In August, I graduated with distinction from my MBA program after a challenging and rigorous but amazing year at Hult International Business School. It was truly a journey like no other. I had the opportunity to study in three different countries, travel to another dozen countries, work on real projects with companies like Daimler AG and Kano, and meet many amazing people. Our MBA cohort quickly became like a family to me, and they are people I will truly cherish and remember forever. 

The Decision

When I decided to pursue my MBA in 2016, four schools caught my eye at the QS MBA Fair: Hult, Queen’s, York and UBC. There were other schools that seemed interesting but these four truly jumped out at me for a variety of reasons. In order to make sure I made the right decision, I visited each school, sat in on a class and tried to immerse myself in the full MBA experience. Hult was the last school I visited and as I was getting in my Uber to leave the school I knew where I wanted to go. The culture, the people, the learning style, the environment and well just about everything about the school just felt right.

Hult International Business School was founded in 2003 as a school focused on delivering a more hands-on practical business education while exposing you to a variety of world cultures. The school allows students to study in any of its 4 home campuses (Boston, San Francisco, London or Dubai) for the first 8 months of the course. For the remaining 4 months, students may rotate to another home campus or a rotation campus (New York or Shanghai), students may even split their 4 months equally among 2 different campuses.

London

My MBA journey began in London. In London, our MBA cohort had 75 students originating from 34 different countries and 34 different industries. With so many people arriving in a new place for a similar purpose, we quickly became a tightly knit, very large, family. At the end of our very first class, we stood right outside the class and sang Happy Birthday to 2 people we had all just met the day before. This was the same family type environment I had felt when I visited Hult the first time and part of what drew me to the school. The differences and diversity of our cohort was a great advantage. What was one person’s weakness was another person’s strength, we were able to help each other overcome these weaknesses and grow. A key part of Hult’s DNA is the growth mindset and this mindset quickly became embodied in many of our cohort. No task was impossible if you were stuck all you needed to was ask for help and learn how to tackle the task.

Adventure

As a tightly knit group, we were constantly planning group activities and trips. This meant ensuring a strong work-life balance; working hard Monday to Thursday so we could go on a trip Friday after class. Whether it was a day trip to Oslo or a weekend trip to Dublin, we always had a great time. With flights as cheap as £12 (~$20), it was hard to pass up on these opportunities.

The group adventures were not limited to trips or local group activities. For many years I have wanted to go skydiving but always had difficulty finding people in Vancouver to go with me. It turns out this was also the case for others in our class and just like that we had booked a bus to take us to the North London Skydiving Centre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although skydiving was something I had always wanted to do, my new friends found other ways to push me outside my comfort zone. I joined the Theatre club as an executive to help organize Hult’s first ever play but was quickly convinced by the director to just audition for the play for fun. Next thing I know she is posting the casting list and I am a part of the cast. Although public speaking is something I enjoy, putting on a costume, makeup and performing in front of an audience was just different. After all was said and done, I was very glad my friend had tricked me into being a part of the play. Performing in front of a sold-out crowd provided an even bigger thrill than skydiving did.

 

 

Consulting/Field (Hands-on) Projects

As part of our MBA program, we did multiple field projects where we worked with an external company to help solve a problem. We were able to use what we were learning and directly apply it to hands-on projects while receiving feedback not only from our professors but also the companies. In many cases, these projects or parts of them were implemented by the company.

Our largest project was called the Hult Business Challenge about the future of mobility. In November, Daimler flew in one of their executives and an employee (a Hult Alumni) to give us a challenge that we would be working on for nearly 6 months. While working on the project for Daimler I realized, the idea of working with a variety of clients and projects excites me – always having a new challenge in front of me keeps me driven. Not only was I able to develop and in some cases execute innovative strategies, but I also learned that consulting was the future career for me.

Nebula – The Hult Prize

The Hult Prize is a global competition that takes place every year across over 100 countries. At the end of the competition for each year, “The President’s Challenge” is announced for the following year. The challenge issued by President Bill Clinton for the 2018 year was “harnessing the power of energy.” From here there are competitions a thousands of universities around the world and the winner of this round advances to the regional finals. From this challenge emerged my start-up Nebula.

