MSc Business Management
“Opening myself to this different environment, but also to these different people has been really a neat experience. ”
Why did you decide to study in the UK?
I had lived in the United States all my life and I wanted to reach out and experience a new culture, meet new people. I know Brookes is known for bringing in a lot of international students and even within our course we have 25 different nationalities. That is really cool and I thought it would be a great experience to just broaden my perspectives on the world and just learn from other people.
Why did you choose to study this Business Management course at Oxford Brookes?
I worked for a year in a finance department in insurance and I knew I wanted to be a manager of some sort. I had been a leader on a basketball team and in a community and I wanted to take on that challenge of how to manage people. And so I thought the Business Management course would be fitting because of that desire to kind of improve myself.
What is the best thing about this course?
The diversity – meeting people from all over the world and learning their stories. It’s pretty unique – it’s something I’ve never experienced before. Opening myself to this different environment, but also to these different people has been really a neat experience. It just kind of showed that there’s a lot more in this world than just what was in the United States.
What learning facilities do you use the most at Oxford Brookes University?
The Henry Brookes building is amazing, and it really is an incentive to go study. It makes you want to get in there, because it’s just amazing. Also the library, any time I have a day off, I’ll try and get over there to sit down.
What is the best thing about the teaching style would you say?
I like most of the professors that we have and they take theory and put it into practice. They give us case studies, so we can see not only the theory just as it is in a textbook but how it’s actually practised in real life. And so that’s really useful, it’s tangible stuff – stuff that we can actually hold onto and carry forward with our careers, so I think that’s helpful.
Would you recommend this course to another student?
I would. I think it’s really because of the diversity. It’s something that this school can differentiate from other programmes in the UK or even all over the world. They just bring people from everywhere. And I think that’s really unique, but also they cover so much learning within a one year programme. It is really intensive, but that’s good, because you get stressed and that’s what work is like.
Do you live in university halls?
I live in Cheney Student Village which is great; it’s accessible to the gym but also to the library and the campus. I’m close enough to the city centre that I can even walk down there when it’s a nice day. I share it with four other flatmates and they’re all great and from different countries like Pakistan, China and Canada. The kitchen is obviously an area where we all hang out and talk. So it’s definitely a good situation.
What do you like most about living in Oxford?
I love the old architecture. In the States we’re such a young country that even the oldest stuff would be brand new here. There are buildings here that were built a thousand years ago, and it’s just amazing to me. That was one of the things I noticed right off the bat when I first came here and it’s still true today, just how beautiful the city is.
What are your top tips for international students coming to Brookes?
Don’t get behind on your work in the first semester, especially postgraduate studies – it’s very intensive. You need to be able to be really good at time management and understand when to have fun and go out with friends, and when you need to hunker down and get the work the done.