Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business students come to learn, explore, and build community. As they move forward in their careers, they take everything they've learned and use it to power innovation in industries and businesses across the globe. In celebration of Spring 2023 Commencement, we sat down with a few students to learn about their experiences and the wisdom they've gained in the process.
Meet Bea Wang, who is graduating from the Evening MBA program.
Describe yourself in 15 words or less:
I am a person who needs more than 15 words to describe herself.
Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? (A parent? A teacher? A role model?)
There is no specific person that influenced my decision, but rather my experience as an Asian woman who struggled to get noticed and grow into higher-level positions had an impact on my decision. The Scheller MBA program helped me gain the skills I needed for my next career move. There isn’t anyone from my family who is doing anything in the business. They are all in the engineering and healthcare industries. I am really the first in my family to go into business and figure out how to grow into my career.
What was your favorite business course and why?
E-commerce. I took it in my last semester after the TI:GER program and several practicum classes, so this class enabled me to use the knowledge from other classes and apply it to E-commerce. Also, E-commerce is such a hot topic in the world and so many innovations and startups pop up in this field. We had guest speakers from various industries which opened my mind to think about creating my own startup. Last but not least, part of the class is to create a pitch deck for our own startups, and some of them became real startups after this class.
What activities were you involved with on or off campus, and did your business education impact those activities in any way?
I started joining startups and may have my own after graduation, thanks to TI:GER program and E-commerce classes. I also started volunteering with a nonprofit organization called ATLytiCS. I led a team back in 2020 through a project related to autonomous vehicles. After that, I switched to project coordinator to guide two teams each year for different data-related projects. I gained a lot of project management skills as well as software development knowledge.
What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at Scheller?
I enjoyed the local Tech Square office visits. All of them are cool to visit, but Microsoft is probably my favorite because the tour showed more detail about the company culture. The panel discussion was super helpful and covered tech career paths.
What was your career journey in the Evening MBA program?
I am transitioning to project manager on my current team.
What advice would you give to an incoming Evening MBA student?
You should be ready to have three busy years and limited traveling.
What will you be doing to celebrate your graduation?
I will be holding a graduation party and traveling. First things first, I need to visit my parents in China. It has been three years since my last visit. Then to Canada. I lived in Michigan for four years but never made it across the lake somehow.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
After I started the MBA, I began collecting plants with abnormal leaf shapes.
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?
I want to get my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and find, or be promoted to, a manager position.