Graduate Blog / Graduate Life

“Cheers” to a Day in the Life of Two Babson MBA Students

Guest Writer: Prateek Chakrabarty

prateekHometown: New Delhi, India
Education: Amity University, New Delhi
Previous Experience: Technology Consulting – Indian Tobacco Company; Marketing and Advertising – Koenig Solutions Ltd.
Activities: VP Club Management, Graduate Student Council; Head Coach, MBA Soccer Club
Favorite Babson Entrepreneur: Courtney Wilson, Founder – Dropzone for Veterans

The alarm rings at 6 AM, and her day begins. With the colors of the fall season lining up the sidewalk, Nicole drives into Babson with the thought of growing her business idea. The intricate pieces of finance, marketing, operations, and technology fill up her mind as she walks into the Entrepreneurship and Opportunity class on that balmy Monday morning.

Gustavo, her classmate, has his own dreams that are wholly different from Nicole’s. He comes from Rio, Brazil, and he’s navigating tricky waters that every international student goes through. He knows that the MBA degree will go a long way for him in landing that coveted financial consulting job. Having learnt about business models, he’s looking forward to reading about Discounted Cash Flows in the Corporate Finance class that follows the Entrepreneurship and Opportunity lecture.

nikole

Nicole Lakin MBA ’17 getting in some arial yoga

Nicole and Gustavo plan to meet at the campus pub – Roger’s – at 6 PM later that day, and go their separate ways after class.

Nicole heads to the Blank Center where she meets budding entrepreneurs like herself. She discusses her ideas with them and gathers a wealth of experience about each step in their endeavors, and how she can draw parallels between those ventures and her own. The mentors at the Blank Center connect her with a plethora of resources and influencers that will help her put this jigsaw puzzle together. Delighted with the new connections made at the Butler Venture Accelerator, Nicole goes off to meet with her colleagues at the Net Impact Club where she’s one of the leaders. She discusses strategies befitting the club’s mission to inspire, educate and equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world which go hand in hand with all the sustainability initiatives that Babson has enmeshed within its course offerings.

gustavo

Gustavo Trindade MBA ’17 cruising on the bike leg during a triathlon

Meanwhile, Gustavo attends a networking session downtown with professionals from the Finance industry. He reflects upon what the faculty at Babson and the Center for Career Development advised him regarding the networking session. He leaves a lasting impression with his eloquent and succinct speech about what he plans to do once he graduates. And before you know it, he comes back to school with two offers for interviews for internship positions at the companies he’s eyed. He makes a mental note to thank the Consulting Club for preparing him for the case interviews he’ll be faced with soon. A subtle ping on his phone reminds him of his appointment at the International Student Services where the staff will take care of any issues he might have faced as a non-American student.

“What a day!” Both Nicole and Gustavo exclaim when they see each other. A cold brew seems like the perfect ending to a school day that has armed them both with answers to the ambiguity that every MBA student is greeted with when they step into this world. “Ambiguity is our friend”, says Nicole, “especially when it includes a beer at the end of the day with a good friend!”
Gustavo nods, “Cheers!”