Selma Jay is an enthusiastic, motivated Boston University Questrom School of Business sophomore pursuing a degree in business administration and management with a concentration in law and accounting.
When applying to BU, Selma knew she was interested in law and business, but it wasn’t until she took a few general education requirements that she fell in love with accounting: “I loved the accounting classes I had to take and the professors were phenomenal!” This set Selma on the track of wanting to become a tax accountant in the future.
Selma chose BU because of the community feel the school provided and the opportunities that could come from her four years here. Selma took more than one tour at BU and every time she toured, her tour guide saw someone they knew on campus, and for Selma that was a huge selling factor! Even a school as big as BU is a comfortable home for many people with many different interests.
Selma quickly wanted to get involved in campus life her freshman year and decided Ambass was a great place to start. Selma chose to become a tour guide because she absolutely loves talking to people about her passions and sharing her stories about BU in order to show prospective students what life is really like for a BU student. When reminiscing on her first tour at BU, she remembered her phenomenal tour guides: “I had such an amazing tour guide when looking at BU and it gave me new perspectives that were different from others schools I toured. I knew right off the bat I wanted to get involved in BU’s Ambass community!” Eventually, Selma knew she wanted to hold a leadership position in Ambass because of her love for the program, which is when she applied to be a tour captain.
As a tour captain, Selma handles logistics of tours, the tour guides, and she really gets to know the people who are involved in Ambass. She had known a few friends who had been previous tour guides and they absolutely loved their experiences, so Selma decided to apply when a position opened up and she never looked back! “I really love the program and the idea of attaining a leadership position in the community allowed me to work on my own mentor skills and allowed me to get to know more people involved in Ambass!”
Through her job in admissions, Selma has learned so many valuable lessons both on a personal and professional level. Not only has Selma gained amazing friendships with the other tour captains, guides, and coordinators, but she has also gained immense knowledge from the professional staff at 233 Bay State Road. “I’ve learned a lot,” Selma smiled, but the first few things that came to her mind were, “I’ve learned how to be careful with what I say, how to sweeten what I say, and how to deal with conflict when it arises.” She is also thankful for her lessons in training people properly to certify them, specifically with the thought process of becoming a tour guide in mind. Lucky for Selma, all of her learnings in Ambass have helped her in her studies since she is looking to go into business, she has found that maintaining a job in admissions has helped her in her academic aspect as well. Ambass has helped Selma grow so much her first two years at BU. She has found her own community in a large school and grown to be able to perfect her public speaking ability.
Selma absolutely loves the connections she is able to make with prospective students and families through touring. One specific memory Selma has about the tour was when a student was asking pre-med questions that Selma couldn’t answer. So, Selma gave them her email and they wound up reaching out to her later on when Selma could help research the questions and get the student in contact with the right people. At the end of the interaction, the student told Selma how they loved BU and it was officially their top choice. “Getting great feedback and having people say you are the reason they love the school is an absolutely fantastic feeling and my favorite tour memories usually are surrounded by moments like that!” Selma’s funniest tour memory was when she lost a shoe and had to stop the tour to hop around and put it back on – moral of the story is to never wear Birks on tour!
Her advice to incoming students is to always be a friendly presence. “In high school, I was reserved and quiet, I wasn’t comfortable in my skin just yet, but coming into college I wanted to change that! I left my door open and talked to everyone, inviting them over, and always saying hi on Comm Ave. I became a familiar face to people and not only was I comfortable in my skin, I was hoping to make other people reach a higher level of confidence with me! ” she said. “Just be friendly and open to change coming into college, keep an open mind and judgment-free zone and you will do just fine!”
Selma is an incredible member of the BU community and is influential on prospective students by being a tour guide!
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