A Smith Undergraduate Student Association interest meeting attracted over 50 students
to the Cambridge Community Center on Feb. 8. The meeting introduced prospective SUSA
members to the small-community feel within the large business school and described many
resume-building opportunities.
The meeting was held on North Campus, near many of the underclassmen residence
halls, instead of in Van Munching Hall. At the meeting mainly intended for freshmen and
sophomores, about five attendees were upperclassmen and half of the students were not in the
Smith school yet. Many SUSA officers revealed that they felt lost upon first entering the
business school and emphasized thatgetting involved and staying involved is crucial.
“People in Smith are always on the phone, wearing suits, and I felt a little uncomfortable
and intimidated [when I first came to the business school],” SUSA Vice President of Marketing
Girish Chaskar said. “I asked myself, ‘What can I do to be where they’re at?'”
SUSA President Brian Doyle told the crowd, “All of you are very intelligent for being
here tonight. Getting involved early is what you have to do.”
The business-related clubs that introduced themselves and then talked to interested
students were: Green Business, Business and Information Technology Society, Supply Chain
Management Society, Alpha Kappa Psi, Phi Chi Theta, Community of Aspiring Shareholders,
TerpAMA, Smith School Women’s Society, Net Impact and Alpfa.
The Community of Aspiring Shareholders, CASH for short, handed out real Argentinean
pesos paper-clipped to a flier to attract students to their stocks and currency club.
Getting involved translates into joining not only SUSA clubs, but also the SUSA
Assembly ,which is currently trying to pass resolutions to add more information systems courses
to Smith school curriculum and to reach out to New York City employers. Vice President of
Administration Pratik Dixit also mentioned a transfer student handbook in the works, which
would help transfer students get assimilated at the university.
Perri Finkelstein, the new Student Involvement Committee chairperson, said, “I kind of
thought that SUSA was just a resume-builder at first, but it just built off of that.”
Finkelstein went on a trip to New York with SUSA last semester and because of it, she
now sees Smith as a “community” and “a comfortable place.”
When Doyle entered the business school in his first semester, “It was a really nice
building. It was easy to stay awake in those classes,” he joked. “Really, what most stood out to
him was the fact that “everyone was involved.”
Freshman Tobi Adewale, who wants to major in information systems and wanted to join
SUSA late last semester, said she’s interested in joining BITS. Adewale is not in the business
school yet, but she wanted to join SUSA because it seems beneficial. She isn’t worried about her
chances of getting into Smith, though.
“Everyone thinks, ‘Oh my gosh! It’s so hard to get in,’ but if you have all the
qualifications I don’t think it should be hard,” she said. Adewale said her first impression of
Smith School was that, “The classes were huge. It was intimidating at first but you get used to it
if you’re focused.”