Udu Abalu

Economics & International Studies
Abuja, Nigeria

From Undecided Major to Long-term Plans

Udu Abalu spent three semesters at Iowa State as an Open Option major, trying to find the right career path for her interests. Now she has her goals planned well beyond the next few years, including studying abroad in Ghana, attending graduate school for either international economics or international relations, and working for an international socio-economic organization.

Many students have difficulty choosing a major. Udu said selecting courses of interest and visiting with her advisor frequently helped her select her career path: economics and international studies. She noted in her planner the exact date and time she made this significant decision: Oct. 24, 2008 at 3:23 p.m.

"Being open option is like walking through a maze of hallways and eventually finding a door that you have to open," Udu said. "If you were a decided student, you would have headed straight on towards that particular door without knowing what other doors were behind you. With an open option, while you're heading for that destined door, you have the unrestrained freedom to look to the left and right and to open other doors in those hallways and to take fulfilling glances in them to prepare yourself for your final destination."

A calculated career

After getting her feet wet at an international socio-economic organization, Udu's long-term goals include policy analysis, mediation and trade negotiation and possibly international law. Her ultimate goal is to return to her home country, Nigeria.

"I know I'm needed there because there's quite some ‘brain drain' in Nigeria," she said. "Many Nigerian students don't come back once they go abroad."

Udu said she may work at the headquarters of the Economic Commission of West African States in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, where there are programs directed toward youth, trade, women and economic development. She said Nigeria's United Nations branches are also a career possibility.

While exploring her interests in the classroom at Iowa State, Udu has been involved in campus activities since her first year. She is a Student Admissions Representative (STAR), a member of the African Students Association, a student coordinator for the Global Citizenship Symposium, a member of the Student Organizations Review Board, an Iowa State International Diversity Ambassador, a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Ambassador and a past Cyclone Aide.