As the daughter of a diplomat, Aminata Conde '09 was accustomed to traveling the world before coming to Los Angeles from the West African nation of Guinea.
“It’s always hard being far from home, but it wasn’t too hard to adapt since I’m used to going to new places,” she says. It also helped to have friends in the area and a sister already studying in Los Angeles.
Conde began her studies at Santa Monica College and transferred to LMU in 2007. She says she chose Loyola Marymount University mainly on the reputation of its College of Business Administration (CBA).
“I looked into a lot of different schools and I knew that LMU had a great business program. That’s why I wanted to go here,” she explains. Conde adds that LMU’s “small, community environment” also appealed to her.
“Here, you don’t have those very big classes where teachers don’t have the time to know how you’re doing,” she says.
On May 9, Conde earned her degree in business administration with emphases in finance and international business. A stand-out student, Conde was chosen CBA's Scholar of the Year.
“What I like about the business program is the way the classes are organized,” she says. “They had us work in groups all the time, just as we would in the real world. I like that model because I think it gives you the right experience.”
Conde plans to remain in Los Angeles for at least a year and pursue a career in finance or investment banking. The recent grad, who is bilingual in French, says she’d also like to work “on the international side of things, maybe for a global company.”
Having experienced LMU as both an international student and a transfer student, Conde says it was the campus community that helped facilitate her smooth transition to university life.
“Everyone will always stop to help you if you’re looking for something on campus and have no idea where to go," she explains. “People are very nice, very helpful and the teachers are the same. They actually like to have students come to their office hours and sit down with them.
“I really had great time at LMU.”