I studied business administration at Ozyegin University in Turkey. The main reason for choosing this field for my undergraduate studies was because I believed it would open doors for me globally, and I wanted to be able to practice my profession all over the world with the skills I would acquire.

Why the U.S. for Grad School?

During my undergraduate years, I tried to pursue my goal of becoming a ‘global citizen,’ and I had the opportunity to go to the U.S. twice. The first time was for a summer program at Brooklyn College in New York in 2019, and the second time, I was an exchange student at The University of Texas at Dallas. During my time in the U.S., I realized that the quality of education in the schools here is very high, and if I wanted the doors of the world to open for me, a master’s degree in the U.S. would be very helpful. So, I can say that my goal of getting a master’s degree in the U.S. has been with me for a long time.

Why Business Analytics?

By the time I was in my senior year, I had those two different U.S. college experiences and three different internship experiences under my belt. I completed all of my internships at consumer goods companies. However, in my last internship at Unilever, data analysis was a part of my daily job and I realized that I had begun to enjoy extracting insights from data. After realizing this, I saw I was actually quite lacking in the field of data analysis and that I needed to improve my skills. In other words, the only data analysis I could do was limited to Excel. I also saw that there were not many people around me with strong data skills, so I understood how valuable that can be to help you stand out.

In addition to this, I came to understand that by gaining data analysis skills, I could bring about substantial alterations in my career trajectory. I comprehended that these competencies could present me with chances to work in various sectors, including tech, owing to the great demand for data analysis proficiency. As someone who had only worked in the consumer goods industry till then, I believed that after finishing a business analytics master’s program, I would also be able to work in tech companies, which would allow me to better adapt to a world that is growing increasingly digital and producing more data. This was my main source of inspiration. So, I can say that this master’s degree has made a profound impact on my career aspirations.

While I was in Turkey, I thought that people working in the field of data science were mostly engineers. However, after researching business analytics master programs, I realized that if you have a good understanding of business concepts—which is a major emphasis in Fuqua’s curriculum—and a strong mindset in the field, you can more easily make business-oriented interpretations when analyzing data.

Now that I’ve graduated, I can say that I’ve gone through a great transformation here, thanks to the skills I’ve gained and the people I’ve met. MQM is a real challenge, and Fuqua took me out of my comfort zone in this challenge, showing me how high my limits are.