<p>I posted this in the summer program forum but there arent many view of that so I’m putting it here (since it applies to high school life as well)</p>
<p>A lot of people don’t know what the LEAD Summer Business Institute is. Others confuse it with other “LEAD” programs that are 3,000$ and up. Time to set you people straight.</p>
<p>surf this website first before you read the rest of this.
<a href=“http://www.leadnational.org%5B/url%5D”>www.leadnational.org</a></p>
<p>if you go to this website, it doesn’t really explain much, does it? All you find out is that it’s a business program oriented towards minorities that is situated in various top business colleges. </p>
<p>Okay, I went to the LEAD program at the University of Minnesota.
There were 32 people that were accepted there- 16 boys, 16 girls. The number of people that are accepted range from like 28-32, depending on the school. </p>
<p>It was 3 weeks long. There are a few other colleges that run theirs for 4 weeks, like UPenn and Northwestern I believe. </p>
<p>UNLIKE the other “LEAD” programs, this summer institute costs around 700 dollars without airfare. Other programs of this caliper would cost around 3,000 or even more. </p>
<p>So what do you do there?
Obviously, since this is a business program, you learn a lot of business.
At the U of Minnesota, various people came in to give us lectures.
A lot of the people that came were people who worked in the companies that sponsered this particular program in Minnesota. We heard from the CFO of Cargill, an executive from General Mills, and other high level businesspeople. Various people who were professors or speakers came and talked to us as well. We learned about all the various aspects of business, from entrepreneurship to investment banking.
We also worked in groups on different projects. For example, our sponser General Mills gave us a project that asked us to develop a new cereal and create a “pitch” for it. Target, one of our other sponsers, asked us to create a new endcap (the things you see at the end of the aisles in Target stores) that involved back-to-college supplies. These projects are competitions, and you can win prizes and awards. These awards are really dependant on the sponsers of the program, though. The prizes we got for winning the General Mills project in Minnesta were terrible, but at Stanford, where Apple sponsers the program, the winners got Macbook Pros (gasp!).
Networking is also heavily stressed in this program. We were encouraged to obtain business cards of the people who came in to talk with us. This is the basis for business careers. It’s all about who you know. As of now I am well connected with people in Target, General Mills, and 3M. I could concievably call someone up in Target and get an internship, thanks to the LEAD program. The people who come in to talk with you are really into this program, so they are glad to help you out in any way possible. Not to mention, the LEAD program also has an “alumni connection”. Basically it’s a website that the LEAD alumni can log into. It’s a database of every single person who has gone to this program at some point in the 17-odd years this program has existed. So basically, I can go in to this website, look up someone who goes to, say, UPenn, and be able to contact this person, maybe get a tour of UPenn, or something along those lines. There is also a company database as well. All the companies who sponser LEAD are listed.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING about LEAD is its HOOKS to college. Top business colleges LOVE this program. I was talking to the director of LEAD and she said that some colleges even take applications from LEAD alumni and set them aside separately for review. Example of great hook- 100% of LEAD alumni who applied to University of Michigan were accepted. around 40-50% of LEAD alumni who applied to University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Duke, and NYU were accepted. As you can see, there is a HUGE increase of chances if you go to this program. </p>
<p>So what is my point here? APPLY TO LEAD! It is one of THE best, if not the best summer business program that you can apply to. Around 350 people are accepted every year, so your chances of getting inare GREAT!</p>
<p>AND.
THIS PROGRAM. Is not only for minorities too! Caucasians are encouraged to apply! Even though this is “minority oriented”, its NOT minority only!</p>
<p>If you have any questions, you can PM me.