Maryum Ahmad
MQM: Business Analytics
My Program Track:
Prior Education:
Electrical Engineering, 2014
Why I Chose Fuqua
From the time I heard about Fuqua, I envisioned myself a part of the community because of Fuqua’s core values of helping others and standing up to challenge the status quo to align with my internal values. I also was confident that Fuqua could help me sharpen not only my technical analytical skills, but also my interpersonal, leadership, teamwork, and business communication skills through hands-on experience in team-based, real-world data-driven projects.
Before Fuqua
During my time working as a system analyst at a large telecommunications operator in Pakistan, I used data analytics extensively to solve business problems. For example, I initiated a project to optimize the international codes configuration process, and after performing an extensive analysis, reduced the turn-around time from one month to one week. These experiences significantly impacted my decision to pursue an MQM degree.
After Fuqua
After graduation, I am determined to work as an analyst impacting business decisions by providing meaningful insights to improve operational efficiency, increase productivity and revenues, or reduce costs. In the long term, I aim to lead a team of data scientists to drive business growth. Using big data and the expertise I gained at Fuqua, I want to help my team develop state-of-the-art statistical procedures and models to build products using high-level machine learning techniques.
My MQM Track
I chose the Marketing track because I am excited to learn the tools needed to improve the efficiency of digital marketing and customer relationship management, perform cluster analysis for targeted marketing, and formulate pricing strategy. All of this enables us to design better products and solutions for the customers. Because I come from a technical background, I am looking forward to learning at the intersection of business and analytics so I can develop better business understanding.
5 Ways To Maximize Your Time At Fuqua
- Interact with as many people as you can and listen to their stories. Everyone has a unique talent and with such diversity of experience and background, you have an opportunity to learn something new from others every single day.
- Once you’re ready to begin your job search, take full advantage of the Career Management Center. The staff is extremely helpful and are experts at what they do. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
- Fuqua empowers you to follow your passion and be yourself. Whether it’s sports, organizing events, learning technical skills, engaging in clubs, or something else, create your own path for yourself.
- Just because your friend or teammate is taking an elective course or attending a career event doesn’t always mean you should, too. Think about how to best maximize your time to align with your own goals and happiness.
- Coursework, exams, assignment, and quizzes are just one aspect of life at Fuqua. Think beyond the classroom; for example, I joined the executive board of Duke Interdisciplinary Social Innovators to gain experience and collaborate with students across campus.
