First Experiences at ISM

Being a student in the IEMBA program, I have some flexibility to create my own schedule so that I can study while working full time. However, it is essential for me to plan ahead. For that reason, I devoted the first month at ISM to planning. I signed up for classes for the next 7 months, familiarized myself with the schools' online platform and all the tools we have available to us, as well as working on my first assignment.

Very soon after I was accepted to the program, I received all the necessary information and had my first advising session with Matthew Andrews, the Executive Academic Advisor, which was very helpful and set me on the right path for the upcoming year. In addition, the school's librarian, Judy Knight, welcomed me to the school and introduced me to the services the library and she offer. Soon after, I had the opportunity to try the services first hand and they were helpful!

At the beginning of the program, students are given a "Professional Assessment Evaluation" assignment in a form of a case analysis. The same type of assignment is then given to students close to the end of their program. The objective of this assignment is to assess how students have improved during his or her studies.

As it's been some time since I finished my college degree, and when I received the assignment, my first thoughts were "Where do I look for all the information? Internet won't be enough. The school's online library! My schedule is going to be busy at work due to many business trips. Where do I find the time to get acquainted with the library system? Judy might be able to help." Sure enough, I emailed Judy to ask for her help and was positively surprised and highly satisfied with her services.

I began by sending her general topics of information that I was looking for. Shortly after, she replied with abstracts of many articles. She even added some additional ones as she thought they could be helpful. After a few days and an exchange of emails, I had a good foundation of information to write the case analysis. Being a professional with a busy schedule, these services have a priceless value for me and I am very glad that the school offers them.

Overall, my first month at ISM has been positive. I have also signed up for the international marketing class that is taught online as well as the international business law class that will be taught in the classroom in Paris at the beginning of January. I look forward to those experiences and will share some of them in my next blog posts.