What have you done before your master’s?
I graduated in BSc Economics & Management from the University of Florence, Italy prior to joining Imperial College Business School. During my undergraduate, I purposely focused on narrowing down my interests and shaping my future career trajectory. Over the summers I worked in many different industries, ranging from e-commerce to chemicals. Through the course of these experiences, I sampled work in Marketing, HR, Project Management and Strategy. I have also gained experience in the non-profit sector, working with NGOs, social enterprises and non-profit organisations. I have ultimately realised that the thing I love most is exploring new things and tackling challenges, which is why I ultimately decided to pursue a master’s upon graduation.
Why this master’s?
Choosing a postgraduate degree has never been an easy task, especially when faced with a myriad of options and competition. I chose MSc International Management at Imperial College Business School mainly because it has the most fitting curriculum for my personal development.
In my view, the programme is an enhanced version of the average Master’s in Management you see on the market. The programme is very challenging and intense, targeting students with a relevant business background, whether in business, economics, or related fields. MSc International Management is structured into three main pillars: core modules, electives, and Leadership in Action. While the core modules at the beginning of the year are advanced management subjects designed to level students from different backgrounds, the other two pillars are the main reasons for my choice. The electives can be chosen from all of the management suite’s modules, such as those from the MBA, strategic marketing or just management. This leaves ample opportunity for students to personalise their own curriculum, whether that be in strategy, marketing, finance or human resources.
The final pillar, the Leadership in Action module, is what really differentiates MSc International Management from other master’s. This module starts from the first term and lasts a whole year, with the aim of developing future leaders for the business world. The first phase is about core leadership skills, combining lectures, workshops and field events, providing the basic foundations required for modern leadership. The second phase consists of a design thinking project and an international consulting project. During this phase, students can put what they have learned in the previous phase into action, leading and working in diverse teams to achieve impactful solutions. The third, and last phase, is the final reflection and self-discovery process. In this final stage, we are encouraged to introspectively reflect on our personal growth during the year, summarising the knowledge gained from the various modules and the leadership qualities obtained in the previous phases of Leadership in Action. The final deliverables are a personal essay and a Ted Talk style presentation.
The three pillars together make MSc International Management the best choice for my future career. I believe in order to be a change-maker, you need more than just the hard skills and industry expertise that are commonly available from many master’s in the market.
Why this school?
Imperial College London is one of the best universities in the world. Its history, ranking and culture all contributed to my final decisions. As one of the four schools of Imperial College London, the Business School represents a nest for future business leaders and change-makers. Before narrowing down to Imperial, I used various criteria to help with choosing my master’s. First of all, I preferred EMEA over the rest of the world. This might be because of my personal experience working in different continents and exploring different cultures. After a long self-reflection, I decided that Europe is where I want to develop my future career, hence London become one of the obvious candidates for my research. I have visited many European capitals before, and as a proud Italian, I loved London after my first few visits. A few summers ago, I had the chance to visit Imperial under the guidance of a former student ambassador. Since then, Imperial has always remained in my brand recall zone. Once I compared the different management master’s available at different top universities, I chose Imperial for all of the reasons mentioned above.
How was your application process?
The preparation for any international student coming to the UK is long and competitive. We have to prepare the transcript, GMAT or GRE, language tests like TOEFL or IELTS. However, the application process for Imperial itself was smooth and fast. Once I had all the documents necessary for my application, I started refining my CV and writing my Personal Statement. The Business School heavily values the importance of leadership experience and emotional resilience in its candidates. Furthermore, the career planning questions in the application process were a wonderful self-reflection tool for me. Many undergraduate students like me might have thought about their future careers, however, most of us did not have a specific written plan for it. Thanks to this, during the application process I had the opportunity to refine my future professional outlook too. After submitting the application, I received the interview invitation. This was for an initial video interview phase comprised of personality and strength-based questions. Even though I had prepared a series of possible questions, I still got caught by surprise by a few unexpected questions. Overall it must have gone well as I received my offer just a little while later.
How was your first day and week in the programme?
2020 was not a typical year to start your master’s programme. MSc International Management is also not your typical programme. My impression of the first day was exciting. I had my expectations before coming to London - about the programme, the faculty, and the cohort, but I was still impressed. The fellow students of MSc International Management that I encountered during the first week of my postgraduate studies were brilliant. We come from all over the world (fitting given the name of the programme) and despite our different backgrounds and cultures, we share a lot of things in common.
As expected from a top programme at a top university, the people are the true assets. The COVID-19 pandemic affected more than half of the students joining the campus for the first few weeks, therefore the school environment was not exactly what one expected - it was incredibly quiet, as was the whole of London in general, (like a lot of places in the world during the pandemic). In conclusion, I found my first week of the programme to be super exciting, and it gave me high hopes and expectations for my upcoming postgraduate experience!
Find out more about MSc International Management at Imperial College Business School.
