We have spoken about Siddharth Kashiramka earlier. In fact, he has spoken about GyanOne. Siddharth is a thorough professional, a technology enthusiast, and passionate about the potential of analytics to deliver value to business. He is also a part of the Emory Goizueta community and a current student at Emory Goizueta (Class of 2016). Siddharth is one of the most smart, hard-working, and generous individuals we know. In this article, part of our ongoing initiative to bring to potential applicants insights on top MBA programs, Siddharth provides an insider’s perspective on life and learning at the Goizueta MBA. Over to Siddharth.
Life at Emory University – Goizueta Business School
by Siddharth Kashiramka
Two months into the program, the feel of ‘MBA from abroad’ has still not sunk in for me! Every new day at the bschool brings an opportunity to learn something new, something cool, something that’s really challenging!
Be it the faculty, your class or your 2nd year, I have something to learn from everyone. I guess that’s the biggest advantage of studying at a ‘global’ school! And, Emory is a truly global school.
42% of my class is international and there are students from 17 different nations. Imagine with an average experience of 5 years the different view-points they bring to the class lecture!
The famed Goizueta MBA induction – diversity to the fore!
The school started off with the International student orientation for 3 days where students got exposure to US culture.
This is fun as you get to meet lot of Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Latin American students and you can know about their movies, food, and culture in general. And of course you get to know Americans over booze and all the pool parties!
The Goizueta MBA curriculum and the faculty
The course is divided into 4 semesters and each semester has 3 blocks. For the 1st semester, the focus is on providing broader business perspective as a part of the core curriculum.
This gears students better for electives during the spring semester that has many electives including several live cases, which holds Emory students distinct at the hour of internship.
Emory has strong focus on team building activities. The class is divided into groups of 6 students each, who will work together on all the team assignments for the 1st semester.
The team is carefully chosen from different background to bring diversity. My team has 4 US students and a Korean, covering backgrounds like consulting, finance, marketing and IT.
For my 2nd semester, I am looking forward to Goizueta Marketing and Strategic Consulting elective (GMSC).
Emory has awesome faculties which bring great industry experience – Prof. Ray Hill (served as a CEO, CFO of a fortune 500 company), Prof. Patrick Noonan (ex-Mckinsey, Yale, Harvard alum), and Prof. Manish Tripathi (renowned marketing faculty) are few of the faculties who have already taken the classes.
Fun at Emory Goizueta
If Goizueta(ns) know how to work hard they also know how to party hard. Thursday is the KEGS (Keeping Everyone at Goizueta Social) day. Life at Emory is not just about work. Goizuetans work hard, and party hard too.
It’s all about networking, drinking, playing (corn hole) and music! There are many parties sponsored by various clubs associations and companies. It’s a great opportunity to meet alums and company representatives in an informal setting and talk about their experiences.
Life at Emory – Goizueta MBA Student Clubs
The school has club for almost everything that interests you on your career side or just the hobby. Few of the clubs which I am part of is Healthcare club, Goizueta Marketing Association, Goizueta Consulting Club. Some of the cooler ones are Goizueta Wine club, and Goizueta Hispanic Club.
Clubs are of great help because it’s a platform where 2nd year can share their experience, what worked and what didn’t for them.
Goizueta MBA recruitment
The school is heavily focused on recruitment. Goizueta has huge alumni network and Atlanta has headquarters for almost all of the fortune 500 companies.
Goizueta CMC (Career Management Centre) is very strong and helpful. Goizueta is the top ranking institute in US when it comes to placements. We have company presentations almost every alternate day which is also fun for free goodies and food!
Life at Emory – Coffee Chats with 2nd years
Scheduling a coffee chat with 2nd years, alum and company representative is a cultural thing here to network. You can ask questions and get to know their experience. This really helps because you are better prepared for what is coming next and also networking helps you a lot during your recruitment.
The Emory Goizueta MBA – cost of living
Cost of living in Atlanta is mid-high level. I spend in total approx. $1500~$1600 a month ($700 in housing, $100 in utilities, $150 in transport and $500-$600 in food and miscellaneous).
It might seem a little expensive now but it’s easily manageable especially with the very low rate loan provided by Emory. Don’t really worry about financing much at the application stage as Emory is very generous in scholarship.
Tips for prospective Emory MBA applicants:
1.Know the school before submitting application! Chat with current students if you can. This has two advantages:
-You can write what you like and know about the school in your application and mention in your interview. It adds
genuineness and seriousness for the school. Schools here appreciate that!
-You may figure out that school is not a good fit for you.
2 .For IT applicants, think about the business implications your project had. Your success is college’s success. If they feel you are a fit for a company and ready for a job, they will admit you.
Consider MBA application as your post MBA job application and you would do best! So, have a broader perspective. Think like a ‘Manager’. Here, let me put in a word to thank GyanOne again!
3.Generally, the schools in US are pretty sure that Indian students would do well academically. It’s natural for Indians! The only roadblock is soft skills. Start working on developing that now itself. You have enough time till your interviews.
All the best to all the prospective applicants! For any queries, connect with me over LinkedIn and shoot me a mail and I will reply back at the earliest! You can also post your queries in the form of comments and I will reply.
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