Mar10 Written by:SPP Blogger
3/10/2009 10:37 AM
I can recall several meetings with mentors and school advisors during undergrad spent discussing my future career goals and plans. A reoccurring theme was the necessity for further education – mainly, that I would eventually go back to school for an MBA. Given that I was a marketing student and always had a knack for business, it seemed natural for me to pursue such a degree. I thought about all the great CEOs and business professionals that I had studied and ambitiously imagined myself reaching their level in the future with the help of solid work experience, my drive to succeed and an MBA.
I never realized my dream. Instead, I created an even better one.
I stumbled upon Mason’s International Commerce and Policy (ICP) program while browsing the Mason website. Initially, I had been vigorously researching their MBA program and had almost started to fill out the application. Then I found the School of Public Policy and the ICP program. I remember actually getting excited about going back to school (not many people can say they’ve ever felt the same way) while reading the description of the program. They advertised the ICP program as an internationally focused MBA, but intertwined with politics, culture and technology. The thought of expanding my business knowledge while learning about international issues, politics and culture intrigued me. I felt like the program was a combined masterpiece of international business, comparative politics and cultural studies.
That is exactly what the program turned out to be. During my first semester I took a course that was essentially comparative politics. The course content was brand new to me, which intimidated me at first, but I quickly got used to it with the help of a great professor and a few helpful classmates. I also took an advanced macroeconomics course, which I would have taken with the MBA. But now, I could relate international economic conditions to the relative politics I learned from my first class. This is what makes the ICP program different from a traditional MBA or any other similar degree.
The ICP program will open doors for me that an MBA could have never even cracked open. I could continue my marketing career, but transition to international marketing, which happens to be a course I’m currently taking and love. I could get out of “Corporate America” and work for a non-profit doing work internationally or domestically. I could even go to the government sector, something that I never imagined myself doing but that now interests me more than ever. One of the greatest benefits of the ICP program is that Mason is located right in the heart of all these industries, and its professors and students typically have experience in these industries. What better way to get an interview than by recommendation from a classmate or professor? In these hard times, a free foot-in-the-door is a very valuable commodity.
Melissa Brown
Current ICP Student
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