Master Student Interview: Strategic Management (consultancy)

Master Student Interview: Strategic Management (consultancy)

My name is Ties and I’m a 5th year student, who is planning to graduate next January. I have started the Consultancy Track of the master Strategic Management last September. Next to my studies I have been active at Asset | IB&M, Vidar and I did a board year at the Economic Business weeks Tilburg. During this board year I learnt more about my (professional) interests, which allowed me to make a solid master choice. 

I decided to follow the Strategic Management program for three reasons. First, I consider myself to be a generalist, not a specialist. The key courses of the program are aimed at teaching a little bit about a lot, while later courses have stronger focus on teaching specific skills. In this way, you are educated to become an individual who is capable of maintaining an eye on ‘the big picture’, while also being able of diving into details. Second, I developed a particular interest in consultancy during my board year. I think it’s very interesting to work on projects for a wide variety of companies, as each new project forces one to dive into a completely new challenge. Third, I prefer practical courses over purely theoretical ones. Strategic Management fits well with this preference, as it’s known as a hands-on program with many (real-life) assignments, in-class participation and presentations. 

The courses of the first block focus on strategy on three levels: Business- Corporate- and International Strategy. My honest opinion is that Business- and Corporate Strategy were somewhat disappointing. For these courses, we had to read many academic papers and discuss them class. Grades were solely based on an assignment and the in-class discussions, which -in my experience- led to many inefficient 3 hour tutorials. However, there were also several courses that I considered to be very valuable, including Strategy Analytics and Strategic Consultancy. The first course aims to teach the basics of data science and apply them to a strategic issue. The latter course involved executing a consultancy project for a real-life client. 

“I decided to apply for an internship and postpone my thesis until September, because I believe that I need more hands-on experience before I can enter the labour market.”

Even though I’m not satisfied about every course of Strategic Management, I’m already experiencing that the knowledge is very useful in practice. I’m currently doing an internship at a strategy consulting boutique in Utrecht. I have already come across many occasions where my knowledge proved to be useful to real-life projects. I decided to apply for an internship and postpone my thesis until September, because I believe that I need more hands-on experience before I can enter the labour market. All in all, I hope I gave you a clear indication of my experiences with this master program, which will hopefully help you with your master choice! If you have any questions about the program, a board year or an internship, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

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