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It was March 2024, I was spending most of my time studying and occasionally thinking about what to do once summer arrived. The thought of simply chilling at home bored me, and I wanted to try a new, fun yet educational adventure. After some research, I came across ½ûÂþÌìÌà Summer School’s courses and quickly enrolled in MG106: Strategic Management, as I believed that the skills I would gain from the course would be beneficial to me, and applicable to a variety of career paths and sectors.

The First Days

I still vividly recall day one on campus - it was a hot day in June, and I was both excited and a little nervous, as it was my first time ever embarking on such an incredible journey. What little nervousness I had was quickly replaced by serendipity as I was warmly greeted by friendly staff and fellow students eager to make the most of their summer (like me!). As a university student myself, I was expecting long boring sessions with plenty of assignments to be completed “mechanically”. That just wasn’t the case, our lecturer were great at explaining complex and often multifaceted concepts, and then we had the opportunity to analyse everything in more detail through discussion-based seminars.

Benefits In and Out of Class

The seminar groups are, in my opinion, the highlight of ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ’s summer academic experience as each session focused on a unique and insightful topic related to real-world examples, backed by facts and interesting reading materials. Whether it's the origin story of Ryanair or behind the scenes of a typical day at a Netflix office, every session was engaging and focused on modern examples. Through these case studies, we could better understand the countless and often unnoticed strategic decisions made by all kinds of entities around us, from established corporations to SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) and startups. Another fantastic benefit of these sessions is the possibility to share and compare my own thoughts, knowledge and experiences with others.

Without a doubt, the lectures and seminars have fundamentally changed the way I see our world, even in a regular non-academic setting. For instance, I now know why Uber might have a particular price range or why Netflix is so popular among a certain age group and so on. In essence, I am now able to better identify the business decisions that I interact with in life, and the possible reasoning behind them.

Life Beyond Classroom

Throughout my time, I was able to make friends with people from all continents, many of whom I still maintain contact with to this day. Together, we explored the London nightlife and city sites, and went to parties. After all, this is a world-class city that we’re talking about.

In my opinion, social life plays a critical role in balancing the rigorous hours of studying and constitutes the icing on the cake of the entire adventure.

Conclusion

Would I recommend ½ûÂþÌìÌà Summer School?

Absolutely! It was an incredibly thought provoking, eye-opening and fun experience that simply cannot be described in mere words. The best way of understanding everything that I’ve talked about is to sign up for a course and live it yourself!

 

This blog was written by one of our 2024 Student Ambassadors, who are here to share their stories and help you understand the summer school experience at ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ.