Lauren Montagne (UNC Kenan-Flagler ’17) has found the classes in business school to be extremely engaging. Whether through professor lectures or student-lead learning, the “real world” lessons have been plenty. She talks about how the first year of business school is supplementing and complementing her non-traditional background, and how the entire experience has been fun to boot.
MBASchooled: You’ve been in business school now for a few months. What was the transition like and how does it feel to be back in school?
Lauren: At first, the transition was definitely challenging. I felt I like I spent my first couple of months getting used to being back in the classroom and getting back into the swing of being a student. Now that I’ve had some time to adjust, I am loving being back in school. It’s pretty neat to learn something and be able to see where I can apply it when I go back to the “real world.”
MBASchooled: What’s an assumption you had about business school that you were right about?
Lauren: That it would be hard (it is). But it’s also fun, and it flies by.
MBASchooled: What’s an assumption you had about business school that you were wrong about?
Lauren: That most of my classes would be lectures. My professors have been incredibly engaging, and a lot of the learning is student-led.
MBASchooled: It’s only been a few months, but have you learned anything interesting or gained additional knowledge that you didn’t previously know?
Lauren: I have one of those “non-traditional” backgrounds, so I’ve learned a ton. It falls into two categories: stuff I was doing without realizing it, and stuff I had never heard of. The majority of what I’ve learned falls into category two. Specifically, my data analytics class has been incredibly useful. I can think of dozens of projects from my past life where the learnings from this class would have come in handy.
MBASchooled: How would you describe UNC Kenan-Flagler to others?
Lauren: I would say that UNC Kenan-Flagler is a challenging, tight-knit, collaborative program. We have a professor who knew all of our names on the first day of class – I don’t think you can find that anywhere else.
MBASchooled: What’s been your favorite class so far?
Lauren: I’ve genuinely liked them all. But if I have pick, I’d say my introductory Statistics class. The professor was fantastic, and I could see the real-world application for what we learned in the classroom.
MBASchooled: What has been the most enjoyable aspect of business school?
Lauren: Getting to know my classmates. We have such a diverse mix of people, and they all have something to give.
MBASchooled: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to deal with so far in business school?
Lauren: Juggling all of the competing priorities. It’s a challenge, but it’s doable.
MBASchooled: What opportunities ahead are you most excited about?
Lauren: I am hoping to participate in a STAR (Student Teams Achieving Results) project this spring, which should be a great opportunity to try some of the things we learned in Mods 1 & 2 in the “real-world.”