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School of Business Administration

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Your Pathway to the Professional World

Landing your required internship might feel like a leap, but you won't fly solo. We help you navigate and successfully secure your placement by breaking down professional development step-by-step built into your coursework. From your very first semester, you will build confidence through hands-on assignments, access to early pre-internship opportunities and exclusive networking with a dedicated alumni family eager to lift you up.

Career Flight Plan

The Career Flight Plan is a signature, five-course professional development sequence required of every business Flyer. Spanning more than 50 hours of structured, coaching and professional milestones, this plan prepares you to enter a competitive marketplace.

This is a roadmap and a commitment to a successful future.

BIZ 101: Launching Your Business Career

First Year, Fall Semester

Begin your journey with a clear direction. Before you can lead others, you must understand your own unique talents and trajectory.

Key Career Prep Takeaways
  • Discover Your Strengths: Map your natural talents using CliftonStrengths to leverage your strengths to build success.
  • Discover your Academic Path: Explore our majors, minors and certificates that speak to your goals and interests.
  • Creating and Refining your Resume: Build your first college-level, recruiter-ready resume under expert guidance.
  • Future-Proof Skillsets: Gain digital fluency by earning an official, industry-recognized AI competency credential.
  • Your Personal Flight Crew: Connect with your dedicated holistic academic advisor and peer mentors to establish a strong, supportive foundation.

BIZ 103: Develop Your Vocation and Career Flight Plan

First Year, Spring Semester

Translate your passions into a purposeful calling and how to build professional relationships with confidence.

Key Career Prep Takeaways
  • Learn from Executives: Interact directly with CEOs and industry leaders to hear firsthand how successful enterprises navigate change.
  • Build Business Etiquette: Learn the nuances of corporate networking during a formal business etiquette dinner.
  • Launch Your Digital Brand: Build and use your LinkedIn profile to connect with recruiters and alumni.
  • Vocational Precision: Utilize the Strong Interest Inventory to map your intrinsic values to specific, high-paying career pathways.

BIZ 202: Career Flight Takeoff

Second Year, Fall Semester

Prepare for your internship search. This course sharpens your competitive edge, pairing you with AI-driven prep tools and our fiercely loyal alumni network.

Key Career Prep Takeaways
  • Flyer-to-Flyer Alumni Connections: Conduct virtual mock interviews with business alumni who want to meet and coach you.
  • Precision Interviewing: Refine your physical and verbal presence using advanced AI-powered resume and elevator pitch optimization tools.
  • Servant Leadership in Action: Volunteer with a nonprofit, building community-impacting leadership skills employers seek.
  • Internship-Ready Status: Complete the semester with a fully polished professional portfolio, ready to compete for elite upper-level opportunities.

BIZ 301: Successfully Navigating Your Career Flight Plan

Third Year, Spring Semester

Semester Landing the offer is only half the battle; this course equips you with the life and financial literacy skills needed to thrive wherever you land.

Key Career Prep Takeaways
  • The Art of Negotiation: Learn how to strategically evaluate and negotiate initial job offers, base salaries and signing bonuses.
  • Deciphering the Package: Master the complexities of corporate benefits, including 401(k) matching, healthcare plans and equity packages.
  • Geographic Financial Planning: Use cost-of-living index tools to understand how compensation translates across different metropolitan areas.
  • Business Storytelling: Learn how to effectively and efficiently communicate business impact.
  • Navigating Corporate Culture: Deepen your workplace emotional intelligence and professional etiquette to accelerate your upward mobility.

BIZ 497: Professional Work Experience

Must be completed before graduation

A qualifying, pre-approved paid internship of at least 120+ hours is not just recommended — it is a business graduation requirement. Whether in-person, hybrid, or remote, you will apply classroom theory to real-world professional challenges.

Key Career Prep Takeaways
  • Resume-Defining Experience: Graduate with verified, upper-level professional experience already on your resume.
  • Supervised Performance Loop: Receive structured performance feedback from active industry supervisors to sharpen your professional blind spots.
  • Career Clarity: Confirm your industry specialization through hands-on, day-to-day corporate exposure.
  • The Ultimate Conversion: Position yourself to convert your internship into a full-time, post-graduation job offer.
Pre-Internship Pathways

These early experiences are designed to give you exposure, fast-track your resume and introduce you to top-tier employers before your junior year.

Micro-Experiences

Before your first internship, gain a competitive edge with short-term experiences at top employers like:

  • Job shadowing
  • Corporate leadership programs

Global Career Accelerator

Top business students build their professional identity from day one. Through UD's partnership with Podium Education, the Global Career Accelerator offers a high-impact, for-credit experience that gives you a competitive "Early Edge" before you even apply for your first internship.

Apply your UD classroom knowledge to real-world global challenges. You'll collaborate virtually with peers from over 50 countries to solve problems for iconic brands like Intel, Netflix, L'Oreal and Meta.
Internships

In the School of Business Administration, internships aren't optional. They're required. While that can feel intimidating at first, you're never doing it alone. With support from the Career Flight Plan, career coaching and our alumni network, every student builds real-world experience, strengthens their résumé before graduation and stands out to employers through a meaningful internship with top organizations nationwide.

Where do business students intern?

Our students intern across a wide range of industries—from finance and consulting to nonprofits and government. Top employers include:

  • Amazon
  • Bank of America
  • Cintas
  • Deloitte
  • EY
  • Fidelity
  • Fifth Third Bank
  • Gartner
  • JPMorgan Chase
  • KPMG
  • PwC
  • Plante Moran
  • RSM US LLP
  • U.S. Air Force

When do internships happen?

Most students intern after their second and/or third year, though some secure internships as early as their first summer.

How many internships do students complete?

Many students complete multiple internships to explore different roles, industries and locations.

Are internships paid?

Yes! We expect students to pursue paid internships, and many employers offer competitive compensation.
Contact School of Business Administration
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469 - 2226
937-229-3731 email