Introduction: About Me

Hey everyone, I am Mansi Singh, a Masters in Management student at ESMT Berlin (2022- 2024). I have an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from India, and around 2 years of full-time work experience with Deloitte USI in cyber risk. During my undergrad, I interned with a lot of start-ups in different domains and have worked with NGOs in India. Before joining the MIM program, I also worked as a pro-bono consultant for 180 DC Berlin and for Ukraine Impact Project. And through this blog, I intend to share my journey with ESMT in order to help the prospective students.

Why MIM at ESMT?

During my engineering, I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities and while organising events, I realised that I am passionate about management. So, to explore it more, I worked part time with some start-ups in the management field. The work experience made me fall in love with it even more and hence I decided to pursue Masters in Management. Also, for a management enthusiast with no formal prior education in the field, I think MIM program is a very good start as the program is designed in a way that students from all backgrounds can pursue it.

Now, since the course was finalised, the next big question was “From which university?” and while making that decision, I took a lot of personal and professional factors in consideration. I was always fascinated by the life and culture of Europe, so the fact that I am going there was very clear to me. In Europe, Germany is the most advanced country in terms of technology and innovation, and it has one of the most stable economies too, along with that, it is very open to international students, all these factors combined made Germany the most attractive study abroad option for me. So, I started looking for business schools in Germany and then came across the best business school of the country - ESMT Berlin. From location of the school to the course curriculum, everything suited perfectly for my needs. Located in the capital of the country, Berlin, which is such an international city and also the start-up hub of Europe, the school has a perfect location. Also, my biggest fear of not knowing German language also eliminated with the location, as English is widely used in Berlin. The start-up culture here opens a gate to the vast sea of job opportunities.

The course curriculum at ESMT Berlin is designed in a way so that students can acquire practical experience along with the studies. The 6-month internship during the first year will give a chance to get real world working experience and apply all the learnings from the class to business problems. One more thing that really attracted me towards ESMT was the Social Impact project here, in which students get the opportunity to work with NGOs working for social causes. For me, creating a positive impact on the society matters the most, so as soon as I got to know about this project, I started getting excited for it already.

Along with the amazing location and curriculum, ESMT also provides the enormous network in the industry, they have corporate partnership with some of the most attractive brands like Allianz and BMW. One more thing that makes the school very different from others is the diversity here. We have people from more than 30 countries in our class, which enables us to learn in a very international environment, and I think that this is a very important factor for personal growth.

All the above-mentioned factors contributed to make ESMT my dream school for the course!

How was the application process?

The application process was very smooth and fast. The applications for the MIM course opened in November, and I applied in the same week. Within 10 days of applying, I got mail from admissions team to schedule an interview. Looking back at it, I remember being so nervous about it, which doesn’t make sense now as the interview wasn’t like some strict interview but more like a conversation in which the interviewer wants to know about your motivation behind joining the course and school. This interview is also a good chance for prospective students to know more about the school and ask any questions related to it.

A few days after this, I received the email with the result and WUHUUU, I made it and that too with the scholarship!

What was the first week like?

I never expected my initial days to be this fun, but thanks to ESMT’s internal platform, we were able to get in touch with our classmates beforehand and we planned a few meetups too. During the first week - the orientation week, ESMT organised various workshops and team bonding events so that we can know about classmates and school more. My favourite part about the week was “The Outdoor Day”, I won’t spill the beans about it now, but will leave the future students to live this excitement. Overall, the week was very well planned and by the end of it, I already became friends with so many people. Other than the fun part, in this week, you will also get to know more about the course curriculum and what to expect in the coming days. This week gave us an overview of the next 2 years that we are going to spend at ESMT.

Any tips for future students?

• Apply as soon as the applications open, ESMT focuses a lot on diversity, so it’s better to apply early as it increases your chances of acceptance.
• Start looking for housing at least 5 months before moving to Berlin. Finding a good accommodation in budget is a task here.
• Connect with the alumni and current students at ESMT on LinkedIn and reach out to them for any career related guidance.
• If you have any doubts about the program or the admission process, feel free to drop an email to ESMT admission or student service, they are very helpful and quick with the responses.

If you want to know more about the life at ESMT, feel free to contact me via LinkedIn or my email address: mansi.singh@mim.esmt.org