By: Gordon Fan
The most memorable part of my MBA was my summer internship with Amazon in Seattle. It was an eye-opener to work with luxury coffee machine brands as a vendor manager for three months, from managing entire business brands to experiencing big-tech burnout corporate culture. I also made new friends from other MBA schools and strengthened bonds with my own classmates. We would all discuss our “10-pager final documents” while hiking on Mount Rainier. As a New Yorker, it was awesome to live the west-coast lifestyle.
The not-so-great part of our MBA was of course navigating social scenes during a pandemic. There were a few covid scares, not being able to fully meet everyone in person in our class, and the looming pending anxiety of getting covid. Zoom fatigue was also real. For example, I wasn’t able to really focus and learn about foundations of finance online from being zoomed-out from a 12-hr zoom day.
But despite this challenge, we did the best we could. Our class still tried to get to know each other in-person. Traveled to places together. My MBA experience has pushed my limits and allowed me to rediscover an entirely new self. Trying new things, exploring new places. Going to Hawaii after our summer internships and trekking to Colombia over the winter break. And it couldn’t have been a better group of classmates to travel with.
This MBA experience is life-changing for me. Because I was able to find my new identity. A new voice. From conquering challenging classes, intense recruiting processes and internships, finding my career path, to meeting new people. This newfound confidence of “stepping out of your comfort zone” will no doubt set me up for my next new chapter in life. MBA is all about change. Shedding the past and embracing the future. Having the guts to change. To implement change. To be the change. And actually, see the change. Change is a gift. Change is the road to transformation.
