First-hand story from our participant in Munich
Why join business summer school in California? I will tell you about my experience: in the middle of May, when I was submitting assignments and studying for the finals of the last semester of my Masters, I received an email from my Faculty about the study abroad opportunity – international summer school in Munich. The email was stating that I have 2 days until the deadline to submit my CV and cover letter, explaining why I want to apply for the program.
Now it feels a bit surreal to discuss how summer school benefited me, as it seems that just yesterday I came back from one of the most memorable experiences in my life. Nevertheless, this summer business program has certainly impacted my professional and personal life in a positive way, and here is how.
1. Bursting the Comfort Zone Bubble
My favorite saying is ‘progress begins where the comfort zone ends’, but it is easier said than done. Being a person, who studied bachelors and masters in one university with one group of friends, I was thrilled by the fact that I will be meeting so many different people from various countries. Although I usually find it challenging to introduce myself and start interacting with strangers, on the first day it felt like breaking the glass walls and I simply tried to change the pattern of my behavior. So, even if you do not want to, the business summer school will push you out of your comfort zone and will give you plenty of opportunities for new experiences, whether it is meeting new people or something else.
2. Getting Valuable Connections
Albeit, I often attend networking events, both internal and external to my university, I rarely found them productive. However, during the ABC BootCamps summer program, I got a chance to interact and connect with an impressive number of people, who were entrepreneurs in different fields and managers of international top organizations.
Furthermore, I can surely claim, each participant is a valuable connection by him/herself; many of them have a great practical knowledge of the business world and are already successful in their fields, despite the young age.
3. Friends from all over the World
Definitely, you make friends during the program, but who would think that we would stay close even after some time. Some of the participants became close friends of mine, and though on the one hand, I would prefer having these people all by my side, on the other, it is pleasant to think that somewhere there, on the other part of the planet, you have amazing friends who cannot wait to see you and show you the country they live in ;)
4. Intensive and Interactive learning environment
If you think that summer school is something similar to your university lectures, you are completely wrong; the format is totally different, at least from what I was used to. You get to interact during the lectures; it is not simply the act of ‘feeding’ the information, but rather a discussion of the topic and encouragement of critical thinking.
Although, it is quite intensive, however, you get to implement the obtained knowledge to the project straight away, which makes it practical as well, which unfortunately many universities lack.
And of course, I have to mention Professor Dr. Carsten, who made the whole learning process fun and enjoyable.
5. Traveling
This was actually my first time to travel to a new country all by myself, so you can imagine the level of curiosity I had. Although for a long time I live in an extremely multicultural city where I met Germans before, traveling to Munich did give me a cultural shock. It definitely expanded my outlook and made me change my perspective on many things, including my career.
6. An impressive addition to the Resume
Undoubtedly, attending a summer business program looks great in your CV and would definitely be a point of discussion during the interview. This experience is something that differentiates you among other candidates, shows that you are eager to learn, spend your vacation on gaining knowledge and personal growth.
I personally always get asked about this experience, and recruiters are often impressed by this point in my profile.
7. Understanding the Business Ecosystem of the Area
Global Business is the reality of the 21st century, ‘we do shipments all over the world’ is the slogan of most of the tangible products. Instead of localizing the offers, the globalization is the focus of the service companies as well.
Despite this, it is still crucial to understand the peculiarities of various business areas, simply ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans‘; having knowledge and experiencing various markets definitely provides you with a better outlook on the business world.
8. Getting inspired and Shaping your future
You might not have this in your mind when you sign up for a summer school, however, believe me, some transformation will definitely happen. It is difficult to predict what will impact you, either the change of your environment, like-minded community, intensive learning process, all of the above or something else.
But, I can assure you, you will not be the same, be ready for some great changes which will come into your life;)
I always think about education as construction, where formal education is base, providing you with fundamental principles. For many, this base is more than enough.
However, if you want to make your construction tall, you have to add bricks to it, which is self-education, purely based on your initiative.
Attending ABC summer business program will provide you with much more than you think, if you are ready for the best adventure in your life, apply NOW!
P.S.: be careful, ABC business programs are highly addictive, once you attend one, you will want to join again; so those who signed up for business summer school in California, hope to see you in there ;)
