MASTER'S CANDIDATES
Meet the mentor for University TAs, American Spaces, and Master’s Candidates!
Deborah Lillian Ayres-Brown
Pronouns: she/her/ella
As University, American Spaces, and Master’s Candidates mentor, I am both thrilled and honored to welcome you into the Fulbright family!!! On this journey, you will learn, love, and grow greatly. I’m here to help you through some of the growing pains!
Acquaintances call me “Deborah.” Friends call me “Deb.” My family calls me “Little Debbie.” I go by all three 🙂. My humble abode is in Charlottesville, VA, but I have been living in Spain, working as a Fulbright teaching assistant at the Universidad Camilo José Cela. Originally, I was going to teach at a college in Israel, but my position was transferred from there on account of the war. Since then, España and I have been having a grand love affair.
I majored in English and French at the University of Virginia in 2020 and got my master’s in English from the same university in 2022, concentrating in World Religions, World Literatures and specializing in Hebrew texts.
In the past, I have interned at the Archives and French Literature Museum of the Royal Library of Belgium, volunteered as a docent at the Fralin Museum of Fine Arts, and worked both as a Writing Center Consultant and English Language Teaching Assistant at the University of Virginia.
During the pandemic, I escaped to Taipei to study Chinese on the Huayu Scholarship and worked at the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI). Corona had the audacity to follow me there.
In my free time, I study and teach etiquette, an interest which stemmed out of my obsession with period dramas, regency novels, and tea times. I also love to sing and even had the opportunity to perform with a choir in front of the King of Belgium!
The museums in Madrid are my second home. Cafés are my third. My first is with my loving host family in Aluche that you hopefully will get to meet! With me, you have a safe space where you can relax and enjoy yourself as we navigate through the obstacles involved with beginning a new life overseas. In Spain, my growth as both a person and teacher has been tremendous, and I can now use what I’ve learned to help you have an awesome transition!
Let me know how I can best support you at: FulbrightAspUniMaMentor@gmail.com
I am so excited for you! Take the plunge and embrace all that your new world has to offer, knowing that we are here for you!
IMBA official website / MID official website / MVDM official website
On the student body:
“The student body was much more diverse! Most people at IE speak multiple languages and have spent lots of time living abroad. This was not my experience at a school in the U.S. Additionally, classes at IE are a bit less discussion-based than my lectures in the U.S.”
“I specifically loved the diversity of IE, though I would prepare future grantees — IE is heavy on group work and diversity in terms of background can lead to different work styles which is fun and exciting, but can also be challenging and require understanding / patience.”
“Since you’ll be spending so much time with your classmates on group projects find ways to branch out, like introducing each other to your respective cohorts.”
On the workload:
“Because a huge part of our grade is participation-based, speak up during class and also email professors whenever you have questions so they become familiar with your name! Random interactions throughout each course can go a long way in developing a relationship with a professor, particularly if you want a reference letter or networking opportunities for employment.”
“The Gaussian curve for grading at IE was difficult to adjust to at first. In addition, there was a significant amount of group work and most exams were 40%-90% of the final grade (compared to the US where I feel there are many smaller assignments).”
“The emphasis and reliance on group work was quite striking, and navigating work with such differing personalities in a group can be very challenging at times. “
“My program was very participation- and group-project-based. Working in a group project for every class, with people from vastly different backgrounds and cultures, could be a bit challenging as we didn’t always agree, and approximately 50% of our grades came from the group work so there could be a bit of pressure.”
“Do not do work in Starbucks or VIPS or any other chain. Madrid has so many great cafes that are small and unique and almost all of them have Wifi. Go to a different one every other day if you can. The cafe closest to IE is Religion Coffee. Elsewhere in Madrid, Cafe Federal is really good, Cafe Del Arte is interesting – especially during El Rastro (flea market every Sunday near La Latina). Le Praline probably has the best coffee here, but it is in Salamanca and is not near many things. Also, go look at Las Ventas at least once. They have a tiny museum that is kind of interesting, but the architecture is really good.”
On the professors:
“Don’t be afraid to reach out to teachers or other students that are doing neat things. Ask to join them and they usually say yes.”
“I would recommend adding each professor and guest speaker on LinkedIn, and if you’re interested in their professional career, ask for a coffee or virtual meeting with them. Especially at IE, many of them are quite open to it but also busy with their professional careers so being proactive and following up is crucial. If you are at an international institution, you should seek out ways to use your Spanish off campus as it might be difficult to practice daily within the institution.”
