Ligia’s MBA in Australia – Western Sydney University
Why Marketing?
I decided to specialise in marketing because I enjoy all the marketing subjects and there were very, very good professors. I had amazing experiences with many of them. John Edwards was my first professor and I had a few units with him throughout the course. I have such good memories of his classes because they were always casual and fun! I used to really look forward to attending his classes, even on a Friday night. They gave me a good background of the Australian corporate environment and practical marketing case studies.
Lawrence Potter was another memorable professor. He taught the unit “Integrated Business Experience”, in which we had a competition among the groups to develop a new café for the Bulldogs brand (a professional rugby league football club in Sydney). One person from the Bulldogs’ marketing team actually came to class to watch our presentation and select the best one. That was an unforgettable moment.
A supportive learning environment
As an international student, I found that the professors were very understanding. But then again, I always met the requirements and the deadlines. I’m not one of those students that just gets there and says, hey, I forgot to do this, I didn’t have time to do that! I’m a very organised person when it comes to my obligations. But they were supportive if I had to redo something.
For one of my units, I got just a pass. It wasn’t a good grade, so I went to the professor and I said, I want to change this, I need to increase my GPA because of my scholarship and I just wanted to do better. He gave me an opportunity to submit my assessment again, which was great. He explained to me what went wrong and what I could have done to improve it. That was the worst grade that I’d ever had, and he gave me a lot of support and I was able to improve my grade as a result.
My top 3 for Western Sydney University
The campus: This was important for me because I didn’t have space at home to study. There were always thousands of computers on campus for me to do my assessments.
The subjects: I really liked the choices of subjects. For me, the finance module about understanding financial reports for the decision-making process was the most challenging but also the most useful.
The scholarship: Without this, I wouldn’t have had the chance to go to WSU because the Brazilian exchange rate makes it very expensive. Even though I spent all my savings on the course, it was worth it. It was a very wise decision.
My top 3 for Australia as a study destination
Sydney: It’s just a perfect city. I love it here because you have a big city and nature as well. I am from a big city (San Paulo in Brazil) which has crazy traffic, huge buildings and a huge population, so I love the cosmopolitan feeling. In Sydney, you also have the beaches and beautiful parks everywhere. It’s busy and quiet in the same place, which I love.
Public transport: It’s very easy to get around. I lived close to the city and the campus was in Parramatta which is in the west, at least one hour from home. If it hadn’t been for public transport I couldn’t have done this, especially as some of my classes were at night. I finished sometimes at 10pm and didn’t get home until 11pm.
The possibility of working while studying: It’s one of the reasons that I came to do my MBA in Australia. The study is flexible, so I was able to work as waitress in a Brazilian restaurant which was CRAZY!
It was a bit of a reality shock because one day I was working for a big multinational pharmaceutical company, doing very well in a very good position with a car and a perfect life. Then the next day, I was carrying seven plates on my arms and having to smile the whole day and so on. It was a shock, but it was one of the best times of my life. It made me grow up as a person and learn a lot of new things.
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