Meet Washington Foster’s MBA Class of 2019

Giulia Pellegrino     

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Language enthusiast with an eye for strategy and analysis in all things disorderly.

Hometown: Pasadena, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a classically trained singer in opera.

Undergraduate School and Major: UC Santa Barbara; BA in Linguistics: Language, Culture & Society

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP – Recruiting & Talent Management Assistant

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP – Finance Document Specialist

California Institute of Technology – Graduate Option/Program Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While at Sheppard Mullin, I was given an unprecedented promotion to Finance Document Specialist, a role that would effectively do the work of a first-year finance attorney. I had no legal training at all, but, within a few months, I was drafting loan amendments that would be ready for clients, needing no extra revisions by the supervising partner.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Prepare for the admissions interview. It’s easy to get in the mindset that there’s nothing really to prepare. After all, you don’t need to “study” your life. However, I found that there was huge value in going through a deliberate reflective process that organized my thoughts and allowed me to shuffle through my experiences beforehand, and not in the interview room!

Here is a preparation framework that worked for me:

1. Anticipate those interview questions beforehand.
2. Spend some time brainstorming answers. Associate concrete examples with the points you are trying to convey.
3. Then get them out of your head, onto paper, and practice saying them out loud. You’re not creating a script, but rather, a “bag of tricks” that you learn to articulate and can reach for at any point in the discussion.

Having gone through this process, I felt armed and ready to answer any question and I also had a handy guide that I could review before each of my interviews. Good luck!

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? Location, location, location!

It was very important to me that I choose a school that was geographically situated in a place where I’d want to work post-graduation. My thought-process was: Why spend so much time and money cultivating a network that you don’t fully reap the rewards of?

With that said, as I began researching schools, Foster stuck out to me for its incredibly prime location. Seattle has just been booming (construction everywhere…) and the number of companies that are within a 20-mile radius of the UW campus is an incredible asset to the program.

This element, coupled with Foster’s top employment statistics, really exemplified the great opportunities that I would have at my disposal as a Foster MBA student and so my decision was made. I knew I could thrive there and saw a future for myself beyond the 2-year program.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  I hope to really make the most of the next few years, both professionally and personally. I want to take challenging classes, make a ton of new friends, and embrace everything that Foster has to offer in and outside the classroom.

If, by next summer, I have laid the groundwork for my transition into a marketing career through all these means and secured an internship that sets me up for success post-graduation, I will be very happy.