Lena Müller
Class of 2022
Hometown: Reutlingen, Germany
Undergraduate University: ESB Business School and University of Exeter
Class Year: 2021
Major/Minor: B.Sc. International Business and M.Sc. Finance and Management
Employer: McKinsey & Company
Position: Data Scientist
Why did you pursue an MSBA from William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business?
My interest in advanced analytics developed in 2019 through my internship at P&G. Part of my project was to analyze the question "is promotion efficiency an engine for sustainable category growth?" and to compile an optimized distribution of the sales budget. I realized quickly that I would not find a satisfactory solution with Excel, and therefore started teaching myself KNIME and Power BI to create automated and interactive workflows and dashboards for my project. That's when I realized how much I enjoyed programming and how useful it is for planning and decision-making. William & Mary has a partnership with my undergraduate university, and I directly fell in love with the campus, the program, and Williamsburg. I am very grateful to study here as a Fulbright scholar.
How did you acclimate to Williamsburg and a new environment?
I was a bit nervous about the move, but at the start of the program, I found that everyone was so friendly and the campus is lovely. We built a community among the students during the first few weeks and now have grown our relationships into a family. It was easy to meet new people and build long-lasting friendships.
What excites you about the field of business analytics?
Business analytics is about telling a story with data. Data by itself is meaningless. I think about it like an artist; you can have colors, but on their own, they don't mean anything. You have to combine them using different techniques to create art. With data, you can analyze it in different ways, create different pictures and tell different stories. Often there is no right or wrong, and I enjoy finding relations and connections within the data to tell those stories.
How would you describe the William & Mary MSBA experience to a prospective student?
The program is only ten months, and you do not need to know how to code before you enter. You can learn the foundation of the curriculum through boot camps over the summer and prepare yourself for more advanced coursework. It is intense but worth it. I appreciate that the MSBA program prepares you to apply advanced analytics to real-world business problems in any industry.
