After facing an overwhelming amount of protests calling for recognition of the first amendment and privacy rights, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills were indefinitely suspended.  While the U.S. government is still determined to draft legislation that will effectively stop overseas piracy, the power play against Hong Kong-based Megaupload, a file-hosting site best known for streaming free videos, now serves as a precedent to businesses and sites that engage in illegally sourced file sharing.

On January 21, Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload, was arrested in New Zealand along with three of the company’s employees.  Pirated content was discovered on leased servers in Virginia, which gave the U.S. the jurisdiction to act.  New Zealand police seized more than $13 million worth of Dotcom’s personal assets and $39 million worth of company assets were frozen by Hong Kong Customs.

Sites such as FileSonic, rather than following suit, have immediately done away with their illegal file sharing service, but kept their file storage services.  However, while cyberspace is still being patrolled by investigators, many users are hesitant to access their private content for fear that they will be caught with illegally sourced content. Even popular cloud storage sites such as Dropbox may encounter a shortfall in user traffic due to the SOPA/PIPA episode.

To software developers, SOPA would have further increased the privatization of the Internet, going one step past their pre-existing intellectual property right bodies (i.e. the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).

Moreover, it would have granted an innumerable amount of content owners the power to accuse one another of copyright and the number of lawsuits would skyrocket.  Markham C. Erickson, a founding partner of Holch & Erickson LLP who serves as lead counsel to Google, eBay, Amazon and Skype, commented that the bill is so broadly worded that it would allow “for an almost unlimited class of rights holders to harass and intimidate sites.”

SOPA was identified by businesses as anti-innovation and a startup killer, precisely because it would deny startups from ease of entry.  To the tech geek developing hardware or software out of their garage, this would be a nightmare.

Imagine this – had SOPA been passed during the ‘70s, there would be no Apple.  No Microsoft.  IBM would still be around as a hardware monopolist and we would have never entered the Information Age.  No Facebook.  No Twitter.

When the U.S. drafts up its next legislative piece, it must be careful to distinguish between the people whose livelihoods depend on the use of affordable, open source content – which is not owned via patent or copyright – and the masses that thrive off of pirated content.  With pressures from pirate nations like China, Russia, and India, businesses, as well as U.S. citizens, will bear the brunt of anti-piracy legislation.

Startups and existing corporations may find that privatizing, as well as monetizing their content, especially when going global, may become even more of a difficulty, as we approach a different solution.

By Phillip St. Pierre

It is that time of year again: Bentley students are posting up in the library, stressing out about the group presentations and final papers that professors are throwing at them. Or, if you are like me, you are probably freshening up on your procrastination tactics, choosing to go to the gym for a couple of hours just to get out of studying for the upcoming finance exam.

Although the last thing you may want on your mind are ways to gain more to your workload towards the end of the semester, it is important to look ahead and consider possible internships for the spring. For many companies, the deadline for a spring internship has already come and gone, but there are still some opportunities out there that could prove to be helpful.

In light of this topic, I decided to speak with two Bentley students regarding the internships they held this past summer. Not only did I gain insight from these individuals about their experiences, but they also gave valuable advice on how to make the most out of an internship.

Anne Desmond, a senior at Bentley, and Landi Morris, a fifth year MBA student, interned at Grant Thornton’s Boston office over the summer. The position focused on mentoring them in accounting, particularly tax and advisory services, with a workload similar to what a fulltime employee would expect.

At Grant Thornton, Desmond and Morris went through two weeks of training to learn the company’s day-to-day operations. Once familiar with the firm and its systems, they began working directly with clients and attending weekly development sessions to freshen up their skills. I also learned that these professional development programs were not what one would expect; many times they included bringing the interns to Red Sox games, duck tours and various shows in the Boston area.

“My experience at Grant Thornton was extremely rewarding,” said Morris. “I was able to participate in numerous audits that allowed me to apply the accounting concepts I learned while at Bentley. Not only was I given a lot of responsibility and exposure to a variety of client industries, but the people I worked with were incredibly friendly and open to giving advice.”

“The most important skill I was able to define was communication. I was responsible for communicating with the client on nearly every engagement I was assigned to,” she said. “I was also working in close quarters with the manager and partner assigned to the client during a of couple audits. It can be particularly nerve wracking to report to the partner as an intern. Another important skill I was able to improve upon was time management. During an audit, there are often a lot of different tasks to complete at the same time, and it requires an incredible amount of organization and time management skills to complete it all.”

I then spoke with Desmond to not only hear about her experiences at Grant Thornton, but also to discuss internships in general and their importance in aiding the job search upon graduation.

“I think an internship is very beneficial when looking for a fulltime job. If you end up working at the company you interned at, it makes senior year much less stressful,” said Desmond. “Even if you do not work for the company you interned at, the experience will still be valuable in determining what you want to do and hopefully give you a better idea of what size company you want to work at.”

“Everyone at Bentley understands the importance of internships for their resume and job hunt,” she said. “I think to make the most out of an internship, you should try to ask a lot of questions so that you understand what you are doing. It makes it easier if you keep a list of questions and ask them at a time that is convenient for your supervisor.”

Not only does an internship look good on one’s resume, in Landi and Anne’s cases, interns who are successful and put in adequate effort are oftentimes offered a fulltime position at their respective firms following graduation. This way, one gets to test out a potential company to see if it fits their goals, and they also have the opportunity to work for that company if the internship goes smoothly.

An internship is something that may not be necessary in order to land that dream job upon graduation, and it is definitely something that adds value both to one’s resume and general work experience. Think about what you want to do after school; if you are unsure at all about a career path, land an internship to find the best path for you.

Welcome to the weekly market wrap for the week of November 21 through November 25, with markets being closed this Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving. Markets fell sharply amid intensifying concerns about the Eurozone, with Friday marking the seventh consecutive negative close for the S&P, which fell a cumulative 7.8 percent. Crude oil futures grew to $97.50 this week before falling to around $96, gold futures ended the week down more than $10 near $1,685.00.

Traders and investors have been held hostage this week from negative trends set into motion yet again by, you guessed it, the Eurozone debt crisis. The debt crisis can be described as somewhat of an unfolding train wreck, now spreading into the big players of the region, France and Germany. Although the IMF (International Monetary Fund) announced that it would implement lending policies to combat the debt, this was in lieu of Spanish and

Italian debt costs rising to their highest since the beginning of the crisis.

There were renewed concerns of credit rating downgrades in Europe and the U.S. as the credit ratings of both Portugal and Hungary were downgraded even further. France’s triple-A credit rating came under scrutiny amidst reports that Belgium would be unable to pay its agreed share to rescue Dexia, a Belgian-French bank.

Germany was unable to sell off all of their 10-year bonds, and pressure mounted on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to approve “stability bonds” that would help the finance of Eurozone governments. However, because

Germany doesn’t want to risk its triple-A credit rating, Merkel has issued a statement saying that a common interest rate bond for the entire Eurozone would send the “wrong signal.”

Due to the slew of negative news emanating from Europe, domestic markets dropped dramatically falling below 50 and 200 day moving averages. Selling continued this week as the government revised its third quarter GDP growth estimate from 2.5 percent to 2.0 percent.

Another focus in the U.S. market this week has been on “Black Friday,” which begins the start of the Christmas shopping season. Despite this being the busiest shopping day of the entire year, retailers underperformed.

Normally popular online retailer Amazon was one of the worst performers in the retail space, ending this trading session down 3.5 percent. Other retailers such as Home Depot and electronics giant Best Buy both slid into the red by small margins.

