Hey there! It’s great to meet you. This is my first time blogging about my Stern experience. My name is Adrea and I’m a second year MBA specializing in Leadership and Change Management, Business Analytics and Strategy. I’m also heavily involved in many of the academic and social activities here at Stern. A few of my favorites right now are participating in Stern Consulting Corps, being a Teaching Fellow and serving as president of the Association of Hispanic and Black Business Students. Because of that I wasn’t sure just what topic I was going to choose for my first blog post, but now, as I write this, I know exactly what I want to discuss: specializations at Stern.
The topic of specializations has been a huge area of discussion for me and many others as we prepare for our last semester at Stern and actively recruit for full time roles. This topic became especially relevant two weeks ago when we entered lottery submissions for Spring classes, our last time doing this. In a week or so we’ll find out which classes we’ll be taking. If you’re worried for me, don’t be! The lottery system actually works really well – taking into account our status and preferences to make sure that students with one semester left have the opportunity to take the classes we most want to take before graduating. But anyway, the bigger conversation is around specializations.
As I was choosing my last set of classes I began to reflect on my academic journey at Stern and whether or not my classes reflected the specializations I had originally decided on at the beginning of my first semester. The short answer: not at all. I’m incredibly happy about that! So a couple of points here–first, specializations at Stern are not set in stone. You don’t have to officially declare them and they don’t appear on your diploma. You can share them on your resume and leverage them to guide class selections if you’d like, but there is no binding commitment to them. As I look back on the classes that I have chosen to take, I am so thankful for that. Why? Because the process of getting an MBA is a formative one and if you let it be, it’s a great time for self-reflection. Likewise for me, it has been a great opportunity to learn even more about my values and explore new interests. Not having to declare and remain true to a specialization supports that process.
While I was updating my resume the other day, I took a look at the specializations that I originally listed during my first semester here. Those specializations were Product Management, Strategy and Marketing. In case you didn’t catch my current specializations at the beginning of this entry, they are now Leadership and Change Management, Business Analytics and Strategy. Only one remains standing. So how did that happen? Am I completely indecisive and illogical? Despite what you may think and what I sometimes think, no.
Like many Sternies, I decided during my first semester that, for my remaining three semesters, I wouldn’t rely on my Specializations alone when choosing classes. Instead, I chose classes that reflect my interests, or that have amazing teachers that I would be honored to learn from, or that would challenge me in an area where I previously struggled. In some cases those classes aligned with my previously prescribed specializations but in many others they led me down new avenues I previously had no clue would appeal to me. Now, as I reflect on my academic career and begin my job search, I can truly say that I have taken a set of classes that resonate much more closely to who I am. Accordingly, I feel confident that I will leave Stern with a new career that I’m passionate about, not just a job that I sort of like.