Lara Gruye
8:00 am Financial Accounting:
The first class is Financial Accounting, and students describe it as a rough start to the day, but an undeniably important subject.
“We’re crunching numbers, learning how to read statements – which is important if you’re investing in a business and you want to look through their financial statements, and we’re going to do a couple weeks of finance and really learn about stocks and bonds,” Gruye says.
Another BASE student, Ian Drake, a rising senior and communications and art double major at the University of Washington in Seattle, added that the class is also very fast paced. They go through about a chapter of each of their textbooks every day.
The classroom experience is far from just buckling down and listening to a lecture, however. Many of the students mentioned that the subject is livened up by their professor who might, for unexplained reasons, teach an entire lesson with a false accent.
10:00 am Coffee and Snack Break
After Financial Accounting, the students have a coffee and snack break at 10 am, where they can socialize in the Haas courtyard outside their classroom, drink coffee, and eat danishes and fruit that has been provided by the school.
10:30 am Organizational Behavior
The next class of the day is Organizational Behavior, which many students consider a favorite. The course discusses the psychology of the workplace and encourages students to analyze themselves and learn about their strengths in business.
“All of the classes are applicable to the workplace, but especially organizational behavior,” Anderson said. “It’s literally just
Erik Anderson
boiling the workplace down into psychology and understanding what makes people tick and how you can be more efficient when interacting with them.”
Giguere-Joannette added that they’ve also completed some personality tests, and says that he’s never learned as much about himself as he has in this class. “It’s one of the most valuable things I’ve gotten from the program. Learning about yourself, evaluating yourself – it sounds weird but we don’t do that in science.”
Another useful aspect of the class is the career advice the professor is giving them. According to Drake, they go over practical things like negotiating salaries, job interviews, and talking to one’s boss. They’ll even be reaching out to various companies to learn about company culture and what typical days are like. Drake said that he’s heard stories about BASE students getting jobs from the companies they interviewed, and he’s excited to see what happens.
“I think it’s very practical,” Gruye says. “Even in medicine, there are still hierarchies in the office.”
12:30 pm Lunch
After Organizational Behavior, the students leave the classroom to enjoy lunch outside, typically on the tables in the courtyard. On Mondays, the lunches are provided by Haas.
1:30 pm Marketing
The last class of the day is Marketing, which many of the students described as being the most creative BASE class, where they study the marketing tactics of popular companies.
“We just talked about a case where we reviewed how the makeup company Sephora revamped its social media and marketing in 2010. We looked at all the different avenues through which Sephora markets itself, and it was fascinating. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever taken,” says Jacob Walker, a rising senior and history major at Sewanee University of the South.
Gruye also mentioned that having now studied various companies, like Starbucks, Cisco, and BMW, she sees marketing tactics everywhere, and feels like the class has given her a new perspective.
According to Anderson, the class’ professor has also going out of his way to provide them with useful tools, like a list of acronyms that he said everyone throws around in marketing meetings.
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