Versatile, respectable, responsible, but timid, our student Maria Mesarić is building her way to success with endless dedication, and willingness to make progress. After 3 exchanges, countless diverse activities and practices, competitions, and education, she does not intend to stop, but to continue to learn, upgrade, and perfect her skills. Maria outs her heart in everything she does, and with every experience, she takes away the positive and useful things she learns, and always looks for a new challenge to try out. She has shared her valuable experiences, opinions, and plans for her surely bright future.
I: Hi Maria! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself.
M: I am Maria Mesarić from Zagreb, I am 24 years old and I am in my final year of the economics and management program at ZSEM. I’m currently working 2 jobs and writing my thesis.
I: In addition, you have also done 3 exchanges, various internships, education and competitions. Do you even have free time at all and how do you use it?
M: Barely haha! I’m learning Mandarin in my free time and I’m traveling.
I: I’ve heard that your team and you have won 2nd place at the BCG (The Boston Consulting Group) competition. Congratulations! Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like and how you decided to take part in it?
M: The BCG competition is the first online competition I participated in, and it was held between 6th to 8th December last year. With other students from all over the world, I was given the opportunity to become a BCG consultant for 2 days, and solve case studies in the best possible way, but under demanding and extremely interesting conditions. There were 35 of us, and 5 in each team.
I: Can you tell us a bit more about these conditions?
M: Definitely, I experienced a new way of doing teamwork. It was difficult to cope with the problems of being in different eye contacts, and a lack of eye to eye contact. We did not have a coordinator which sometimes resulted in panic and chaos, and we had 2 days to solve the case study and make a presentation of our results. Some of the tasks involved measurement of targeted audiences for a particular product, market research, listing benefits and so on. Everything was very demanding, but we managed to win 2nd place and I am very proud of it, and I feel lucky that I was given the opportunity to participate in such an innovative and creative competition.
I: How did you even decide on partaking in this competition?
M: When I saw the applications, I was on an exchange in Latvia, where I did not have a lot of lectures but where I was doing my internship for most of the time, so I had free time. I wondered why I wouldn’t take this opportunity to learn and gain new experience.
I: Bravo on such a view! What are you doing now?
M: I’m working for Escape Room, which is also one of my recognized internships at ZSEM. I started out as the game master, but since then I have made a lot of progress and I am working on marketing, room improvement and so on. I also work in Catalonia Trade and Investments, and this is a job I love because there is a lot of market research, and I have gained new knowledge about Croatian and international companies.
I: How would you describe your experience at ZSEM?
M: I chose ZSEM because of the variety of courses offered, and the opportunity to study in English. With interesting subjects, the professors helped me a lot and I really feel like I learnt a lot from them. I am also very grateful for the possibilities of going on an exchange, which my job couldn’t allow, but with ZSEM I found a way for them to work and build me. Memories and experiences from Latvia, Portugal, and Poland are ones I will never forget.
I: Why did you decide to study in English?
M: I thought I had enough knowledge in it, and that it was the perfect way to hone my English skills. I was also surrounded by a lot of interesting international students, and since there were fewer students in a class, it allowed me to get to know people on an individual level which I really appreciate.
I: What would you recommend to the current students at ZSEM?
M: ZSEM really offers a lot of options and benefits, and you need to take advantage of all of them during studying so you have an unforgettable 4 years. You can describe your 4 years as an adventure. I have found not just one field in where I want to work, but many things that I am interested in. Currently, I have the greatest desire to continue to travel, and to learn more about different cultures.
