First-year, pre-business majors who want to go beyond the basics can sharpen their knowledge in two programs meant to enhance their experience in the Neeley School of Business.

TCU’s BNSF Neeley Leadership Program and Neeley Fellows have started their recruiting process for current first-year students to apply to their prospective programs.

Competitive applicants will have a high GPA, strong resume, TCU involvement, and will have attended recruiting events that these programs have offered. Fellows applicants must be in the John V. Roach Honors College.

First-year students who want to be a part of one of these programs must choose between the two programs.

Emily Rine, a junior finance major in charge of recruitment for NLP, said both are “premier programs,” but they offer different curriculums.

NLP students take classes meant to strengthen the soft skills in the business world, their three main pillars being personal, academic, and professional.

The Neeley Fellows take more rigorous courses than what other business students take, such as Fellows accounting.

“Our cohort is very, very close, and people know it,” said Ricky Post, a junior double major in finance and accounting, and the president of Neeley Fellows.

Informational interviews are happening now with current Neeley Fellows as part of the application process until April 3. For NLP applicants, interviews will occur on April 21. The Neeley Fellows application closes on March 10 at 5 p.m., and applicants will be notified with their decisions by May 31. The NLP application closes on March 24 at 11:59 p.m., and applicants will be notified with their decisions by June 2.