Meet IE Business School’s Class of 2016

Julia Schippers

IE Business School

Hometown: Pulheim, Germany

Undergraduate School and Major: Business Administration, International Management at FHDW in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Bayer MaterialScience Ltd. Hong Kong & Shanghai, Supply Chain Trainee

Working in Asia was a unique opportunity to understand how to work together with people from different cultures and learn operations management from scratch.

Bayer International Fribourg, Switzerland, Sales Coordinator South Eastern Europe

Being responsible for South Eastern Europe as an emerging region is more challenging, but also more interesting than working in a developed market.

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? I did the GMAT, but I guess my advice is valid for both tests. I think it is very important to set your goal first and give yourself enough time to prepare for it. I personally found it helpful to set up a study plan and follow through with it. I gave myself 6 weeks to prepare for the test while working full time. Of course, it depends on how much time you can allocate to studying. Two weeks before the scheduled test date, I took one of the free online tests which is set up exactly like the real test. This gives you a good feeling if you have to allocate some more time in the last two weeks or if you are already doing fine.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? I think the first step is always some internet research to find out about the different MBA programs as the content can differ a lot. Depending on if you already studied business in your undergraduate, some programs might be much more appealing as they go beyond the ordinary BA subjects.

Before actually applying to all of the schools, visiting an MBA Fair can be a great opportunity to talk to the admission staff and Alumni and ask questions which the school’s website didn’t answer so far.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? The admission process is very time-consuming, so be sure to start your application early enough. If you already have your GMAT result (and TOEFL), you can better focus on writing the essays. If your essays are good, the next step will be an admission interview. I would recommend everyone to prepare for this just like for a job interview. The business school wants to know why you are the perfect candidate for their program and why you chose to apply for their MBA program.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Besides being able to customise my MBA by choosing electives that are most relevant for me, the strong focus on entrepreneurship at IE is unique to the IMBA.

Furthermore, the IMBA is one of the most international MBA programs. As group work is an integral part of the whole program, I am convinced that working closely together with students from many different cultures is a challenging, but very enriching experience.