Components of managing income risk

I believe I have always had an eye for the future and ensuring I am effectively managing my future income risk for after I graduate. The most effective way, in my opinion, is the fact that my GPA has been high for throughout most of my collegiate career. I have been on the Dean's List multiple times and since my aim is to attend law school after I finish my undergraduate studies here at the University of Illinois, having a high GPA is essential to receiving the most financial aid and being accepted into the most prestigious law schools. I would like to add I have taken the LSAT and will be receiving my score next week, if I do well on that, that would be my next most essential component into managing my future income risk. There is a strong correlation between attending the top 14 law schools and having a relatively high salary your first few years out of school.

I chose to major in economics and minor in political science for two reasons in particular. First, I enjoyed my economics courses in high school and my interests mostly included joining the business sector rather than the medical sector or scientific fields. I had an interest in marketing, but I believed economics gave me a stronger fallback if law school does not work out and having a degree in economics from the University of Illinois is great in terms of potential job prospects. Secondly, I enjoy politics and believe it would provide me with a solid foundation for law. Additionally, my mother works in real estate, where I have developed an interest, and I believe economics has wired my mindset to be more logical and think more thoughtfully. I am very lucky and have not had to take a single loan out because my parents have paid for all of my school, room and board, and a majority of my expenses. In return, I have worked hard in order to keep my grades up and I work for myself, but I also work for my parents so I do not disappoint them. This has allowed me to have a head start because I will not have to worry about paying student loan payments each month. While law school may cost me more, I have put myself in the position to receive substantial financial aid.

Additionally, I have had many job experiences throughout my collegiate career. First and foremost, I have held a bar job on campus as a bartender where I worked my way up from a doorman to a bartender. It taught me hard work and have me the realization in life that hard work is necessary in order to become successful in anything you do in life. I believe that is of value. Additionally, I have had internships at real estate firms, AK Homes and RE/MAX Showcase, where I have been responsible for various tasks such as contacting multiple real estate offices to set up appointments, preparing brochures, and preparing contracts. I believe having this experience may allow me to obtain a better job in the future or possibly even get me into a better law school which could manage my future income risk. I also have been on the executive board for my fraternity and the Illinois Men's Club Soccer team, which has allowed me to gain valuable leadership experience. Additionally, I am the social chair of my fraternity meaning I have managed thousands of dollars of the chapter's funds and I have also been the one in charge of contacting businesses, which I have used to practice dealing with people in the professional world.

My older brother is a dental student at the University of Michigan so he has yet to go through the job market. However, I have any fraternity brothers who have gone through the process and advised me to be patient and weigh your options. They said particularly to not jump at your first offer, but take the time to ensure you are making the right decision for yourself financially. They also said to consider where you will be living and your living expenses based on your location. 

Reflecting on Past Posts

Obviously, the most glaring similarity between all the blogs posts up to date are that they all involve discussing organizations, but specifically organizations I have been a part of and organizations I have experienced firsthand on campus. All the posts aim to tie in my own experiences with what the class entails so I can apply these concepts into my everyday life and see how they apply in the real world. For example, the first post was about my experience with organizations where I spoke on behalf of my fraternity, but then the third post was about a successful organization where I spoke on behalf of my soccer team; two different organizations with two different results. I am not sure if that was one of the aims of those posts, but I thought that was an interesting comparison I made when I was reading through my blog posts. Our last post was about how "IlliniBucks" could be successfully allocated on campus through different organizations, such as the library or the class registration system, using my prior experiences with organizations, I was able to tie in my own experiences with how I believe the bucks could be used.

Aside from addressing the prompt I believe my post on using the "IlliniBucks" through the Undergraduate Library and even private organizations such as campus bars connects to the economic approach of "establishing a framework for thinking about what might be possible for the organization and in producing well-reasoned conclusions about what efficient structures look like". These organizations such as the library and the private establishments need to experiment with these "IlliniBucks" in order to see what would be the efficient price to set them at and the efficient amount to produce. They take into account the distribution of preferences, who should get what, and they think about production capabilities of how many bucks they should use.

In terms of what is more obvious to me now, for the opportunism blog post, I failed to acknowledged the essential component of opportunism - the ethical dimension of it. It is more clear to me now, after reading through my post and taking a sounder approach and investigating more into the concept, I was able to more clearly see that my actions through the soccer team had ethical consequences as well. I was actually harming myself through playing academy, my actions were negatively effecting me during this time when I believed they were helping me in getting a Divison 1 scholarship for soccer. Instead of focusing on my academics and trying to earn a scholarship that way rather than the athletics route, I would have allocated more time to studying and focusing on collegiate placement exams. I was spending four hours a day after school commuting to soccer when I could have allocated that time to more productive things: ACT studying, school in general, AP tests. 

I believe my process when writing these blogs has evolved through Professor Arvan's comments, he aims at wanting you to learn conceptually what you are speaking on behalf and really deriving the crucial lessons from each of his prompts. I now have a more open mind about things and try to think about the deeper meaning behind what the prompts are trying to entail. Additionally, I have learned to read more closely and ensure I am correctly answering the prompt entirely and not straying too far off topic. The driving force has been the comments though, in the past, instructors do not always comment and just give you a grade without and real feedback. I am able to see where I need to improve through the Professor's comments, but also my classmate’s comments. I use their feedback to fuel and engineer my future posts.