Berufsakademie Villingen-Schwenningen, Business Administration (Diplom), 2005

After more than three years of work experience in different roles as Controller I was looking for a change and further career options. I evaluated different options for part time studies in Germany and full time studies abroad. Amongst these options was the Mountbatten Institute’s New York Internship Programme. The programme offers the combination of studying and working abroad in parallel, which is challenging and interesting.  Its added value for me is threefold: it offers strong professional, personal and educational growth.

I worked as a Business Manager for Fixed Income products for Deutsche Bank on Wall Street. The role was very interesting and offered a broad range of tasks. The support of my team at the bank was fantastic and I learnt and got to know more than I expected - I was extraordinarily happy there. I learned a lot about roles and functions in banking as well as detailed processes and ideas of various products.

The MBA demands a high degree of commitment and time management skills. As the first part of the programme in New York is part time, the classes and their preparation have to be managed carefully. The MBA and PGC classes cover a broad variety of topics and are taught by experienced professors from different universities such as NYU, Yale, and Fordham. The learning atmosphere is supportive, and the class sizes are small, encouraging in-depth and one-on-one discussion.

The leisure time that I was able to enjoy there was phenomenal. I travelled across the USA and Canada, visited all the boroughs of NYC, visited museums, seen Broadway shows, sport events, theatre performances, concerts, and so on. I met native New Yorkers and integrated myself into American culture and made friends for life.

Personally, I changed and grew a lot over the year. Every day offered new experiences, places and situations to discover. Getting up in the morning was the best - when you look out of the window, there it was: the NYC skyline! The year on Mountbatten made me a global person, appreciating and dealing with differences as well as seeing opportunities and chances in the world. My interest in different cultures and countries grew strongly, and I now know I am willing to spend my life as a global citizen.