I first heard of the Future Leaders MBA scholarship through a friend. They forwarded me an email they had received about applications opening and, knowing that I had always wanted to do an MBA, suggested I apply. I was hesitant – I thought my chances of receiving a full scholarship worth more than $60,000 were slim to none. But I can confidently say that applying was the best decision I made. It still feels surreal to have been successful. 

I had been wanting to do an MBA for almost five years. I started my career as a lawyer and have since made two career changes to very different roles. I navigated these changes by stretching the skills I gained from my legal studies, but recognised that this would only take me so far. 

The University of Sydney’s part-time MBA is known for its emphasis on experiential learning – and, having just completed my first semester, this shines throughout every aspect of the program. You are consistently given opportunities to apply learnings from the program to your day-to-day. Everything is relevant. So much so, that I found myself subconsciously noticing or applying particular models I had learned during class to workplace circumstances.

While I am only just embarking on my MBA journey, I am already confident that this opportunity is one that will set my career up for success.

I have been amazed with the level of care and consideration the program has for your learning experience. My first subject was incredibly well coordinated and thought out. For example, our group assignments were intentionally structured to comprise of a diverse composition of skills and experience so that we could best learn from one another. There were also entire subject blocks focusing on highly coordinated and life-like simulations that enabled us to observe and test the concepts and models in a safe-space environment before trying them in the workplace.

It goes without saying that another significant component of doing an MBA is the people. Capping the cohort to 50 means students have the opportunity to properly get to know each other and learn from one another. I have been blown away by how impressive, personable and down to earth my cohort is. Everyone I have met has a unique and interesting background with different career paths and perspectives. 

There are many things I hope to achieve with this MBA. I have increasingly transitioned away from the corporate environment in which I began my career. I moved to a management consulting team that specialised in large-scale remediation programs that compensated for corporate wrongdoing. I now work at an EdTech start-up that seeks to empower anyone, regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances, to gain the skills to pursue their dream career.

I want to continue further down this path towards social impact. In particular, I hope to use the skills gained from my MBA to work with non-profit organisations to help them make an impact.