“Most professors are excellent and very receptive to communication, particularly by email and some can even talk with you over Zoom.”
“No office hours for Professors, which was a change. I would advise future candidates to try to ask professors to coffee or talk to them after class.”
“My relationship with IE itself has been positive – they want you to learn, to succeed, and to find the job of your dreams, so they have been generally supportive of what I have needed. With professors, I have found them to be generally great lecturers with real experience in the business, with many either recently switching to academia or even continuing to work while lecturing. While I did have a few that were not to the same caliber as others, generally speaking they were all great professors, and the IE administration is very open to feedback about them in general.”
“The professors and advisors are very available. I never had a problem getting time with an advisor, and professors are typically very willing to meet over a coffee and are fairly responsive to emails. They typically are pretty helpful about assignments too, and I wish I had reached out to them even more about assignments and things to get their advice. I would say to really be proactive and reach out to the professors as often as you feel necessary. They don’t have office hours, but this translated to them being very available over email, happy to meet after class, etc.”
“In my experience, most of my professors didn’t have PhDs, but instead strong professional backgrounds. Sometimes this meant that their experience was richer, but their classroom instruction wasn’t as strong (assignments could be disorganized, command of debates wasn’t very strong).”
“I had really incredible professors! I definitely had to be proactive to build a relationship with them, but all of them offered career support and I met with a few outside of class for advice. I would say connect on LinkedIn with all of your professors and reach out early in the course to grab a coffee or meet outside of class. It’s helpful to arrive early to class to chat with them and hang out a bit after, just to get to know them better.”
On getting involved:
“I would advise future grantees to participate in all the informal group gatherings early on! Because they taper off quickly as people settle into friend groups, so that’s your best chance to meet people at the start.”
“I wish I had gotten more involved in the clubs at IE. Often this is the best way to interact with students from different programs, and you can also connect with professors you might otherwise not meet.”
“I would just tell the next Fulbrighters to not try to do too much at first — the program can be overwhelming with so many options at the beginning that it’s easy to get sucked in and overwhelmed. I’d say select a few extracurriculars, pace yourself and get more involved as the year progresses.”
“I joined the Entrepreneurship Club and it was a great way to meet people from other Master’s and even Bachelor’s programs as well!”
“I would recommend finding people who you click with early in the program as well as outlets outside of school – having social life, school life, and extracurricular life all blend together can get challenging if you don’t have a mix!”
On specific programs:
“As a person who came to the MIM [Master’s in Management] from a non-business background, my advice is for others in a similar situation. The MIM is a lot more difficult for people who don’t come from a business background becuase they review a lot of the material you need to know but very quickly so as not to bore the people who do have experience in business. Thus, it’s important to know that you have to hit the ground running and take advantage of all the pre-program materials that they offer, for example the pre-program online accounting lessons, because otherwise you’ll get overwhelmed by the large number of classes and coursework”
“My study program was a Master’s in Talent Development & Human Resources at IE Business School. The campus and school itself is wonderful – there are numerous resources to support students, the location is fantastic, and the facilities are great. IE has a strong extracurricular presence with lots of opportunities to get involved outside of class. I was able to implement innovative ideas here, for example – leading Happiness Week through the IE Center for Health, Well-being, and Happiness, which engaged hundreds of students in March.
Although I feel that I learned a lot and grew immensely during my grant period, my academic program was not quite what I expected. I really loved the practical aspect of it – we debriefed about business cases and visited large organizations to support them with a business challenge they were facing. However, the classroom instruction often felt a bit basic and not going deep into certain topics. We spent a lot of time discussing HR basics and I don’t feel that I walked away from the program more primed to deal with difficult challenges facing the workplace today and in the future. I think this is partly due the newness of the program – there is a lot of overlap between classes and what professors teach – and also the demographics of the class. Most of my peers were just graduated from their bachelor’s with no formal experience in HR so diving deep into HR topics was quite difficult, especially in the first term. However, working together in teams was a key part of the program and I learned a great deal from my peers and their various backgrounds.”
