Laura Sandoval (MBA 2021): Why an MBA? Why HBS?

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No be wondering, Why did I go ahead and pursue my MBA? So there are a few reasons why there's actually three specifically, so I'll start with the first. The first reason was because I wanted to improve my business acumen. So while I majored in business courses on undergrad, I didn't quite remember anything or retained anything that I have learned, which is pretty sad. But it's the truth. So I felt that going back to school would enable me toe relearn some concepts and overall, just sharpen my business tool kit. So that's reason number one recent number two is more so around the network. So having grown up first shot in low income e don't really have ah network, you could say I mean, I know some people, but not not really a network. Not really folks that I could lean on for mentorship guidance business advice on DSO. I felt that in going Teoh, a well regarded MBA program that I'd be able thio expansively just like multiply that that network tenfold, perhaps meet folks from all over the world from all folks of life and, you know, potentially help each other out. You know, we'll see kind of how that ends up going. You know, I think that having this network will will definitely, um, be helpful for that. Recent number three is more alongside the lens of just social impact. Given that I am, you know, a college graduate and I do I come from the background that I come from, I felt that it was great to have, you know, the fact that I would I am a college graduate. I also feel like I needed an extra stamp, a stamp of approval, if you will, in having an MBA degree on an extra layer of credibility. Given that I am no, not just a woman but a woman of color. Um, you know, it's just something that I feel is really, really important for me. For me, toe have, in terms of just helping to influence others, create impact, but also to some extent, hopefully be taken to taken seriously in the workplace and things like that. So those were the three primary drivers for wanting to pursue an MBA in general and so applied to several schools, um, got some great news from several of them and ultimately decided on HBs. So why HBs specifically, man? Several reasons. You might say it's a cop out, but it's so, so true. I think when I first received my acceptance letter, I was a little skeptical. I wasn't sure who or what I would encounter here, and I was extremely pleasantly surprised when I stepped foot here for admitted students weekend. People were just extremely lovely to get to know people wanted to get to know me. I wanted and were willing to share their own stories, and that translated over into the actual MBA experience itself. So my first year of school, I mean just how vulnerable people let themselves be about things that they've gone through or the thoughts that they have percolating in their mind. It's just been absolutely incredible to get insight into these amazing people's lives, and I've developed really incredible friendships that I think I'll carry on for years and years to come. Uh, the case method is definitely, um, not super widely used among many business schools. It's something that's just been part of HBs heritage and HBs is, um, you know, teaching style for since the beginning of its inception. Really? And I think I found it quite a quite effective in multiple courses. When I'm thinking through just some of the courses that I've taken over these past two years, um, you know, leadership, our leadership course called deed. I mean, it was really, really amazing for the case style method in facilitating conversations among different section mates. The third reason this one kind of practical, but I really love that HBs is, in its own, a kind of campus, and so you feel very well insulated and guarded from everything else kind of happening. It's like all the distractions of, like a big city, you know are completely barred off. So it's nice to be in a little bubble where it's just literally your classmates, the faculty and staff, and it's like you're you're in your own little world for two years, which is pretty, pretty interesting and pretty fun.