Alix

My name is Alix. I have two Bachelor's degrees. The first is a degree from the Solvay Brussels School in Business Engineering and the other is a Bachelor of Engineering in Physics from Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelles. In addition to this, I was very involved in student societies at the Ecole Polytechnique where I was also working part-time regarding the activities of the students.

After completing my Bachelors I had no idea what I wanted to do in life and I needed a year to think about what I wanted to do in life without working in Engineering or its related fields. I had no clear picture of my personal project. Unfortunately, exchange programs at the University of Brussels are only at the Master levels and I did not have any Masters's projects. I realized that it was important for me to go abroad and learn as in Belgium I come from the countryside and have no real knowledge of the opportunities that I might have outside. Apart from that my education was in business as well as engineering and I wanted to try to combine this unique expertise in Environmental Studies which requires that you understand both science and business. Indeed the Master's program that I chose allowed me to combine these two areas of education. I chose the London School of Economics as the school has a Master of Science in Environment and Development program, which is a rare program. It is a one-year program that perfectly fits my interest. The school has a strong academic focus and that is important for me as I believe that after my Masters I will do a Ph.D. to become a researcher and a Professor.

I was quite at ease with the GRE, and I took my exams two months after my classes. After interactions with other students, I understood that getting a high score on the GRE so easily was quite rare and I was quite lucky to get a good score after just two months. As the MBA Center does not provide group classes for GRE, I took private tutoring with Dr. Hubert Silly who helped me prepare. I received a great deal of knowledge from him which was essential for me.

The most difficult part of the application was the essays as I had applied to five-six programs. It was difficult to explain my position as I had two Bachelors in different fields, and I wanted to make another switch again. I did not want to be perceived as an eternal student flitting from one field to another and I had to build a strong profile as someone who has acquired varied knowledge and wants to combine both into Environmental Science and improve the awareness of others. It was Dr. Hubert Silly’s idea completely as I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do in the first place. His idea was to build a confident and strong profile that would convince LSE and others to take me. I had also never written an application in my life as we do not have this process in Belgium and my English is pretty poor, it was extremely difficult for me to state my intentions clearly.

I must say I managed to get selected to all the schools I applied to and I believe that it was only due to the help of Dr. Hubert Silly who was there at every step guiding me throughout the applications and interviews.

Being a part of the MS program at LSE is very exciting.it has given me a chance to explore my possibilities for the future and I am very happy that I got the chance to do so here in London. The city itself is very dynamic and inspiring and there is a lot to learn here amidst the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic city. The LSE student body is highly active and has worked a great deal to build up a good network of students worldwide. All in all, it is great to be a part of such a dynamic body of people.

The first thing I would say does not hesitate to go for an extra year of study. Be honest with yourself. At 24-25 we do not know what we want to do in life. I was not sure of what my life held and trying to find a way led me to this program at LSE.

Completing a Masters in a highly ranked University is never wasted. Now after two months of studies, I know that I want to dedicate my life to research and professorship.

Finally, when I contacted MBA Center after being recommended by a friend who had used their services and been accepted to a Masters program at London Business School, I had no idea what I would find there. I was extremely pleased with their service, their dedication and professionalism and the expertise that I saw there and I can only recommend Dr. Hubert Silly and his team at MBA Center to people who are aiming for top Universities abroad.