Business Administration Major, Finance Concentration
Izmir, Turkey
"Just the other day I accepted a job as a financial analyst at Ernst and Young in New York," says Tugce Dursun, a business administration major with minors in economics and mathematics. "Then I plan to get my Ph.D. in economics. The preparation I've received at Ithaca really put me ahead of the game." Tugce came a long way to take advantage of Ithaca's great programs. Following her valedictorian performance at an American high school in her native Turkey, she knew she wanted to expand her horizons in the classroom and beyond. "Coming to Ithaca, not only did I have a chance to study business from a global perspective, but I also met students and faculty from all over the world.
"The professors here were great in helping me adjust to life in the U.S. They're always willing to help you," says Tugce. "And the small class size is very valuable -- I've had a lot of one-on-one interaction with my professors."
Tugce has kept busy during her time at Ithaca, to say the least: she's the president of the Turkish Students Association, an active member of Rotaract (the youth Rotary Club), and a Sigma Iota Epsilon national scholar. She even helped run the annual etiquette dinner, where students learn how to make a good impression at an interview and in professional life.
And that's just the beginning for this ambitious senior.
As a business student, she notes, "you can study but you have to step out into the real world, too. Through Ithaca I've had so many opportunities. I worked in the human development section of the World Bank in Washington, D.C., which was really exciting. I also studied for a semester in London while interning at Edelman PR [a major British public relations firm]."
After she returned to Turkey to intern at the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Tugce struck gold: she got first an internship and then a job offer from the major financial services firm Ernst and Young.
"The skills I developed through Ithaca College paid off," she says. "I'm really looking forward to working in New York after I graduate in May."
