3 Full Years at NJIT: Business Grad Studied, Worked in Lab, Managed Investments, Fenced
In just three years, Marina Arrese ’21 earned a bachelor’s in business administration at New Jersey Institute of Technology, even while fencing, serving as co-president of the NJIT Investment Fund, working at the campus Financial Analysis Lab and serving on the Dean’s Executive Student Leadership Council. The Madrid native reflected on the chock-full experience and shared her future plans (hint: she’s staying in Newark) in an interview with NJIT.
Biggest surprise about NJIT?
The cultural diversity that you find at NJIT was differential and made my college experience extremely enriching, as I got to learn so much from people coming from extremely different backgrounds. Another surprise was how helpful and understanding faculty members and administrators are. They have always been there to help me when I needed academic or personal assistance and they work hard to make sure the students' learning experience is the best it can be.
What in particular inspired you?
The proactive and entrepreneurial spirit of many students here. Since my first year, most of my classmates already worked, were starting their own businesses or finding the way to make money on the side to start up. A lot of them, especially in this engineering and technology environment, work in extremely interesting projects and come up with ideas during their college life that address significant societal issues in the fields of biomedicine, energy, transportation, finance.
How was the transition from Madrid to Newark?
Harder than I expected. But making amazing, lifelong friends – a lot of them who also came from very different cultures – made it much easier. What makes the American college experience very special is that you get to live together with other students 24/7 and that is as intense as enriching. Athletics also helped me get used to my new life here, as the fencing team has been like a family since the beginning.
Any advice for other Hispanic or international students?
For international students in general, I’d say be open-minded and leave aside the cultural conventions that you are used to and that might stop you from enjoying your college experience to the fullest. Take every opportunity to make new friends, absorb as much as you can from people coming from different backgrounds and try not to compare what you are living with the experience that you would have had studying back home. And when it comes to the job search, don't get discouraged when you find it harder to get a job. Acknowledge in advance that your visa status makes the job hunt more challenging and take into account that you have to put more time and effort into job applications. But you will get there if you put in the hours!
Your favorite class?
I would say the Business Senior Capstone (Business Policy) with Professor [Shanthi] Gopalakrishnan. It was one of the most dynamic classes I've had at NJIT. It required constant participation and a wide variety of assignments, from group projects to case studies to oral presentations. Apart from all that, an important part of the class was the business simulation where we divided the class in groups and each launched a bike manufacturing firm, simulating taking corporate strategic decisions and competing with one another in the hypothetical bikes market. It was a quite different in-class experience and we learned a lot from it.
Best piece of advice from a professor?
Something a professor told me and I've never forgotten is not to wait for anyone to get you off the hook, to mark your objectives, be bright and put all your efforts into following them, leveraging all your network in the process and not being afraid to reach out for help. This goes back to my freshman year, actually to the first business professor I had (Adjunct Instructor Michael Busch).
What do you love about fencing?
I love the mind-body connection that it entails: the strategic and athletic components make it a quite complete discipline. They call it “physical chess” for this reason and I’ve always thought that the situations I live on the strip are closely applicable to real-life experiences.
How challenging was it to help lead the Investment Fund during a pandemic?
Quite the challenge! We had closed all our positions right before the COVID breakdown in March 2020 and the crisis caught us in the middle of changing our brokerage account. We lost access to the Bloomberg terminals (our main source of financial information) and had to hold all meetings remotely. Also, a good amount of fund members – myself included – were overseas, in different time zones. Despite the drawbacks, we made it through the semester and managed to reallocate our portfolio, taking advantage of the investing opportunities that the pandemic posed.
You graduated in three years. Was that your plan all along and how did you manage that?
When I first got to NJIT I wasn’t familiar with the American college ways and the flexibility offered when it comes to personalizing your degree. In Spain, the curriculums are quite rigid and accelerating your degree is inconceivable. When I found out it was an option, I didn’t doubt it for a second. As for the execution: taking 19 credits every semester was hard and time-consuming, but I like being very busy and the more things I’ve to do, the better I am at managing my time. So, everything turned out well!
What's next?
I am coming back to get my master’s in management at NJIT. It was a quite hard decision to make, as I’ve been looking forward to getting to the workplace for a while. But my desire to continue my athletic career in Division 1 fencing for another year and the great opportunities that graduate school will open up drove my decision. I am confident that delaying my entry to the professional world for a year will be worth it in the long term.