According to Bloomberg, 25 percent of Christmas shopping is done in the week following Black Friday, and the Christmas shopping season accounts for over 40 percent of annual retail sales. Thus, the coming weeks leading up to the end of 2011 will be a critical time for retailers, the U.S. economy and Santa Claus.

**Information sourced from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN Moneywatch & Nasdaq Online.

The National Basketball Players Association’s executive director Billy Hunter predicted it over a year ago, claiming he was “99 percent sure” that a NBA lockout would arise following the 2010 season. Many were aware that a lockout was a possibility, but I don’t think anybody, players or owners alike, expected the discussions to be this difficult.

We are now over five months into the lockout, and talks aren’t going anywhere. Just to add insult to injury, Celtics fans who were hopeful for one last championship run with the ever-aging big three are seeing the chances of any games being played this season slipping out of our grasps.

From a fan’s perspective, I just want to watch some basketball games. The NBA, along with the other major professional sports leagues, is extremely lucrative to be a part of. Sure, owners and players alike don’t want to sacrifice any of their earnings, but they are making millions of dollars a year just to manage or play basketball; it’s the fans that are losing the most the right now.

Although it would be easy to say that both sides just need to meet halfway and come up with some resolution, it is a little more complicated than that. Billions of dollars are being discussed, lawsuits are being filed and the rumors of Kobe Bryant playing in Italy or Chris Paul going to China are becoming a reality as the clock continues to tick, with no agreement in sight.

During the 2010 NBA season, Commissioner David Stern was projecting season losses of approximately $350 million, and in order to go from negative to positive he proposed that the league initiate a “hard” salary cap. Currently the NBA has a cap on total salaries a team can accrue, but there are some instances that allow teams to go over this cap if they don’t mind paying a luxury tax.

With the “hard” cap in place, under no exceptions would teams be allowed to spend more than the cap specifies. This would directly affect players who are looking to sign those large, long-term contracts.

An example of this would be the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010 free agency, with their acquisitions of Lebron James and Chris Bosh. They ended up exceeding the salary cap, but were granted an exception because they had to fill out their roster, and did this by signing players to “veterans minimum” contracts.

The salary cap is the main factor of argument, but there are various sub-topics that need to be smoothed out as well, including the maximum contract years a player can sign to, the minimum age a player has to be before entering into the NBA, and the possibility of getting rid of a couple teams so the talent pool of players isn’t as disbursed.

Synonymous with the salary cap is how much the players should be paid; the previous collective bargaining agreement gave the players a 57-percent share. The players were quick to reject the NBA’s original proposal of 47 percent, and are lobbying towards a less drastic cut of salary to a percent in the lower 50 percent, with a 51- to 49-percent split the bare minimum.

Even after several meetings per week between the NBA and NBPA (National Basketball Players Association), talks have virtually been at a stalemate for the past few months. It seems as though the players were willing to negotiate a decrease in revenue, but were adamantly against a salary cap with no exceptions, which would decrease the amount of money teams can spend on players.

Commissioner Stern fired back with roughly a 50-50 split in revenue, but the NBA was ultimately not budging in its proposal of a hard salary cap. Even with a mediator involved and a final ultimatum given by Commissioner David Stern and the owners, the frustrated players decided to go a different root: disband from the union and take the NBA to court.

From a player’s perspective, this may be the best way to get what they see as an acceptable offer from the owners, as the pressures and hassles of lawsuits and multiple court proceedings may lead the NBA to bend a little in their proposals. On the other hand, court proceedings usually take a great deal of time, and the more games that are cancelled from the season (so far all the games up to December 15), the more paychecks players are missing.

What it all boils down to is discrepancies in a couple percent of revenue. Yes, we are talking about 2 or 3 percent of billions of dollars, but for players and owners alike who are making more money than they would be doing virtually any other job in the world, they are just killing themselves as the cancellation of the 2011 NBA season is in sight.

Not only is the lockout emptying the pockets of NBA owners and players, those who are making a living as ticket vendors, concession workers, and parking attendants are struggling to find a job. As an avid basketball fan, I am hopeful that both sides would just agree on something like a 50-50 revenue split of basketball-related activities and meet in the middle on the salary cap, but that is most likely just wishful thinking.

Look on the bright side, some players are getting a chance to travel overseas and increase the NBA’s popularity globally, but at the same time, they are probably making a third or less of what they would make in the NBA. And for those players who have decided not to play overseas, they must find other ways to keep themselves busy and make money. Take Celtics guard Delonte West for example; what better way to spend your time off from basketball than working at a furniture store to pay off your bills.

Welcome to the weekly market wrap for November 7 through November 11. The 45th trading week of the year closed on a strong note, despite wavering confidence in Europe, specifically Italy during the middle of the week. Crude oil futures experienced growth this week, closing at around $98.73/barrel on Friday afternoon. Gold futures also grew, closing at around $1787.27/ounce.

An overview of the major U.S. indices; the S&P more or less remained even throughout the week, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ recorded slight gains and losses, respectively. As aforementioned, the market closed on a strong note, with gains of about two percent. This gain represents the fourth market advance in the past five trading sessions.

Italy remained at the center of investor focus for the better part of the week. Markets opened on a strong note, as investors reacted positively to reports that the bailout fund that will be applied to Europe will be expanded.

This opening sentiment was further bolstered when news came that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was going to step down, which would clear the way for a new government to deal with the country’s out-of-control debt crisis.

The only day that the market tumbled this week was Wednesday. This drop was a result of Europe’s largest clearinghouse (a financial institution that acts as a marketplace for trading securities and derivatives – an example would be the London Clearing House or the U.S. Fedwire) announced that it was hiking up margin requirements for investors trading in Italian bonds and securities. Concern was also expressed about just when Berlusconi would step out of office.

However, as the trading week neared the weekend, the markets rallied due to news of a respected economist appearing ready to take over for Berlusconi within the next few days. The Italian Senate also approved many economic reforms that strengthened investor confidence.

Although the ongoing debt crisis in Europe dominated market headlines for the past few weeks, US economic news continued to improve despite the problems in Europe. The US trade gap (which has been notoriously high) narrowed in October more than expected, thanks to increased exports and decreased imports. This improvement in the trade balance may boost third-quarter growth predictions.

Also important, the new jobless claims during the past week fell to 390,000 from 400,000 a week earlier. Though too early to correctly determine U.S. economic trends as 2011 begins to come to a close, positive conditions and indicators in the U.S. economy could continue to spur growth and recovery.

Treasury yields for this past trading week remained stable during the week for the most part due to positive news beginning to come from Europe. Although the economic conflict in Europe can still spread onto U.S. shores and hinder U.S. economic recovery, investors and the world at large breathed a sigh of relief this week that, for the moment, the debt crisis in Europe is still contained.

**Information sourced from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes Money and Nasdaq Online.

Welcome to the weekly market wrap for October 31 through November 4. The month of October has shown the strongest monthly market rally since 1974. However, as the month ended and proceeded into early November, the markets winning streak came to an end.

The S&P500, DOW and NASDAQ all fell this week, with this marking the first drop in the S&P index since September. Crude oil futures experienced little change, however, trading for $94.22/barrel at market closing on Friday. Gold futures grew slightly to $1757.11/ounce.

Domestic and international market focus again fell on Europe, as the debt bailout deal that was proposed last week fell into doubt. Greece was largely responsible for the trading patterns seen this week, as well as the market volatility.

The week started on a poor note, with stocks taking a substantial hit of five percent upon Greece’s announcement that it would base its participation in the latest bailout on a national vote. This sparked fears that Greece would exit the Eurozone (an EMU that belongs to the EU). However, the markets recovered when protests from Germany and France, as well as dissention within the Greek government, forced the Prime Minister to rescind his proposition of referendum.

