New Freshman Class Settles In, September 2002

Sakisha Jackson and Carolina Lasso are just two Smith School undergraduates who hope to be the business leaders of tomorrow. Sakisha, a graduate of Oxon Hill High School, Md., chose the Smith School over Wharton and Kenan-Flagler.

For me, the Smith School ranks right up there with Wharton and Kenan-Flagler in academic integrity and reputation, and because of its great location, it was a natural choice, Sakisha says. She also likes the flexibility that the Smith School offers. For example, she can study foreign languages, an important factor for her, as she wants to concentrate in international business. Sakisha is a recipient of a Banneker/Key Scholarship from the University of Maryland.

Carolina Lasso came to the U.S. from her native Colombia four years ago to attend high school. Initially, she found classes in English difficult but adapted quickly enough to be her class valedictorian. Now she is a junior at the Smith School, having transferred from Montgomery College (Md.) with an associate degree in business. Carolina was awarded a Tyser Transfer Scholarship by the University of Maryland.

This past summer, her bilingual language abilities were useful in an internship with Telemundo, the Spanish language broadcast network. Carolina says she chose to study business because, business is everywhere now. It gives me the best opportunity to be successful and at the same time give something back to the community and make peoples lives better.

A Snapshot of New Undergraduate Business Majors at College Park

Class Size: 515

Gender
Male: 61%
Female: 39%

Origin
Maryland residents: 63%
U.S. out-of-state: 35%
International: 2%

Diversity
Asian American: 18%
African American: 5%
Latino: 3%

Average GPA
Incoming Freshmen (direct-admit students): 3.98

Average SAT
Incoming Freshmen (direct-admit students): 1360

Proposed Concentrations
General Business: 36%
Finance: 19%
Marketing: 13%
Accounting: 11%
Decision and Information Science: 9%
International Business: 9%
Human Resources: 2%
Logistics: 1%

There are also 130 new students at the Shady Grove campus.