MBA Student Blog

It is during these breaks that I find I have plenty of time on my hands, and I find myself mentally regressing to those lengthy Pennsylvania winters during my undergraduate days when the outside world was a snowy cauldron and all that existed was the glowing light of my laptop screen as I struggled to fill my seconds with some semblance of productivity. The one thing I find myself feeling now that I did not feel back then is guilt.

The MBA goes by really, really fast. For those of us who have left successful careers behind, it is difficult to spend even a single moment doing nothing. Absolutely critical is organization. This is something I have learned the hard way. An average MBA student, with ambition coursing through their veins and limited financial resources would find their brain filled, with fears, doubts, uncertainties, ideas, and can-do. And yes – classes aside, there is plenty to do. If you want to find a job in fifteen months, you better start laying the seeds down right now.

Networking in Vancouver is not difficult. During these weeks that I have been idle, I must have sent a hundred emails. To hit the jackpot, it is absolutely essential that you throw out a wide net – and not give up. My first sources was alumni networks – both from my undergraduate, Lafayette College, and from UBC. The second was people from my own country – who might have come here, impoverished, with shining eyes and excess baggage, like I did – and unearthed success.

And one thing one must always remember – if you want it, you must ask. If you don’t ask, you are not going to get it. It’s as simple as that. It is absolutely mandatory that you be fiercely committed and appropriately aggressive as soon as you start networking. And that basically translates into not taking no for an answer. It also does not translate into going around begging people for jobs or pleading them to have a conversation with you. Confidence is your rapier. Your previous experience is your ammunition – use it, wisely. You are not asking for jobs, you are offering your services. Quid pro quo.

And those breaks – yes, they can be deceptive, lull one into a false sense of security – why can’t I have fun? Why can’t I go out and party every night or play video games or catch up on my Family Guy or Desperate Housewives? Well, you can. But once school and classes and homework and readings and BCC events come rushing at you, you will be holding your head, bleeding regret.

Hurriya Burney is a full-time MBA student with Sauder, specializing in Finance. She has three years of experience in Asset Management and Banking and has lived and worked in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Her most recent position was as a Corporate Relationship Manager with Barclays Bank Plc.

Hurriya Burney can be reached at hurriya.burney@yahoo.com

As promised, today I will tell you a little bit about my first-hand experience with the post-core.
During the year we have six periods – five of them are studies, and one is an internship, which is an essential part of our MBA.
Every period is six weeks long. The classes for every chosen subject are four hours a week – these could be divided into two sections (two hours, twice a week), or could be run as one session, normally for the evening classes from 6 to 9-30.
The new thing for us is a lot of new people – from the part-time MBA program, exchange students, or other UBC students who can take some of our classes. It is great, because we have a chance to communicate with a greater number of students, and every one of them has an interesting personality and great work experience.
We are allowed to take four classes every period, with an opportunity to overload after the first one. So now everyone has four different classes.
I have chosen the following:
– Marketing strategy
– International Trading Environment
– Corporate Finance
– Managing e-business

As I have chosen to specialize in marketing and OBHR, the respective courses were in my priority list for all five periods, but in period one we have only “Marketing Strategy” available, which turned out to be great! The prof is really good (Dan Putler), every class we discuss one of the marketing cases (which is a great experience and entertaining as well), and the articles for readings are very well-used too. So I am completely happy with this class!
International Trading Environment by John Rias is more for general knowledge and overview, but still a nice class. We are supposed to do an export project in teams, which we haven`t really started yet… But it looks like interesting research as well.
Corporate Finance is also for general overview for me. The prof is great. Hopefully I`ll pass, because I am starting to miss the ideas he is talking about… I don`t have a financial background, so I have to do a lot of homework for this class.
Managing e-business is another class that is designed by the professor. Ron Cenfetelli, who was named the best prof in Sauder recently, is really a very good one! The class is about e-business, obviously, and is very useful for me because of my recent social media project for www.apollotea.com. We are doing consulting for the real company about their e-business strategy, which should be another great project.

