University of Miami School of Business
As a first-semester freshman, I’m just beginning my journey at the University of Miami. Sometimes, I wonder what my four-year journey through business school will look like. What will my major be? Will I have the opportunity to study abroad? Most important: What courses I will take.
The classes I’m currently taking all fall under the b-school core curriculum. From browsing our bulletin, what has really surprised me is the breadth of business courses that the Herbert Business School offers. Each course, detailed below, enriches students’ understanding of business principles and helps them to develop speaking, reading, and writing skills applicable to their future business careers.
From speaking with different students in my classes and at club meetings, I discovered some of the courses that are particularly popular with UM students. Here are some student reviews of these classes, along with some inside knowledge on what to expect in them.
MGT 100 – Managing for Success in the Global Environment
“I like how interactive the class is and that it gives us more of a real-world perspective for business.” – Martha Philipos, ‘23
MGT 100 is one of the business core courses UM freshmen complete. A universal favorite, it challenges students to understand how managerial principles are applied in a multi-cultural, international environment through lectures and workshops. One of the hallmarks of the course is a group project presentation where groups act as consulting companies hired by businesses looking to expand into new countries. Students must research the countries’ markets and develop market entry strategies, all under the mentorship of a sophomore team leader whom the students meet with during workshop classes. The project pushes students to develop stronger presentation abilities and learn how to communicate effectively when working in a team of varying personalities.
BSL 333 – Legal Aspects of Real Estate Transactions
“It teaches you real estate skills that you would use in your everyday life.” – Nikki Goldwert, ‘22
This business law elective explores the legal principles surrounding various aspects of real estate including property ownership, mortgages, and contracts. Students find value in the course’s lessons because they feel it prepares them to fully understand what to look out for when investing in real estate or when signing a lease, a skill any college student could benefit from. At UMiami, students often move off campus after freshman year and have to explore various housing options including leasing apartments and houses. As a result, the lessons learned in this course can help them make more informed decisions about these matters.
Mikaela Sanders
MKT 302 – Marketing Research and Market Analysis
“Many times, in college, you create surveys in different classes or in clubs, but you don’t exactly know the strategy behind it. This [course] teaches you just that.” – Ana Colicchio, ‘21
MKT 302, a requirement for all of Herbert’s marketing majors, examines the role market research plays in industry. It teaches students how to choose the best samples for research and how to properly create surveys. Students complete a semester-long project that includes brainstorming an invention and testing out the idea using surveys or focus groups. Afterward, they analyze their findings, giving students hands-on experience in market research.
Ana Colicchio, for one, has found herself employing the marketing research strategies she learned from this course in her American Marketing Association (AMA) club assignments. For example, AMA members develop a marketing strategy for a given company – with Cotton Incorporated being this year’s business partner. Using lessons from MKT 302, club members have tailor a strategy based on research and analysis of the company’s target market during weekly meetings.
Professor Zoey Chen, a MKT 302 professor, approaches the course by making the content relevant to their lives. “I try to make the course approachable and show them that data analysis is neither some abstract concept nor something that should be feared, and I try to make the course interactive while pushing them to think critically. Of course, a big part of the class deals with analysis, and I try to look for datasets that are interesting to them and introduce them to software programs that they haven’t used in the past.”
MGT 302 – Human Resource Management
“I chose to major in psychology, and I was also really interested in business, especially human recourses, so I think this class has taught me the technical skills that I need to pursue a career in human resources.” – Daniela Pereira, ‘20
MGT 302, a human resource management major requirement, helps students understand the modern personnel management principles and how they are applied in a company. One way students apply their learning is through a group presentation about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Students are tasked with researching why diversity and representation is important in a work environment, studying cases from successful company workplace environments. They also take the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, a work-style and personality assessment often used by businesses when assembling teams for projects. The course assignments teach interpersonal skills useful for strengthening one’s communication and collaboration abilities, which one would need when holding an HR position.
BUS 255 – Business and Society
“I really helped me to analyze current events in the business world.” – Madalyn Lyon, ‘22
A former business core course, Business and Society provides a strong foundation of communicative skills business students will utilize throughout their time at Herbert. It examines business firms through legal, ethical, political and social lenses.
My personal experience in BUS 255 has been unique; I have had the opportunity to take a Harkness version of the class, an intimate, discussion-based setting. Since the class sits at a roundtable and the section is capped at twelve students, stimulating discussions and a close relationship with our professor is at the forefront. We examine a range of texts including news articles and court cases, which keeps the course engaging and reminds us how applicable these principles are in the real world. One way we demonstrated our learning was through an assignment where each student picked a current event. I chose YouTube’s recent violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which generated a lot of great questions and led the class to analyze the event’s legal and ethical implications.
Although these courses are the favorites of many students, this list is in no way exhaustive of all of the amazing course offerings at Herbert. Just hearing all of the students I spoke to gush about their favorites has made me even more excited than ever to continue my business school journey at UMiami and discover my passions.
My name is Mikaela Sanders and I am a freshman studying at the University of Miami’s Business School. I am majoring in Marketing but am also interested in double minoring in Advertising and Chinese. When I am not studying, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, bingeing The Office on Netflix, and working on my YouTube channel.
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