Before the final leap

Blogs Maria Boicova - 05-01-10

...the voice of Freddy Mercury sounds somewhere inside: “It’s the final countdown! tu-ru-ru-tu-tu”... This week we had our last exam, now we are finalizing our last papers and some of us have already started their in-company projects. It is unbelievable how fast time has passed! Sometimes when I pause for a moment, I have an impression that now I would just open my eyes and realize that it was nothing but a dream. Then again sometimes I have an impression that I have been living like this for my whole life…

It is strange. It might even sound contradictory, but that is how I feel. 8 months, enormous amount of subjects, never-ending chain of group works and assignments, working 24/7 sometimes to be able to complete what you need to complete, so that… you will be able to start with a new assignment. Then a fantastic 2 weeks study-trip to Beijing and Shanghai, which also passed by as if it was just a moment… and here we are – at the last leap of the marathon called “MBA”. Now it is time for 8 weeks In-company project, which officially starts on April the 3rd, then - the Giving back project for another 5 weeks, which I will spend in South Africa, IMEX game and… graduation ceremony on September 20.

Some of us already have an impression that we are there – at the final curtain; some others, anticipating all the work that is to be done for both in-company project and giving-back project, still believe that it is too early to relax; some of us are gone for their projects to different countries and we will see each other only in September; it might even happen that some of us will not come to the graduation ceremony because they are doing their giving back projects in their home countries far far away… It is amazing if to think about it: when I say “that’s my classmate!” about someone with whom I have been studying for an undergrad, that looks logical – he or she is more or less my age, and has more or less my profile in terms of experience and background, and… life in general. As regards my MBA classmates - age, profile, experience - that is all so strikingly diverse, that for an outsider if I say that this or that person is my classmate, that would undoubtedly provoke an astonishment : “No! How is that possible?!” But miraculously it is. Diversity. That was one of the reasons I have picked Vlerick in the first place, and that is one of the points that I mentioned in the recent Economist survey for what I would like to stress as a strong point about my school. An actor, a mathematician, an engineer, a lawyer, an architect, a PR professional, an entrepreneur, and the list goes on and on; in the age range from 24 to 49; and from 40 different nationalities – isn’t that a spectacular opportunity to learn, to grow, to explore? Believe me, it is.

And knowing that if in a while I would go to Peru or Iceland, or Jordan, or Nigeria, or to almost anywhere else, I could just open a phone book and make a call to my classmate to have a cup of coffee together and remember good times we had at Vlerick – that’s inspiring! So even though it was sometimes really hard to follow the tight schedule and pressing deadlines, we learned so much together and grew so much together, and made some very dear friends that would hopefully stay with us for a lifetime. Thus, looking back before the final leap – an MBA at Vlerick was indeed a tremendous experience!...

About the author: Maria Boicova

Maria Boicova is a Full-time MBA student at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School (Leuven, Belgium). She is a Patent and Trademark Attorney from Latvia with a background in law and management.