For Mariam Kvantaliani, a postgraduate education was always on the cards. She was inspired to continue her education after watching her sister graduate from Oxford. Choosing a suitable programme was tricky -- with a full-time job at Deloitte and a background in Business Administration, she wanted a more hands-on programme that would enhance her professional career. So when she landed the fully-funded Fulbright Scholarship, which gave her the opportunity to leave Georgia to pursue an MBA at Syracuse University, she was ecstatic.

At Syracuse, her days were filled with fascinating lectures. Professors Ravi Shukla and Tom Barkley stood out, and Kvantaliani spent many out-of-class hours discussing various finance topics with them. After class, she’d hang around the school halls with her classmates or professors and have lunch on Marshall Street, a popular student area. She was also pleasantly surprised to discover an interest in law as part of her many other elective classes.

The MBA proved an eye-opening experience. “I think it’s a myth that business schools automatically make you ready for post-MBA leadership positions,” she says. “In reality, the outcome of an MBA degree depends on how you leverage all the resources and opportunities available to you. You have to commit to get the best out of your degree -- engage in classes, attend office hours with professors, develop friendships with classmates and bring value to the whole community.”

Her efforts paid off, landing her a full-time role in Amazon. She credits Whitman’s emphasis on team-based projects and the programme’s “think-big approach” in finding solutions for abstract problems. The mentoring she received played a large role in securing her first job in the US after graduation, too. “I would never have been able to start my career in the US at a senior level without the support of the school and my mentors/professors,” she shares.

Mariam Kvantaliani