Meet The CEIBS MBA Class of 2017

Demi Zhao

Demi Zhao

CEIBS

Hometown: Shanghai, China

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Science and Technology of China, Chemical Physics

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

  • Digital China / Account Sales
  • Jebsen Group / Reginal Sales
  • Timex Group / Sales Manager
  • DKSH / Sales Manager
  • Richemont Group / Area Manager

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? or applicants who are preparing GMAT, the following suggestions may be helpful to you:

  • Spend some time finishing a diagnostic exam, estimate how much time you need to improve, and set up a deadline.
  • Find one or two GMAT preparation forums or BBS for materials and experiences sharing. Employ a method that suitable for you.
  • Formulate your study plan and stick to it.

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? The basic principle in choosing target schools is more about where you want to develop your career. You may consider the following suggestions.

  • Choose the areas you want to develop career in (e.g. China, USA, or Europe).
  • Focus on the MBA programs in these areas. Start to communicate with alumnus or recruiting officers of these programs as early as you can.
  • Try to visit the campus of your target schools to meet with and talk to students.

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?

Essay: To be sufficiently prepared for writing essays, please dig into your career experiences or any experiences that shaped you to who you are and extract some stories to reflect different aspects of you (achievement, failure, touching moment, leadership, etc). When you start writing, please write in a structural way and keep revising by yourself and people who can give you advice. You can utilize experiences related as stories to support your essay. Meanwhile, you can read model essays to learn writing skills.

Recommendation letters: There are no rules about recommenders. My suggestion is to try your best to find the best recommenders, the higher level they are the better.

Interview: Practice answering questions related to yourself, such as your industry, your employer’s  strategies, your competitors’ strategies, your job and career goals, and how you are going to leverage the MBA program to fulfill your goals. Please make sure the interviewers can find something unique in you through the interview.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? China depth and global breadth. CEIBS’s strength, perfectly matched what I was looking for in a MBA program.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? My career goal is to help a local brand grow. Before graduate, I will be a qualified candidate to the marketing department manager of a local brand and to strengthen its competitive advantages.

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