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 Anya Rozina
International MBA, Pompeu Fabra University
University previously attended University of California, Berkeley, USA
Degree obtained Degree in economics
Country of origin Russia
Age 30 years
After graduation, Anya Rozina went to work for one of the largest discount brokerage houses in the USA, Charles Schwab & Co Inc, based in San Francisco. For three years, her work included involvement in a variety of projects, including new product development, financial analysis, quality control and marketing. She then decided to study an MBA.
"Time to think, re-evaluate and learn to make better decisions in every aspect of my life."
While every moment of my work experience was challenging and stimulating, increasingly, the limitations of my education became more apparent. Specifically, I felt I needed to attain a more solid theoretical base in finance and to further develop my managerial skills. It was a good time to step away from my career path and go back to the textbooks.
Still living in Berkeley, California, I had a great selection of business schools around me. However, I was inclined to leave the familiar environment and try my survival skills yet again by diving into a new culture. The prospect of learning another language while pursuing a professional degree was certainly attractive.
After reviewing some of my options, I decided to apply to Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). After an interview with the Director of the programme, I had very good reason to believe that this programme would give me exactly what I was looking for and more: a solid grounding in business fundamentals, practical applications, personal coaching, and a possibility to make a contribution to this young and dynamic programme.
The UPF MBA programme
This programme has a number of features that differentiate it from other, more established MBAs. Since the students are somewhat younger than your usual 30-something MBA applicants, the atmosphere is less formal at UPF, while constantly stimulating creativity, flexibility and thinking ?outside the box?. The international focus is no less important at UPF. I communicate on a daily basis with people from all over the world. The diversity of cultures is not just fascinating on the personal level, but also provides me with the invaluable experience of working with (and managing) people with different cultural assumptions. As for the philosophy of the programme, on the one hand, it is built on well-established MBA approaches to education, such as a combination of theory with business case discussions, but, on the other, it also gives you a chance to apply the acquired skills immediately in the real world of business. This is done through an ?in-company project?. During my studies, I was involved in the consulting project for ABN Amro Bank, an investment banking group located in Barcelona. Looking back, I realise that, though the business cases solved in the classroom were useful, managing a consulting project in a real company takes your education to a whole new level. It brings everything to life.
Learning and teaching
One of the attractions of the UPF for me is the world-class faculty members teaching on the programme. Our professors come from such universities as Oxford, Stanford, MIT, the University of Chicago and Harvard, to name just a few. The selection of MBA courses offered is diverse and even further enriched by the possibility of taking courses from the PhD and master?s programmes in economics and management. To graduate, a student must complete a coursework minimum of 800 hours, corresponding to 800 hours. As part of the coursework, all of us participate in at least one in-company project (consulting project) that usually runs for three months (from April to June).
Seminars organised by the programme offer an opportunity to communicate withrepresentatives of the local and European business community. It is a chance to build your networks, to learn about industries and sectors, and to search for future employment. As a result of one such seminar, I received a summer internship opportunity in a hedge fund firm in London, UK.
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