer at the MI Department of Community Health (SRP)

*My friend who is student teaching is fulfilling this requirement for the MSU College of Education

This is just a sample of my friend network (this list is slightly SRP-heavy because I'm friends with many more SRP majors - that's my major as well). As you can see, there's no cookie cutter career path for Madison grads. My friends have gone on to work for campaigns, political offices, lobbying firms, giant corporations, small non-profits, public school, and everything in between. As for myself, I am going to work for a public accounting firm in Detroit. 

In my opinion, the most important part of a Madison education are the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills students gain throughout their time here. Those are skills that are transferrable to any job in any industry. My critical thinking and communication skills helped me the most in my two accounting internships. If you're able to sell yourself and those critical skills in a job interview, you could literally go anywhere in the world! 

For more examples of careers chosen by JMC grads, feel free to check out the Careers section of the JMC Website! This page has awesome graduate reports, collected by our dedicated career consultant, which break down the students who go to on to graduate school, law school, and the work force. It includes many examples of positions held by recent JMC grads as well as salary and geographic information. 

Becky 

Senior

SRP & Accounting

My Favorite Class: Politics and Markets

When asked what my favorite class I have taken in James Madison College over my four years I immediately am transported back to my spring semester of my sophomore year and MC 241- Politics and Markets with Professor Emmett.

I was interested in the Political Economy minor and was told that MC 241 would be the perfect for me to test whether I liked the program of study as well as get a requirement out of the way for my Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy major.

I enrolled in the class and was at first nervous about the amount of books that we would be reading over the semester. The book list had approximately 7 books on it, on the higher end for a Madison class, and they were all on economic theory. I was nervous about it, but I went into the class with an open mind.

I have not learned more from one class than I did in MC 241.

Professor Emmett leads the class through discussion. We make the seating in a complete circle and he starts the class with a question. It was intimidating at first but soon I came to love the way the class was structured as the class was completely discussion based as opposed to lecture based. I felt that I learned a great deal from this class because of the discussion based. What was more, is I gained a really deep understanding of economic policy because that was what the class focused on.

The aspect that I most liked about the class was not only the discussion based learning but also the material covered. The course focused on the debate between John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. Having the modern economic policy debate contextualized in that manner allowed me to better understand the debate as well as formulate my own opinions.

I ended up choosing the Political Economy minor because of MC 241 and the nature of the class. Having mostly discussion based classes that really encouraged my learning and understanding of the subject matter was incredibly rewarding and fun.

Stephen
Senior
Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy
Political Economy Minor