Hailing from the beautiful country of Argentina, Sol Santecchia, MBA 2026, shares her journey as an international student. Whether you’re a U.S. citizen learning about your peers, fellow international students, or someone seeking higher education internationally, continue reading to hear about the obstacles Sol faced and how she successfully overcame them and secured her dream job!
Striving for Greatness
Growing up, I played a lot of golf. I was on the Argentina National Golf Team, so I would play in tournaments around the world, including the United States. When we would play in the States, I would get a lot of exposure to the college coaches, and I saw the opportunities I would have if I went to a school there. Back in Argentina, we don’t have college sports. So, I could either start a college career or not – because there wasn’t a professional women’s golf league either. At the time, I wanted to play professionally. So, I left Argentina and went to Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a sports scholarship. This allowed me to play golf, which was my main driver at the time, but I also declared my major and found my passion for graphic design. After some time, my priorities changed, and I didn’t want to go pro anymore. After graduation, I stopped playing golf, and I started thinking about my professional career and how I could use graphic design.
After a year working in the graphic design field, I wanted to pursue my MBA. I knew I was strong on the creative side, but I wanted to expand my business acumen and understanding in the marketing world. One of the obstacles that I was faced with though was the application process. By the time I accepted the position to work with the Wisconsin Volleyball team as their graphic designer, the deadline for international students had passed. Which was a much earlier deadline compared to those applying within the country. Which, of course, makes sense, but it was just difficult because there are always a different set of procedures and steps that had to be taken as an international student.
By that next year, I had applied to the MBA program and was enrolled as a first year student. It was great and I loved it, but I was also pretty scared. It was my first time actually living alone and not really knowing anyone. Back in Florida, I had my golf team and a lot of people actually spoke Spanish, so I hadn’t really practiced my English. In Madison, it took some time to get comfortable and find my group of people. When I did, I was able to practice my English and get comfortable talking and joking with my friends. This boosted my confidence and, now, I don’t have any troubles with raising my hand in class to ask or answer questions.
Finding my Passion
When I started applying for internships, I got a lot of help from the Marketing Leadership Institute (MLI) and other Wisconsin School of Business faculty. Coming into the MBA program, I didn’t have a business background. With Kristin Branch, Alan Stoffer, and Giustina Parisi, they helped in explaining all the possibilities within marketing including deciding on the specialization that would best align with my interests and where to look for internships as an international student to give myself the best chance at getting a visa sponsorship. With regard to preparing for interviews, I received a lot of guidance from Will Wait. Before, the idea of having an interview in English was quite daunting. After practicing with him, I was telling my story more confidently and in a way that conveyed how meaningful it was to my background. Even with this practice and the boost of confidence, I was still nervous because it felt like I was applying to internships so late – as I was unsure if I would even have the time because of my position working with the Volleyball team, there was that extra pressure to find a company that would offer a work visa, and I was still studying for my classes.
Ultimately, I was encouraged by my peers and mentors to just try and see what happens, which turned out to be a great experience. I found that while the interviewing journey is very intimidating, the interview itself was very welcoming and supportive of my journey. Throughout all the companies I applied for, seeing a position open at Adobe really sparked my interests. As a designer, I have loved and used their products for years and thought it would be so cool to work there. After all my interviews were done, I was happy to have received a call from the Adobe Talent Acquisition Team with an offer to be a Product Marketing Intern with the Pro Design team for the summer of 2024. This was a dream come true. It was an amazing opportunity to have worked on their team and recognize the importance of being the voice of the customer and support the company’s core values in being genuine and raising the bar.
Looking back on everything now that I am finishing up my final semester in the Full-Time MBA program at the Wisconsin School of Business, I am incredibly thankful for everyone I have connected with and everything that has happened to me. I am also excited to return to Adobe with a full-time position after graduation. If I could speak to anyone that is thinking about following a similar path, I would say do it! Find what you’re passionate about, connect with people – whether that’s someone on LinkedIn, your classmates, or faculty – and utilize all your resources.