Tingting's Story

Reporting the world's economic events

Before my MBA, I worked for six years at China Daily as a business reporter, covering China's macro economy and the energy sector. During those six years, I travelled extensively in China and around the world to get a sense of the fundamentals of China's economy, and covered many important international events. I also got the opportunity to meet the world's most important business and opinion leaders and learnt a lot of first-hand success stories from them. This was the glamorous part of my career. However, after six years, I had a wide overview of the sector, but wasn't the specialist I was aiming to be.

The highlights of the programme

For me, I wanted to get into investment banks and wanted to stay in the energy sector, so I chose the energy concentration and also chose a lot of finance-related courses. These experiences did help me to get to where I am now.

Also the two live consulting projects we did, one with a local Cambridge start-up company and the other with an international company, were very useful to me. The first one, the Cambridge Venture Project, gave me a lot of exposure to the daily operations of a manufacturing company and how they measure opportunities in a new market, while the second, the Global Consulting Project, gave me some knowledge about how private companies work and how they grow their companies through international buyout. These experiences were very helpful to me in my job interviews and the quality of the companies I worked with added value to my resume.

But the best part of my MBA experience was the friends I made there - they have a very high intellectual maturity and they were all very willing to extend a helping hand. Before joining the MBA, I had anxieties about coping with subjects I'd had no exposure to before, such as finance. But I found my classmates to be very capable but at the same time very supportive. They made me feel very confident about myself, and I felt in a safe environment to seek help where I needed it.

A triple-jump

I am now working for the research division of an investment bank in Hong Kong. I could not have achieved this triple jump, in job function, industry and location, without my MBA. It has also given me the skills and vision to do my job well. The collaborative environment at Cambridge MBA did give me lots of confidence to pursue my dream job. My classmates were extremely high calibre but also were willing to share insights and help each other grow.

Also the quality of the faculty at Cambridge is very high and so they are able to bring many established business figures into the School to share their success stories. And because the class is small, the faculty were able to be very generous with their time and efforts to the students.

Be focused, and be humble...

I would advise future Cambridge MBAs to focus on how to tailor their MBA experience to their needs. Cambridge MBA has so much to offer - a top-notch learning environment, lots of fancy parties, lots of interesting people to meet, lots of business idea competitions, lots of Cambridge University events, and lots of career opportunities from different industries. It's impossible to do everything - you have to think clearly what you want out of this MBA and just focus on a few things.

Also I would recommend MBA candidates to be humble. There is a lot to learn from the faculty, speakers and your fellow classmates - if you respect others you learn more. At the same time, trade your knowledge with other people. If you offer your resources and knowledge to others, you will find you will get much more in return.