Daryn Kuhlman

Strength in Numbers

Class of 2018 Accounting graduate Daryn Kuhlman is pouncing on life’s next chapter with the heart and quick step of a true Lion, beginning her professional career at Big Four audit firm KPMG while pursuing a Masters of Accounting degree at the University of Southern California. A native of Davis, California, Kuhlman previously interned with the company the summer prior to her senior year and has been adding up the possibilities ever since.

“LMU really opened my eyes to the many opportunities in accounting and how to pursue them,” Kuhlman said. “Not only were my courses incredibly rigorous, my involvement with the Accounting Society afforded me the chance to network with many of the top firms.”

Originally drawn to LMU for its top-ranked College of Business Administration and Jesuit values, Kuhlman found her education to be transformative in more ways than one, including through a devotion to service work.

“I definitely feel like I have a stronger sense of what social justice and service means now,” Kuhlman said. “I understand the issues better and now it’s my job to bring them to a larger audience.”

In addition to serving through Campus Ministry, Kuhlman led two Ignacio Companions (IC) Trips to Jamaica and Ghana, where participants had the chance to reflect on their spirituality in the context of a new culture while exploring the intersection of faith and justice.

“IC trips help explain social justice and despite language and cultural barriers you come to realize that everyone is very similar,” Kuhlman said. “Everyone just wants to make a connection with each other.”

LMU currently ranks No. 8 in the nation for “Students Most Engaged in Community Service,” according to The Princeton Review, with Lions clocking an awe-inspiring 200,000+ hours per year in community service efforts.

Outside of her accounting studies and service pursuits, Daryn also minored in Spanish and delighted in exploring classes outside the business school.

“I would highly recommend taking classes outside your comfort zone,” Daryn said. “Some of my biggest eye-opening experiences were in classes outside my major.”

Such was the case with ‘Science and Religion,’ an upper-division theology course that Daryn says was a crossover between science and theology and aimed to help explain each other’s questions in new, thought-provoking ways.

But she adds that no matter the course, professors on the bluff seek to get to know their students on an individual level. In fact, LMU currently touts average class sizes of 19 and a student to faculty ratio of 10-to-1.

As for what advice Daryn has for future Lions?

“Build relationships with your professors and take advantage of the knowledge they have to offer,” Daryn said. “And definitely take advantage of the Ignacio Companions program.”