It’s hard to believe but I’m officially done my Master in Management at IE Business School; the last few months have flown by, so there’s a lot to catch up on since my last post!

Specializations in the Master of Management at IE Business School

For starters, we began our third and final term of our program at the beginning of April. This meant that, for the first time since September, our classes would be rearranged with students from other sections according to the specializations we had chosen. The four specialization options were: Sales & Marketing (what I chose!), Digital Business, International Business, and for Spanish speakers, Financial Management and Control. Though the new classes and classmates took some getting used to, this term allowed us to focus on the topics that interested us most and therefore was my favourite term of the program. Mixing up the classes also brought a great new insights and perspectives in to class discussions, which really added to the classroom experience.

In Sales & Marketing we took classes like Product and Brand Management, Service Marketing, Sales Force and Key Account Management, Knowing the Market and the Consumer, and Channel Management, in addition to many others (with a total of 10 classes this semester!). Though it was an intense semester, it was a great way to wrap up the school year and brought us that much closer to graduation!

The Final Exam

Once our specialization classes and regular exams had come to an end, it became time for the all-elusive final exam. The ‘final exam’ at IE is akin to the final project or thesis at many other schools. We were to write a fifteen-page report and give a final presentation to a panel of professors on a case given to us one-week prior. Though this was a stressful week with lots of late nights and hard work, the final exam was meant to consolidate everything we had learned over the last 10 months and it did it exactly that!

Now that I’ve gone over the details of what the program entailed the last few months, I wanted to look back and reflect on the key takeaways and lessons (academics aside) I learned over the last one year.

Studying is important, but it’s not all about grades.

This was something that I constantly needed to remind myself of. The Gauss Curve at business schools can sometimes cause people to fixate on grades a little too much. However, I found that I did best when I found the right school-life balance. Being in an amazing city like Madrid with a great group of people inevitably gave rise to lots of opportunities for fun and it would be a real shame not to take advantage of these experiences. Of course, that is not to stay studying isn’t important, but I quickly learned that if I was organized and planned carefully, it isn’t so difficult to do well in school and have fun at the same time!

Get out of your comfort zone!

I also found that the best way to learn was by getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things! Though it is easiest for us to stick to what we know (i.e. choosing which group projects to focus on according to what you already know), I found that I learned the most when I was assigned to group projects that I had little background in. Sure, this may not always result in the highest grade but you’ll learn much more than if you just stick to what you know. This also applied outside of school, I improved my Spanish significantly when I stopped trying to converse with locals in English and tried (even if it didn’t always make sense) to speak with them in Spanish and found so many interesting places in Madrid when I ventured away from my neighborhood and typical hangouts.

Meet as many people as you can and you’ll surely make friends for life.

The best part of the entire IE experience for me was by far the people I met along the way. The people of Madrid, IE professors and administration, and most of all, my fellow classmates all made the experience more incredible than it already was. Meeting people from all around the world and building close friendships created so many unforgettable memories throughout the year, whether studying late at night in the library or on relaxing weekends skiing in the alps, our time spent together is something I will always remember. Though it was hard to say goodbye, it is also exciting for all of us to go off to our new adventures knowing we have friends waiting for us all around the world.

Now that we’re all done and starting our careers I can say for sure that I loved my time at IE and wouldn’t take it back for anything. Though bittersweet, it’s time for all of us to start the next chapter in our lives now and see what the future has in store!

—Rahimah