Julia Nowicki ’20 (iSchool) ’21 M.S. spent her time as an undergraduate majoring in information management and technology at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, and enjoyed learning about digital analytics and consumer insights. When it came to graduate school however, she chose to broaden her horizons and pursue a new path – marketing.
“I chose Whitman because it was a reputable business school with so many networking connections and opportunities,” she explains. “Having done my undergraduate degree at Syracuse University, I wanted to continue my education here. I knew that earning my master’s degree in marketing would be the perfect complement to that and would help make me a more well-rounded professional.”
Nowicki would later find that studying at the Whitman School of Management would in fact complement her time at the iSchool. “The marketing program provided me the chance to take a deeper dive into the electives I had the most interest in during my undergrad experience, like social media and digital strategy. Classes like business analytics and digital marketing analytics offered the perfect blend of both my undergrad and graduate experiences,” she says. “Having my background in the iSchool was also helpful for different topics in my master’s program – like SQL and HTML/CSS – because similarly, I am able to see how even something like coding can be used to leverage a company’s overall marketing strategy.”
During her time at Whitman, Nowicki received a hands-on education in the field of marketing. Course topics included data analysis, marketing management, brand management, communications strategy, marketing analytics and more. Her professors in these courses were industry professionals who now bring extensive knowledge from the field to the classroom. “Inside the classroom, I really appreciate having professors who could talk about their previous experiences from the industry,” Nowicki explains. “It helped make what we were learning feel so much more real and allowed me to see how to directly apply our lessons to real world scenarios.”
Outside of the classroom, Nowicki spent time networking and taking advantage of the powerful Whitman alumni network, which is full of industry professionals who are happy to share their knowledge and experiences. She says, “One of the most valuable experiences I had was seeing how much Whitman alumni want to give back and help current students. I spoke with a lot of alumni throughout the job interviewing process and all of them were willing to offer both their time and advice. With their help, I felt confident going into interviews.”
After graduating from Whitman, Nowicki continued to combine her passions for analytics and business in the professional world. She moved to New York City and began working at Deloitte as a marketing analyst. One of the most important takeaways from her time at Whitman – Microsoft Excel. She explains, “The Excel skills I learned at Whitman have been incredibly helpful. I didn’t work much with the software in the iSchool, so having classes like business analytics have been extremely helpful in learning Excel functions and features to organize data for our clients.”
Learn more about the M.S. in marketing program at Whitman.
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Wonderful article! I think this will be helpful to current students, both, undergrad and graduate. It will help them realize the resources that the university has to offer!