Aim High, Start Early: Student to Professional Program

In the College of Business, first-year students do more than just adjust to Lehigh during the first week of classes.  They start their paths forward as business students and future business professionals through the Student to Professional Program. The Student to Professional co-curriculum is a four tier program hosted through Suitable, an app and website that helps students track their progress as they prepare for the competitive internship and job landscape. Early engagement in hands-on academic experiences and career development is critical to our students’ future success.

Tier 1 of the Student to Professional program is integrated with the academic curriculum. In BUS 001, students start the semester by learning about business overall - its purpose and its context in a global society.  Students are exposed to basic business terms and concepts online through reading and practice exercise before class, and in the classroom, they engage actively with others to apply what they read to real-world business situations.  Students see first-hand that business is dynamic and constantly changing.

Every BUS 001 student also engages in a team project to do a “deep dive” into exploring one functional area of business.  The project requires extensive use of Lehigh’s online career resources and our network of alumni.  Friday sessions called the “Student to Professional Track” are offered by a team comprised of our Associate Director for Professional Development, our liaison from Lehigh’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD), and the College of Business librarian.  The sessions show students how to use Lehigh’s career resources and network to do their BUS 001 project and to start developing critical career-related knowledge and skills.  In the second half of the semester, student teams share their projects with the rest of the BUS 001 class and lead class activities to help all students understand how business functions contribute and are interdependent on one another to create value in firms.  Students will also be exposed to different types of job opportunities they might pursue to contribute as future business professionals. 

We are proud of what BUS 001 offers our incoming students, and we wish all first-year business students the best as they start their career development journey here in our College of Business!