1. When and why did you chose this major?

“I started as an education major, and I didn’t really like that, and then I moved into business, and then I transferred to OSU (I was attending Cleveland State) and I really liked the business scheme of things and I really liked working in hotels, I’ve always worked at a Hilton, so I kind of wanted my whole focus to be on hotel management, so I switched my major to hospitality management and kept my business minor.”

2. Do you feel you made the right choice of majors?

“Yeah, I mean there’s so many things you can go into from the hospitality major, there’s event planning, golf courses, hotels, restaurants, all that good stuff. And you just have a wide variety of different opportunities once you’re in the major.”

3. What are your plans for after graduation?

Right when I graduate, I’m going to move out West, I have a job out there actually already lined up as one of the front desk supervisors at the big Hilton in Denver, and that’s going to be like a stepping stone-once you’re in hotels you just kind of have to work your way up-the front desk supervisor is a step above being a front desk associate  (a front desk associate is the person at the front desk, while the front desk supervisor oversees them and makes their schedules)- I would like to be a general manager one day.

4. Have you had any internships or co-ops with the program?

In the program you have to do an internship-it’s three credits, it’s a class. This past summer I went to Wyoming and worked in one of the big resorts in Jackson Hole in the same position as I’m going to be doing once I graduate-I was just a little bit lower. So I learned the ins and outs, and while I was there I shadowed different people, I shadowed the marketing team, I shadowed the GM, I shadowed the event planner for the hotel, so I got a lot of experience in all of the different realms of a bigger hotel. The marketing team of the hotel puts together all of the packages that they try to sell you online. They come up with all those things and they normally manage the hotel’s website, and do all the things with Trivago and Expedia and all that stuff. They get the name out, especially if it’s not a larger brand like Hilton that everybody knows about.

5. Are there any student organizations for hospitality majors?

Yeah, it’s called HMA, Hospitality Management Association. If you end up doing this major you should definitely get into it because about twice a month they have an event and you go to either a different hotel or a restaurant and there’s speakers and you get a lot of good contacts through the program.

6. How engaged/accessible are the faculty in your department?

I’d say they’re just as engaged as any other professors. There’s one event called the Big Dish Event that every hospitality management student has to be involved with, so I have worked with my professor very closely there, and she works for Cameron Mitchell, they’re a really big restaurant chain in Columbus Ohio and she’s introduced me to lots of people and other professors.

7. What was your favorite major course, and why?

I would say my special events management course was my favorite class. During the special events class we plan out the Big Dish Event. The Big Dish Event is this huge event that brings in all the sponsors and all the people that donate to the hospitality management program at OSU. It’s pretty much a big thank you for them. It’s all organized by the hospitality management students, and all the people that work it are student volunteers, all the food is donated by vendors that a lot of us end up working for. It was a real good hands on experience, and in the class you have to come up with your own theme and everything, and they would take one of the students from the previous years and use their theme for the event. I liked that class because it was your own ideas, and there weren’t really any right or wrong answers. We also had to take cooking classes that are here in the Union with two of the chefs here and your grade is just cooking. Even if you’re not going into the restaurant side of things, you still need to take this class.

Synthesis Questions

1. I found this interviewee when I was in the Exploration Office for my Advising Appointment. I mentioned that I was considering the hospitality management major, and Mrs. Elliott introduced me to the mother of a hospitality management major. The mother gave me her daughter’s number, and I arranged the meeting. I chose her because I wanted to learn more about the Hospitality Management major.
2. I think this interview made me more interested in this major, since I learned more about the multitude of opportunities available to hospitality management majors.
3. The one thing I learned in the interview that was unexpected was that all hospitality management majors need to have an internship in order to graduate. This is different from most other majors, where having an internship is optional to graduate.
4. I still feel like I want to learn more about whether or not I enjoy the hands on experiences of hospitality management. The topic certainly seems interesting, but I am not sure if I would enjoy the stress that comes with hospitality management.
5. I didn’t really use any major exploration tools for the hospitality management major. However, I have used lots of tools to explore business majors, such as taking Microeconomics as a General Education social studies credit to attending an Accounting Association meeting. I would say taking Microeconomics has been the most useful resource for me for exploring this major, and has actually led me to doubt whether it’s the right major for me.

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