Domestic markets regained footing slightly midway through the week when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed was “[preparing] to take further action as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery.”

Also helping the positive sentiment was an announcement from the Labor Department stating that, although hiring slowed in late October, the unemployment rate hit a six-month low and job gains in the two months prior had been stronger than predicted, pushing unemployment down to 9 percent.

By Friday, however, markets were unable to build on the positive growth that occurred the past few days, owing to news that discussion on how to handle the Eurozone debt crisis at the G20 summit was “less than amicable.” Eventually, as the week wound to a close, domestic markets had suffered a 2.5-percent weekly loss, brushing away four weeks of gains.

Despite poor market performance this week amid the chaos in European markets, the dollar climbed ~2.5 percent against a small crowd of major foreign currencies, including the yen and the euro.

In other market news, the S&P500 and the DOW, two of the world’s most renowned stock indices, will soon be merged. The S&P, which is owned by McGraw Hill, will merge with the DOW, owned by CME, with McGraw Hill holding 73-percent ownership and CME holding 24.4 percent. News Corp. will have a 2.6-percent stake. The joint S&P/DOW index is expected to be operational by 2012 pending regulatory approval and closing conditions.

INFORMATION SOURCED FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE NEW YORK TIMES, FORBES MONEY AND CNN MONEY WATCH.

Similar to the Austrian position laid out in my article last week, economist Hyman Minsky’s theory of economic crises has recently gone mainstream. Minsky (1919-1996), an American economist who did not receive much recognition during his life, developed a theory that explains economic crises based on a dynamic within the banking sector’s function as a financial intermediary.

As early as 2007, the theory was being referred to as a prescient explanation for the then unraveling housing market. And although it is still not generally accepted by the mainstream economic profession, any decent observer of the financial media or economic inter-webs has at least heard the term “Minsky Moment” thrown around once in a while.

Minsky’s theory, called “The Financial Instability Hypothesis” (FIH), is an endogenous explanation for economic cycles. Minsky’s position is that the financial sector, which finances the “real economy” in all capitalist countries, has a tendency to become less and less stable over time.

Minsky’s commonly quoted phrase is that “stability breeds instability.” More specifically, after a period of time where financial intermediaries act conservatively, there is a growing profit incentive to act more and more speculatively, eventually leading to a financial crisis.

To flesh out this dynamic, Minsky categorizes three types of financing relationships that can exist in an economy: “Hedged”, “Speculative” and “Ponzi”. Hedged borrowers have the income stream to afford all future cash flow payments. Speculative borrowers can afford to pay back interest payments, but not the debt itself. They speculate that they will be able to “roll over” the principle (presumably at the same interest payment) when it comes due. Ponzi borrowers can’t really afford to pay back much of anything; they hope to be able to sell the asset they financed at a profit before their debt payments come due.

After a period of time where the economy is mostly financed by “hedged” relationships, financial intermediaries can easily increase their profitability by acting “speculatively,” which then similarly leads to “ponzi” financing. The ponzi financing climaxes with what has been termed a “Minsky Moment,” where suddenly everybody realizes what has happened, and the self-reinforcing cycle of price appreciation that fed the boom reverses and heads downward.

A deleveraging period occurs, which causes a return back to sounder lending practices, and starts another period of “hedged” financial relationships. The process is bound to repeat itself as long as this natural tendency of capitalist economies isn’t prevented by government restraints.

Without going into it, I hope it is clear at this point that Minsky’s theory fits as a very accurate description of the housing bubble during the past decade. The financial industry financed adjustable-rate-mortgages whose borrowers were relying on interest rates staying low. These were the “speculative” borrowers. Additionally, the financial industry financed homebuyers that simply wanted additional income via expected property appreciation. These were the “ponzi” borrowers. Then a financial crisis commenced; now lending practices are back to being strict, and households are trying to pay down debt.

As mentioned, due to its accurate description of the recent financial crisis, Minsky’s theory has become well known in the financial media, although it hasn’t been accepted and applied to the degree Minsky probably intended.

The underlying suggestion of the theory is that capitalist economies are not as inherently stable as the mainstream economic profession has come to believe it can be (with proper monetary and fiscal policy of course). Consequently, just like the advocates of Austrian business cycle theory, those in favor of Minsky’s explanation have a lot of work to do.

Special thanks to Professor Bryan Snyder for providing much of the background information used to write this article.

Few economists are ever inclined to notice Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) because the school of thought arose from accepts an economic methodology that is incompatible with today’s common schools of thought.

Nevertheless, the Austrian School of Economic Thought has recently gained more attention, from both supporters and opponents – due to the fact that many of its adherents predicted the recessionary consequences of the housing bubble as early as 2001.

Since I’m writing this article, you might guess I’m sympathetic to the school as a whole – and I am – but I don’t believe it should prevent someone who isn’t from considering ABCT on its own merits. As an example, even someone like John Hicks, the economist who helped interpret John Maynard Keynes’ The General Theory for the rest of us and set the standard IS-LM diagram that served most economics students for many years, gained some appreciation for the theory later in his life.

To begin to understand the theory, you might start by asking the question: “Is there any connection between demand for consumer goods, and the demand for ‘partially-finished’ consumer goods?” In other words, “Is the ratio of wooden consumer products to lumber arbitrary?”

Austrian economists say it is not arbitrary. To them, there is a very real and systematic interdependency throughout all types of production, so much so that to understand how the economy really works, you can’t rely on highly aggregated “total output” models that many schools of thought do. Instead, you need to work with models that disaggregate the production structure, and specifically in terms of time.

Time refers to how long it takes a particular good until it is fully consumed. So for example, iron ore is usually very far away in time from being consumed. This is sometimes referred to as a “higher-order” good. A partly-assembled toaster is closer in time from being consumed–often called a “lower-order” good.

Austrians say the natural process of economic growth occurs in two phases: First, people save more of their incomes, which causes an increase in the production of “higher order” goods, while concurrently the production of “lower-order” goods (including consumer goods) shrinks temporarily.  It is only after a period of time that more consumer goods come to the market, a direct consequence of the consumers’ willingness to save during the production process.

The key is that during the “period of production”, consumers are consuming less–otherwise the necessary labor and resources presently being used in the “lower-order” sectors can’t be released to be made available for the new “higher-order” production. And it is this time-consuming dynamic that simply looking at the GDP, which measures yearly output of “finished goods”, doesn’t really catch.

To get to the point, Austrians argue that artificial and significant credit expansions stimulate the production of more “higher-order” goods than can be supported by consumers–who are actually consuming more due to lower interest rates and temporarily greater incomes. This is an unsustainable dynamic since firms are acting as if the consumer goods industry is shrinking; they are boosting investment in “higher order” goods production as if more resources are going to be made available when resources leave the supposedly shrinking late-stage industries.

In reality, because consumers aren’t consuming any less, these resources will never become available, and eventually the structure of production needs to correct itself. To the Austrians, the “boom” of the business cycle, induced by artificial credit expansion, is actually the problem; it is the recession that is the unavoidable consequence.

Accordingly, Austrians argue the pre-2008 boom in the American economy was precisely this unhealthy dynamic–the expansion of the “time structure of production” in an artificial and unsustainable way. I don’t have the space here to sufficiently provide their empirical evidence that illustrates it, but I would put forward a couple points:

The housing sector–considered a “higher-order” goods industry since it might take 100 years to fully consume a house–began its expansion during the late 1990’s. It just so happens that the money supply noticeably began to take off in 1995. And secondly, as mentioned above, the Austrian school was calling the housing bubble a housing bubble as early as 2001. The majority of economists rejected that notion as late as 2007.

