 |
When he was assisting on a cost-reduction analysis during a finance internship at Motorola, College of Business Administration student Jean Pierre Gil noticed the company was being charged a small surplus by a supplier. To the tune of $152,746.00! That's the savings Motorola achieved from Gil's findings. And it helped this finance major secure a job with the company after his May 2005 graduation. "I'll be a financial analyst, reporting to the same supervisor I had as an intern," said Gil, who also had internships at the Miami Herald, Merrill Lynch, and Sony during his undergraduate years at Florida International University . Gil credits the varied internships with helping him zero in on what he wanted to do for a career. He also credits his father with influencing him to do well in school-an influence borne out by his membership in Phi Mu Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma, and Golden Key. And he credits the College with helping him get the internships and enabling him to have an educational experience defined by diversity. "My parents are from Perú," he said. "I chose Florida International University because I felt that it provided the best opportunity around for a Hispanic person. Plus, I had heard it had a really good business program." To achieve what he has, Gil tried to balance his social life and his academic career, though he admits that his social life suffered at first.
The priority he has placed on school work will pay off-both in his first job and in setting the foundation for the future. If he gets a high score on the GMAT, Gil would consider doing graduate work down the road at an Ivy League school-an exciting prospect for the first person in his immediate family to graduate from college. He also is interested in the International MBA at Florida International University . "I'd like to learn French or Portuguese, travel, and have internships abroad," he said. In the meantime, he does routinely engage in one activity outside school that he hopes will make getting ahead a little easier for a family member and that will carry on the attitude his father had about the importance of achievement. "My sister is going to school and works full-time. I tutor her son in the hopes that I can help him develop faster than I did," Gil said.
|
||||||||
"The extra price per piece was pennies," Gil said. "But over millions of pieces, it added up." 
"All I did was study and work at the internships," he said. "I really look up to people who can do it all and do it consistently. But I also believe that you have to give up certain things in the short run so you can reap the benefits in the long run."