When marketing major Madelyne Paulk approached graduation, she felt confident knowing her experience in the Darla Moore School of Business had prepared her well. With many marketing and management courses under her belt, along with a hands-on internship for a major corporation, she was ready to begin her career.

A glimpse of the real world, right in the classroom

The real-world experiences gained in the Moore School's classrooms allow students to feel confident when pursuing internships and careers.

"My Business Career in the Global Economy class made the process easy, from pursuing to performing in the internship. This class taught me how to market myself, articulate my accomplishments and skills, and create a lasting impression."

In a world where big data drives business decisions, Madelyne knew she should practice gathering and interpreting it, which led her to join the Moore School's Marketing Scholars Program.

"The more time I spent in the Moore School, the more I realized the importance of data – not only to collect it – but to understand it and translate it to helpful insights for the business. We collected data for Sonoco's corporate social responsibility report. After collecting surveys, we made a report for stakeholders."

Madelyne's management classes helped her to better understand communication and working with a team.

The concepts put into practice

As a merchandising intern at ScanSource Inc, Madelyne was able to apply the skills she learned in her courses to her internship duties, from managing product demonstration Excel spreadsheets and running reports to brainstorming ways to streamline the sales process.

Along with a team of other interns, Madelyne worked on a lead generation project, allowing her to network with company leaders and further the public speaking skills she refined in her Principles of Management course.

"We were given a task to understand how to make leads more efficient. How do we bring business into a company and get it to the right people? How do we see the return on investment? I was able to talk to people from all management levels and understand the problems and provide solutions. We presented to our managers, mentors and the C-suite at the end of the program."

In addition to the project, Madelyne planned her own event, strengthening her résumé with a diverse skillset.

"I worked very closely with the team's marketing manager, and I was able to manage and brand my own sales event. I planned the day out, ordered the food, planned the games, put out decorations and worked within a $2,000 budget. My manager received a lot of great feedback and was told it was one of the most fun sales days."

Madelyne's next step is a luxury management graduate program, which will help her learn more about digital media and marketing in the entertainment industry. Because of her extensive learning experiences at South Carolina, she's ready to enter the business world with unapologetic optimism.

I am South Carolina.