3 Tips for Gaining Experience on Campus

3 Tips for Gaining Experience On Campus

Gaining experience is an important component of your college experience. As a student you have classes and friends to manage, but gaining experience on campus can help you build your network, enhance your skill sets and explore career interests. 

Here are three tips for gaining experience on campus!

  • Get Involved in Your Residential Community

There are over 7,000 students living on campus and a variety of different ways to get involved. Each residential community has an e-board that puts on events, programs and builds community among the residents. There are also e-boards in each building so it’s an additional way to build community, develop leadership skills and explore strengths you have and how you might want to use those in a career. Your network can be a key tool to learn about different career paths and resources on campus that can support your career and academic success. 

Talk with your RA or an e-board member in your community about ways you can help get involved and contribute to the culture in your building and beyond. 

  • Join a Club or Student Organization

Every year at University Fest there seems to be SO many ways to get involved. University Fest is an event that happens every August to help students find ways to get involved and build community. If you missed it this year, no worries! B-Engaged is a great tool for students to filter through organizations you may be interested in and reach out to learn how to get involved. Student involvement is a great way to develop skill sets through being active as a member OR gaining experience as an intern or committee/e-board member. There is even an opportunity to grow in responsibility over time as you’re involved in the organization which can help you dive deeper into areas of career interest. 

Employers value student leadership experience because of the skill sets you gain as well as the relationships you build. Find a club or organization that you are interested in and think about how you want to use that passion or skill set gained in your future career. 

  • Dive into Community Engaged Learning or Volunteering

Working with the community is not only rewarding but it can help you develop skill sets and explore career paths or functional areas. Community-engaged courses bring students into the community while gaining credit in a class. There are a variety of ways to engage and why not try it as a component of your classes?! You can find classes that are considered Community Engaged Learning by searching in BU Brain. 

You could also volunteer and develop skill sets through that experience. Check out the Center for Civic Engagements service listings and all of the other programs they offer. 

Gaining experience on or off-campus will help you gain more clarity when it comes to your academic and career interests and will help you develop skills that are needed for your industry of interest. 

For more information about exploring and gaining experience, check out two programs we have coming up!

How to Explore Your Career Interests

UU133A, Wednesday, September 29th at 3:30pm

How to Explore Your Career Interests: Are you interested in learning how to explore career options? This session will help you to better understand your interests,  strengths and how those can connect to meaningful career opportunities.

Guide to Gaining Experience

UU133A, Friday, October 1 at 12pm

Guide to Gaining Experience: Are you interested in enhancing your skills and exploring career interests? This session will help you learn about opportunities to find shadowing and research opportunities, internships, and identifying ways to gain experience on campus.

By Lexie Avery, MS '15
Lexie Avery, MS '15 Senior Associate Director, Student Engagement and Career Readiness