Broadening Her Horizons: Christy Siegel ’12

Senior Christy Siegel, an Economics and Business Major, looks forward to her next big adventure: attending Graduate school in London. Although she was not entirely sure of what she wanted to do when she came to Rhodes, her classes and experiences over the past four years have guided her towards a career in consulting—one that will allow her to apply both her understanding of business and economics. Christy says of economics, “It requires you to apply your knowledge and understanding to a problem, rather than just having to memorize information and spit it back out.” Christy anticipates greatly valuing this critical and analytical way of thinking in her future endeavors.
 
Fall of her junior year, Christy studied abroad in Perugia, Italy. But that was not enough for the St. Louis native, as she was determined to find a way back to Europe. Although she contemplated teaching English in Spain after graduation, she ultimately chose to finish out her education in England. Enrolled in the Innovation, Entrepreneurial, and Management Master Program at the Imperial College London, she is anxious to begin both her academic and personal journey abroad this upcoming fall. The confidence she gained during her semester in Italy showed her how “living abroad gives you a better understanding of others as well as of yourself” – solidifying her decision to apply to schools outside the U.S. This opportunity to experience a foreign culture for an extended period of time is an incomparable chance that will inevitably give her a competitive edge once she enters the business world.
 
Christy is determined to succeed and believes that “one way to be great at what you do is to have people challenge your ideas with a different angle.” In a world where “the true economy these days is the Global economy,” Christy believes living outside the U.S. will give her a better perspective of how our decisions impact other parts of the world. Right now she is open to the idea of staying in London, but “It all depends on where my greatest opportunities lie and what would make me the happiest,” says Christy.
 
Studying abroad for a longer period than a semester or year is seemingly intimidating, but Christy describes applying to graduate programs outside the U.S. as “easy since all the applications are done online and many of them do not require a GRE or GMAT score.”
 
For those interested in broadening your horizons like Christy, start with a Google search. Don’t be intimidated; it is as simple as finding a program that fits your area of study and then applying online.