In business school, could use advice.

Hey everyone, I recently started a new chapter in my higher education, doing a Master in General Management at Vlerick, a business school in Belgium. My previous degree is a Liberal Arts one (Dutch-English Literature & Linguistics), so pretty much everything is new to me, and I could use some advice.

I don't really have any concrete goals, besides getting the **** out off Belgium, preferably towards the UK/US. No real idea about exactly which industry I want to work in either. All I've heard so far indicates that trying to find work with a consulting company would probably be a good idea, and some of the big ones hold recruitment events at my school, so hopefully that's an option.

My main questions right now are:

- would consultancy be a good direction for me? I'm worried about my lack of prior relevant experience/ the fact that my previous degree is worthless to them.
- I'd really like to work in the US for a couple of years, and I've heard some bad things about the whole visa thing. I assume that if a company hired me they'd take care of most of the visa stuff, but I don't really see why a mainly US-based company would pick me over a native rookie/why a company would send me to the US as a rookie. Any companies/industries that might have higher than average odds of me getting to work there early in my career?

Any other advice is more than welcome of course. Thanks!

Did you go straight into business school out of college? Do you have any work experience?

I think my group is split 50/50 or something like that between people with and without prior work experience. I fall into the group without any real prior experience, bar some student job stuff.

Call me a rube, but I am always surprised at how well you western Europeans command the English language.

I have no advice for you as I am no business man and have little business knowledge.

Haha, we are generally pretty okay. I hope this doesn't sound too much like bragging, but my English is (much) better than that of most of the other Belgians in my group. That being said, we can manage

You could try working for a European office of any of the big mgmt consulting companies, and then move to an American office after two years or so. That would probably be easiest.

I'm in a similar situation as you. I'm currently pursuing a 2nd master's in MBA. My BS and MS were in a scientific field so everything is new to me. Prior to the program, I have never taken an accounting or finance class before. My life is swamped with work and school at the moment, but I love it. If I had the luxury of not working, I would take full advantage of it by getting internships. Internships will give you a taste of the field in real life and would look great on your resume. I also try my best to make it to office hours, if I have no questions, I always ask my professors about potential career choices.

Take full advantage of what your program has to offer. Also if your program has a board or club of some sort, try to get involved in that.

Also, like a user stated, your grasp of the English language is quite well!


My school also has a wide variety of students, from fresh grads to seasoned personnel with 10+ years of work experience. The difference is day and night, especially when it comes to giving presentations. The rookies always read off the slides and say 'um'.


To the OP, if time is not an issue, I would try to look for a full time job too. A professional one that is, not just one that anyone without a college degree can get. Worst case scenario, it will teach you how to interact in an office setting and how to be professional.

Yeah, probably going to go for Treasurer again (already have experience with that function from my previous student organization), we have one presidium for every group of 50 people so the work should be doable. And thanks for the compliment

The variety of people I'm in class with is one of the things I like the most. The average age is 25, and it's a nice change from uni I've been told that I am one of the best at giving presentations though...have plenty of experience with it from my previous degree, and I don't really have to worry about my English, which helps too.

I don't really get what you mean by "look for a full time job" though. I mean, I am obviously going to start looking soonish for one to start once I have my degree, but I am studying full time...really don't see how I can combine having classes from 9am to 5.30pm almost every single weekday with a job.



dune said:

Yeah, probably going to go for Treasurer again (already have experience with that function from my previous student organization), we have one presidium for every group of 50 people so the work should be doable. And thanks for the compliment

The variety of people I'm in class with is one of the things I like the most. The average age is 25, and it's a nice change from uni I've been told that I am one of the best at giving presentations though...have plenty of experience with it from my previous degree, and I don't really have to worry about my English, which helps too.

I don't really get what you mean by "look for a full time job" though. I mean, I am obviously going to start looking soonish for one to start once I have my degree, but I am studying full time...really don't see how I can combine having classes from 9am to 5.30pm almost every single weekday with a job.

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That's a pretty young average age. I'm 25 myself, will be 26 in a few months.

In your case, you probably can't get a full time job since of your school scheduling. For a minute, I thought you were in the U.S., where grad schools are offered at night. For example, my classes are from 6-10PM so I can go to work before or after school.

Education, by itself, doesn't hold much weight...that's why I suggested getting a job or some sort of internship or your hands involved in a club.

Yeah, I know, and that's something which I fear might work against me. I have plenty of non-job teamwork experience as head forum moderator on a pretty big international forum, where I manage a multi-cultural group of +- 10 people, and as treasurer/web admin for a student organization. But my work experience is limited to a summer job as assistant job consultant at a local employment agency and working as a barman/waiter at parties and festivals...and I doubt whether that will be a lot of help.

I assume that combining full time work and a master's in MBA is pretty hardcore?

I don't know if being an admin on a forum will help much, if any. This is why I stated getting a professional job or experience, even if it only correlates to your former field.

I'm not attending a top tier MBA program here in the U.S. so I feel I have to work 10 times harder than the average Joe, which I'm completing willing to do. My social life is non-existing. The last time I went out was about 2-3 months ago, when I was actually on vacation from work. I work 50 hours a week, not counting the time wasted stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. My days off are spent doing homework and school related activities. I try to squeeze an hour a day so I can hit the gym to help me stay sane.

Like stated, you can definitely tell the experienced professionals and newly grads in the program. The new kids always talk about getting the easiest professors, kinda like undergrad. While the experienced individuals tailor the classes to fit their lives. I would much rather get a B in a class knowing I did my best than to skate by and get an A with an easy professor.

My former professor challenged me to set a mission statement for myself and follow through with it. That's what I did.


I love the busy schedule though. Before I started working full time, I had a lot of free time that I spent unwisely. I regret that severely, this is why I suggest you get your hands in some sort of experience during your free time.

Even though my current job correlates to my former degrees, I still learned skills that I feel can transfer to jobs in the field of marketing, finance, or whatever I may be into next. Sorry if there are grammar errors, I'm replying while doing my work and I'm kinda lazy to proof read the post, haha.



stevent said:

You could try working for a European office of any of the big mgmt consulting companies, and then move to an American office after two years or so. That would probably be easiest.

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+1. You can also directly apply for one of the UK offices of those firms (you mentioned UK as one of your work places of choice).

Going straight to the US is difficult. From my time in consulting I know one case where this worked out. However, US immigration policies are really messy at the moment and there is no solution in sight (immigration backlog for top talents will not be solved before illegal immigration gets tackled - so basically never).

You might also consider applying to the Toronto offices of the big consulting firms. Canada's immigration laws are well structured and if you work in a "Toronto office" you will be part of the North American staffing system and have plenty of opportunities to work in the US.

Yeah, figured that going straight to the US was going to be hard, so those alternatives sound pretty good, thanks. Main point is getting away from Belgium and setting myself on a path that might lead to moving further away later.

Wj4, there's obviously a bunch of differences between the programme you are following and mine. The school I go to does offer an MBA programme, which generally speaking has older/more experienced participants, the one I am following is aimed at people with little to no prior experience. No choice in courses as well...but they solved that by giving us pretty much everything. Impressed by the quality of teaching so far, the visiting professor for Economics blew us all away.

And I know that the admin thing doesn't mean much, and it probably sounds silly at first, but it is one of the things which I believe got me in - it allowed me to give examples of how I have lead a global group in the past.

This thread is full of great English!

Just wondering as to why you want to leave Belgium so badly?

I'm in the U.S. and I'm not even sure if I want to stay here for the rest of my life, let alone after I finish up the program.


You have to do what's best for you and your future. I just spoke on what my 2 cents were.