Author Archives: juliashe

Who’s that chick?

Posted on by under Personal Profiles on MM Students

Hi everyone!

It’s that time of the month again- blog post time. I struggled for a while to try and figure out what it was that I would talk about in this post. There are so many things still left to be said about this program and my experience with it. But how did it all begin?

Born and raised in Vancouver, I made the decision to go to UBC after turning down an offer to go to the Ivey school at the University of Western Ontario. I ended up majoring in Political Science, not for a career but for the knowledge and curiosity that the subject gave me. I loved my undergraduate experience, but it lacked the practical knowledge and skills I craved to find a career for myself.

I want to stress that I was never one of those kids who inherently knew what they wanted to be when they grew up (I’m pretty sure I wanted to be a pediatrician to teddy bears). I took aptitude testing time and time again to help me try to narrow down what it is I could be, but nothing really sunk in. The best part of this is that at UBC continuing studies, when I paid hundreds of dollars for career suggestions through testing, they came up with florist. Yes, the one career path that doesn’t require even a high school education was what they determined was right for me. Needless to say, I needed some help.

Enter the MM program- something I had become aware of in 3rd year. I ended up taking a year off between graduation and entering the MM program, but I don’t regret my decision for one second. This program has given me that confidence and self-awareness that I lacked a mere 9 months ago.

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll have a floral empire.
Until next time,

Julia Shepherd

Email, RSS Follow

Rate my Prof.

Posted on by under Academic, Tips for Prospective or Accepted Students

Let’s take a minute to talk about teachers. A real, 60 second minute.

Yes, those people who painstakingly taught you how to write your own name, do cursive (which I’m sure they now teach on iPads) and basic addition and subtraction. From your pre-school teacher to your favourite PhD toting master’s professor we all have educators we can look back on and appreciate for the impact they have had on our lives as students. Coming into Sauder from my undergraduate degree in Political Science from here at UBC I knew that the quality of the faculty at this school was incredibly high. I had the most incredible professors during my undergrad, with the exception of the occasional research based one who couldn’t care less about actually relaying information to students. You’re always worried about what your professor will be like on the first day of class – it really makes all the difference. Let me just say the first day of every new period has not not failed to disappoint.

The Sauder School of Business is known for many things, but man can their teachers teach. These people are highly accomplished in their chosen field to the point where you have moments in class where you sit back and mumble under your breath things like “genius”. Those are called lightbulb moments and they happen to me all the time. I just want to sit there and soak up everything that they know into my brain, as if being in the same room as these people will make me like them by osmosis. I was truly amazed when I realized I had learned basic finance and accounting, and I’m ashamed to say a lot of it had nothing to do with me. It had to do with my professors, people who made the subjects I was struggling to learn as digestible and learnable as possible. Real teachers, not just researchers who lecture on occasion but people who educate and do it really, really well.

These professors care about your success and learning more than you do at times, and they are of such high quality that you wish you could sit in on their classes until you were 80. You come to appreciate anyone who is truly great at something and I have come to appreciate the educators who have made this program truly great.

Until next time,

Julia

ca.linkedin.com/in/juliashepherd/

Feature Image from: http://www.archdaily.com/257561/sauder-school-of-business-acton-ostry-architects/

Email, RSS Follow

The MM offers me…

Posted on by under Other, Tips for Prospective or Accepted Students

I realized this program was a great fit for me when I began my application process. Typical graduate programs all require admissions essays, as well as interviews, but I realized quickly just how much the program truly values who you are, not just on paper. In today’s demanding and competitive environment some of the most valuable and unique things about ourselves can get lost in a sea of accomplishments and GPAs. Those integral parts of yourself can get overlooked, but this program recognizes, values, and relishes in those things which make us all just a little different, and stresses how different definitions of success are what make the world so interesting. 

Simply put, the MM program is about you. You hear the cliche “you get out what you put in” more times than you would like to throughout your career as a student, but there is nothing more true of this program. The Master of Management program, its staff and its resources are all here to see you succeed and become the best version of yourself you can be. All you have to do is commit to it and recognize how valuable this experience can be for you. 

 

Julia Shepherd

ca.linkedin.com/in/juliashepherd/

 

Email, RSS Follow

Spam prevention powered by Akismet