Biography
With a background in consulting, Zetao (Tommy) Pan discovered a new opportunity to advance his career with the help of Goizueta’s MS in Business Analytics program. “I saw an opportunity to distinguish myself as a consultant by making more data-driven or data-informed decisions,” Tommy says. “The MS in Business Analytics program gives me a perfect accelerator into that field.”
The program has exposed Tommy to a variety of different career tracks, enabling him to make a better decision about his future career. “I really love that because as someone who doesn't quite know what they want to do in the future, it gives me a subset of different skill sets that will be relevant no matter what field I go into,” he says.
Tommy has also enjoyed the hands-on learning he gets in the classroom. From working with real-world clients to solving actual problems, he feels better prepared for his career track. “Professors emulate real-world business problems for us to analyze and solve in the classroom,” he says. “By the end of it, we get to have these tangible projects that we get to talk about on our resumes and interviews, and I found that to be a huge benefit when it comes to my own recruiting process.”
Outside of the classroom, the Minnesota-native has grown close to his cohort by working on teams and in groups. Tommy believes he has a much more open mindset from being exposed to such a diverse atmosphere. “Coming into the MS in Business Analytics program, I was suddenly exposed to people from all different walks of life with different levels of expertise and different levels of cultural experiences,” he says. “It really demonstrates to me how important it is to meet different people, to hear their stories, and about how it actually makes our impact in the workplace or in the classroom that much greater.”