America, once the image of prosperity, success and international affluence, is becoming senile and decrepit. Blasphemy, you say – and you are more than welcome to disagree – but many parts of the world are now forging ahead in technology, innovation and standards of living. I am in no way anti-American, but what is America still best at?

Directly quoted from a recent post in the Harvard Business Review, “Consider this thought experiment. If you were really, really, really rich — say, not just part of the routinely opulent 1%, but a card-carrying member of the eye-poppingly decadent .01% — what part of your life would be American? If you had the money, I’d bet you’d drive a German car, wear British shoes and an Italian suit, keep your savings in a Swiss bank, vacation in Koh Samui with shopping expeditions to Cannes, fly Emirates, develop a palate for South African wine, hire a French-trained chef, buy a few dozen Indian and Chinese companies, and pay Dubai-style taxes.”

The message behind this quote is that if one could afford it, the niceties and luxuries one associates with him or herself would likely not be American.

Take a look at a select few of the more recent and bizarre examples of American “innovation” and “ingenuity”: Spray cheese, designer diapers, 5,000 TV channels, oxymoronic “healthcare” and motor vehicle companies that woke up only on the brink of their demise.

It is no wonder that, if given unbounded economic freedom, we would not associate ourselves with America. Sure, perhaps you would choose our military, Google and the iPhone over all other substitutes, but is there much more?

What happened to America? It is not expansion and globalization, or the fear of “spreading ourselves too thin” that erased the history of American excellence, but rather a haughty arrogance coated with the icing of denial. Modern America has perfected the art of mega-financing and ‘mess’-producing, with side effects that may include unemployment, stagnation, and colossal debt.

Mediocrity, backed by a little muscle and confidence, may have been a recipe for success in grade school, but upon one’s entrance into higher education and subsequently, the “real” world, it is the sharper, quicker, and wiser individuals that tend to prosper.

Like it or not, America is no longer the sharpest, quickest, or wisest. With past cities of grandeur such as Baltimore and Detroit having areas beginning to resemble Kabul and Peshawar, it is impossible to ignore that we are no longer the best at everything under the sun, and what we are good at isn’t nearly good enough for the 21st century.

Despite America’s huge deficit, dreadful trade balance, and dearth of exports, the above only touches on the superficial, the hyper-consumerism society that we have become. America may still lead in terms of where one chooses to live, to start a business, to raise a family; these parts of many of our lives may be fundamentally American. Higher education (quality rather than access), science, computing R&D, finance (from sovereign and corporate debt to angel investors) and a variety of other ultra-high-value-added services are still helmed by America.

To be certain, there is rot and decay here in America, but that rot and decay exists everywhere. That gleaming new Emirates fleet parked on the tarmac at the oh-so glorious Dubai International Airport is just a superficial consumer experience. It doesn’t mean that life is actually good there.

However if the recent “rumors” and “signs” of America’s imminent demise are worth a bit of our attention, perhaps it’s time to diagnose the depth of the hole we have dug ourselves into and realize that America may need a gentle reality check.

By Phillip St. Pierre

As you are most likely already aware of, Apple lost its president and chief product design guru Steve Jobs to pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011. The face and voice of Apple, Jobs was a master innovator who affected and propelled not only his company, but the technology industry as a whole.

Take one look through your backpack or on your desk; there is most likely an iPhone, iPod or Macbook somewhere in your proximity. Apple’s products are a larger part of our lives than many people realize, which is why the death of Jobs raises some concern about the company’s future.

Prior to the passing of Jobs, Tim Cook was chosen to take over the reins as Apple’s CEO. In his first public presentation, Cook did not get the praise and applaud that Jobs was famous for in his public outings, mainly because Cook decided to let two people working under him explain Apple’s new product, the iPhone 4S.

Cook may lack the emotion and innovative mind that Jobs displayed, but he has years of experience with the supply chain processes of Apple and has a knack for distribution that is unlike anyone else in the company. The present CEO will surely face some pressure to lead Apple like Jobs did for so many years; the company is already a heavyweight in the tech industry, though, so it is not like he is going to have to make major changes to the company procedures in place.

It will be interesting to see who else steps up for Apple. Although Cook is taking over the main duties that Jobs performed with years of success, there are plenty of individuals who have been working behind the scenes for Jobs, and will compliment Cook nicely in their own fields of expertise.

One of these individuals is Philip Schiller, senior vice president of the marketing division at Apple. A member of the company’s executive team since 1997, Schiller is the man behind some of the most popular Apple slogans and pitches, including the Mac vs. PC commercials, and was one of the people who aided Cook in his first public presentation.

Schiller worked closely with Jobs on a day-to-day basis, preparing his keynote presentations and presenting new products on many occasions. When Jobs left on medical leave in 2009, it was Schiller who was chosen to give the keynote presentations and present the iPhone 3GS. With a strong personality and public charisma similar to Jobs, he could very well become the next leader of Apple.

Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of Apple’s design team since 1996, is another crucial player in the company’s continued success. Although he is not well known to most people, Ive is a guru in the technology industry, and was named Fortune’s “Smartest Designer in the Technology World” just last year.

Apple’s SVP of software Scott Forstall takes Ive’s designs and makes them run smoothly and with all the quirks. He is known as a software genius and is responsible for refining Apple’s main operating system iOS.
These Apple executives are all willing and able to pull more weight to maintain the success of Apple. It is unknown how the state of Apple will be affected in the long-term in the aftermath of the Jobs Era, but one area that Cook wants to focus on is the tablet market, which he believes will take over the PC market over the next few years.

The company will also rely on China to pick up the slack in its sales. In 2010, revenue from China went from $3 billion to $13 billion, a 333-percent jump from the previous years. Apple is already well established in the United States, which is why it wants to open the majority of its expected stores overseas this coming year.

Wall Street Journal columnist Jessica Vascellaro believes that Apple will be able to ride on Job’s vision and accomplishments for the time being, but that they need to find a way to sustain their competitive advantage in the long-term.

“The real test for Mr. Cook will come when he is no longer benefiting from Mr. Jobs’s triumphs and must conquer new markets on his own,” said Vascellaro. “Executives in media companies, for instance, are reluctant to give up control of their products and fear Apple will end up eating away at their profits. Mr. Cook must win them over.”

By James Pini

Some of the biggest players in the business world today are entrepreneurs, and although it requires some risk, effort and a little luck, becoming successful as an entrepreneur can be a satisfying and rewarding career path.

One area that Bentley doesn’t seem to put as much emphasis on is entrepreneurship, and this is where a company like Collegiate Entrepreneurs could be of assistance. Collegiate Entrepreneurs is a student development program run by college students, and its goal is to teach students how to run their own business.

For those of you who are not familiar with Collegiate Entrepreneurs, it is a fully licensed painting company that provides service at lower prices than most of its competitors. Because the company performs such a high volume of paint jobs, it is able to receive discounts from its suppliers.

Collegiate Entrepreneurs is based out of Braintree, but provides service throughout New England, as well as New York and California. All of its painters need to go through a great deal of training and get certified in order to provide professional services to people’s homes.

This is a perfect summer job since not only will workers make above average pay (last year’s average summer earnings were $9,450), but students will also run the day-to-day operations of the company, acquiring management skills that will be essential for future jobs. On top of all that, running your own business would be a great addition to a resume.

By becoming branch managers, students can be assigned to a specific area near their home, where they must market their company and obtain potential clients. The work process begins with training sessions to learn how to properly manage and market the company. Next, the branch manager will hire and train a crew of painters before the selling and performing of paint jobs begins.

