KU Business student maximizes experience to graduate in five semesters

Lexi Kossmann knew from the start she wanted to be a Jayhawk, and by planning ahead and getting involved early, the St. Louis native completed her bachelor’s degree requirements in finance in just five semesters.  

Kossmann is a University Honors and a Jack Dicus Business Honors Program (BHP) student and a Business Leadership Program (BLP) student in the KU School of Business.  

Born into the household of a Jayhawk alumnus father, Kossmann had no doubt from an early age that KU was where she wanted to spend her collegiate years, but her on-campus visits and the contagious sports atmosphere sealed the deal for her.  

“I came to a KU game when I was 8 years old with my whole family, which was already an eye-opening moment for me,” Kossmann said. “But when my dad and I visited in 2022 and watched the national championship basketball team in Allen Fieldhouse, I knew from that moment on that I was going to come here.”  

When it came to planning a career path, Kossmann considered degrees in various subjects, including following in her parents’ footsteps and studying engineering and health care, before finally deciding on finance because of the stability and opportunities that come along with it.  

Now, with the completion of her degree just weeks away, she has come  to love the finance community at KU and the connections this path gave her along the way.  

“I really enjoyed my time with finance here,” Kossmann said. “At KU specifically, I find it inspiring meeting other girls who are also driven in finance, especially because it is a male-dominated field.” 

Kossmann was prepared to jump into finance classes when she came to Lawrence, and she didn’t waste any time getting involved in extracurricular activities.  

Starting her freshman year, Kossmann had already been accepted as a University Honors student and into the BLP, an enrichment program provided by the School of Business.  

Each year, BLP welcomes 30 intellectually curious and committed incoming business school freshmen into the program and provides coaching and curriculum that supports them throughout their collegiate career. For Kossmann, this experience shaped her KU experience more than she could have imagined. 

“Even before classes started, BLP hosted ‘Academic Sunday,’ where we all got to meet and get to know each other,” Kossmann said. “That first day was just a moment where I felt comfortable to talk to anyone, and those people ended up being some of the friends I was closest to all of college.”  

Some of Kossmann’s most memorable experiences through BLP include a three-month long case competition, a sustainability seminar and a faculty-led study abroad trip to Slovenia in summer 2024.  

In addition to BLP, Kossmann has been involved in various clubs, part-time jobs and other organizations within the school.  

She held multiple positions in Delta Sigma Pi, a business fraternity in the school (most recently as the vice president of scholarships and awards), was the vice president of the Women in Business club and is a member of the Women in Finance club, with whom she took a networking trip to Chicago this fall.  

Along with involvement in clubs that align with her studies, Kossmann also enjoys working the more “creative” side of her brain through her part-time job as an events student assistant at the School of Business.  

In this role, she not only makes memorable connections with faculty and staff but also gets to help coordinate and support some of the school’s biggest events of the year, her favorites being the School of Business graduation ceremonies.  

This year, her role in the fall graduation ceremony will be a bit less behind-the-scenes than in the past, as she has been chosen as the undergraduate graduation speaker after being nominated by multiple professors.  

“I never expected to be nominated as a graduation speaker after only two years, but when the opportunity came up, I couldn’t turn it down,” Kossmann said. “I knew it would be something I would regret for the rest of my life if I didn’t do it.”  

Kossmann was also recognized as a finalist for the 2025 Jennifer Alderdice Award, a student award through KU’s homecoming ceremony, which recognizes students with outstanding dedication, initiative, motivation, positive attitude, and contributions to KU. This award specifically honors Jennifer Alderdice, former assistant vice president of the KU Alumni Association and longtime advisor to the KU Homecoming Steering Committee.  

Outside of school, Kossmann has also completed multiple finance internships that have allowed her to apply her classroom knowledge in real-world settings and prepare her for life in the business world after graduation. She worked as a wealth management intern at Moneta in St. Louis, where she plans to return full time as a client service manager in January.  

She attributes some of her professional preparation and ability to accelerate her route to graduation to the support she received from KU and the resources within the School of Business. 

“I think that the Business Professional Development Program and advising helped me earn a degree in a great amount of time,” Kossmann said. “It was one of my goals to save money, and graduating in two and a half years could not have been possible without great advisors and support from professors.” 

Overall, when Kossmann reflects on her past five semesters at KU, she confidently says the experience was more personal and impactful than she could’ve known.  

“I think the friends I made here made my experience better than expected, and I think the fellow Jayhawk bond is deeper than anyone knows,” Kossmann said. “I’ve also formed close relationships with my professors. I feel like they truly know me, which I didn’t expect at all coming into college.”  

As she looks ahead, Kossmann admits that while she knows Lawrence will always be a version of home for her, leaving those connections will be the hardest part. 

“I have barely processed that I’m really graduating, but what I think I’ll miss most about KU is just the friends, professors and all the relationships I’ve made here,” Kossman said. “I love looking around and seeing familiar faces, and I think that’s definitely going to be a shock to me when it comes to the real world, but I’m excited about what’s next.”