If you have read any of our other blogs, or have spoken to anyone at Ambrose, you may have heard that one of the perks of studying at Ambrose is the small class sizes. You may already know the general pros of small classes, but I'm going to write about how I find it beneficial to be in a small class specifically as a Business student.

If you are planning to get a degree in Business Administration and hope to work in a business related field after graduating, a key professional skill is public speaking. This is not something that comes easily to everyone, and it can be very intimidating to be expected to perform well in front of a large group of people. Attending Ambrose, you become very familiar with your classmates, and you’ll be more comfortable doing presentations in front of them. It may still be nerve-racking at times, but you know that your friends are there to support you, and there aren't a hundred pairs of eyes staring at you. The small classes also provide more opportunities for public speaking as it is easier to facilitate presentations during class time. Presentations don’t take up half the semester here as they might in a larger university.

Another benefit is the networking opportunities our program provides. At Ambrose, you will be able to interact a lot more with your professors and your department head and by doing so you will gain beneficial insights into your future career goals. As you will probably take more than one class with each of your professors, you will get the chance to know them both on a professional and personal level. They are always open to an invitation for coffee or lunch.

Building a good relationship with your prof widens your network and increases the amount of people you could potentially get connected with in your future. The same goes for classmates. It is much easier to befriend others at Ambrose as you will likely be doing many group projects and seeing each other around our small campus. Keeping up these good relationships once you become alumni will be beneficial. In a large university, people tend to stick to their cliques and do not intermingle as much, and it is very rare for the professor to personally know more than a handful of students.

Lastly, Business is a program and vocation that tends to stress having a mentor and being a mentor to others. With the size of our business program it is easier to know everyone who is in the same program as you. At the beginning of the year there is a Back to Business BBQ that is generally held in the Program Chair's backyard and most of the students in the Business program are able to mingle and get to know each other better—a great place to find a mentor who is a few years ahead of you in the program. We also have an initiative called Biz Buds in which freshmen are paired up with an upperclassman so that they can have a point of contact for any questions or just to hang out and go for coffee and talk about anything under the sun.

While there is a lot of work involved in getting a Business degree, it helps to have so many ways to aid the progress and lighten the load. Small class sizes have greatly enriched the value of the degree I will be awarded when I graduate, and beyond the education I will have received, the community I’ve established will continue to reward me in the years to come.