Universidad Complutense de Madrid Admissions contact: Dr José Marti Master en Gestion Financiera Facultad de CC EE y EE Pozuelo de Alarcon E-28223 Spain T: +34 91 394 2310 E: jmartipe@ccee.ucm.es W: www.mastergestionfinanciera.org Student Name: Nina Zieling Programme title: Master in Financial Management University previously attended: FOM Essen/Germany and Hogeschool Zeeland, Vlissingen/Netherlands Degree obtained: Master Country of origin: Germany Age: 25 Career history In 1998 I started an apprenticeship programme at DaimlerChrylser. In 2000, I started working at ConPAIR AG, M&A firm in Essen. After finishing the MFM (2002-2003 cohort), I was hired by Arthur D. Little in Madrid and moved to Ambers&Co in 2004. After finishing my university studies and having worked both in industry and corporate finance consultancy, I decided to attend a Master programme specialised in corporate finance to gain a deeper knowledge both at a practical and theoretical level. It should be in a foreign country to gain a different cultural experience as well. I heard of the Master in Financial Management from a friend of mine who had studied at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. It attracted my attention because of the extensive programme it offered not only in corporate finance (company valuation, M&A transaction structuring, private equity, project finance, etc.) but also in capital markets, fixed and variable interest, derivatives, econometrics, programming and many topics more. I wrote to Prof. Dr. Jose Marti (Director of the MFM), in English, because at this moment I didn?t speak Spanish. He told me, that it could be complicated to attend a programme in Spanish without a minimum knowledge of the language, but I passed the application exam. I had some trouble with the language during the first lessons I reached a good level of Spanish quickly. I didn?t have any problems to follow the classes and pass the exams. Apropos, I was not alone with my language problem, some other colleagues were in the same situation so it was far easier to loose the shame and to learn quickly. Beside the broad knowledge I obtained during the time at the MFM, the best experience was to get to know many interesting people of different ages from nine different countries. During the whole programme we worked in teams of six members which permitted to learn how to organise the workload and solve problems among all of us, so we did not only improve our knowledge but also our soft skills. Looking back, I can assure that having chosen the MFM was an excellent decision. I received an exceptional theoretical training and I had the opportunity to strengthen my knowledge of the Spanish Private Equity Market by working closely with Prof. Dr. Jose Marti (Director of the MFM and the most important academic figure in the Spanish private equity field). I got a scholarship from Universidad Complutense de Madrid to finance a part of the tuition, working as a research associate at the Private Equity department, and met some of the most relevant players in the Spanish corporate finance market, as they were regular lecturers in the MFM. I would recommend this programme to everybody who wants to focus his career on finance and who is interested in amplifying his cultural background and soft skills as a team player. For all non-Spanish-speaking foreign students, the programme gives also an opportunity to learn the language and to get to know this fantastic country with all its varieties. As for the main characteristics of the MFM, I would highlight, first, its demanding programme that covers all the main areas of finance and, second, its international atmosphere. Today, I still live and work in Madrid and, additionally, study the PhD programme offered by Universidad Complutense de Madrid. I started this programme after finishing the MFM and research together Prof. Dr. José Martí in the Private Equity field. This summer I will attend a summer programme in statistics at University of Michigan, U.S. obtain the knowledge required to finish my thesis. After earning my PhD, my intention is to work in an international environment in corporate finance.