Olga Nikuradze’s life spans continents. Her professional life is in Russia, where she’s a strategic planner at a Moscow advertising agency. Among her accounts is Mars of M&Ms fame. She’s also a student pursuing two degrees: one in Russia at the State University of Management and the other through IU Online.
How did Nikuradze find IU Online? During a US Embassy-funded semester at Emporia State University in Kansas, she fell in love with the US higher education system. She began researching ways to attend a US university without leaving her home, family, and career in Russia. “I looked at various data science programs online,” she says. “IU Online stood out. Everyone answered my questions so quickly and was so kind and enthusiastic. IU Online was my clear choice.”
Why data science?
“People think advertising is a very creative field,” she says. “But as a strategist, I rely on research and data. I’ve always wanted more skills in research and in applying database skills. You can pick up skills from YouTube, but I wanted the deeper academic approach, learning theory and how things function on a deeper level, as only a university can give you. That’s why I wanted a second bachelor’s degree in data science.”
She knows that having data science skills in her portfolio will be an asset to her career now and in the future. “I’ve already gained so many useful skills I’m applying to my career and to my academic program in Moscow,” she says. “It’s amazing to see the results so quickly. The bachelor’s degree from IU gives me great confidence.”
Data science: Key in today’s world
Nikuradze sees data science as foundational for life and work in the digital world. The business world is looking for people with a strategic mindset. “Business skills, storytelling skills, the ability to put together a presentation—those skills take you only so far,” she says. “There’s so much research and data online. Big clients have continual streams of data. They want specialists who can find their way around data—extract the useful data, analyze it, and present it in a way that brings value to the client. If you can find your way around data, you’re priceless. The possibilities for you as a specialist are endless.”
Electives enrich her program
Nikuradze has chosen electives that add breadth and depth to her data science program. Thanks to a class in neuroscience, she can apply the most cutting-edge research to her field.
“Neuromarketing is a relatively new sphere of marketing,” she says. “Big clients are asking for it.” It layers neurologic science atop business. Imagine a client creating a new marketing video. Before investing the capital to produce it at scale, they work with a neuroscientist to test its efficacy on subjects hooked to monitors. As the subject watches the video, the monitors track his eye movements and changes in heart rate and other neurological triggers. The neurological findings are then compiled and analyzed in a report that presents a general overview of subject’s reactions and a detailed technical explanation.
Long interested in brain function, Nikuradze wanted to understand the technical report. So she took a 16-week summer course in neuroscience through IU Online. “The professor was amazing! I was motivated to do a lot of reading. I felt so good when I understood how our brain functions. Now when I look at the neuromarketing agency reports, I understand not just the overview, but the technical details and the diagnostics. This knowledge came from a 16-week summer course! That’s why I love education—you can find topics that apply to your job, your everyday life.”
Diversity enriches learning
Nikuradze appreciates the cultural and geographical diversity of the online classroom and the depth and value it adds to the educational process. She found many working professionals in her classes: in medicine, in business, as entrepreneurs. “I gain perspectives not only from different cultures and ages, but also from different industries,” she says. “Thanks to this diversity, we understand people and cultures so much better.”
Support from day one
Success coach Shohn Beeson provided support from the day she enrolled. “Shohn was so, so nice, so supportive. Right away I could see my experience at IU Online was starting out on the right foot. If you have any questions, you know there’s someone who’s there to help you. It’s the same for my academic advisor, Alicia. She answers my questions two hours after I ask them. Everyone makes this whole experience so seamless.”
In her honors classes, Nikuradze works one-on-one with her professors. She’s inspired by their willingness to focus on projects that are meaningful to her. “When a professor is interested in what I enjoy, I feel very motivated to keep going and exploring. I know my professor will be my academic support system.”
Her pre-calculus teaching assistant remains an academic ally. Though he hasn’t been her TA for over a year, they still talk. She seeks his advice, he recommends books. “I value that lasting connection so much,” she says.
It’s unanimous
Nikuradze found it helpful to read other students’ experiences at IU Online. ‘When I was choosing the program, I got a lot of confidence from reading the student profiles online. Initially I was nervous that this was just another online program where you just log in and work alone. Those profiles made me see that this was going to be a totally different story. Those stories helped me make my final choice.”