About the Time from October/November until now

After spending a couple of weeks getting to know my classmates and other MIM students, the semester started for real with the first group and individual assignments. As I don’t have a background in business, taking classes in Financial Markets and Financial Accounting for the first time made October and November intense months of learning, which helped me come to a realization: teamwork does not only happen within your own group, but among all of your classmates. Everyone was willing to help as much as possible through an exchange of their own experiences and backgrounds.

We have professors from all over the world and soon enough they told us about how class participation was crucial in the classroom. At first it did not seem unusual and I thought it would not be so different from what I had already experienced before at university, but I was certainly wrong. Class participation is taken very seriously and it defines your final grade, no question. Professors at IE value quality over quantity when it comes to class participation, and since the majority of classes follow the case study method, it is crucial to prepare for class ahead of time. In a nutshell, the class participation criteria at first might seem tiring, but it actually helps you get the best out of the classes and sets a very rich environment of discussion.

The People & the City

Alright, alright. And what about the city? The parties? The social life?
There is absolutely nothing to worry about. I had never seen a city as alive as Madrid. From Monday to Sunday there are people at bars and restaurants having a good glass of wine, cervezas and tapas. The people here always have a smile on their faces and are very welcoming. The sky is always blue, the sunsets are jaw dropping, and the temperature is very pleasant. It is definitely very easy to feel at home here.

And of course, the experience of living in the city of Madrid would not be as fun if I didn’t have people to enjoy it with. To compensate the workload of all the teamwork assignments, we have group dinners to get together and relax! Not that we need excuses to gather in social events, but group dinners and class dinners are essential to bond with your classmates. The clubs at IE also organize social events so regularly that I honestly cannot remember a week where there has not been happy hour drinks or networking events from the many clubs such as the Lebanese, Japanese, Brazilian, Mexican, Colombian or the business focused clubs such as the Net Impact Club, Women in Business Club, Energy Club, Artificial Intelligence Club… you name it.

A Day in the Life of a Master in Management Student

The standard schedule of classes happens between 9 and 3 pm. At first, I thought it was a bit strange since I am used to the Brazilian lunch time of 12h30-1h30. However, it does not take long to adjust. The students usually go for lunch in big groups to different restaurants around the school area which are fairly affordable even for a student budget. Then everyone usually heads back to university to work on group projects.
I try to arrive a bit before class to either have a coffee or check my emails, because once the day starts, there is a lot to do. In times of tight deadlines and final exams, it is completely normal to go to school on the weekends, which means that MIM students spend a lot of time together. This is one of the reasons why your fellow classmates feel so much like family members in a short amount of time.
Another highlight of the past months in the MIM has been the club activities and Executive Insight Series. Every day speakers are invited from different business industries coming to campus to talk and engage with students in relevant discussions. For instance, I attended the Women in Business Conference, which brought female leaders of companies such as Coca Cola, P&G and McKinsey to talk about women empowerment in business. I also attended and volunteered in the 12th Annual Social Responsibility Forum promoted by the Net Impact Club, in which we had the opportunity to discuss the future of business in terms of social innovation, responsibility, and impact.

Looking forward to...

We are now entering a new period in which all we hear about in the corridors are talks about job applications and interviews. I am looking forward to the next few months to know how the job search went for the MIM students. For now, we will keep up the hard work, and our fingers crossed! Until next time.