The Commerce School founded the summer institute 13 years ago in the hopes that non-Commerce graduates would have an opportunity to gain some business knowledge before entering the job market. Commerce Prof. Michael Atchinson said. Liberal-arts majors seem to have great difficulty finding business jobs without experience, institute director Neil Snyder said. It was not that these graduates were not good people.
Businesses seem to look for that when recruiting.
Most of the program's participants are University graduates, but 25 percent are not. The program has had students from the College, the Engineering School, the Architecture School and even the Law School. In addition, the program is not limited to recent graduates. It's not limited only to fresh graduates at all. Snyder recalls another unusual prospective student, Virginia women's basketball Coach Debbie Ryan.