Anastasia

My name is Anastasia and I am a Submarine Operations Officer for the French Navy. I started my career in the navy almost nine years ago. Having completed my undergraduate program at Prytanee National Militaire I joined the EcoleNavale, one of the GrandesEcoles where I completed my initial training for my current job as an officer in the French Navy.

During that time, I also participated in a Graduate Exchange Semester program where I spent my third semester in Annapolis at the United States Naval Academy. I began my career as an Executive Officer on a Patrol Ship and steadily moved up to the position I hold today.

By August 2020 I will have spent nine years as an officer and three years at the Naval School in France. I believe I am at a critical point in my life. The time has come for me to decide if I want to continue in the Navy and become the captain of the submarine or whether it would be in my interest to move out and find other opportunities.

I believe that at 32 years of age, it is the right time for me to make a career change and make a career switch. There is also the consideration that life in a submarine is not very easy: you spend months in a very closed environment with only a few people for company. I want to gain more exposure to the outside world and learn more about other jobs, meet people from other nationalities and learn about their cultures which will be possible only if I move out of the Navy. I have already had two short experiences abroad, one at the United States Naval Academy and one at Abu Dhabi when I was stationed there for a few months. These experiences have made me realize that I want to explore more and be more which is why I chose an MBA as the means of changing my career path.

I have been accepted to MIT, Yale and INSEAD with a sizeable scholarship at MIT. However, even with or without the scholarship I would have chosen MIT as it is one of the schools which is at the forefront of business education with an outstanding teaching faculty and students while also being a very innovative space for people with different backgrounds to find their footing in. Moreover, the MIT program is a two-year program which will give me ample amount of time to understand the changes that I want to bring into my life and career path especially my change from a military to civil life.

I believe MIT will be able to teach me a lot as the MIT approach is very rigorous and operations-driven, which is something that I would enjoy being a part of. Finally, the environment at Cambridge is something I am looking forward to spending time at.

Aerospace! As a Ballistic Missile Officer, I have worked with civilian industrial corporations such as ArianeGroup, Naval Group and Thales to ensure updates and maintenance of the Strategic Weapon System onboard my submarine. The 'M51' Ballistic Missiles and 'Ariane' Space Rockets feature very similar technology. Having dealt extensively with M51s I have a fair understanding of the technology used in the Space Rockets. Moreover, living in a submarine has also given me a fair idea of the working conditions in space (confined living quarters with highly unviable terrain outside).

The space race is poised to explode in the next few years; case in point, the Chinese project to establish a lunar base, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship idea, India’s Chandrayaan mission, the establishment of US and French Space Commands. The development of aerospace technology will shake all established economic, political, energy and military standards.

As someone who is highly interested in becoming a part of this transformative process I need to embrace a holistic approach to the space program and educate and mold myself to grasp the multiple domains that space conquest will impact.

I spent time preparing my GMAT and TOEFL and I managed to do quite well in both, with a score of 170 in TOEFL and a 750 in the GMAT. It took me time but I realized that with a bit of hard work it is an achievable score. But the most difficult part of the admission process was the application. First of all, applying to these programs is quite a bit of work as you need to write long essays, ensure that the letters of references are sent, transcripts are ready to send off: each application is over 30 to 40 pages long. This is a highly engaging yet frustrating process at times especially when you are used to the French system which seems much simpler. Moreover, standing out through essays and letters is something that is not in the nature of a soldier who usually stands out through his actions. This was a new experience for me and I believe it took me a bit of adjustment to get used to this system.

First of all, give time to your application. Between the time I started to prepare for my GMAT and the time I start my MBA there is a gap of two years and a half. This is deliberate on my part as I wanted enough time for me to get a good score. The whole process is long and cumbersome so planning and organising it well is the key to getting into a good school.

Secondly, be careful with rankings. Had I followed rankings, I would have chosen INSEAD which is a more logical choice for me, being located closer to home as well as being cheaper than MIT. But when I took my decision to accept MIT I factored in my preferences and what I want out of an MBA. Understand that an MBA is not just a degree, it is also an experience. It is important to analyse what you want out of this experience and choose a school that points in that direction.

Finally, it is important to have good people guiding you through the process. I was fortunate that I had the support of Reussir le GMAT, Dr Hubert Silly and the MBA Center team, who helped me through my application process going through each application with a fine-toothed comb.