This job is consistent with the effort you put into it. First-year branch managers could have a chance to apply for a regional management position in the following year if they perform well enough, and being on the executive team is just another perk to add to your credentials.

“There are so many different ways to do this job successfully; it’s hard to pinpoint just one,” said Robbie Labrie, regional manager of Collegiate Entrepreneurs. “For me, I put in a lot of hard work and really worked to improve my time-management skills. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you can be successful with many different skill sets, whether you’re a natural salesman, a good manager or someone with neither of those skills who is willing to work hard to improve, which was basically me.”

If you are struggling to find an internship you will enjoy, or just want to gain a hands-on business experience that will prepare you for the future, entrepreneurship programs could be an alternate, but equally as important, route.

“Being a branch manager is not an easy job, but the rewards are so much greater than just having a normal internship where you look up stock quotes and get someone’s coffee,” said Labrie. “You are building your own business, and there’s no other feeling like it. It’s an experience you’ll have and a story you’ll be able to tell for the rest of your life that very few people can.”

If you are interested in and want to learn more about Collegiate Entrepreneurs, you can contact Labrie at labrie_robe@bentley.edu.

Without getting very technical (and I couldn’t get technical on this subject even if I wanted to), I’d like to spend a couple of paragraphs fleshing out a long-running economic debate business students should have a good feel for – what’s preventing “economic growth?” And then I’d like to make a point that relates to a great scene from the movie Good Will Hunting.

With recent economic events, the old economic argument has continually come up – is the problem with the economy because of demand or supply? Those who answer the former are often Democrats and those who answer with the latter are often Republicans. In layman’s terms, the problem boils down to the following: “What’s the best way to get all of the unemployed employed?”

Supply-siders say we should remove government-related barriers that prevent production (hence the name “supply-siders”). They argue for things like tax cuts and deregulation; once businesses have enough reason to make investments, they hire people, those new employees have more income, the “money-multiplier” “kicks in,” and poof, the economy is going again, and everyone is employed.

Demand-siders, aka Keynesians, say the best way to encourage businesses to invest and set the previously-explained sequence of events in motion is for government to increase the demand for their products. When government spends freshly made money into the economy, it spurs consumer demand, which causes businesses to invest because they profit from that demand.

These arguments are all well and good, and I don’t necessarily want to start criticizing either one here. Instead, I’d like to make a point about the way in which some people “decide” which argument they support. Specifically, many people I know are entirely committed to one side or the other, yet it seems to me that they don’t have good reason to believe their position is right (besides that it is conveniently aligned with their particular political sympathies, of course).

It’s not that they don’t understand their argument, and it’s not that they couldn’t have good reason to believe their view over all others. But since economics has become such a political and polarizing issue, I think they subconsciously forgot to think for themselves.

It reminds me a bit of that scene from Good Will Hunting at the Harvard University bar when actor Scott William Winters, the guy with the pony tail, tries to embarrass Ben Affleck in front of two women by bringing up Affleck’s lack of education.

The guy basically just plagiarizes a bunch of historians, so Matt Damon steps in and challenges him by exposing everything he said, referencing authors and page numbers. To the jerk with the pony tail, learning what all the “experts” thought was never about trying to answer the questions the experts were; it was about something else entirely. I might as well finish this article quoting the end of the scene.

Damon: See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you’re gonna start doin’ some thinkin’ on your own and you’re going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: One, don’t do that, and two, you dropped 150 grand on a f&*%‘n education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!

Winters: Yeah, but I will have a degree. And you’ll be servin’ my kids fries at a drive-through on our way to a skiing trip.

Damon: [laughs] That may be, but at least I won’t be unoriginal. But I mean, if you have a problem with that, I mean, we could just step outside – we could figure it out.

Winters: No, man, there’s no problem. It’s cool.

By James Pini

By James Pini

By Kat Webber

The last few days of classes are dwindling, projects are coming to a close, papers and potential exams are piling up. Add in a job or internship search, finding a place to live this summer, perhaps missing your mom’s cooking and your stress level could be at an all time high. Here are some tips you may not have thought of for time management and managing your stress.

The first one is simple, though it’s probably one of the most difficult things to get college students to do: Sleep. If you’re not getting at least six hours of sleep per night, your body will start to hate you and your brain will begin to turn into mush.

Conversely, if you are sleeping more than 10 hours a night, you will become overtired. Try to keep it around seven to nine hours a night as often as possible. And remember, power naps, 20 to 30 minutes in length, can go a lot further than crashing for a few hours and waking up more tired.

Second tip: Exercise. Walking up the hill and back down from class twice a day does not count. Studies have shown that exercise reduces stress, gives you energy and creates feelings of self-confidence.

If you do not like working out at the gym or running, then go for a walk. You can walk the loop from University Police, up around Adamian and back down to the Student Center. It isn’t too difficult, and at least it gets you moving.

Third tip: Hydrate. No, that does not mean having an extra beer after dinner. This means water, you know that stuff that comes out of the tap; they bottle it, too. You lose approximately five pints of water from your body a day, the equivalent of about 80 ounces.

This means you have to put at least the same amount back in. Your best bet is to have a large water bottle, like a Nalgene or Swiss, and fill it up at least twice.

Fourthly: Make a to-do list. Put it on a Post-It and keep it where you can see it, know what days you have finals and concentrate on the ones you have first. If it is a paper, allot a certain amount of time per day to work on it. Make a plan and stick to it. Set a time in the calendar on your phone or in Outlook. Also, try dispersing other notes of encouragement around your room. Find little ways to say motivated and it will go a long way to keep you on track and more sane.

Finally, when all else has been tried, get out of your room. Go see a movie, hang out with friends or go have dinner. Just ditch the books, get your mind off of your stress and focus on something else for awhile. You will come back refreshed, less stressed and ready to focus.

You can also apply these same tips to anything: Interviews, job hunting, apartment searches. Moderation is the key here; too much concentration on your object of stress will ultimately make you more stressed. So get out and avoid it for awhile, then come back with fresh eyes and a new sense of determination.

By Phillip St. Pierre

As the semester comes to a close, you may be scrambling to find that internship or business-related job, and for some students, a full-time internship for this summer may not be possible. Want to find a way to gain that type of knowledge and experience without having to travel to the city every day? Consider a leadership develop program.

Many companies offer leadership development as one-week programs to give students real-world business experience, as well as pave the way for a future full-time job or internship with potential employers. One company that is going great lengths to give students ample real-world application in a small amount of time is PwC.

PwC is hosting 2,400 college students at Disney World for career-building experiences and exercises in its “Intern Development Program 2.0.” The program begins on August 1, 2011, and is split up into three one-week sessions.

The Intern Development Program is open to students who participate in PwC’s internship experience and receive full-time job offers by the end of their client-service internship. The activities help prepare interns to come back to PwC as full time associates.

“The Intern Development Program provides insight to students and enhances interns’ personal and professional skills development,” said Alexa Hamill, PwC national campus recruiting leader. “After the program, students not only perform at a higher level once they enter the workforce, they also have the skills and experiences needed to be a better hire for our company.”

With over 80 PwC representatives attending, the program is a way to obtain knowledge and advice from the people who know best. Interns will have the chance to meet with these PwC associates, with whom they can ask questions and gain business professional insight.

PwC is expecting to hire roughly 6,000 people from college campus across the U.S., so the students who participate in the program will already gain a leg up on their peers. Those who do attend the program get to experience what it’s like working for PwC, and could have the opportunity to return as full-time employees following the internship experience.

