Arturo Cuesta
People are what have made my IE University experience so special—maybe that’s why I spend so much time with them. After breakfast and a session at the gym, I generally arrive at university for my morning class. It’s my first contact with my peers—we start hanging out with each other right at the beginning of the day. From then on, the majority of the day will be spent in someone’s company! After class, we usually have a break and hang out in the cafeteria before heading off for lunch. We return to class for a few more hours, followed by some exciting work developing our projects. After this is over, I generally have some alone time, whether that means studying, buying groceries, or having dinner. With the day behind me, it’s time to wind down and for me that means meeting friends again, having a McFlurry, and wandering Segovia’s beautiful streets. It’s a busy schedule, but with so much company, time really flies!
"IE University’s mindset—alongside the people around me—has pushed me out of my comfort zone and given me the inspiration to pursue my own business idea."
A rewarding IE University experience centered around people
Arturo Cuesta understands that people are at the heart of the IE University experience, and he takes every opportunity to surround himself with like-minded individuals who share the same passions. His normal weekdays as a Bachelor in Economics student are filled with cozy dinners and long, nocturnal walks through Segovia—and that’s not counting all the time spent in class.
Although Arturo enjoys having a routine, he makes sure to keep things interesting. On top of assignments, projects, and a busy social life, he also somehow manages to find time to take part in a number of extracurricular activities. Arturo is part of the IE University Music Club, the Reading Club, and the YES Summit.
He particularly enjoys the relaxed environment of the bi-weekly Music Club, held at Segovia’s Casa de la Moneda. In essence, the club is just an opportunity for talented people to come together and play covers, sing, and have a nice time in general. He enjoys hearing people express themselves through their own style and adding their own twist to songs. Alongside the Music Club, Arturo also attends the reading club twice a month, a close-knit group of book lovers. While he was never an avid reader, he’s now discovering the joy of books and loves the debates that can take place in a judgement-free environment.
Arturo doesn’t just attend clubs—he also helps found them. The Youth Economic and Social (YES) Summit is an initiative Arturo and some classmates came up with. It aspires to become the first summit at IE University where free-thinking professionals, authors, and people from all backgrounds meet to discuss the most pressing issues in society today. They are currently building a strong communications team and trying to connect with speakers that can share their knowledge and experiences with the community at large.
With so much going on, it’s a wonder Arturo has time for classes, but he takes his studies seriously and always ensures that they take priority in his daily life. Having completed his first year in the Bachelor in Economics, he considers Statistics and Foundations of Macroeconomics to be his favorite subjects to date.
In Macroeconomics, he enjoyed the discovery process, where many questions he had wondered about for a long time were finally answered. The course dealt with aspects such as how money is created, why there is a need for money, and what the institutional mechanisms are that we use to control economic fluctuations. They also explored the different schools of economic thought and their main propositions.
His other favorite subject, Statistics and Probability, was a complete surprise. He was expecting long mathematical formulas and procedures but instead learned how to use the statistical software, R. This programming language allowed them to easily and quickly work with all sorts of data, which he sees as a handy skill to have in the future.
Between his academic life, social life, and extracurricular activities, Arturo doesn’t get much free time. But as soon as he gets the chance, he can often be found scouring the web for a cheap plane ticket to a neighboring country. In his short time at IE University, he has already been to Porto in Portugal and seen much of the Netherlands with friends. He highlights these experiences as being some of the best memories he’s had so far.
Looking to the future he hopes for more of the same—pushing boundaries, broadening horizons, and benefiting from the unique IE University mindset. With his track record of using time so well, we’re sure Arturo will find all this and much more.
