...there are countless career webinars, workshops, seminars for students to choose and learn about job skills and improve their soft skills. Discover Yijie's journey at Warwick and what led them to apply for the BSc Accounting and Finance.

How did you find out about Warwick?

In my high school, there was Guidance Counseling about university application, which provides basic information of university by taking rankings, student satisfaction, and academic achievement into consideration. In the class introducing famous business schools, I accidentally heard about WBS and the University of Warwick. In addition, in the later communication about choosing universities with alumni of my high school, some of them also talked about Warwick.

Did you consider studying anywhere else? What made you choose Warwick?

When in made my choice, my considerations on both the major and university are two main factors. Firstly, my interests in both accounting and finance had been built throughout my high school years. Coincidentally, these two areas are mature and outstanding courses at WBS in terms of teaching quality, student satisfaction, and course structure. Besides major consideration, the most important reason for my choice of Warwick over other universities will be the values of the University of Warwick, which indicates a free academic environment, rich student life, and numerous development opportunities. Warwick always tries to create an environment where staff and students voice ideas freely and operate with mutual respect, confidence, and equal access to opportunities. Countless societies are also what I expect from a university. Because of such an environment, I can polish my academic qualification while vitalizing my social life here.

How did you feel to be awarded a scholarship?

Feeling honored and excited will be my first feelings, followed by being highly motivated and filled with the expectation of my future university study.

Getting a scholarship means my hard work has paid off, especially from my family who have supported me from the beginning. It also opens up many opportunities for me. For example, I can join with other alumni to share our experience and plan, which can not only expand my friend circle but also expand my horizon through communicating with like-minded people with interesting ideas. In addition to this, during my university years, I can also give back to the university by providing suggestions to freshers on their studies, life, and job searching.

Who was the first person you told when you received the news about your scholarship and how did they react?

It was my parents sharing the good news. They felt proud of me, and what is more, is that they hope I can make this award as a beginning and have continuous progress in the university.

How did you apply and did anyone help you with your application form and visa application?

I first heard about this scholarship is from the website and the emails sent by Warwick. After looking through the requirement and balancing my time, I decided to apply by filling in the application form. During this process, I first did some further researches about the Warwick community based on my previous understanding to give convincing answers to show my passion. To be honest, I have met some difficulties because of confusion about what are the things the university is looking for from applicants. I asked some of my teachers for help and luckily they told me about their other students who have successfully gotten the academic scholarship. These stories helped me a lot and make my ideas and logic clearer.

What was your first impression of Warwick when you first walked around campus?

The thing that shocked me most during my first time walking around the campus is the bubble-like campus. The reason is that compared with other UK universities with wider coverage, Warwick has everything in all variety. This is not only time saving but makes me quickly get used to living and studying here.

It was easy to be familiar with the campus and different locations of buildings within a few days after arrival. In addition, it was easy to see numerous students sitting at the plaza square and walking around while talking to their friends, or sitting on the lawn with a fountain by side while sunbathing. That made me think walking around such a campus and taking a break by taking half an hour per day among intense study can be a good choice for me.

What is the best thing about Warwick?

I think this would be the outstanding faculties, alumni, and career support. The University of Warwick allocates faculties reasonably to each department and has a worldwide network of alumni. Here at my department( WBS), professors are always happy to help and students can always meet and make good friends quickly during classes of different modules. Furthermore, there are countless career webinars, workshops, seminars for students to choose and learn about job skills and improve their soft skills. Due to the well-established partnership between Warwick and other top-tiered companies, it is possible to find some events to communicate with employers from different industries.

What is the worst thing?

This would be the location of the university. Warwick is far from a major town. At the current stage, it is inconvenient for me to shop or find nice restaurants to eat at. For the future consideration of accommodation, there are only three main regions near campus, which are Cannon Park, Leamington, or Earlsdon. There is Kenilworth as well, but nothing is interesting there. Both entertainment and daily on-campus study will be relatively difficult due to the long commuting time.

How is your accommodation?

I am living at Heronbank. And the first impression it left to be is gorgeous lakeside views. I am the kind of person who enjoys sightseeing, so such views become one of my stress-releasing ways during studying life. In addition, my flatmates are so nice and I had made friends with some like-minded people which is helpful for me immerse into a strange environment after I moved here.

Are you a member of any societies?

I have applied for Career Society but the results will be out at the end of October. After joining the society, the main mission of the vacancy I applied for will be responsible for liaising speakers and sponsors of our events and also maintaining the update of the podcast through cooperating with the IT department.

What are your plans when you graduate?

I will try to capture the opportunity of the announcement of the British Graduate Route, so I may find a job to build up my experience.

Another choice will be doing research. Since during my university years, I am taking IT courses of MS and programming, I am planning to utilize these skills during working to further improvement. For instance, I could look back at the internship at the Financial Office of Hulunbuir in my country. How financial policy adjustments improve resource allocation and enterprise-driven development is always tricky to deal with in national and regional reforms. But I can investigate the issues by using tools to establish a balance sheet to clarify the funding situation of projects to outline the desired proportion of resources allocation to different local parties and sort out enterprises that can lead the development of other companies. In later stages, I may follow up the implementation of financial policies through field investigations, then summarize the effectiveness of my plan to derive the revised version which can be resources for my academic research papers discussing my interested area.

What would you say to someone considering applying for an Undergraduate Global Excellence scholarship at Warwick, what would it be?

My advice would be to be brave to seize every opportunity and be willing to learn from these experiences.

After entering the university, I have a strong feeling that we have to make choices in terms of time management and always be willing to participate in those most meaningful activities.

Applying for a scholarship is such an opportunity because it tests students’ ability of self-cognition and future life plans, which require deep thinking. Thus I suggest the applicants show passion towards this opportunity bravely. Even though failure is possible, I believe applicants still can be clearer about themselves and their future direction in university and work life.

What one thing makes you happy about Warwick?

Allowance for free to read, explore and learn. During seminars I had taken, I was happy to see that professors always encouraged us to think independently and communicate within the groups. I tend to be not willing to share my thoughts due to fear of being judged by peers. But here at Warwick, the students I met are all open-minded and supportive. They are willing to listen to me and give suggestions to help me solve my problems. In a word, such a positive and friendly studying atmosphere made me happy about coming to Warwick.