On Tuesday, September 24, the CPDC hosted its annual event From Senior in College to Freshman in Life. At this event students heard from a panel of alumni who shared their unique perspectives on how to make a successful transition into life after Nichols College. We are so thankful to have such willing alumni come back and support our students while sharing beneficial insight.
This year, our panelists were:
- Kaitlin Baron ’19 & ‘20
- Tyler Kenney ’20 & ‘22
- Devin Brown ’21 & ’23
Kaitlyn Baron was a double major in Accounting and Finance and had a lot of campus involvement. She was involved in Admissions Ambassadors, Student Government, Orientation, and started the Accounting Mentorship Program. After earning her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2019, she continued into the 4+1 program and earned her Master of Science in Accounting from Nichols College. While Kaitlyn was a student, she interned with Marcum LLP in 2018 and 2019, which eventually lead to a full-time job offer, where she still works today. She has grown throughout her 4 years at the company and now holds the role of Assurance Supervisor.
While sharing about her personal finances, Kaitlyn emphasized that everyone’s financial situation is going to be different, especially right out of college. She shared what she does each month with her incomes is 20% goes into a savings account, 10% towards Roth 401k contributions, 50% to bills, and 20% to miscellaneous/fun expenses.
During Tyler’s time at Nichols, he majored in Sports Management and was involved in a variety of things like: Track and Field, SGA, Intramural Basketball, Peer Mentors, the Honors Program, and more. In undergrad, he interned at KBK Sports after meeting them at a career fair and helped with their events and marketing. Tyler received his BSBA in 2020 and then continued his education at Nichols until 2022 when he earned his MBA in Innovative Leadership and Project Management. In 2021, Tyler started as a Sales Manager at Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell where he did groups sales for sporting events and concerts. He noted that a lot of sports management students are going to start their career in sales. In 2023, Tyler decided that he wanted to try something new and began working as a Promotion Sales Account Executive at the Boston Business Journal, where he still works today.
Tyler said you may come into college knowing what your path is but you also may totally change your mind on what is it that you want to do, and that’s completely okay. He thought that he had a path but eventually went in a different direction, which helped him to get where he is today.
Devin was an undergraduate student at Nichols pursuing her BSBA with a major in Marketing from 2017-2021. Some of her on campus involvement included being an Admissions Ambassador, Emerging Leaders Program Co-chair, Student Government President, and Orientation Leader, and more. From 2021 – 2023, Devin worked towards earning her MBA in Innovative Leadership and Project Management. During this time she was a Graduate Assistant for Student Life and then eventually moved into a full time role as Coordinator of Student Involvement. This was Devin’s first full-time job, but she knew it wasn’t going to be a forever job – and most first time jobs won’t be. She emphasized the importance of taking risks so you can find something that you love doing.
So what is Devin doing now? After leaving Nichols, Devin did nannying to help her pay bills while she worked towards becoming a Licensed Real Estate Agent, which she has now successfully completed. Now in Real Estate, Devin said that it took her 7 months to sell her first home and that the process can be difficult. While being an agent, her boss also hired her to be the VP of Social Media and Marketing of the overarching company. Although it took a while, Devin finally feels like everything has come full circle and she’s where she wants to be, attributing a lot of that to stepping out of her comfort zone.
Top Tips
- Network, network, network
- Get involved on campus and use your Nichols network now
- Never be afraid to ask a question and never say no to a conversation
- Connect with your coworkers, boss, and anyone else in your work environment
- Get a credit card!
- This will help you to build up a credit score – as long as you are paying your bill on time
- Only put things on your credit card that you can afford to pay off right now
- Don’t open too many cards
- Do you research on different credit card benefits
- Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone takes a different path and people are going to figure that out in their own unique ways.
- Things don’t always go as planned, and that’s okay!
- Understand that your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Enjoy the journey.
- Learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
- Consider furthering your education, especially if your organization offers tuition reimbursement.
- Ensure that you have a strong sense of balance in your life.
- Make sure you are making time to take of yourself
- Take your mental health seriously and don’t suffer alone
- Find a mentor to talk to about this transition in your life
- Partake in stress relief activities
