My SMU MBA adventure (Part 2)

By Jung-Yoon Kim, current full-time SMU MBA student

When I picked SMU’s MBA programme, I did so because I felt that it has a number of strong differentiating factors. In this post, I will elaborate on them in greater detail.

Firstly, the SMU MBA is a future-oriented program. In my opinion, older education methods can’t keep up with this fast-moving era. SMU’s postgraduate programs have already made their mark in various ranking tables. It is also in its growth momentum phase: as SMU’s MBA programme was started in 2009 and is relatively young, you can think of it as a start-up full of strategic potential opportunities.

Secondly, I find that diversity is one of the features of the SMU MBA programme. It is quite exciting to work and learn with fellow students from across Asia and Europe, with a wide variety of industry experience. In particular, I appreciate the fact that there are more Singaporean students than those of us from other countries: this is because I am interested in the culture of this country, as well as its history and its footprint since 1965. My Singaporean classmates have been very helpful in sharing their local insights with me, and I’ve benefitted greatly in understanding more about Singapore through the eyes of my local friends.

Besides the networking opportunities I highlighted in my previous blog post, the SMU MBA also facilitates many networking platforms even within the university. I initially was unsure if I would have opportunities to meet other SMU students outside of the MBA students and alumni community. So far, in some of our non-academic sessions – such as career and leadership development programmes – I have met and networked with other postgraduate students from the Master of Science in Innovation, Master of IT in Business and Master of Science in Management programmes. Many of them had interesting stories to share, and I’ve kept in touch with them over time.

I have also met and networked with the students from the IE-SMU MBA programme. This programme takes place largely online, but features a number of face-to-face sessions throughout the year. I was able to meet and exchange ideas with some of the current batch of students this April during one such lunch session, including a gentleman from Indonesia in the recruitment industry and a lady from Japan who works in consulting.

Aside from the official activities, I also joined the SMU MBA Marketing Club, as I strongly feel that the combination of marketing and finance will be a strong push-up for my own career development. This club always drives my motivation up 10,000 times and boosts my curiosity to understanding more about marketing concepts. At the time of writing this post, I’m interning at a fashion e-commerce company that focuses on ladies designer shoes. As a Project Manager, I’m engaged in executing marketing and foreign expansion plans, and I can definitely say this will be one of the best experiences that encourages me further in my career voyage.

Because of SMU MBA’s diversity, as well as the regular networking and mingling opportunities that arise, you never know when you’ll meet a potential business partner, a future colleague, or someone special. These and other hidden opportunities are the key to making our MBA experience more fruitful.