“This is our pipeline to identify full-time hires and associates to enter our firm,” said Hamill. “The internship program provides a realistic job experience through real business application by working in a team and interacting with staff and partners within the firm.”

There are going to be plenty of opportunities this summer to prepare for post-graduation. Even if it is only for one week, a leadership program with a company you are interested in could go a long way. Do some research into leadership programs; they are an opportunity to get your foot in the door with a potential employer, and they give you a better chance of a future hire within that company.

For more information on PwC’s Internship Development Program, go to pwc.tv.

By Kat Webber

Watching the news may seem like a waste of time, or you may think that you can find something better to watch. A lot of the time, it seems as though there is nothing but horrible world events being shown, but the news really is worth watching if you take the time to think about it from a competitive advantage standpoint.

Picture this: You’re sitting in an interview or wandering around the Career Fair; other than introducing yourself, giving your elevator pitch and then answering a menagerie of questions, why not bring something else to the table? Nothing perks up people’s ears and their memory like good, interesting current events.

Want to get in good with a tech company? Why not discuss the pros and cons of the new RIM Blackberry Playbook? Want to impress a publishing firm? Why not ask for an opinion on James Patterson’s new novel Tick Tock?

If you know nothing of current events, how can you relate what is happening in the market or the world to what you are learning in the classroom? How can you ask pertinent questions in an interview or class without being informed of what is happening in your own state?

Being able to take coursework and apply it to real life situations is what employers today are looking for. So, if you have stuff on your resume that can only be explained in a classroom context, they are thinking: What’s the point? You need to be able to take what you know, see it in the world around you and get out of the Bentley Bubble.

Stop thinking of the news as a chore. Instead of wasting time watching Jersey Shore or keeping Friends reruns on in the background, why not flip on the news? Leave that channel on for a change and maybe you’ll pick up something worthwhile. There’s usually a little something for everyone on the all day news stations.

Maybe watching the news is not your thing, but that does not mean you shouldn’t be paying attention to it. You can put a wiki on your desktop which receives automatic news updates from the Internet. You can set your homepage to cnn.com or foxnews.com. Something like this can go a long way in keeping you informed.

And who knows, maybe you won’t be the last person on campus to know about the tsunami in Japan or the death of the legendary Heath Ledger.

By Phillip St. Pierre

How to deal with the federal budget has been one of the most discussed and argued recently, but it finally seems as if some progress is being made.

The first shutdown of the federal government and its agencies was avoided when President Barack Obama proposed a last-minute budget plan to the House of Representatives and Senate on the eve of the April 1 deadline. The plan required $37.8 billion in spending cuts for the remaining fiscal year.

If a conclusion was not reached, the 800,000 federal government employees would have been prevented from working as of midnight on April 1, the first federal shutdown in 15 years. Not only would jobs have been stalled, but national parks would have to close, tax audits would have been halted, and military participants would not have been able to perform their daily duties.

The debate was over the short-term deficit actions for the coming months, and both parties were at a stalemate on how to allocate spending cuts. Although the issue with short-term spending has been resolved, there is still a heated debate on how to handle the long-term deficit.

In the long term, the federal government’s main point of concern is economic growth, specifically with education, energy programs and research and development. The goal of this plan seems to be to balance minor tax increases with small amendments to discretionary health programs and spending cuts, that way no social class will be affected too harshly.

There are many discrepancies between the Republican and Democratic parties on how to handle the deficit, so it will be interesting to see what issues pose the most concern leading up to the election. The Republican plan is criticized for cutting programs geared to seniors, lower class citizens and college students, while the Democratic proposal’s main area of concern is tax increases and the danger of job losses.

The Republican Party, led by Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, laid forth their budget plan early April, which was projected to reduce the deficit by $5.8 trillion in the next ten years. This would require large budget cuts in programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The result is both popular health programs would take a big hit. Medicare would be converted into a defined benefit plan, where most of the weight would be put on the employers, and the funding for Medicaid would be cut by a considerable amount.

Although the Republican proposal passed through the House with not much trouble, the Senate was not so keen on such large cuts in discretionary spending programs. A less extreme strategy was needed, which led President Obama to advise a plan that involved a smaller cut in these programs.

While the President proposed only to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years, compared to the Republicans’ proposal of $5.8 trillion in 10 years, Obama’s plan offset lower cuts in discretionary spending with more tax increases for the upper class.

There seems to be overall satisfaction with the President’s plan, as the tax increase is fairly small for the wealthy, and less cutting of discretionary spending takes some of the burden off of the middle and lower classes, as well as college students.

“Both sides had to make tough decisions and give ground on issues that were important to them, but beginning to live within our means is the only way to protect those investments that will help America compete for new jobs,” said President Obama in Businessweek.

The upcoming months are going to be grueling for both parties, as they have different visions on how to handle the deficit and do not want to budge on certain issues. One thing is certain: Some sort of compromise is needed, but it will be a slow and stressful debate on how to tackle long-term debt.

By Kat Webber

As business students, it is important to be well rounded in all things, not just current events and newspapers, or finance and marketing. Striving to be competitive in tangible ways can be a challenge, but by simply reading a few books, you could create an advantage over your fellow applicants.

A book can also be a handy tool to look back at if you ever need it for reference.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is usually recommended for business majors. Sun Tzu is a strategic genius in terms of his troop movements, as well as relating leaders to their soldiers.

In business applications, the book’s ideas can be put to good use for group interaction circumstances, working through an issue and instating and securing your position as a new leader. Some accuse this book of being archaic given its often harmonious relationship with deception and spy networks.

Kiss, Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands by Wayne A. Conway and Terri Morrison is another popular book which was actually written with business applications in mind. The entire compilation is a first class guide to doing business in other countries. It describes in detail certain customs and cultures that should be observed by Americans doing business in particular countries.

This book can also be used as a general guide for people traveling or doing research because it gives historical facts and fun cultural anecdotes. It is an easy read and a great explanation of different ideas and customs that are common in particular areas. For example, did you know that in Argentina, it is not uncommon for important people to be late to meetings? Usually, the more important the person, the later they will be.

People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts by Robert Bolton is a book dedicated to interpersonal and interoffice relationships. The skills described in this volume teach people how to relate to others in uncomfortable or restrictive situations. It is a guide for better understanding reactions between people and how to create open, assertive and rewarding relationships.

These three books form a basis for a good business education outside of the classroom. Expanding your mind through reading can help to keep you one step ahead of the competition.

By Phillip St. Pierre

As the semester is coming to a close, students are working hard to stay ahead in classes and prepare themselves for summer internships or jobs. Although a good internship or job is critical to a successful future, what students do outside of the workplace is what really sets them apart.

One area with a multitude of opportunities is entrepreneurship. Many times, Bentley students are too focused on landing that job right out of school and don’t realize the potential in an outside venture.

Justin Lawlor, a Finance major at Bentley, has maintained his own website, justinlawlor.com, for the past three years. He will be using his site to release an e-book, entitled Minimalist Money Management, later this week.

“There are always going to be opportunities for entrepreneurial ventures, whether you start your own clothing company or start your own website,” said Lawlor. “I think Bentley needs to stay open-minded to entrepreneurship.”
Although it requires some risk taking, entrepreneurship does have its advantages. Salary is based on the amount of time and effort you put into the venture, so in essence an entrepreneur will make what they earn.

An entrepreneur is “the boss,” which gives them the independence to make their own decisions involving the wellbeing of their project or company. This allows for a lot of flexibility with work hours and more freedom on when, where and how they will work.

Although Bentley has a high rate of success in job placement of students, working for a big accounting or finance firm does not necessarily have to be the only option. If students begin finding ways to gain exposure while they are still in college, it could mean a lot in the eyes of a potential employer.

