After working at a banking and wealth management firm in South Africa, Lungile Mokwene decided to pursue an MBA to pivot to a new role and industry and enrolled at George Washington’s MBA program. Lungile selected George Washington for it’s international business focus. During this conversation, Lungile shared with us why she chose to pursue an MBA, why she ended up choosing GW, and reflected on her experience thus far during her time at GW.
MBASchooled: What did you do before business school, and why did you choose to apply to business school?
Before I took the decision to attend business school, I was working at one the biggest private banking and wealth management groups in South Africa. My roles varied over the years, initially I started in client support and my last role before business school was accounting for employee stock transactions of JSE-listed companies. I chose to apply to business school because I decided I wanted an international career and wanted to pivot into a new industry and role and business school would give me the opportunity to do both.
MBASchooled: What were the most important criteria to you when selecting MBA Programs to apply for?
The most important criteria for me when selecting a MBA program were:
- An international business school with a world-class full-time program
- A diverse cohort with students from different backgrounds (culturally and professionally)
- A cohesive and inclusive culture within the cohort and school
- The opportunity to work on an international project during the program
- Great student support in the form of a well-connected career center and a strong alumni network
MBASchooled: Based on your own specific career aspirations, what programs, resources or experiences at George Washington were most important to you?
The Consulting Abroad Program (CAP) and Industry Roundtables were the most important to me.CAP gives students first-hand experience to work on a real-life consulting engagement for a global firm. Industry roundtables give students an opportunity to network and have roundtable discussions with alumni and leaders across various industries
MBASchooled: Think back to the MBA application process. What’s something you know now, that you wish you knew then?
The amount of time I would need to invest in the process. Something as simple as researching each school I’d like to apply to needed so much time- I attended the MBA tour and Poets and Quants CenterCourt in 2019 with the goal of attending business school in 2020 to get a feel of what each school had to offer and whether it would be a good fit for me. Preparing for the GMAT and completing each business school application was a months-long process. I spent a lot of late nights and weekends studying and preparing to get into business school.
MBASchooled: Why did you choose to attend GW?
The Global MBA at George Washington checked all the boxes when it came to a program that would help me achieve my professional goals. The Consulting Abroad Program was the biggest drawcard. The school is located in the heart of Washington D.C., giving students a front-row seat to experience the private, public, and NGO sectors . The ability to design my area of specialization was important as well- I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into a predetermined concentration for my MBA.
MBASchooled: What’s something you’ve learned about GW this semester, that you didn’t know when you made your admissions decision last year?
I didn’t know that I’d experience my first semester in business school remotely! Having to quickly pivot from in-person to remote learning was a challenge for my cohort and I, but the faculty, my academic advisor, the career center and broader student community made the transition a little easier for me.
MBASchooled: Now that you’ve been at GW for a semester, what’s been your favorite experience, and why?
Getting to know my cohort. It’s been a challenging semester being remote and experiencing MBA life mostly from Zoom but sharing this experience with my cohort and being able to build relationships from halfway across the world (in currently in South Africa) has been quite the experience! I’m looking forward to meeting them all in person in the Fall.
MBASchooled: Oftentimes, the word “culture” gets thrown around when talking about MBA programs. Can you characterize the culture at GW?, and share an example of an experience that you think personifies this?
One word I’d use to describe the culture is supportive. My cohort and the broader GMBA community is always available to help students where they can. One of the second-year MBAs is very supportive of our career development and internship search and has gotten my foot in the door to interview for an internship with a Fortune 500 company. She coached me and supported me every step of the way, along with our amazing career center and I managed to get an offer.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have, for students who are considering applying or applying to MBA programs right now?
Start as early as possible in researching schools you’d like to apply to. Speak to students currently in the program to get a feel for the school and to figure out if it would be a good fit for your personal and professional goals.