MBA Journal: Reflecting on B-School

"Looking back, Georgetown was the perfect fit for me. I wanted an urban school, with an international focus and a globally known brand name"

By Rusmir Musić

I started business school at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business (McDonough Full-Time MBA Profile) with panic attacks. Once I met my classmates (incredibly accomplished people who were arriving from all walks of life and all corners of the world) and realized the full magnitude of our course load (four new classes every seven weeks, plus four residencies), I thought that a person like me (background in education, no real business experience) could never make it.

Two years later: I graduated as the salutatorian of my class and have started working as a consultant with the World Bank. I helped win awards at my summer internship through a branding campaign for the company's eco-sensible initiatives and produced a business development decision matrix for a Vietnamese retail client, ranking market attractiveness of major regions around the globe. I have shared meals with corporate chief executives and received a VIP ticket to hear President Obama's energy policy address on campus. This is a long way of saying that my investment in business school was very much worth it.

But I credit my successes at school to three important principles:

1. Power naps: As a student, I've had to juggle multiple assignments from entirely different disciplines, while keeping track of student leadership responsibilities, networking, and job searching. Keeping these balls in the air requires a sane mind, which I maintained by napping.

2. Closed laptop in class: Knowing I would be lured by distractions of modern communication if I kept my laptop open, I opted to remove the temptation and take notes the old-fashioned way. I was able to stay more engaged with the class and take deeper notes.

3. Getting involved (inside and outside the classroom): Staying engaged and raising my hand to offer opinions meant not just better grades, but also permission to seek out professors after class, whether for career networking or general mentoring advice. Getting involved as a student leader similarly helped me get to know my classmates better and network with professionals, not as just another student but as leader of a club pertinent to that professional's industry.

Point No. 3 required sacrifices: It meant passing up some socializing or couch-potato time to finish the next assignment, organize volunteers for a conference, and send that class-wide announcement. I focused on priorities. What these sacrifices brought was the aforementioned access to faculty and professionals and a stronger network at school. My friend Nick told me that the first time he needs a consulting engagement at his job, I would be the first person he'd call. I realized there is no better way to explain how I would want to leave my legacy at Georgetown.

Business school has a way of making you feel special. You are constantly learning challenging material from multiple perspectives, surrounded by bright and motivated people, with high-level speakers walking through the door every day of the week. In my entry at the end of my summer internship, I spoke of this constant supply of stimuli, something I will sorely miss once the everyday job routine settles in. Still, I am excited to get my Sundays back. I recently had a glorious, four-hour Sunday brunch and was so excited that nowhere in the back of my mind was a guilty feeling that I should be doing something else. Leisure time is no longer a short respite before the next assignment.

Jesuit Ethos

Looking back, Georgetown was the perfect fit for me. I wanted an urban school, with an international focus and a globally known brand name. I received access to alumni and resources from the entire university. Georgetown alums have answered my calls from around the world and have jumped on the opportunity to help me.