This is why an e-book could be an excellent way to get your ideas published and out to the public. Because Bentley is so focused on job placement, it is hard for students to look past the dollar amount that they could earn at Ernst & Young or Wells Fargo and see the opportunities that they could create for themselves with an innovative entrepreneurial idea, as well as the excitement of working on something that really interests you.

“Money is undoubtedly a stressful thing for a lot of people, and it does not need to be,” said Lawlor. “If you look at some of the reasons that money is such a stressor, it’s often because people spend money on things that are not in line with their priorities and values.

People are more likely to engage in materialistic consumption than to use their money as a tool for improvement.”
Even if entrepreneurship doesn’t interest you, it is still important to find a way to differentiate yourself; that way you are recognized over your peers. An e-book or website is a great way to do this, as well as marketing through the ever-growing social media sites Twitter, Facebook or business professional LinkedIn.

If you have some ideas that you think people should hear about, take some time to develop them into something real; it will only help you gain a leg up in future job searches. An entrepreneurial venture can go from a small project started up during college to a very successful and profitable business.

By Kat Webber

You can spend four years at Bentley and still not know much about it. Here is an insider’s guide to some of the lesser known areas of expertise on campus. These are places it would be helpful to know about.

The library is one of the most underutilized resources on campus. Students are often afraid of it, put off by the size and complexity of the dewy decimals. They are intimidated by the system and the effort it can take to locate a book.

However, the library is also one of the greatest points of interest on campus, and not just for its group study rooms or online resources. The library also contains numerous pop culture books and magazines on top of the vast business ones. It has a system called Interlibrary Loan (ILL), on which students can request books and materials to be borrowed from other schools and libraries for their convenience.

Ever find yourself without a place to study quietly in the library? Well, Adamian has a decent sized lounge on the third floor with tables and comfy chairs. It’s a quiet room and usually has empty seats during the day; plus it has a great view of the library.

There are so many labs on campus that you may not be aware of that are also important to note. From astronomy to math, Bentley has countless options, and most are open to anyone. The MAC Lab in Lindsey deals with photo and film technology. The ACELAB is for accounting. There is an Economics, Statistics and Finance Lab, as well. For basically every course offered at the university, there is a learning center willing to help.

Then, of course, there are the various departmental offices that can be difficult to find, especially in Adamian. The English Department is located in the basement and is only accessible through the stairs or elevator on the far end closest to Morrison. The IDCC Department is on the second floor right when you walk in from the Lindsey side. Morrison can also be tricky to navigate, but the copy center in the basement is worth visiting.

There are also the Executive Dining Room and room 325 in LaCava. The Commons and Wilder Pavilion are in Adamian, and most everyone should know where the Koumantzelis Auditorium is located in Lindsey. All are popular for numerous gatherings, whether academic or other office events.

The campus is full of a variety of areas that can only be found through exploration and usually a few times getting lost first. Hopefully, by knowing where some places are located, students can begin to fully utilize them and get the best out of the Bentley experience.

So, instead of whining about not doing well in a class, go find a learning lab. Instead of looking up all your sources online for a paper, try finding a book in the library and impress your professor. Instead of staying in your room, attend an event at one of the numerous locations on campus.

By Justin Temple

Two weeks ago, The Vanguard published an article titled “Bentley BusinessWeek ranking slips.” In the article, Lacey Nemergut explained to readers that in the most recent release of Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Best Undergraduate Business Schools of 2011, Bentley University dropped from 21 to 32 in the overall ranking. The Marketing Department attributes this drop mainly to “low recruiter scores.”

According to Michele Walsh, director of Public and Media Relations at Bentley, “In exploring the lower recruiter score, Bentley learned that although the publication requests a list of each school’s top recruiters, they choose which recruiters they will survey, so we don’t know if they surveyed the companies that work closely with and hire from Bentley.”

What further discrepancies arise when the Bloomberg or similar publication’s university ranking processes are called into question? This inquiry leads to an article published by Lynn O’Shaughnessy in CBS Money Watch on November 30, 2010, titled, “25 Colleges with the Worst Professors.” Bentley is ranked 8 on this list.

In the article, O’Shaughnessy said, “The worst professor list came from RateMyProfessors data gathered by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Every year, the think tank uses these professor ratings when it compiles its annual college rankings for Forbes.”

For many students, it is disappointing to find Bentley, which they attend voluntarily, while paying increasingly high tuition rates to obtain an education that they believe will add value to our future professional careers, degraded to a list of “the worst” schools. I wanted to find out more.

On the site, each school has an “overall” professor rating. This is RMP’s way of providing a summary score of all the attributes they believe make professors good or bad. After reading that the lists of best and worst professors came from RMP scores, I crosschecked all of the schools on RMP and noticed some rather expected trends.

Most of the “best” schools had professor ratings close to the 4.0 mark. Conversely, most of those on the “worst” list earned summary ratings of less than 3.0. These rating patterns accurately represent their respective schools’ ratings on the best and worst lists.

Yet the summary score for Bentley raises some questions. Bentley has a score of 3.23, falling somewhere in between the best and worst scores. Most of the scores on the worst list, as well as two scores on the best list – Oklahoma Wesleyan University: 2.61 and United States Air Force Academy: 3.19 – actually fell below Bentley’s.

It was then necessary to dig further and comprise a list of Ivy League summary scores, with the addition of Stanford. I chose the Ivy’s for the simple reason that they are considered by many to be the best of the best, and consequently have the best professors on staff. This, apparently, is not the case, as in many cases their scores fell quite below the 3.0 mark.

Obviously, RMP is not necessarily the most accurate determinate of professor excellence, as the Ivy League Schools can attract the best and the brightest minds from around the world. On the other hand, RMP does seem like a fairly accurate summary of how satisfied students are with their professors, based on difficulty, teaching style and many other intangible factors.

Regardless of what RMP scores tell us, it is stated that they were used to determine the “best and worst” lists. This is important, ultimately, because they were used as a component in the Forbes ranking system. Bentley is NOT one of the worst; in fact, it is far from it.

“Most rankings can be fickle; they come and go, and many new ones are coming out all the time,” said Susan Brennan, managing director of University Career Services. “Whether we’re 21 [or] 32, it’s essentially still recognition that Bentley is a top school. Most lists of the top schools are changeable; schools will go up and down.”

Ms. Brennan’s sentiment is important to keep in mind, but we must also remember that we are Bentley University. We are the students, the professors and the staff. We are a community. We mean business. Rankings reflect our present and will affect our institution’s future. We need to assure that these rankings are based on valid and consistent information. Do not take anything at face value.

By Kat Webber

It’s getting down to the wire for job and internship applications and selections, and for those of us who are still looking, it is getting to be a bit stressful. The good news is that the job market seems to be improving, so more opportunities will arise for jobs and paid internships.

For those of you who have been jaded by interactions with Career Services, or do not find your career prospects thriving by using BentleyLink or NACElink Network, there is still hope. Here are a few more ways to be looking for jobs that do not involve schlepping to a Career Fair, wasting money on printing resumes or wearing uncomfortable clothing.

First, if you are not involved in LinkedIn or another professional networking site, now would be a good time to consider it, especially for juniors and seniors. It’s a free, efficient way to become involved with fellow students on campus, potential employers, companies you are interested in and Bentley alumni with connections.

Second, Monster.com, among other job search engines, is a great independent-from-Bentley resource. You can post your resume, the types of jobs you are looking for, what fields you have interest and experience in and even list personal interests to attract companies based on their culture.

