Konstantin

My name is Konstantinos and I am from Ukraine. I trained as an aerospace engineer with a Specialist (equivalent to Masters) in Maintenance of Aircraft and Aircraft Engines for six years. However, after some time in the industry, I decided to work as Telecom and IT engineer. My experiences since then have been in companies like Ericsson, Swisscom, and Cisco in countries like Ukraine, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium, and Croatia. I speak five languages, Ukranian, Russian, English, French, and German, and I am keen to learn Dutch while I study at the Rotterdam School of Management.

The choice of the MBA was for obvious reasons. Though my education is in aerospace I work in IT and Telecom, which is very far from what I studied. I wanted to move to something related to business development and management, with a senior position either in strategy or sales outside Belgium. Therefore I was looking for an international degree that would provide me adequate knowledge of business and finance and for this reason, I decided to go for an MBA at Rotterdam School of Management. I chose RSM as I have spent the last three years of my life in Belgium where my family resides currently, and it was more convenient to do an MBA at Rotterdam so I would be could be closer to my family while also getting an international degree. I like the approach and values of the school and the format of the course, which is a dual management program with electives and a lot of consulting projects. I believe that this program is what I was really looking for.

Finally, I have worked with a lot of Dutch people at work and I like their value systems, their practicality, and dynamism and studying at Rotterdam would allow me the opportunity to explore more of their culture and traditions.

Strangely enough, the most difficult part of the application was the GMAT. Even though I’m an engineer and have a good knowledge of maths and having lived abroad, my English is pretty good yet the GMAT proved a real test of my skills. Working on my own for six months I finally managed to get a 640. I felt that I would need to work with a coach to get the 700 that I needed.

I am very glad to have met Dr. Hubert Silly and attended his classes because he has been essential in my success. Hubert spent a lot of time trying to understand the problem, explained to me the concepts and helped me in my preparations and after four months of classes, I managed to get the 700 I needed. This score was important as it helped me to get a scholarship from RSM which was very important for me and it paid off 50 times over the price of my courses at the MBA Center.

I have decided to postpone my MBA due to my personal reasons. When I first went to MBA Center I wanted to go for an Executive MBA. But after my classes there I decided to go for a full-time MBA. I decided to defer my MBA so that I could quit serving my notice period as I had to quit my job and also get my finances in order. I hope that as RSM lies in the middle of Europe, my MBA there will help connect me to the best in Europe.

I will be 36 when I start my MBA. As mentioned above I decided to postpone the MBA to 2019 rather than starting it in 2017. Some people may feel that I will be too old to start an MBA program by then. But I believe that studies are a matter of personal choice and you have to do it when you can and not when others dictate it to you. When I was working in Ukraine, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden or Croatia, it wasn’t the right time for me to go for my MBA as I was building a career. I came to Brussels when I reached 34 and that was when I decided that my next step would be the MBA. People need to understand that there is no age limit for your MBA.

Another piece of advice that I would like to give is that you can take your time for your preparations. I went to MBA fairs before I started my preparations. There some people tried to pressurize me into going for an MBA right away. Understand that people cannot force you to go for an MBA before you choose it either. If you think you need six months to prepare for the MBA, take the time, if you feel you need more, go for it. An MBA is your decision alone and you cannot do it on other people’s timelines.

Finally, get help from Dr. Hubert Silly and his team at the MBA Center. I was in class with many others who were accepted to great programs like IE, INSEAD, LBS, etc. Some of them were young, some had no work experience, some were old like me, basically, each one had his or her own issues. But Dr. Hubert Silly and the MBA Center team managed to help all of them get into top programs. Such is their support and guidance.