Thanks to the Li Ka Shing Business program, I got a chance to be a visiting student at Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University for Fall 2014. This is the first time for me to study abroad, and I am so glad to see my growth through studying and traveling there.
In terms of academics, the four courses I chose build up a more solid foundation for investment from different aspects. Investment Management introduces me to core principles in the realm of investment, making complex financial models more intuitive. Behavioral Finance points out how financial decisions are largely impacted by our intuitions judgments which deviates from the general assumption of rationality from psychological point of view. Meanwhile, Fundamental of Entrepreneurship and Marketing Management 1 provide me with toolkits to assess the potential of a company and figure out value drivers. Complicated as it is, fundamentally finance is about business and human ourselves. Looking from different angels enables me to see how they are interrelated and accumulate more blocks for building more realistic models in the future.
Meanwhile, I also learn great lessons from class. In Fundamental of Entrepreneurship, I came to realize the virtue of critical thinking. The class was relatively interactive, where the professor put forward contradicting ideas and business cases and asked us to justify. These questions were not intuitive. I gradually found that explaining our ideas in a clearer manner and giving vivid examples to make it appealing was far from enough, because both sides had excessive evidences to back up their ideas. Like the typical MBA question the prof always stated, “If it is such a good idea, why didn’t Google do it?” To make it more persuasive, we tried searching for key assumptions behind it and assessing its validity, thereby enabling us to think independently and find out bias. Moreover, the exams was so special. Normally, exams aim at testing whether students read and understand the material. This exam, however, was designed to test whether we were misled by them. Every multiple choice questions were carefully designed such that second thoughts were likely to overthrow my intuitive answer. Learning to doubt myself was so challenging, but fun, where I learnt the gift of doubt.
I also appreciate the culture at McGill. McGill advocates the motto of “Grandescunt Aucta Labore”, which means “By work, all things increase and grow”. The curriculum here starts with the very basics and provides a step-by-step approach, without holding the assumption that students here are so brilliant that they should have known everything. Take researching as an example. Performances are largely determined by resources, but not all students are familiar with it at first. In Marketing Management 1, an introductory course, librarians were invited to introduce us to various databases and links to frequently research questions, thereby paving our ways of approaching, analyzing and solving a problem in our very first research project. From group work in more advanced courses, I observed that my group mates already had clear ideas of where to go when researching for a problem.
Extracurricular activities here are eye-opening as well. I joined McGill Investment Club. This student organization offers a practical path to career development in finance industry. In its finance interview workshop, I was so impressed by how a company action could impact other elements in the financial statement and stock price. For me, it was like playing magic. Although I can understand the process from what I learnt in class, applying it from a practical point of view and making it an intuition is quite a different quality that the industry requires. This greatly bridges the gap between classroom and finance career. Through their activities, I also met brilliant peers from “Honours in Investment Management” program. Working as research analysts and actually making investment decisions at Desautels Capital Management, a McGill-based registered firm enabled them to get summer interns in some of the best investment banks. Virtually, I find that a great university is not simply gathering the best students, but it makes resources readily available and nurtures such environment in which students could grow and reach their full potential.
Besides academics and career development, I experienced a lot of “first time” through travelling. Being the first time to plan my trip, with good timing, I managed to visit many parts in Canada at the best time. Meanwhile, I was also lucky enough to get a ten-year US visa in Montreal and had a three-week tour to major cities on the east coast such as New York and Orlando during Christmas holidays. Moreover, I did all sorts of crazy staffs. Having never seen snow before, I learnt skiing and skating in Quebec. Snorkeling in Key West was beyond imagination. I even tried ice fishing and harvested. For me, traveling exposes me to different people and cultures, which greatly broadens my horizons. Meanwhile, I am also amazed at the coexistence of natural beauty and urban civilization where the idea of living sustainably with our environment works.
To sum up, I find my exchange experience at McGill so colorful and diverse, leaving great friendships and wonderful memories. I am grateful for getting such precious opportunity where my potentials could be further developed.
——2011 Marketing He Shan
2012 Finance Xu Jincheng
