Jordan Anderson, Business Administration, accounting
Array of opportunities led Anderson to future career paths
STATISTICS
Name: Jordan Anderson
College: College of Business
Major: Accounting
Age: 21
Classification/Year: Senior
Hometown: Greenville, NC
Hobbies/interests: Strength and conditioning, traveling, spending time outdoors, watching movies.
Clubs and Organizations: President of Beta Alpha Psi, vice president of Beta Gamma Sigma, COB Dean’s Student Leadership Council, Business Scholar, Chancellor’s Fellow.
FAVORITES
Favorite hangout: Champions Gym
Favorite place on campus: Bate Building
Favorite place to eat: Hibachi Japan
Favorite class: ACCT 4991 Topics in Accounting during which I conducted accounting research with my faculty mentor on student and professional perceptions of CPA Evolution.
Professor who influenced you the most: Dr. Linda Quick
MOTIVATIONS
Dream jobs: (1) Chief financial officer of a corporation, (2) partner of a public accounting firm, or (3) professor of accounting (after earning my Ph.D.)
Role model: Angela Anderson – my mom
Your words to live by: Don’t try so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out.r
What advice do you have for other students? Get involved. The connections you make and opportunities you experience are unforgettable and irreplaceable.
What is something cool about ECU that you wish you knew during your first year? ECU alumni are extremely successful, maintain an international presence and are so eager to help current ECU students succeed.
When thinking back over the last 3 1/2 years at East Carolina University, the word that sums up Jordan Anderson’s experience is opportunity.
The Greenville native planned on leaving Pitt County to attend college; however, meetings with faculty in the Honors College and College of Business changed her mind and showed her all of the opportunities and community support that would be available to her.
“I was like, wow, I can really see myself here, making a difference and growing over these years,” she said.
Now, as she prepares to cross the stage to receive her Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, Anderson is getting ready for the next step in her career: an internship in Charlotte with Ernst and Young, one of the big four accounting firms.
Working for a firm is one of the many paths that Anderson is considering after completing graduate school and becoming a certified public accountant. She’s also interested in pursuing her doctorate and potentially becoming a professor, a career path that opened after working with Dr. Linda Quick to complete her signature honors project.
“Coming into freshman year, I was really nervous about it and didn’t know what it was,” she said. “Now that I’ve done it, it’s probably my favorite thing that I’ve done at ECU. My mentor for that project is still my mentor for everything that I do.”
Another favorite experience has been her time on the College of Business Dean’s Student Leadership Council, which led to a New York City trip to experience business environments outside of North Carolina.
“That showed me there are so many opportunities out there,” she said. “I wasn’t scared. I felt prepared to go pursue these opportunities because of my experience at ECU.”
Anderson also studied abroad for two weeks in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France.
“It made me more comfortable trying new experiences because that was very out of my comfort zone since I didn’t have any friends going into it,” she said. “I walked out of it with great friends and great memories. It showed me I was capable of more than I thought.”
The investment ECU put into her and her fellow students is one of the things for which Anderson is most grateful.
“Looking at high school senior Jordan and now senior year graduating college Jordan, they are completely different people. I’m so much more comfortable and confident in myself and what I was to do personally and professionally. … The thing that I say to all my friends who are considering ECU is it’s a small school with a big school feel and big school opportunities.”