Ingrid

My name is Ingrid and I am a Master in Agronomics and Marketing from the Institut supérieur d'Agriculture et d’Agroalimentaire Rhône-Alpes. I completed two exchange semesters at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. I worked at Stallergenes for six years and was the General Manager for its Belgian subsidiary for the last three years. I am also a trained ski instructor.

At the time that I decided to do an MBA I was doing pretty well and had general management in a small company. I had a large scope of responsibilities but in a company of fifteen employees. I wanted to work for bigger companies with larger challenges and responsibilities than this one.

Also, being French and based in Belgium, my employer was very happy with my work and didn’t want me to leave the company. But having learned everything there was to learn on the job, I wanted to find better options and continue my career growth. 

The most difficult part of the application process was finding the time to combine my work and my preparations for the GMAT and the application itself. After three months of class, I managed to get 690 in the GMAT. And within the preparation, the most difficult part was definitely the application. There is indeed a lot to write and prepare for, essays, letters, interviews, etc. it is important to have self-confidence and believe that you can do it. 

The Kellogg culture is very diverse, social and friendly. The courses are really fun with hands-on learning of course concepts. There are a lot of activities aimed at getting you integrated with your fellow students with more than 90 clubs ranging from traditional consulting and management related clubs to scuba diving, skiing, dancing, football, yoga, etc. As a skier myself I enjoyed being a part of the ski club. This is a great place to build your networks for life.

Take time to prepare. It took almost nine months just to prepare my application and got into a good program and I recommend all applicants to do the same. Be consistent with your work. Work steadily. Most applicants who are already working tend to work sporadically over a long period. That should be avoided. Rather be steady through the months. It is just like sports. You need to keep practicing regularly to be good at it. Be well organized. Be surrounded by professionals. I enjoyed my GMAT preparations with Dr. Hubert Silly even though it was a difficult time combining work and preparations. But every time I went to the MBA Center for my classes, I felt like I was already a part of a program and that motivated me to study further.