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A Week in the Life of a Marshall MBA Student

A Week in the Life of a Marshall MBA Student

From class to tailgating, second-year MBA student Maddie Gissler describes her typical week at the USC Marshall School of Business

by: Alexander Bernard
10.01.26
Maddie Gissler

Maddie Gissler, MBA student, Class of 2027

[USC Photo / Fiona Huang]

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Madeline Gissler didn’t have just one reason for choosing USC Marshall’s Full-Time MBA (FTMBA) program. Hoping to transition from consulting into the entertainment industry, she was drawn by the school's proximity and access to Hollywood. Having lived in New York and Chicago, she was also intrigued by living in another major city, Los Angeles. Above all, just a few campus visits showed Gissler the sense of community between Trojans.

Now in her second year as a Marshall MBA student, Gissler is embracing the same factors that brought her to USC. Last summer, she leveraged USC connections to become a consumer products business development intern at Warner Bros. Discovery. Within the university, she’s joined multiple organizations, including the Business of Entertainment Association, the Marshall Wine Club, and the Marshall Leadership Fellows Program (MFLP). And Gissler says living in Los Angeles has kept her busy and active.

Between class, clubs, recruiting, and morning coffees, Gissler sat down with Marshall News to explain how she balances it all, breaking down a typical week in the life of a USC Marshall full-time MBA student.


Monday

My usual morning routine is get up, make myself a coffee at home, and then I read for fun, just to ground myself. I’m really trying to be less on my screens immediately when I wake up. (Spoiler alert: it’s impossible.)

On Monday, I don’t start class till 7 p.m., so usually my priorities that day are catching up and planning for the week ahead. That could be club stuff or career services related things. Also, I’m coffee chatting for full-time positions, so I’m reaching out to people, expanding my networking.

Then, at 7, I have my class, CNTV 521: World of the Producer, at the School of Cinematic Arts.


Tuesday

Marshall Leadership Fellows is my first class at 12:30 p.m.. I’m the chief of staff for the club that’s related to it.

After class, I’ll eat lunch — usually a little Jersey Mike’s or Chick-fil-A — and hang out with my friends.

My next class is at 3:30 p.m.. It’s MOR 581: Leadership and Improvisation. It’s led by Kristin Quade Eggers from the USC School of Dramatic Arts, and Scott Wiltermuth [professor of management and organization] is the Marshall teacher for it, which has been a blast.

Then, Tuesday nights, I go to Pilates with my friends in West Hollywood.

The weather's amazing. I’m from the Midwest, so I’m not used to nice winters. I just really love living here. The pace is great, and there's always something to do. Yeah, I love L.A.

— Maddie Gissler

Full-time MBA Student, Class of 2027

Wednesday

On Wednesdays, I don’t have any class, so I like to go get a coffee and do a long walk in the morning throughout Culver City. I like Culver because it has a residential feel. I like to walk through the neighborhoods, but sometimes I’ll walk by the Amazon Studios lot, which is really cool. That used to be Selznick International Pictures.

Wednesdays are also going to include clubs and organizations. As part of my Graduate Career Services work, I’m a peer coach, so that looks like meeting with first-years on resume reviews, mock interviews, anything that first-year students need help with as they continue their internship search. It’s the same thing for the Business of Entertainment Association, Marshall Wine Club, and Marshall Leadership Fellows.

Sometimes I’ll go to dinner with my friends, whether it’s my friends in the program, or my friends who are local to L.A., who I knew before the program. I’m usually on the west side, so we’ll go to dinner in Venice or Santa Monica.


Thursday

I start class at 12:30 p.m., but sometimes I’ll leave around 11 a.m. because I like to be able to come to campus and meet my friends in the courtyard and catch up with them, and sometimes do lunch. That’s one of my favorite parts of my day, obviously.

When I get to campus, I always stop at Starbucks. The Starbucks staff and I know each other very well.

My first class is MOR 569: Negotiation and Deal-Making, taught by Scott Wiltermuth. It was on the top of my list for this year. We spend the class going through how to negotiate. Each class almost always includes doing a sample negotiation where we’re randomly paired up with people in our class.

When that wraps at 3:30 p.m., again, I’m always pretty much in the courtyard with my friends. A lot of my friends are in that class, which is another fun part of second year. You are gravitating toward the classes that you’re most interested in.

I don’t have class again until 7 p.m. so I have a break. During this time, I will usually go to the Popovich Hall library or stay in the courtyard and catch up on emails. I’m the VP of membership for Marshall Wine Club, so we’re in the process of planning some of our events for Oktoberfest.

Usually at 5 p.m., my friends and I will leave and grab a quick dinner together, sometimes in Century City, sometimes around here. And then we have class from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The class is called the Business of Representation (CNTV 563).

It’s through the Cinema School, but I am in the process of applying for the Business of Entertainment graduate certificate, so we are able to take classes through SCA. This is one of the coolest classes I’ve ever taken. It’s three hours at the agency. Our instructor is a seasoned agent at CAA named Alan Berger. Typically, half of the class will be a lecture or presentations by us, and then the other half is guest speakers, which is pretty incredible.

A couple weeks ago, we had a panel of junior agents talking about what the program looked like for them, whether they were in the mailroom or came in through an internship. Then, we’re going to have actual talent come through. Henry Winkler is speaking at our class this year. As someone who’s super interested in entertainment, it’s like the dream class, and Alan’s an incredible teacher.


Friday

Friday, we’re off again. I go to Pilates at 9 a.m at the same studio in West Hollywood. I’m catching up on errands, or I’m doing my grocery shopping.

And then I have a pool at my complex, so usually I’ll hang at the pool in the afternoon, or I’ll try to get to the beach once a month. If the weather’s not great, which is rare, I’ll catch up on a movie that I haven’t seen yet just to make sure I’m staying up to date. My friend group from the program goes out on Friday nights, and that can mean dinner and maybe dancing.


Saturday

If it’s game day on Saturday, that’s the focus. Usually the tailgates are kind of early, so we end up coming to campus and tailgating with the rest of the program, which is a ton of fun. Then, we go to the game. I’m a student season ticket holder this year. It’s been a lot of fun getting into the Coliseum more.

Usually, after the game, we’ll go out and get a drink or get dinner, super casual, but there’s always a big group of us. It’s a very MBA weekend, which is a lot of fun — just being able to spend time together and have fun and have a drink and have a great weekend.


Sunday

I sleep in on Sunday. Then, I’ll get stuff done for the week, figure out what needs to get done on Monday. I plot out what events I have, what I need to be ready for — whether that’s professional networking events or just organizing some of these more social things for our clubs.

When I have free time, I’ll go walk through Beverly Hills and get the lay of the land or I’ll go to Venice. I am big on trying to explore different neighborhoods and pockets of the city.

I’ve also started golfing since I came to business school. I’m in the golf club. I’ve golfed three times since school started. Usually that will be on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

The weather's amazing. I’m from the Midwest, so I’m not used to nice winters. I just really love living here. The pace is great, and there's always something to do. Yeah, I love L.A.

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