QS World MBA Tour & Chicago GSB 2007 Scholarship Winner: Interview

QS World MBA Tour scholarship winner Konstantin Magaletskyi talks about his experiences while pursuing the MBA.

Every Sunday morning Magaletskyi would take to the road. The former Senior Consultant in Strategy and Operations at Deloitte Consulting would leave the laptop behind and head off on his bike. 100kms later he had relieved the stress of the past week and was ready for more.

This gruelling regime, on a day many would classify as a 'day of rest', has prepared him for his next challenge. Konstantin, now a student at the Chicago Graduate School of Business, has swapped bike shorts for running shoes and almost every morning runs near Michigan Lake in Chicago, relieving the stress that studying for an MBA brings.

Name:  Konstantin  Magaletskyi
Originally from: Ukraine
Business School:  Chicago GSB
Year of Graduation: 2009

With almost five years of consulting experience and more than two years experience in senior positions in the industrial sector, Konstantin decided that now was the time to study for an MBA study, something he had always wanted to pursue. "I wanted a new experience," he said. "I wanted to get the world's best business education in finance and to open new opportunities. I also wanted to bring this new knowledge back to Ukraine and contribute to the economic growth of my country."

The move to Chicago's MBA classroom has taken sacrifices. Konstantin's wife has remained in Ukraine, where she continues to develop her career in banking. But she too is eyeing up the challenge of an MBA. "She will apply to Chicago GSB for the class of 2010. I hope she will be admitted, then we can live together again," Konstantin said. Konstantin visited the QS World MBA Tour twice in preparation for his career change where he had three key criteria on which to decide where he would pursue his MBA study. "My three main reasons were: quality of business education, especially in Finance, brand awareness and the student and alumni network. Chicago GSB was definitely the number one choice for me. The fact that Chicago GSB took first place in the recent business schools rating by BusinessWeek confirmed my opinion," he said. He is also the recipient of a $40,000 Fellowship from Chicago GSB and the QS World MBA Tour and a significant scholarship from Michigan Ross ($40,000), which he was granted on the moment of admission.

Konstantin attended the QS World MBA Tour in Ukraine and had this to say about the fair: "I was impressed by the number of top business schools represented there. The QS World MBA Tour definitely stands out by the number of top schools and level of Admissions Committee workers represented. This event is actually the only possibility for most Ukrainians to have personal communication with the schools, as there are many difficulties both financial and regulative (visas) that makes it difficult for Ukrainians to visit western schools."

Konstantin will graduate in 2009 but that's when his work will just begin. "The awareness of the value of an MBA is rather low among the business community in Ukraine," he says. "There is not enough understanding of the kind of education and experience top-MBA programs give to their graduates. But from the other side, demand for MBA graduates is much higher than the supply in Ukraine."

In the first half of 2007 two top management consulting companies started their offices in Ukraine and two more announced the same plans for 2007/08. "All of these companies are proposing very competitive compensation packages which are higher than in most other countries in Eastern Europe. There are also Ukrainian, Russian and well-known international investments banks actively hiring MBA graduates in Ukraine," he says. But that's not only where Konstantin's ambitions lie. His career goals are also that of an entrepreneur.

"In the near future I, and another admitted applicant from Ukraine are planning to submit a "Green Battery" project to the Polsky Center of Entrepreneurship. The Polsky center is named after Ukrainian Michael P. Polsky, a Chicago GSB distinguished alumnus, who made a significant endowment to the school in 2002. The technology for ultra-thin monocrystalline silicon solar cells represents a further natural step in the evolution of the solar cell based on the crystalline wafer technology. Commercializing and manufacturing of thin-film solar cells not only dramatically decreases costs of the solar energy, but also opens new perspective application to areas such as clothes, portable devices, automotive industry, architecture and many others. Although much research in this area still lies ahead, we hope that this technology will help to improve energy-efficiency not only in Ukraine, but also in many other countries in the world."

Until then however, Konstantin has his work cut out for him. "I wanted to study overseas because I wanted to get a brand new experience from studying and living in a foreign country in a very diversified student community. That's one of the biggest challenges that I can face in my life and I am eager to take it. I read a lot about balancing study with home/family life during MBA studying and I know that during the next years this balance will possibly become worse. The only chance to improve this situation is to get my wife accepted to Chicago GSB and that is why she is working hard to get a good GMAT score and prepare a great application package."

Meanwhile, Konstantin lives in Regents Park in Chicago which is situated near Michigan Lake. As he works towards his MBA qualification, his career as an entrepreneur and the possibility of his wife enduring the same challenges of Chicago's MBA classroom, he will have the possibility to cycle around the lake on the special cycling roads.