“Passion will keep you going, but you have to remember – passion needs resources to sustain” Florence 2022. Jane started her own business by passions, and she pursue her MBA degree to make her business become more successful. She also found joy during her MBA journey in one of the best business schools in Asia, CEIBS. Let’s read more about her amazing story.
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Hello, everyone! My name is Jane Florence – born and bred in Surabaya, Indonesia, and I will share with you my “convoluted”, daunting, yet wonderful one-time experience pursuing an MBA degree in first ranked (by Financial Times) business school in Asia, which is China Europe International Business School.
China Europe International Business School is a joint venture for management education by the Chinese government and European Union (cited: CEIBS website). CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Accra in Ghana, and Zurich in Switzerland. If you want to know more, you can visit the CEIBS website.
I clearly remembered that point in life when I was sitting in a quiet coffee shop – pondering what would I do with my life next. I was in a phase when I really wanted a breakthrough in my life. I craved and desired for challenge – yet I kind of wanted to “take a break” from life. Even though at that time I was running my very own company, every work I did become so mundane, challenges coming from workplace felt so dull and monotonous, and the passion that was once there had gone. I did admit, I built and bootstrapped my own business by no more than passion. Yes, the passion will keep you going, but you have to remember – passion needs resources to sustain.
What does it mean by resources? They are not necessarily directed only to capital, but it may comprise of several different thing, which are: people, information, knowledge, relationship, experience, investment, etc. Due to the scale of my business, I found it very assiduous for me to reach the ideal scale of business that I have portrayed in my mind. You need a considerable amount of resources and the ability on where to allocate them. You need the strong business acumen to keep the capital flowing, ability to handle bright talents in the company and accommodate shall there be conflicts, and to be able to see things from bird’s eye view for the basis of making important decisions that would move your company forward or on the other hand – slowing down its rate. Having had a deep rumination regarding those thoughts, I was aware that I shall be equipped. I was aware that I was not enough and my ability was limited. Hence, at that point of time, I decided to go for business school for my master degree.
APPLICATION PROCESS & SCHOLARSHIP
I, then, applied at CEIBS during May 2021. For the application materials, you need to have your latest CV updated, university transcript, TOEFL/IELTS test score, GMAT/GRE report (a must for business school!), professional licenses (optional), and your personal documents such as Identity Card & passport ready. For the application process, you will need to complete some personal and professional experience in the school online application portal and attach those abovementioned documents. You will then be notified shall you are accepted into the next stage by 4 weeks’ time.
If you have been notified by the admission team, you will then have a video interview with the admission director and a senior professor. They only want to know you holistically – not just on the surface area on the work scope, yet they want to know your personality as a whole. The admission team also is interested in how you would address failure, and whether do you have any perseverance to get back from it.
Also, if you have been accepted, you are given the opportunity to apply for scholarship. There are quite numbers of scholarship offers by CEIBS and here are some that are available for international students:
- CEIBS Education Scholarship
- Beyond Border Scholarship
- Merit Based Scholarship
- Diversity Scholarship
- Entrepreneurship Scholarship
- Shanghai Government Scholarship
- CEIBS GRE Full Scholarship
For the scholarship process, you need to complete several applications and some forms to indicate your financial status. The scholarship assessment would be beneficial shall you apply early as there would be more spots available in the scholarship quota. Shall you be interested in business school interview process, you can contact me directly through IG DM & email, I will be happy to answer to the best of my ability!
CURRENT STUDENT LIFE
When people ask me how the day-to-day life is of an MBA student, I would only say one thing: RIGOROUS.
The classes are very interactive and the professors are highly intelligent and engaging. They expect us to voice out our opinion – even if we have a different opinion from the rest of our peers. Do not worry, as they will not undermine you shall you have any differing opinions as it opens up a newer perspective and entice a more interactive learning experience!
Besides studying, I currently serve as a Student Ambassador and member of Management Consulting club as I want to pursue my career in Management Consulting Industry post MBA.
Also, there is a famous saying: “In MBA, we have to be able to balance 3S: Study, Social life, and Sleep!”
As you go by, the MBA journey would be very daunting, yet it is indeed an unforgettable experience! In MBA, you will have the chance to re-discover yourself – to know what ticks you on and off, to know which kind of environment you’d do best in, to develop friendship and long term relationship with awesome individuals all over the world, and to be able to leverage the school resources to grow yourself to your utmost potential. Also, I would like to share about what CEIBS MBA Director told us during the opening ceremony!
He said “The most important thing during your MBA journey in which I hope you would continue to uphold this when you’re in the job after MBA: Keeping the same standard and ethics throughout the whole journey. You might feel that first two weeks of your life seems very exciting and of course, you would keep your standard high. However, as time goes by and the course begins to challenge you in both mental and physique – will you keep the same standard you had at the first day of commencement?”
His speech resonated most within me. We might lose ourselves during the journey due to homesick, unending tasks and presentation, and club activities. However, you still have to be able to uphold your value, be true and believe in yourself, and trust yourself, that whatever you have dreamt of, will come true.
C’est la vie!
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editor : Stephanie Triseptya Hunto