Featured Alumni
Alumni Spotlight
Wenxin Shi, Class of 2023
Majors: Business, Economics, Psychology
Current job title & company: Private Equity Analyst; McKinsey & Company
Q: What brought you to the Brandeis Business Program?
A: My counselor at high school suggested the Brandeis Business Program to me at first. After entering Brandeis and taking the intro classes of Business, I decided to apply for the major.
Q: What was your favorite Brandeis business class and/or professor?
A: Intro to Finance. I took Prof. Mike McKay's BUS71, and it was absolutely one of the best classes I've taken at Brandeis. Unfortunately he left Brandeis last year, so there's no more chance of taking his class anymore (defintely a loss). However, I TA'ed for both Prof. Dan Bergstresser and Prof. Sida Li, and I think they are both great professors!
Q: How did the Brandeis Business Program help prepare you for your current job?
A: I learned how to solve cases in many of the business classes, and they all prepared me for the interview process. I also took a Private Equity class by Professor Wells in my senior year, which prepared me some LBO knowledge that is related to the content of my job.
Q: Where was your favorite study spot on campus?
A: The IBS cluster.
Q: What energizes you about your career?
A: The steep learning curve is what attracted me most, and the fact that I will be working with some of the smartest people in the world energizes me as well.
Q: Do you believe in a "5-year plan"? Why or why not?
A: Not really. We all know that things are changing very quickly, thus making a 5 year plan difficult to make. Who would ever imagine the impact of Covid 5 years ago! I prefer to take time to enjoy the 'now'.
Q: What is the best career advice you've heard?
A: Your first job is most likely (99%) not going to be your last job. Don't worry too much if you are not getting the job that "you think you'd like to get the most". Try different things when you are young, and you will eventually find where you belong.
Q: What advice would you give to current Business Program students?
A: Be more proactive. Reach out to your professors and try to learn from them when you have the chance. If you are looking for a job, don't be discouraged if you got rejected many times, because it is common to most people. Keep trying and be prepared when the opportunity comes.
Previously Featured Alumni
Ohad Elhelo ’16, IBS MA’17 has been selected for Forbes Magazine's annual "30 Under 30" list, which recognizes business visionaries who are younger than 30 years old.
Elhelo is the founder and executive director of Our Generation Speaks, a business incubator based at Brandeis that brings together Israeli and Palestinian entrepreneurs. The 30 Under 30 list includes 20 categories, each including a list 30 rising stars of business. Elhelo, 27, is named in the Social Entrepreneurs category.
Read more about OhadJake Greenberg ’18 was so sure he wanted to come to Brandeis that he applied early admission. He was less sure about exactly where he wanted to concentrate his studies.
That uncertainty was one of the reasons Brandeis was the right fit for him.
"I liked that Brandeis encouraged opportunities to take classes from different disciplines and even to double major," Greenberg said.
Read more about JakeFelix Liu Ku ’15, MA’16, is no stranger to adapting to new cultures. An economics and business major during his time at Brandeis, he lived in Spain, Honduras, Taiwan and Paraguay before coming to Brandeis. He was used to transitions, new languages and new settings — but was it easy to do that and adjust to college life?
"At Brandeis, you don't have to be afraid of being an outsider," he says. "Everyone here is friendly. It was easy for me to find my group of people and my place on campus."
Read more about FelixWhen Heather Spector '17 toured prospective colleges, there was a little test she liked to run.
As she walked by people around a campus, she smiled at them to see if they would smile back.
Brandeis passed with high marks.
"They smiled here, so I deemed it friendly," she said. "And I was right. I've never met more nice people in one place."
Four years later, Spector, a double major in business and computer science, left Brandeis ready to take on the corporate world armed with a passion for social responsibility.
Read more about Heather