Meet The Class Of 2018 At Kellogg

Mariana Agudelo

Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Born in the third happiest country in the world (Colombia), have worked in three different countries and three different industries, passionate for social/organizational impact initiatives.

Hometown: Bucaramanga, Colombia

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a tennis addict. I started playing at five and played nationally for seven years. Now, I continue playing as a hobby (and I hope to do so in Kellogg).

Undergraduate School and Major: Industrial Engineering at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

BAYER SA (Colombia): Marketing Intern

Procter & Gamble (Panamá): Finance Analyst

LATAM Airlines Group (Chile): Strategic Planning Analyst

LATAM Airlines Group (Chile): Strategic Alliances Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was chosen as the first manager recognized with the Alliances Excellence Award for leading the development and launch of two new partners for LATAM airlines in USA and Canada for 12 MM USD and amd 15 key projects to expand current partnerships in North America and Asia for 70 MM USD, while actively promoting five organizational activities.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants?

START EARLY (GMAT/ESSAYS/LETTERS). It can be pretty stressful to be running out of time before application deadlines. Also, make sure you have plenty of time to re-take the GMAT (I took it twice).

APPLY IN ROUND 1. If possible, apply to for your top choices (3 to 4 really good applications).

SCHOOL VISITS. I highly recommend visiting some of the schools, as this really made the difference for me.

DON’T GIVE UP on the GMAT. I know it can be hard, stressful and time-consuming, but be always certain that you can do it and don’t hate the exam. This only makes it worse.

DO AS MANY PRACTICE TESTS AS YOU CAN and review each answer when you finish to understand why you got some questions wrong and how can you do faster the ones you got right.

LEAVE THE OFFICIAL GMAT PRACTICE TESTS FOR THE END. They can give you a pretty good idea of how the real exam could go.

FOR YOUR ESSAYS AND INTERVIEW, BECOME THE EXPERT ABOUT YOUR FAVORED MBA PROGRAM. For this, talk to alumni and/or current students, attend admissions events in your cities; explore the program website; and understand how the specific curriculum/electives/clubs/career opportunities/student life are appealing to. That way, you will be prepared to answer WHY you are in love with that particular MBA and what your contributions to the class would be so they choose you.

USE SPECIFICS IN BOTH ESSAYS AND INTERVIEWS. Explain very well why this particular program can help you achieve your short- and long-term goals (if possible mention specific classes, professors, students, etc.).

HAVE SOME QUESTIONS PREPARED FOR YOUR INTERVIEWER. Everyone loves to talk about their MBA.

IF ENGLISH IS NOT YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE (AS IS MY CASE), PRACTICE SOME INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WITH A FRIEND. That way, you are more fluent and relaxed the day of the interview. Also, ask a friend to read your essays to make sure they are easy to follow and don’t have any silly mistakes.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? I chose Kellogg the day of my first visit to Evanston and to Kellogg campus. Truth be told, I was not considering Kellogg as my top choice at first. When visiting, I felt the magic of being part of a strong, collaborative community and decided this was my place. I really felt that “click” (which you may have heard of by now) with all the students, faculty and staff I met.

Also, Kellogg prestigious program in Marketing was very appealing for me since it is very connected with my short and long term goals after my MBA. I also was interested in Kellogg’s experiential approach with many hands-on courses and labs as well as the several opportunities in social impact it offered such as Kellogg Board Fellows Program, where students have the opportunity to serve on non-profit boards.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? My dream is to work in a place where I can grow into an impactful and caring leader, having a positive impact on my teams, clients and communities around me. I would love to contribute back to my country and region, so working on a multinational company with operations in Latin America would be very appealing for me. I’m also very inclined to starting my career in marketing, as it is a core area in many industries I’m interested and an area in which I haven’t had the opportunity to work in.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? When this sad day comes (No one wants these two years to be over), it would make me very happy to have many strong, long lasting friendships with my Kellogg classmates. I would also like to be remembered by them for my energy, my passion for motivating and helping others, for being a good listener and a good teacher and for being a fine tennis partner and a great friend.