USC Marshall degrees receive STEM designation
Minju Lee, a sophomore in the world bachelor in business program, shares the dream of many other international students of wanting to stay in the United States for work after graduation. With the Marshall School of Business’s announcement of all undergraduate degrees receiving STEM-designation, this dream can become more of a reality.
In a schoolwide email sent on July 8, Marshall’s Vice Dean for Undergraduate Programs Raman Randhawa announced that all of their undergraduate degrees, including accounting, business administration — including all emphases — business of cinematic arts and world bachelor in business students, will receive STEM-designation upon graduation.
Randhawa said that the STEM-designation is a “recognition of the strong technical and quantitative focus of our degree programs,” which Marshall hopes will encourage more prospective students and distinguish their students in the eyes of employers.
“I feel like if you have the STEM recognition, you’re basically telling the recruiter that ‘I have received some systematic training from the school,’” said Serena Chen, a junior majoring in accounting. “I think it gives more credibility and then they trust that if you have the degree, it sends the message that you did something in your school that helped prepare you for technology or STEM fields.”
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics compiled a list of STEM topics that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security uses to approve academic programs to receive STEM designation.
“I feel like accounting can be STEM but it’s kind of weird that business administration is a part of STEM major since it doesn’t really require any scientific stuff,” said Merton Li, a junior majoring in business administration. “From the [current] business administration core classes, there really aren’t any STEM-related classes besides statistics. I see what Marshall was doing here, but I feel like certain concentrations can be in STEM. But if students aren’t taking those classes, I don’t think they deserve to be receiving a STEM major degree.”
Marshall has gradually developed their curriculum, so when the school applied to receive the STEM-designation, it was already meeting standards without needing to make any significant changes.
“We’re preparing students, not just for the first job but to work with ideas,” said assistant professor of clinical marketing Lars Perner. “Specific knowledge becomes obsolete very quickly, but how can you start out in a career path in a way where you adapt over time and try to innovate as you need to.”
Marshall students can explore the different courses that pertain to their interests that were not previously STEM-designated courses, said Danny Chen, a sophomore majoring in business administration.
“I’ve always heard from other business students that they have to choose the finance emphasis in the past because they needed STEM to have this visa and to be able to work in the states for a longer time,” Danny said. “But then, they might have a bigger interest [in] marketing or entrepreneurship. I think now that everything is sorted out, they can do what they want.”
The distinction will be especially important because it allows international students to apply for a STEM OPT extension once they complete their degree, allowing them to stay for an additional 24 months of work experience after receiving an employment authorization document, for a total of 36 months of total work eligibility in the U.S. following graduation.
“I think it’s just great for USC to have that option because it definitely does make the University more attractive to a lot of international students,” said Alyssa Manik, a senior majoring in accounting and business administration. “I think [this distinction] makes USC into a more international student-friendly university.”
With the STEM OPT extension, students are able to have an additional 60 days of unemployment during the extension period, allowing students to have more time to find work.
“Fortunately, the company that I’m currently working with already sponsors with visa, but H-1B is a lottery,” Manik said. “But, since it’s three years now of lottery, I think it seems unlikely for me to not get [the H-1B visa] at all, so that kind of opens up a lot of options in terms of setting up career plans for the long term, like if I wanted to stay here for a while.”
The STEM-designation allows students like Lee to stay to work in the U.S., allowing them to get hands-on experience in their chosen field.
“Right now, I’m into real estate, so I did an internship here and maybe after graduation,” Lee said. “If I have access to the STEM visa, the barrier of a company sponsoring me as an international worker is going to be lower since I have a guarantee that I can stay in the States thanks to the [STEM-designation].”