Before I started my MBA I worked for a global import/export trader in my home country, China. I wanted to gain overseas experience and make a change in my life. I found it was a real challenge to settle in at first – to make the transition to living in a different culture, to manage the academic work, and as a single Mum with a young daughter, help her adjust.
When I look back to that really busy start, what would have helped me was to hear from Alumni MBAs – people who also came from overseas and had been through the experience, so I could know a bit more about what to expect, and MBA would help me achieve success. I hope this message helps!
Firstly I would say don’t panic, stay calm! I found the beginning quite overwhelming, and I would have had an easier start if I had just relaxed and planned things earlier.
Join every event, workshop and networking opportunity to meet people - use every resource from the Management School that will serve you over your career. Start and plan your assignments early to avoid drowning in the deadlines.
I transitioned from import/export to running my own business, to joining Amazon UK. I won a Graduate Entrepreneur Sponsorship from the Management School and set up my own business from scratch which I ran successfully before joining Amazon.
I now work in Manchester in the UK. It was a tough journey, but without the MBA, and support from people in the Management School, I could not have made the significant changes I made, or dealt with the challenges.
The MBA on a CV itself doesn’t make a transition – the MBA transforms the way you approach opportunities, the way you think about yourself, and what is possible for yourself, and then it is for you to make the transition happen.
Many MBA graduates had very high expectations of the MBA, expecting it to deliver results for them – but in my experience, no one can make a success of the MBA except you, and what you define as ‘success’. For me, the success of the MBA is measured by making a difference. The MBA gave me options, gave me choices. I can now choose to make changes I want to – that’s what I wanted to achieve and I did it!
Enjoy every single day in MBA, because it goes fast!
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