Mihaylo International Business alumna Taryn Moore ’11 graduated from Stanford University, one of the most prestigious institutions in the U.S., this summer, with an M.A. in international comparative education. Moore discusses her accomplishment, future plans and the importance of her previous Mihaylo education.

Taryn Moore ’11 can boast of a number of major accomplishments. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in international business and a concentration in Mandarin Chinese from Mihaylo College in May 2011. She has lived, worked and traveled abroad in China, gaining fluency in the Chinese language in the process. This summer, she added an M.A. in international comparative education from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., to her achievements.

“The education I received at Mihaylo prepared me to study at Stanford in a number of ways,” Moore explains. “The international business program, like most Mihaylo programs, covered a wide range of topics. At Mihaylo, I studied economics, finance and accounting in a single semester. The experience juggling multiple subjects and courses at once made me feel confident that I could successfully manage the course load at Stanford. More specifically, my exposure to the fields of economics and finance at Mihaylo were great preparatory lessons for me as I studied those areas more in depth at Stanford.”

Having attained a world-class education, Moore is now planning to focus on her career, with entrepreneurial plans. “I am excited to pursue work in the start-up world in order to really develop an excellent set of practical, professional skills,” she says. “I look forward to taking on a lot of responsibilities as part of a small team and hope to hold many different jobs over the course of my career.”

Moore offers advice to current Mihaylo students. “When I was in college, I sensed that many of my peers felt really rushed to continue on to graduate school or get their careers started. However, there is a lot of freedom that comes with being a recent college graduate, and I would absolutely recommend taking advantage of that freedom,” she says. “Move to a new place, try out a weird job, be strategic and listen to your gut. If you have any desire to live in a new place – a different area of California, another state, or another country – now is the time to do it. Get into the habit of taking risks and trying new things early in your career.”