I arrived at Vancouver on Sep 8 and was extremely excited about the semester here in UBC. I chose to come to UBC for semester exchange because I had never been to Canada before and  Sauder is one of the best business schools in Canada.

I picked 4 coursed for this semester, which are Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Statement Analysis, Introduction to Marketing and E-marketing.

I picked M&A because it’s a very important for my future career since I aim to devote myself in the investment banking industry. Unlike the regular valuation of companies as standalone ones, under the circumstance of M&A, we should take into the consideration of the influence of M&A on the companies, including all kinds of synergies.

Financial statement analysis is an accounting course, I chose it because accounting is very important to students major in finance and this course will enable me to become a sophisticated user of financial accounting data. According to the syllabus, this course provides me with a systematic framework for using financial statements in business analysis, involving understanding the firm’s operating environment and opportunities, assessing the availability and quality of the financial information, when necessary being prepared to adjust the financial numbers to better suit your question of interest and performing analysis and making forecasts to support your decision making.

The reason I took 2 marketing courses is that I have always been interested in marketing though I major in Finance. There is no marketing major and thus no courses on marketing in my home university. So this is a great opportunity for me to get more exposure to marketing.