Nebula, is a company focused on solving the world’s water shortage problem by converting fog into clean water using fog nets and fog catchers. We placed in 2nd of 24 teams at our campus competition and were able to apply for a wildcard entry into the regional finals. From over 100,000 wildcard applicants our team was lucky enough to be selected for the regional finals taking place in Tunis, Tunisia. We immediately booked flights to Agadir, Morocco, the closest known installation of a working fog catcher. It was time to conduct field research to take what was just a project and turn it into a true company. After conducting all our research, preparing our presentation and with only two days until our trip to Tunis, we needed a test audience. Within hours of us asking, we had 18 of our classmates and some staff ready to listen and give us feedback. In the end thanks to all the hard work and research, our team was able to finish in the top 1% worldwide for the 2018 Hult Prize.

Dubai

If someone had told me two years ago that I would be living in Dubai for the hottest time of the year and during Ramadan, I would not have believed them. Ramadan is the time of year where many Muslims around the world do not eat or drink while the sun is up. With such a high population of Muslims in the Middle East, many countries have laws where eating and drinking in public is forbidden. This can be very difficult when walking outside in the blazing sun at a temperature of 45°C. However, I am glad that this is the time I ended up being in Dubai because otherwise, I would have missed out on so much of the culture of the city. Although I only fasted for the one day I was attending an Iftar (the official breaking of the fast), I still learned a lot from the locals about the traditions and norms of the region.

Only a small group of five London MBAs had chosen to rotate to Dubai for the first elective module. Beyond experiencing the culture of a completely different city, the experience within the school itself remained largely the same. The same hands-on education, different but similar people and a quality learning experience. Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah of the UAE, just two hours away from Dubai is home to the world’s longest zip line. While already in Dubai there was no way we could pass up on this opportunity. At a height of 1,680 meters above sea level and traveling a distance of 2.5km at speeds up to 150 km/h, it was an amazing experience. While some flew faster than others, and some got stuck on the second part of the zip line, it was another amazing memory during this journey.

Boston

To no surprise, the rotation to Boston had a similar feeling. A different city but the overall Hult experience remained consistent. There were some differences, especially with Boston being the campus where Hult began. I picked Boston because it was the only campus offering a coaching certification course. As someone pursuing consulting, management coaching seemed like a strong tool to have. These coaching classes built on our leadership training throughout our time at Hult. I practiced on the new classmates I had met, longtime friends in Vancouver over Skype and basically anyone I knew that could use some guidance. In the end, our professor brought in managers from the industry for us to coach. This was our final assessment that would determine if we were certified or not.

My favourite part of my time in Boston was my trip to Maine. One of my classmates from London and a close friend of mine has lived in Maine his whole life, just a short bus ride away from Boston. He was able to finish his electives and come home early. He had gone whitewater rafting a few times with his friends and family and asked me if I would be interested in coming to Maine and doing the same. I dove straight in and started at level 4 rapids (level 5 being the highest). Although we took some intentional jumps out of the raft to take some swims, I luckily never fell out of the boat in a rapid.

The End

Over the last year, I have grown a lot as a person and learned even more. However, if I had to pick something about this experience that I will never forget it has to be the people and cultural exposure. In just a short time I made such a strong connection with some of the people that we still talk on a regular basis nearly four months later. Through our diverse class and immersion in different cities, I learned so much about different cultures around the world. In this digitally connected world, it has become that much more important to not only understand global cultures and their differences but also to know the traditions and norms of these cultures. Through my experience at Hult, I have learned a lot but I still have a lot to learn.

It’s not to say Hult is without any faults, as a young business school, there are bound to be growing pains. The school has room for improvement but as someone that attended the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia in my undergrad, I can tell you even these major schools have room for improvement. The big difference is that as a young school Hult is actively trying to listen to faculty, students and alumni on how it can improve and as a small school, it is very agile and easily able to make these improvements. It was definitely a journey like no other. A big thank you to my friends and family that supported me throughout this journey especially my parents. Now on to the next chapter.