Anatoly Prekrasnyy (’17): ‘The four years at AUBG had a profound impact on my life’

What has your life looked like after graduating from AUBG – where have you studied and worked? What is your current occupation? 

Right after graduation and a mandatory fourth Work and Travel summer on Nantucket, I went ahead to get my master’s degree in Quantitative Finance at Bentley University which is located right outside of Boston. Among the best universities for accounting in the U.S., and one of the best for finance in the region, Bentley is also known for its outstanding career services. Looking for a job can be a full-time gig on its own, so it was great to have a strong support and resources to be better equipped to navigate this challenging process. I was able to land a summer internship after my first year as a Finance intern at an insurance company. This helped me get a much-needed hands-on experience in the U.S. that a lot of employers look for. Before the last semester of my master’s program, I was very lucky to be offered a job at Dell Technologies as a senior pricing analyst and was joggling work and study for a few months. It was a challenging yet rewarding period of my life, where I had to balance between a demanding job and tough graduate-level classes. It has been a little over a year since I got my master’s degree, I am still at Dell and I am happy with where I am at.

What kind of impact has AUBG had on your personal and professional growth? Which are the essential skills you gained at AUBG that helped you succeed in your career field?

Four years at AUBG had a profound impact on my life in every little way imaginable. You might not even realize it [as a student] but the quality of education at AUBG is on par with some of the well-established universities in the U.S. AUBG gives a strong base that will prepare you for whatever you might choose – grad school, PhD or just getting a job. AUBG gave me a well-rounded degree that helped me develop a skill set that can be easily scaled in a variety of situations.

From a personal perspective, I can say that my university years were probably the best years of my life filled with so many experiences, friendships, and just this feeling of being truly carefree. I am so looking forward to coming back to Blagoevgrad and Sofia for a vacation and spending a week or two wandering around the places that bring so many memories.

What extracurricular activities (clubs, work at AUBG offices, Exchanges, etc.) have you been involved with at AUBG? 

During my freshman year, I was involved with Purple, which was a news outlet on campus. We had a biweekly news YouTube show that came out more like once a month or maybe once in two months. We also have shot a few viral videos like the AUBG LipDub that still comes up if you search for AUBG videos. 

Do you keep in touch with other AUBG graduates and in what ways?

My fiancée (who also graduated from AUBG in 2017) and I keep in touch with our friends who now live all over the world. Facebook and Instagram help us keep up with the lives of many other classmates who graduated with us. I wish we could come to one of the mega reunions, go to More Honors and spend a night or two out in Underground like in the good old times.