By Laura Spitler
A question we get fairly often as SMU Ambassadors is “what does a typical day look like for you?” So I thought it might be fun to spell that out on here since it incorporates info about classes, homework, holding a job, and being involved on campus…
My alarm goes off at 8:30am. Luckily for me, it’s a Tuesday and my first class doesn’t start until 11am. But rather than sleep even later, I get up and use that time productively. Today that means writing my portion of a business case assignment due on Thursday. It’s a marketing case about Frito Lay’s introduction of SunChips and I’ve got a group of 4 to help get all the questions answered. Since I live off campus, I try to leave my apartment by 10:40 to give me time to drive to campus, park, and get to my class in plenty of time.
Now I’ve have three back to back classes that are each 80 minutes long. First is the Sociology of Culture, then Consumer Behavior, then Product and Brand Management (the course I was just doing homework for). So this means I’m in class from 11am until 3:20pm, with 10 minute passing periods to change buildings when need be (my last two classes are actually in the same room!). Unfortunately this line up of classes is effective for knocking out the classes, but it means I don’t really get a lunch…that’s my bad, I planned it this way. I just bring a granola bar to eat in class and then get to eat a substantial “snack” when classes release.
The next thing on my schedule is meeting with one of the advertising professors at 4pm. I’m hoping to get into a Mayterm class she is teaching in New York City, and she wants to meet with all the interested students since she can only pick 12 to attend. This sounds like such an amazing opportunity because it would mean getting to network with successful SMU alums that now work for places like Nike and Monster.com, plus we could learn more about different sides of advertising and marketing in a very hands-on way.
Now I get to head home, throw in a load of laundry, and start making a study guide for my upcoming sociology exam. Before I know it, it is 6pm and I need to think about making dinner and heading back to campus for a meeting of a Christian Woman’s group that I am currently secretary of. We meet in the Hughes Trigg Student Center to sing songs, pray, and talk about the upcoming events we having coming up, like Relay for Life. When the meeting wraps up an hour later it’s off to the Dedman Rec Center for me. I’m a part of the SMU Ballroom Dance team and we practice here two hours every Tuesday night. Right now we are prepping for our big spring competition held in Austin (road trip!). It’s about 10:45pm before I finally make it home for the night. I’m worn out, but it’s been a productive, fun day.