Its long time that I posted on my blog. After a horrible assignment week which followed by exams, I have taken a 3 week vacation in India and back in Oxford now with renewed energy to take on the Hilary term which starts today.
I spoke to lot of people while in India, who had questions about my experience so far. Here is my small review of the first term at Oxford and my experience as a whole:
In terms of Careers: Well this is the first question in every one's mind and let me start with this. There were around 120 companies that visited Ox Univ Campus in the first term. Having said that, they are not specific to school (not specifically looking for MBAs) but you can attend them if you wish to network and wish to know more about companies. Most of the finance companies visited School in the first term exclusively for MBAs and MFEs. First term is meant for Finance companies and Second term is meant for Consulting companies. So, if you are targeting Finance first term is the one you need to be prepared at. If you are looking for a career shift, you should be prepared to get in as an analyst.
In terms of Academics: Not to worry about this part as every one knows what Oxford brand is famous for. I liked Financial Accounting the most followed by Decision Science. There were loads of assignments followed by exams which will keep you busy through out the term. Expect to work more so as not to get surprised when you are here. Typically assignments comprises of 60% marks and exams of 40% marks. Class work will be 21 hours per week. And most of the time will be spent with your study groups to discuss the assignments as most of them were group work.
In terms of Others: Well there are lots of other stuff which you can do while you are here. Specifically, I wanted to throw my opinions on Diversity, Networking, Events & Entrepreneurship, Other Stuff. Diversity is what you get every where. Go to college and find people who are studying subjects ranging from Arts to Humanity to Environment to Theology. In the school, you find people from wide backgrounds ranging from doctors to Producers to engineers to CAs to what not!!! The ages range from 22 to 42 and you can find people from Japan to India to Africa to Americas. Well, this is the typical environment you will find in the growing multi national corporations and its absolutely necessary for you to learn how to work with them all. Coming to networking part, Ox will provide you lot of oppurtinities in terms of bringing senior practioners to the school, conducting panel discussions from people in the Industry etc., In addition to these, Oxford Business Networks (OBNs) are the another way to interact with the alumni in the area you are interested in. Events and Entrepreneurship is what I enjoyed most so far here. If you are looking for entrepreneurship (whether normal or social), this is the place to be in. You will be connected to scientists as well as VCs so many times that, if you have genuine business idea you can definitely start it. The events so far are good which brought many industry leaders to the school. Apart from all these, you can enjoy the college bops and play some sports, do salsa if you can adjust your schedules.
All in All, I rate Oxford at 8/10 and I am completely satisfied with the way things are shaping up here. One might ask me what are the negatives of the school and I would say they are very minor and negligible. I had an oppurtinity to dine with Dean and I communicated the negatives to him, on which he promised a positive action, where ever possible.
All the Very Best to the next batch and I promise that I will blog continuosly in the busy terms ahead as well to help people who wanted to find out more about the happenings at the school.
