Master’s in Marketing: Matthew Schnelker, Purdue University (Krannert)

Student Name: Matthew Schnelker

Graduate Business School: Purdue University, Krannert School of Management

Describe Yourself In 15 Words: Driven individual lucky enough to have been surrounded by great friends at an incredible school.

Master’s Graduation Class: 2019

Undergraduate School and Major: Purdue University, Computer Information Technology.

Current Employer and Job Title: Accenture, Business Analyst.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Part of a global team working on one of the world’s largest ever consumer data platform data migrations at a Fortune 100 company. 

Describe your biggest accomplishment as a graduate student: Being the first in my family to complete a graduate education and land my first job in New York City. 

What was the key factor that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The ability to round out my technical background with business skills and further focus my studies in a field that would enable me to apply technical knowledge at scale. 

What led you to choose a Master’s in Marketing over an MBA? I chose this program for the ability to start advanced studies directly after graduating. I wanted to be prepared for high level and high competency positions promptly after joining the workforce. 

What has been your favorite course and how has it helped you in your career? My data analytics courses really helped me hit the ground running once I joined Accenture. There is a wealth of opportunities for people who understand the fundamentals of big data and analytics even at a high level. 

What role did your school play in helping you to land your first job out of the program? I think Purdue’s brand and reputation carries weight internationally because of its academic rigor and track record of success. My company is nearing half a million employees and I regularly meet talented fellow alumni from all over the country (and sometimes outside of it). 

How did your classmates enhance the value of your business school experience? Working in incredibly diverse teams of all sizes really prepared me for what it’d be like working in industry. It was an invaluable experience to understand how to communicate and work with different perspectives and backgrounds. 

Who was your favorite faculty member and how did this person enrich your learning? Jinsuh Lee did a great job of introducing analytics to both technical and non-technical students alike. His course and teachings really opened my eyes to the business value in data and skills such as web scraping and regression line models. 

What is your best advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s graduate Master’s program? Express your craving for knowledge and open-mindedness to diverse teams and thoughts. Purdue and specifically Krannert’s programs have faculty and students with every perspective you could imagine. 

What was your best memory from your Master’s program? My favorite memory was learning about web scraping for the first time and being given the freedom to do whatever I pleased with it. I remember bringing it back to my friend’s house to create an application that could web scrape for investment opportunities. At the time it was a fun project even though I couldn’t afford to act on any of the information I was collecting. Today, I regularly use an updated version of that very same application to invest in rental properties with my friends. 

DON’T MISS: MEET THE MASTERS IN MARKETING

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