Why I chose Business Management at Sheffield University Management School

Choosing the right degree for you can be daunting. When I had to make my final decision three years ago, it seemed like some degrees were incredibly similar to each other and the breadth of choice can be overwhelming. Eventually, I opted for Business Management and haven’t looked back.

One aspect of Business Management that stood out was the variety of modules. As someone who was never entirely sure about what I wanted to do in the future, I knew that something that appealed to me would be sure to feature in the modules, whether it was finance or marketing. This is excellent because it means the course is incredibly diverse.

The other great thing I noticed about Business Management was that it is incredibly flexible and allows for specialisation later on in the degree. I knew this would be great for me as it would allow me to move toward what I wanted to do once I found it. As well, the amount of content covered meant that there were numerous skills that I would able to learn, develop and apply. Another aspect that drew me to Business Management was how the skills learned would be directly applicable to any career I entered later on. This is because management is about real business scenarios and how to interpret them.

Along with this, modules such as Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation, as well as Marketing appealed to my creative side, while Strategy and Operations Management would require critical thinking and problem-solving as key skills which are both things that I find interesting as well as being incredibly important life skills.

The first two years of my degree have been incredible and have absolutely flown by. I have had to learn fast and I have also found the areas of business I enjoy and the ones I don’t like as much. One stand-out highlight was the Entrepreneurship module which was tailored perfectly to my interests. The premise of it was about creating a start-up and how to make sure that the business succeeded and grew. It was about coming up with new ideas and getting over the hurdles that may stop them from succeeding. The best part was the final assignment where we had to work in groups to create a new product and bring it to market and for me, it was like the best bits of business rolled up into one! 

As well as this I have thoroughly enjoyed the marketing modules. They are incredibly creative and allow me to use my imagination while growing my skills in an area I want to go into in the future. The components have been well delivered in an open and inspiring environment by people who are leaders in their field and being able to learn in this environment is both informative and exhilarating. I have chosen to place an emphasis on these going into my final year by taking both Digital and International Marketing. This is something I am hugely looking forward to I hope to be able to build on what I have achieved so far. 

Written by Tom Pearce in August 2023.