So I am totally enjoying the classes right now, exploring the careers market and looking forward to the Olympics, which are less than a month away!

Finally everyone is back from vacation and the post-core has officially started.
I am sorry it took me so long to write another entry on my blog, but the last couple of weeks in the Core were crazy! You will understand me when you get there=)
Let me now, as a part of my New Year’s resolution, follow through with my promises to tell you about some recent events.
Karaoke night
I was going to write a few words about the karaoke night that we had in the beginning of the Core. It seems soooo long ago now! But anyway, it was an amazing night that has happened annually for the last five years or so, when all the students and faculty get together at one of the karaoke bars and share favorite songs, laughs and beers. It was a nice event, one of the many get-togethers we had during the Core.
MBA House
I also promised to talk about our great facility – MBA House, a brand-new residence for MBAs, where we have all the necessary features for comfortable learning and studying. It turned out that even those students who are not living at MBA House often spend time here, working with their groups or just hanging out with friends.
Everyone has his or her own room with everything you need – a desk, bed, drawer, small kitchenette with microwave and fridge, and bathroom. We also have a great room on every floor with a proper kitchen, TV and DVD player. Ironing facilities and washing/drying machines are available as well. Downstairs we have Blenz coffee and a big room for the presentations and different events. The residence is located reasonably close to Sauder, about a 25 minute walk or 10 minutes on the bus. We also have a grocery store next to the building, which is very convenient. The only disadvantage is the construction currently going on. It could be pretty annoying, I should say! Though it is definitely a temporary problem, and soon, hopefully, it will be over!
I am honestly very happy that I have decided to stay at MBA House instead of living off-campus, even if it might have been be better in terms of my budget. I am having a much better experience and building much stronger bonds with my peers here, and it is great!
I may sound like a commercial, but I honestly think it is a great place to live, and, more importantly, to use a chance to be even more involved in the MBA experience, which includes way more than just books and lectures.
One last thing I would like to mention today is the English tutoring service for international students, which I have been enjoying for about four months now. It is free for students, and we may have up to three hours a week of private lessons with teachers from UBC, who are completing or have completed their graduate degree. Other than grammar rules clarification, if you need any, you may get a proof-read of your case memos, which is extremely helpful for me.
Next time I will talk a little bit about my experience in the Post-core and about the classes I am taking.
Oh, by the way, we now have a new building with new classrooms and plenty of smaller meeting rooms, which is great! The official opening is next week, but we are enjoying all the facilities already!

This October I participated in the Sauder MBA China Study Tour. We travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai and met with company executives there, who told us about doing business in Asia, business and market trends and careers in China.

The big countdown to the first round of exams is on. I am surprised and pleased by how quickly the core is flying by. As I reflect on the past 2 months, I am shocked by how much I have learned in such a short period of time. The professors said that the core is meant to test and stretch your capacity, and it sure has.

Beyond the lessons in the lectures and the facts in the slides, I have learned many other important things in my Sauder MBA experience so far.

#1:Focus on the people. Everyday is a wonderful opportunity to be immersed in a learning environment with other bright business people. It is easy to get distracted by the workload, assignments and events and miss the opportunity to learn from your classmates. Everybody has a plethora of experience in very exciting fields.

#2: Try new things. Often in life we naturally gravitate towards those things that we are good at. However, I have been impressed by many of my peers who are taking the opportunity during their MBA to try things they are not as good at. It sounds cheesy but school really is a safe environment where you can test your strengths and grow in areas that the traditional workplace might not permit.

#3: Take initiative. As business people, everyone is always looking for opportunities to satisfy some need. There is not a day that goes by without some sort of networking event, speaker or party that somebody in the class has organized. The MBA has given many people an opportunity to share their networks or hobbies with the class. If there is something you want to do and you think there will be some interest, then just go ahead and do it.

The program is really what you make it and I really commend and thank my classmates for making the experience such a rick one!

Elysha Ames

I‘m so excited! The Sauder MBA Sailing team came in 3rd place in the MBA’s Cup, a regatta among the top business schools in the world, which takes place every year in Santa Margherita, Italy.