One year ago today, I was where you are. I was writing essays, studying for the GMAT in my spare time and avoided every single person that I knew. I get it – no social life, but it was time I wanted to focus on myself. After 4 years of working, I always knew that I wanted to go back to business school and I was going to do whatever it took. As the year went by, the stress levels only got higher as I received waitlist after waitlist, but I’ll tell you, my persistence and determination to come back to school helped me. I received acceptances up until July, hearing from NYU Stern last. Dropping everything to stay in New York was the best decision I could have made, and getting the acceptance letter with the digital confetti was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. I didn’t have to say goodbye to the place I call home and was getting the opportunity to pursue a career in Luxury Marketing, something that Stern especially is known for and something I would have had to give up going somewhere else.
Starting at Stern at the end of August was truly a dream come true. From LAUNCH to today, there have been countless occasions where I’ve stopped to think about how lucky I am to be here, and how truly proud I am to be a Sternie. One of my personal goals coming to business school, in addition to pursuing a career in Luxury Marketing, was to break out of my shell and be able to command a room. Granted, I’m a social person, but I’m not a loud person, and in a career going forward, I want my voice to be heard, literally. As you know, Stern divides the class into sections of ~65 that you take all of your core classes with. These people become your first network, and your closest friends over the next two years. In the first few weeks of class, I was making a speech in front of these 65 new classmates, explaining to them why I wanted to be their “Block Leader.” I was elected to represent Block 6, a great way to know everyone in my block and a chance for me to pursue my own personal goal.
Photo credit: Farah Karim
Another reason why I came to NYU was for the various experiential opportunities that the program allows. I applied to and was accepted to the Luxury Retail Immersion, a chance to work on a consulting project for a small boutique retailer. The project started about a week ago and goes up until December (only a few weeks). I’ve had one meeting so far, but it was definitely the “aha!” moment I was looking for in business school. This hands on learning is one of the reasons why I chose to come back to business school, and it’s definitely great to have that opportunity to follow your passion.
I’m a firm believer that it all works out in the end. Regardless of the stress that you are going through now, there’s no doubt that you will also have the opportunity to make your dreams come true. With NYU, the opportunities are endless. With Stern, your network is endless. No matter what you’re looking to do, there’s a person somewhere that is doing exactly that. The network, the brand will help take you places, and I am grateful for this experience.
