Tariq Arafa 

Warwick Business School 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less:  A half-Egyptian, Aston Villa-supporting communications professional with an insatiable appetite for adventure and travel.

Hometown: Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have sky-dived from 10,000 feet in Mauritius, bungy-jumped off Auckland Harbour Bridge and climbed to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Undergraduate School and Major:  Law, University of Sheffield

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: NASUWT, Guardian

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far:  I shot, edited and produced video content that was commissioned by the UK Labour Party to showcase the Building Schools For the Future programme that it had undertaken when it was in government. It was played in the main hall of the Labour Party Conference and was very well received by delegates.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in the program so far:  Obtaining a distinction in the Operations Management Final Exam was satisfying as the course content was challenging. I enjoyed applying what we had learnt to the exam questions and was pleased to get a high mark!

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Make sure you think about both your work-related and non-work related experience when attending the interview. Schools are looking for evidence of being a rounded individual, so don’t just highlight your work-related/academic achievements. If you have climbed Kilimanjaro or raised thousands for charity, mention it! Voluntary work can highlight your best attributes too!

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  Before I even thought about doing an MBA, I knew Warwick was renowned as a top business school. Its ranking has been consistently high across different ranking institutions for many years and its recent position of 15th in the world by The Economist was further testament to its quality. Warwick’s high ranking is based on excellence across a range of factors from teaching quality to the calibre of graduates it produces. For me personally though, I was impressed with the careers service offering and the chance to learn a language in the first term.

What would success look like to you after you graduate from business school? Of course I would like to be in a position where I had found employment in my chosen sector which is media and communications. In addition to this though, I hope to finish the year having developed a great network of peers from my cohort that I can call upon in the future – both in a personal and professional capacity. This will be an important hallmark of a great year at Warwick.