Sebastian Bauer
I grew up in the Bavarian countryside in southern Germany, in a family with no business background: my parents work in social work and agriculture. Still, I developed an early interest in business and politics. Having graduated with one of the highest distinctions in the German high school system, I became a scholar of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and an IE Foundation Fellow, which enabled me to move to Madrid for my undergraduate degree.
Over the next few years, internships with international corporations across Europe and Asia shaped my outlook and sharpened my ambition to build a career in the United States. That ambition led me to IENYC and, before graduation, to a role as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company in New York.
“New York opens the door to one of the most competitive job markets in the world and sets me up for opportunities abroad.”
Starting with a clear goal in New York
By the time Sebastian Bauer arrived at IENYC, he already had a clear goal: to build a career in the US. He'd spent years testing himself abroad, interning across the banking, consulting and industrials sectors in Singapore, Germany and Spain. But a one-week visit to New York in 2024, where he represented Spanish students in front of multinational firms like McKinsey & Company and BlackRock, gave him a firsthand sense of the opportunities available in the city.
When he got the chance to pursue IENYC’s Master of Science in Global Business & Sustainability during the final year of his undergraduate studies, the timing lined up perfectly. "I wanted to understand sustainability as a financial and strategic question: how it affects risk, valuation and business performance, rather than as a reporting exercise," he explains.
More importantly, studying in New York City would put him directly in the US business environment he’d been aiming for since graduating high school.
Building a business perspective at IENYC
The program's practical, finance-oriented approach showed up everywhere, from students assessing the financial impact of sustainability-related risk to creating value through business transformation. A guest lecture by the founder of the sustainability practice at J.P. Morgan Chase stood out, as did the opportunity to defend investment proposals before a hedge fund manager who challenged students to meet real-world expectations.
It all came together in his Capstone Project, a value-uplift strategy for a portfolio company of private equity firm EQT. "The experience prepared me for more than interviews with companies in the sector," he says. "It taught me the real skill underneath: reading a business and seeing where value is actually created or destroyed."
That combination of finance, strategy and sustainability also gave Sebastian an edge as graduation drew near. Rather than approaching consulting interviews only through frameworks, he could draw on real examples of how businesses can identify opportunities, assess risk and respond to complex challenges. “A finance-oriented sustainability program and a capstone project with a private equity portfolio company gave me real substance to talk about.”
Landing McKinsey & Co. before graduation
That preparation became particularly relevant as Sebastian started pursuing professional opportunities in New York. He’d already received several offers from strategy consultancies and a private equity firm even before he completed the program, but ultimately decided to join McKinsey & Company’s New York office as a business analyst.
“I’m excited about the firm's deep connections with the financial sector, as well as its reach across many other industries globally,” he says. “It will give me exposure to the most pressing issues senior leaders are working on, allowing me to build a well-rounded skill set early.”
For Sebastian, the offer was the result of more than a single interview or credential. He points to resilience and adaptability as qualities that helped him stand out. After working in different markets and sectors across Europe and Asia, he’d already mastered the art of adapting to new environments and rebuilding his way of working, vital skills in the fast-paced world of finance.
Turning IENYC’s diverse network into opportunity
But the academic experience was only part of the equation. Throughout his undergraduate degree at IE Business School and later at IENYC, Sebastian stayed close to the strategy consulting sector through student-led consultancies and clubs, internships and the connections built through on-campus events and coffee chats.
At IENYC, he took it a step further by founding the IENYC Finance & Strategy Club. It meant creating something from the ground up while learning to engage senior professionals. For instance, one of the club’s first events was hosting a panel on how geopolitics is reshaping cross-border transactions, bringing together the CEO of a boutique investment bank alongside former managing directors from Houlihan Lokey and Crédit Agricole. "Hearing that level of M&A experience speak candidly to a room of students was a standout moment of my time at IENYC."
More than expanding his network, these experiences gave him a better understanding of the sector, exposed him to diverse career paths, and made conversations with industry leaders and senior professionals feel more accessible. He also found that his professors, most of whom have a practitioner background, were willing to open up their own networks to him through introductions.
That level of access unlocked the door to competitive job interviews and, once they came, he leaned on another part of IENYC’s ecosystem: the Talent & Careers department. “I drew on their resources and support to prepare properly,” he explains.
Learning from New York beyond the classroom
Living in New York added another layer to that preparation. For Sebastian, the value of studying in this dynamic city went beyond proximity to world-leading companies and financial firms. It was the constant interactions with people from different industries and perspectives.
“New York exposed me to a variety of viewpoints, and it’s hard to get that kind of density anywhere else in the world,” he admits. “That variety translates into the range of career paths, interests and lifestyles you can find across the city, and it makes you much quicker at understanding where someone is coming from.”
That diversity of experiences also enriched his business insight. As he puts it, “I didn’t expect how much the city itself teaches you about business and how capital actually thinks.”
The next step in a global career
As Sebastian begins his new role at McKinsey, the opportunity represents both an immediate career step and a continuation of the international path he’s been on since before IENYC. His work as a business analyst will expose him to senior-level business challenges while allowing him to develop broad consulting expertise from the start.
Just as importantly, the IENYC experience has reinforced the longer-term ambition that brought him to New York in the first place: to build a global career and eventually take what he learns to other roles and regions.
Looking back, Sebastian credits much of his progress to a simple habit: showing up and making connections. "Just talking to people got me the furthest." For prospective students, his advice is just as direct: be proactive, make connections and effectively leverage the access available to you.
"I came here wanting to understand global business," he says. "I’m leaving with a much clearer view of it, and with the ambition to keep building on that in other markets, including Asia."