«To be honest, every day brings something new and exciting, so if you want to remember your student life and then tell the kids about how cool it was at the university - go to the HSE for the MIB program. It's really worth it»
Kirill Veretin, MIB first-year student, shared his exciting and challenging moments on the program.
Can you tell us about yourself and about your educational background, what are you doing at the moment besides studying in the MIB?
I am 22 years old, I graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering with a bachelor’s degree in Management and immediately entered the MIB at the HSE.
Over the past 4 years, a lot has really happened: I got serious practical experience in project management, founded and developed my non-profit organization, took the first steps to develop my international trade business, but recently realized that the most rational thing would be to devote myself to my studies in order to see clearly all the possibilities that surround me and not be limited by the current frameworks of perception. That is why I spent the entire fourth academic year preparing for admission to the HSE and, as I have already seen, not in vain.
Why did you decide to pursue your master’s degree in Russia?
Probably the main reason for my choice is that HSE provides the best education compared to many foreign universities. I had friends from HSE who told me about the learning process and highly recommended this university. I think these recommendations influenced me a lot. The second reason is that I just fell in love with Moscow and my current program, so for me the choice was 100% obvious.
What criteria influenced your decision to apply to the MIB? What attracted you the most?
As I said previously, initially I was impressed by the lively recommendations of my friends, but not only this was the reason for my choice. I will name three points that I took into account when choosing a place for obtaining a master's degree.
Practical orientation.I have always believed and still believe that you can only learn management by combining theory with practice. The MIB management also thinks so, which I am very happy about.
Quality of teachers and students.When you are taught by people with MBAs or Ivy League alumni, you not only absorb every word they say, but you can see the real difference between them and ordinary academic teachers. Here, each teacher has a rich practical experience in his field and the significance of this factor is noticeable from the first academic day.
Well, the guys I study with always make me move forward and develop. You understand that a pause in the constant striving for new knowledge is tantamount to defeat in the intellectual race, so you don't have to get bored! Just believe me.
Can you share your plans for the future? Where do you want to live and work?
Now I am in the process of being selected for the world's leading consulting companies and in the near future I plan to get an offer at one of the Big 3 companies.
In about 5 years I want to go to PhD in US and have already started taking the necessary steps.
I think that in 10 years I will have enough experience, finances and contacts to organize my own IT start-up and attract investors. I am especially interested in the field of high technologies: artificial intelligence, neural networks, etc., so I am looking with interest towards Silicon Valley. By the way, HSE graduates are very much appreciated there.
2 months of studies at HSE MIB are over. How were your expectations met?
Now I understand that my expectations were even lower. Many of the things that have now become the area of my professional interests were previously something completely unknown to me. The right environment pushes the boundaries of your worldview, and I am very glad to be in the right company. There are a lot of practices, a lot of team projects, a very interesting presentation of the material and an excellent staff of teachers + program managers are in touch almost 24/7! I'm glad I entered this place (friends are jealous).
Do you consider any mobility program offered by MIB?
Yes, I am interested in taking part in a double degree program and depending on how my career develops, I will take part in competition for the opportunity to travel to Rome or South Carolina.
We know you have learned English only about a year ago, so is it hard for you to have courses in English at the moment? Can you reveal your key to success in learning?
That's right, I started learning English in September 2019. Lecturers convey information very clearly and I understand if not 100, then 99.9% of all material. The only difference from learning in Russian is that if you are distracted for at least one minute, then it will be hard to catch the Professor's thought, so during classes you focus on the topic of the lesson to the maximum.
Concerning my English learning approach: I have no secret, I just surrounded myself with English and studied it every day. I realized that grammar would not be difficult, but it was necessary to know it well, so I initially learned it, and then I started to strengthen my vocabulary, at the same time using English as much as possible in a live conversation – speaking clubs, like-minded friends, English-language courses on Coursera. Everything is in our hands; the main thing is to be sufficiently motivated to achieve the result and everything will be ok!
P.S. I was very lucky to meet my English teacher who managed to inspire me to learn diligently. It is thanks to him I can communicate without any hesitations even with native speakers and perfectly understand fluent English as well.
What or who inspires you most?
I am inspired by the vision of myself, who achieved all the already set and works on even new achievements. I know what I want to get and in what time frames, so I study and work with maximum dedication. A better way of inspiration is hard to imagine.
Courses and lecturers you find the most exciting, and why?
It is difficult for me to distinguish out a specific course among the rest, but the most interesting for me are International Business Research classes (Nikita Nazarov), because in addition to a really cool teacher (and his sense of humor) they combine two elements: practical and research. You have to not only strain your brain, but also think about the implementation of your ideas.
I think that my groupmates would agree with me and mention International Marketing classes (Maxim Shevchenko). There are no comments at all. You seem to be taught by a young Moscow Steve Jobs. Well, if you have watched the series Billions, then imagine that you are taught personally by Robert Axelrod, the rest is unnecessary. Maybe for some it will be the right way to imagine the spirit of our classes.
Can you share some of the most exciting or challenging moments?
There have already been a lot of such moments: the first meeting with groupmates, the choice of the mentor and the topic of the thesis, the expectation of the results of the first exams... To be honest, every day brings something new and exciting, so if you want to remember your student life and then tell the kids about how cool it was at the university - go to the HSE for the MIB program. It's really worth it.