BLOOMINGTON - Illinois State University senior Mary Wolff reached a fork in her career path: law school or topless hair salon.

"If I don't get into law school, I'm doing the hair salon," Wolff said of her plan to open a topless hair studio in Chicago called "A Little Off the Top."

The idea was part of a semester-long project where ISU seniors prepare comprehensive business plans that include market research, advertising campaigns, promotional ideas, risk assessment, financial analysis and employee training, among a long list of topics.

Wolff brainstormed the concept during a night on the town with friends. "I came up with the idea, surveyed the bar and lots of people said they'd go," she said.

On Friday, Wolff and other students presented their research to a panel of Twin City professionals who selected the best business plan.

Wolff tied for second, but judge Brian Mueller, a commercial loan officer for CEFCU in the Twin Cities, said her plan and others could become careers after college.

"I see a lot of plans that are a lot less sophisticated than these," he said.

The competition has spawned post-college success in the past.

The winner of last year's ISU competition later placed third in a national contest and won $1,000 for a plan to open a Twin City restaurant featuring skewers prepared right at the table. Joshua Steele, a member of that team, became executive chef of Swingers Grille, which opened in June at the All Seasons Golf Learning Center in west Normal.

This year's winner has already had success. Senior Paul Ciesiun purchased a paintball park in Joliet after a stint in the U.S. Air Force and invented a machine that makes paintballs glow in the dark. He also developed paintballs with softer shells "that hurt less when you get hit."

Through Skeleton Crew Entertainment, Inc., he hopes to manufacture both products. He has all the patents and now the business plan. After graduation, he plans to seek funding and hopes to hire his teammate in the ISU project, senior Eric Franklin.

"I hardly slept last night, thinking that there might be an opportunity to get noticed," Ciesiun said of the ISU business plan competition.

Other judges for the competition were Katie Altrichter, general manager of Eastland Mall in Bloomington, and Elizabeth Binning, executive director of the McLean County Small Business Development Center at ISU.