Third, if you are still having trouble, you may want to consider the possibility of involving yourself with a staffing or recruiting agency. There are plenty of listed ones in the Waltham and Boston areas that would be willing to help you find a job. It’s usually free and they can often connect you, better than you could do it on your own, with potential jobs that would be best suited to your needs and skills.

Finally, on a side note, be aware of everything that is being posted online. It may sound cliché or overdone, but employers really are looking into applicants’ Internet lives. So take down those party pics that show you holding a can of Naddy Light, or seriously vamp up your privacy measures to block all unwanted parties from searching you or viewing your profile. Be wary of tweets which have swears and blogs which are vicious; today’s corporate society is more involved with those Web aspects so you should be just as vigilant about what you are posting as they are with stalking you.
And if you’ve done all of the above and nothing has been successful, do not give up hope. You will not be a failure with a Bachelor’s degree from a high-ranking business school. Keep networking, applying and interviewing. Remember to try and be patient; it takes more than one try to catch a fish.

By Phillip St. Pierre

When considering what major will best suit you for the future, Bentley students are in the right place as there is always a need for business professionals in today’s rapidly growing workforce.

Considering what students take into account when choosing a major as well as a career after college, salary is probably one of the most important aspects. Bentley graduates will feel reassured knowing that although business degrees do not give the highest starting salary, they do in fact leave the opportunity for the highest growth.

According to CNBC, graduates with a main focus of study in mathematics will have the best paying job following graduation. On its list of the top 10 Bachelor’s degrees for the highest starting salary, eight out of the ten careers involved engineering.

Business degrees are not far behind those with a major in Engineering in terms of average salary. Although the salaries may vary more with a career in business, there is a better opportunity to increase your pay and hit that six-figure mark than if you were to have an engineering job, which is usually more stable.

A person with a business degree will also have a greater chance of finding a job immediately after graduation. While an English or Art major may have to do some heavy searching to find a suited and well paying career, there is always the need for business professionals, and if you are graduating from an exceptional standing school such as Bentley, the chances are even greater.

Accounting majors will have the easiest time finding a job straight out of college, as even during years of recession or slow economic growth citizens will still have to file for taxes. According to CBS’s “Money Watch,” a graduate with a degree in Accounting will see a median starting salary of $44,600, and a mid-career median pay of $77,500.

A person with a Finance degree should also be able to find a job quickly; there is always the need for financial consultants and analysts, both in businesses and on a personal level. Finance majors have a higher starting salary than their Accounting counterparts at $47,500, as well as a better chance for salary growth with a mid-career median pay of $91,500.

But out of all the business degrees available, an Economics major will have the greatest opportunity for salary growth, with a mid-career median pay of just under six figures, at $97,800. A degree in businesses administration or management would be a safe choice as well, as there will never cease to be a need for individuals to run a business or manage professionals.

With the job market improving, businesses are starting to get back on track and are less hesitant to hire new individuals to work for their company. Taking into consideration that a major in business leads to one of the best careers in terms of average salary, salary growth and stability, a Bentley graduate should feel confident in finding a job quickly out of school.

By Kat Webber

If you are dealing with a situation in a group, here is some more advice. If the case is that someone is not doing their work, and the group agrees, approach that person individually. Be sure to remain calm and explain why their behavior is hurting the group and the project. Use “the group thinks” rather than “I think,” so you are not taking an argumentative stance. Even though it may sound corny, if there’s a group contract, reference it. Just make sure the person knows that the group is taking the person’s transgression seriously.

If there is still a problem and the group decides it would be best for the person to be removed from the project, tell them first, and then approach the professor. Never simply go to the professor and ask for the person to be removed without talking to them or trying to resolve the issue on your own first.

Remember that no issue can be resolved if you are fighting from conclusions. You have to work towards finding a middle ground and seeing the other person’s point of view, even if it is difficult to swallow your pride and do it.
Be careful with what you say and the tone that you’re using. Even if you are trying to negotiate, having hostile body language may lead to little progress.

Work towards a win-win situation, rather than avoidance where you sacrifice your own needs, or conflict where you try to force others to submit to your needs. Be assertive without being forceful. Your perspective may not be the correct one or the only way to accomplish a task. A good leader can admit fault and be open to suggestions from the group.
However, if the issue involves leadership roles, perhaps a vote is in order. It may sound cliché and you may not want to be the one to bring it up, but in order for the group to move forward in the best manner possible, a consensus must be reached.

Try to look at everyone’s strengths and assign roles based on those rather than at random. That’s not to say that power cannot be shared within the group, but a group without a leader is like a boat without a rudder: It may get to where it’s going eventually, but the task would be accomplished more easily and quickly with a way to steer.

It may sound like you’re taking things too seriously if you approach a class project in this manner, but with important and straining classes like GB301 and GB401, it may be necessary.

I know that many of us have an issue with confrontation; we would rather duck our heads, do the work, and complain later to friends. But if we open up the cross-communication of ideas and issues within a group, we may be able to produce even better work, since we will not have the added stress of dealing with poor group dynamics.

With Spring Break right around the corner, many students are looking to relieve themselves from all the stress and time they put into schoolwork. Especially after this winter, when it seems like the snow never stops coming down, you may want to get away during the week off from classes and go somewhere warmer.

When it comes to Bentley students, who have been dealing with freezing temperatures for the past few months, heading south would be the best choice. Some of the more popular destinations for college students during Spring Break include Cancun, Florida and the Bahamas.

These hot spots cannot be beat during the month of March, as they are flooded with students looking to have a good time and make the most out of their time off. In Cancun, you can find exotic beaches, late-night clubs and many other tourist attractions. It is probably the most appealing of the vacation spots, but Cancun is also one of the more expensive options.

Looking for something closer to home? Florida is the most sought out state for Spring Break, with prime party scenes including Panama City, Miami Beach and South Beach. Although not as quiet as some of the tropical locations, students will have no trouble finding something to do at all times of the day.

Many students will also travel to Europe and visit cities like Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and Prague, just to name a few. Europe will appeal to just about anyone, as there are hundreds of national parks, fine dining locations, architectural wonders, beaches, resorts and late-night options.

And for those college students who will be working during Spring Break to pay for the hefty cost of books and tuition, there are plenty of ski resorts in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont that would make for a perfect weekend trip. The locations are endless.

Spring Break is one of the most popular times for airlines, and although many people assume that the price of a plane to Florida will skyrocket during the first few weeks of March, this is not always the case. Many airlines have deals for college students looking to get away during Spring Break – you just have to purchase your flight at the right time.

The most important key to saving some cash is to explore your options and order your airfare early. Buying a plane ticket from the first airline you look at is not a wise decision, as another airline may have cheaper rates or a better deal. Airfare rates will vary almost daily, depending on the time of flight and the amount of people traveling, so it is all about doing some research for the best option.

Another trick when booking a flight is to know the best day of the week to purchase your tickets. Friday is usually the busiest day for flying, as people are looking to have the weekend to relax and enjoy the change of scenery. This is why a Tuesday or Wednesday flight would be the best, as an airline has the least amount of business during the middle of the week, and will likely lower their rates.

The longer you wait, the more a flight fills up. Once the airline companies realize that they will be able to sell all of their seats, they can continue to charge full price for their flights. That is why a plane ticket to Rome may cost $1,500 during the busy periods, but only $500 in the winter.

By booking a flight early, with the right airline and on the right day of the week, you will be able to save a decent amount of cash that can instead go towards spending money wherever you are traveling. So, whether you are kicking back and relaxing in Cancun or hitting the clubs on South Beach, take advantage of the time off, and take in the sights and sounds.