“I pursued a Master’s in International Relations at the IE School of Global and Public Affairs. While I really appreciated the opportunity to engage with classmates from 30 different nationalities, I found that the level of engagement of my peers was not the same as I was used to at my American university. During the first two terms, we were randomly assigned to work groups, and I found myself having to cover for my teammates frequently. The level of discourse in class discussions was also not as high as I was expecting. However, I did find the course work and the vast majority of the professors to be stimulating. The pace of a one year program was intense, especially in the second term when I was taking seven courses and beginning my capstone. I found it hard to have a school-life balance at many times throughout that term. Finally, the facilities at IE were top notch. I especially enjoyed going up to the new IE Tower for events, but the commute from the Master’s Maria de Molina campus was a bit taxing.”
“Most of my advice will be focused on grantees who apply for the International MBA at IE Business School, although there will be pieces that apply mor generally to Study/Research grantees in Spain. My first piece of advice is to be aware of the socioeconomic class of the grand majority of students and faculty at IE University. If your grant is focused on working with people that are in lower- or middle-income socioeconomic classes, you will have to build a network outside of the university. IE can definitely help establish some connections, but you will run into a lot of dead-ends when asking for referrals of people that came from less privileged backgrounds and are representative of a more typical Spanish family. My next piece of advice is to be aware of the time constraints. A one-year MBA is quite time intensive considering the average MBA is two-years long. If you are dealing with either a language barrier or having a non-business background, you will have little time to work on your grant outside of class during the first six months. I personally made the decision to be less focused on two to three classes during Core Period I and II to carve out five to ten hours a week to work on my grant. This resulted in me having lower grades to further my research and build my network outside of IE, which I believe was a core component to being a cultural ambassador and furthering my grant purpose. My next piece of advice is to make sure that the lab/internship period works in favor of your grant. This is an opportunity to spend two months working on your own project, so definitely take advantage of the unique opportunity. My last piece of advice is to find friend groups where you speak only in Spanish with, particularly if you are in Madrid. This will enhance your language abilities and allow you to fully explore the cultural beauties of the amazing country of Spain.”
MGIS Official Website
On the program:
“The Spanish education system can be quite different than back in the U.S. It is more disorganized, especially with the international program here. The schedules change frequently for classes, teachers change throughout the semester multiple times, and access to resources aren’t very clear. “
“Expect to have to adapt! Things, all the things, are subject to last minute changes, which can be a big shock if you have not experienced that in an academic environment before. However, if you keep an open mind about what ‘success’ in the program looks like, you will be sure to find it.”
On the workload:
“I was surprised by the open-ended nature of most assignments — I loved being able to develop my own academic niche, but also missed being challenged to think about problems from angles proposed by experts (e.g. professors, as in undergrad).”
“There were multiple classes that I enjoyed and some that I did not. The courses were not as challenging as I had anticipated and a few of the professors were very unorganized, did not teach the subject that was stated initially, and the teaching style was not how I would have hoped. With the courses that I did enjoy, the professors were very organized, had various styles of teaching and challenged the students with course work.”
On the professors:
“My advice would be to find a professor in your program that you feel you can use as a mentor and can give you guidance in regards to resources within the university, where to access these resources, and someone you can go to to answer any questions you may have. “
“Find a mentor who is experienced in your area of research. Be prepared to be flexible.”
“My advisor was absolutely wonderful. He always provided me with wonderful and comprehensive feedback and went out of his way to find new resources for me. I think that other master’s candidates should not feel pressured to pick someone who on paper seems like the best fit for a mentor, but instead be open to more possible advisors based on their personalities and willingness to dedicate time and resources.”“The teachers’ pedagogies and personalities vary widely. Four of my professors I could count on to help me with my research. With the rest I could schedule meetings, but did not always find the meetings helpful. I would recommend finding a trusted mentor/mentors early, as I rely on mine as the main source of information for the program; more so than the program director or department heads.”
“Although I may have not agreed with the teaching style, structure of some of the courses, or organization of professors, I always found that they were available and willing to talk with me about the assignments and expand if they were not clear!”
“There is a much more hands-off approach from professors, which has its benefits (in terms of academic freedom and self reliance).”
On getting involved:
“I would recommend finding extracurricular activities outside of the masters program to get involved in like a Spanish class, volunteering, sports, or hobby.”
“A lot of students liked to go out to bars and tapear! Personally, I’m not as interested in that, so I found most of my friends in rock climbing and crossfit communities, as well as through my volunteer group.”