I have never climbed a mountain peak. As a child, I imagined myself leading expeditions down frozen trails, leading amateur explorers to the top of the world, and teaching beginners how to survive severe snowstorms. Even slightly modified, my childhood dream came true. I led a team of classmates, in my strategic management class, to the pinnacle of success in a financial competition. Over the course of a semester, my teammates and I were supposed to create and manage an IT industry company, in a computer-simulated environment, alongside four other rival teams. I handled the strategic and financial matters of our virtual company, while my colleagues worked on marketing and manufacturing. During the four months of the financial year, I experienced finance from different aspects: capital budgeting, selecting favorable investments for the coming quarters; debt management, assessing the amount needed and the effectiveness of loans; profitability analysis and dividend policy, which were used to develop the general company performance index. Working in a multinational team, which included an American, a Norwegian and a Moldovan, strengthens my negotiation skills, as well as my flexibility and cooperation. But above all, this experience intensified my passion for finance. Of course, a nice bonus was the fact that in the end our company's financial performance was six times better than the second best team. Studying banking and finance at the University of St. Gallen will help me further increase my skills in corporate finance. and financial markets. In-depth research into specific topics, along with a comprehensive curriculum, is an opportunity for me to focus on my topic of interest...... middle of paper ......e quality of workforce, because there are only a maximum of twenty people in the country who hold this certification. Because of the strong ethical component of this designation, its principles should be adopted by financial professions everywhere, particularly in the era of the post-2007 financial crisis, triggered in part by a lack of moral principles and diligence. While for chocolate lovers Switzerland is synonymous with delicious paradise, for me the country, being the banking center of continental Europe, equates to well-established traditions in the financial sector. If you want to learn something excellently, get knowledge from the best. Switzerland is one of those places that will give me the opportunity to combine the values ​​of a highly regarded finance education and practical analysis of theories applied to Swiss banking and financial systems..