Friday, July 3, 2015

Interview with a current MBA student at UCSD Rady

I am pleased to offer the following interview with a current student at the UCSD Rady School of Management.


1. After you were admitted, looking back on the way you prepared for the MBA in the spring and summer, is there anything you would change? Anything you would have done more of or less of?

Since I was admitted in June, I did not have the time to prepare myself for the program. However, if I had, I would have start reading some finance related books as it is my concentration in the program.


2. What's a typical day in the life of an MBA student in your program?

I have been doing an internship since November, so I work part-time normally in the morning. Then I go to the student lounge and study, and attend the class. Between the classes we occasionally have group meetings.


3. Can you write a bit about a course that you would recommend future students take?

We just finished taking most of the core classes, and all the students have to take these classes. I have only taken two electives so far, and I really enjoyed both of them: Investments and Advanced Communication.


4. Have you had the time to get involved in any extra-curricular activities? If so, what ones and what are you doing in them?

Yes, I have been taking ballet classes on campus. In terms of school related activities, I have been selected as a Student Ambassador and am the VP of Finance in our Life Science Club.


5. What have your experiences been like in learning/project teams? 

The experience varies depending on the team. I have been very lucky in that my teammates are co-operative and we are good friends outside the class. But I was on one particular team where two of the other members did not feel comfortable communicating in English. It was a relatively hard experience because they struggled to explain what they wanted to say and hesitated to give more in-depth details about some conclusions.


6. Can you share your plans for the summer?

I will continue my internship that I have been doing since last November. At the same time, I might enroll in accounting or CFA classes.


7. Looking back, what has been most surprising to you about your MBA life, compared to your original expectations before you enrolled?


The MBA life started off much tougher than I had expected. Especially because I had to start my summer internship search from the fall quarter, everyday passed by very quickly and there was not enough time to do everything I wanted to do each day. Thus, time management and appropriate prioritization are definitely the keys for going through the program successfully. Needless to say, networking is very important, and so it is highly effective to target what sort of professionals and communities you are trying to get connected to right away.



Thanks for taking time out of the busy program to respond to my questions! 

John Couke