It’s a Tuesday morning in late March. I walk into my 9:50 a.m. Strategy in Action class (for you non business majors – that’s our senior capstone). Instead of meeting with our groups to work on our projects that involve making strategic recommendations for the futures of a variety of major companies, we sit down and the professor passes out Scantron sheets and pencils. This isn’t a GMAT practice, the SATs or the Regents for you fellow New York high school graduates. This is the College of Business Administration’s (CBA) Assessment Exam, a 100-question multiple choice test that touches on the subject areas all business majors have been exposed to over a four or five year education. We aren’t receiving a grade for this; we’re showing the college what we’ve learned throughout our time at Northeastern.

From what I understand, the college worked with professors from the different business areas to compile the exam. Questions included material from marketing, strategy, operations management, supply chain management, accounting, finance, statistics, organizational behavior, international business and economics. It was by no means the hardest test I’ve taken, but it definitely made me think a little bit – not because of the content, but because every professor has a different way of teaching and wording questions, and I can guarantee you that there is no one in my graduating class who has had all of the teachers who were involved with writing this test. My classmates started trickling out of the room after about 45 minutes of test taking.

Let me tell you a fun fact: I haven’t taken an accounting class since 2009. Even better, I haven’t taken an economics class since 2008 (by the way, the economics department isn’t part of CBA due to a dispute between the two many years ago. This may be the one piece of information I do remember from my economics professor). I’ve spent the last two semesters solely in marketing and management classes. To be honest, I’ve probably moved many of the concepts of accounting, finance and economics to a part of my brain that I don’t plan on using in the very near future.

I absolutely respect the College of Business Administration for formulating a plan to assess how graduating seniors have retained information from our classes. I think it makes sense since we all take the same core business classes. I’d even say that some kind of benchmarking tool is necessary to continue making improvements to both the college and the university as a whole. I don’t even know what exactly this data is being used for. And, theoretically, since not doing well would have no impact on me or my family showing up to TD Garden on May 4, I shouldn’t really care about it that much anyway. But I do care. A lot. This semester I am serving as a Peer Advisor for the CBA Co-Op Department, and I’ve always loved stating my opinion, so I would like to offer the college some advice when it comes to this matter.

Instead of focusing on the results of an exam, focus on what the Class of 2012 has accomplished. Focus on the job placements we’ve received as a result of our amazing co-ops. Focus on the companies that we, as entrepreneurs, have started up on our own. Focus on the wide range of things we are doing on and off campus. Northeastern has always taught us that the classroom is just one part of our experience here. Let that be reflected in this assessment.

I have friends who are graduating from the College of Business Administration with me in a little over a month and starting to work at some of the most well known companies around the world after having completed co-ops with them, or having been referred by connections they’ve made. These range from Goldman Sachs, to Staples (shameless self plug), to TJX. Did the education we’ve received in the classroom help us secure these jobs? Absolutely. But if I didn’t have two incredible experiences co-oping at Staples, there’s no way I would have gotten the job I did with the company.

Classes are important. They’re what we’re paying for. I wouldn’t trade the first-rate education I’ve received from CBA professors for anything, and what I’ve written about is in no way an attack on any person or group of people. I’m just passionate about the experiential learning opportunities we have access to, and think these should be focused on as testaments to what Northeastern does for its students. We are a unique university, and I feel an evaluation of students should also be done in a unique way.

– Julien Levesque is a senior business major concentrating in marketing and management.