For Danica, being able to support others and give back to the community was a driving force behind her choice to study the Bachelor of Commerce.
Danica always knew she wanted to study business for the versatile skills and wide career options. Coming to the University of Melbourne offered her opportunities to put her business skills to good use while building relevant experience for her future career.
The Bachelor of Commerce can help you build your expertise that can be applied to almost any industry – whether you want to work in consulting or create your own start-up. There are subjects available across disciplines. For Danica, a double major in marketing and management gave her time to explore the different fields within business while seeing how these skills can be applied to her career.
Danica applied to the University through Access Melbourne, which provided resources and networks to help her to thrive. Access Melbourne is our Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) which supports students who have faced unique circumstances throughout their schooling to gain entry into their preferred undergraduate degree.
“My parents are from the Philippines and they've always worked hard to give us the best opportunities. They taught me that education is a powerful tool to help you do anything you want and I want to share that with my community.”
Through Access Melbourne, Danica was a part of a mentoring program with a Bachelor of Commerce alum. Becoming friends with a recent graduate gave her the chance to see how to apply what she was learning in the classroom to the workforce and find opportunities to get relevant experience while still at university. She had a direct connection for asking questions, getting advice to make the most of her time at uni, and was able to see what life on the other side of graduating could look like.
"I’ve had so many opportunities at uni to be mentored and to become a mentor. I’ve been part of the Access Melbourne mentoring program where I got to meet a commerce graduate and I’ve had mentoring with lecturers through Academic Advising. There are so many mentoring opportunities available. The student club Enactus has also mentored high school students. I know I would have appreciated this when I was younger, so I'm excited that there are so many ways we can help students and guide them."
Danica also found ways throughout her studies to put her classroom learning to the test in practical scenarios. Working with the student club Enactus, Danica started as a HR officer managing the memberships and community culture and eventually took up an executive role as the Vice President of Internal Operations. Coordinating a student body group uses her skills as she would in the workplace – navigating relationships, developing ideas into actionable projects and measuring progress. Ensuring that she can then also give back to her community, Enactus is a student club that promotes causes for social good while putting her business and commerce skills to use.
“A great thing about Enactus is that there's so much room to explore different social causes in not just our projects, but in our full committee meetings as well. We’re able to apply what we learn in class to projects and causes that matter. We run social enterprise projects to help give back to the community.”
The Bachelor of Commerce is an opportunity to understand and solve business challenges, but also make a contribution to society. Business and commerce skills can empower you to make a difference no matter what industry you work in.
I chose the University of Melbourne because the Bachelor of Commerce is so versatile. I knew I wanted to study business and the double major gave me options for how to apply different skills to my career.