Student Profiles
 Scott Lien
As a commodities trader, Minnesotan Scott Lien started young,
trading grain and interest rate markets at the Minneapolis
Grain Exchange when he was 20. Although he took college courses
at Northwestern after he relocated to the Chicago area in
1997 to work on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange, he saw no clear path to finishing his degree. But
in 2006 Lien spotted value in SCS's Learning and Organization
Behavior program and traded in his old way of life. Lien,
35, now leads an asset management group for a financial advisory
firm and lives with his wife and two daughters in a North
Shore suburb. He will graduate in 2008.
"There are other accelerated degree programs
in the Chicago area, but Northwestern's is the most meaningful. The courses
are significantly more rigorous - rather than memorizing information
we spend time writing and doing research. We have the freedom to choose
research topics that interest us and that we can apply."
 Kimberly Eiseman Feld
Kimberly Eiseman Feld started her education on the fast
track, graduating from high school just before her 16th birthday.
But work and family life interrupted her attempts at higher
education: at age 19 she began raising a niece, followed
by marriage and more children, all while working at a long
administrative career. Although she completed the equivalent
of an associate's degree at Northwestern in the 1980s and "plodded
along," taking a class or two as possible, her effort felt "arduous
and disjointed." Now 50, Feld, who directs a private foundation,
has finally found a way to complete her degree through Northwestern's
Learning and Organization Behavior program.
"Twenty years ago there were more corporate opportunities
for those without a college degree, but I always felt I needed a formal
education, if only for core skills as an adult. Today, in almost any
competitive work setting, you need a bachelor's degree. Now I look at
my education in a more professional way. Several of us are interested
in going on to graduate and professional schools."
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