A Day As A Business Student at Taylor’s Business School

A week ago, Skyler The Nuffnang Intern(who is now my friend too. 🙂 We adore Forever21 together.) sent me an email asking me if I was interested to go for one out of three events held by Taylor’s College. Curiously, I chose the Taylor’s College Business School Immersion Programme.

I thought it would be interesting, you know, as I’m studying something totally unrelated to business. Me having NEVER touched anything related to it even at SPM level(it’s called Econs back in school issit?). I’ve tried opening my brother’s business a-levels textbook and my eyes can’t even finish one sentence. My brain just refuses to make sense of those sentences that I cannot comprehend.

My experience on Monday was indeed an interesting one.

Tim said that he would be coming along for the event and I was like, “Yay! Got teman!”.

I came on time and had to wait for the other students. It was actually my first time inside the Taylor’s Business School building even though I’ve walked pass the building countless times during my lunch breaks back in those days.

I later found out that I was attending an event called Campus Life In A Day. You could consider it as an orientation day of sorts but it was only for the Canadian pre-U students who were interested to further their studies at TBS. The turnout wasn’t that huge. We were exposed to UWE Business Degree classes to get a feel about how classes are conducted in their programme. UWE stands for The University Of The West Of England Bristol. What a long name!

As the future students were ushered in to the little auditorium, I realised that they all looked really young. It’s almost four years now since I was doing MY pre-u.

Half the prospective students who attended the event were made up of JPA scholars who would be furthering their studies in Canada. There were two lecturers who conducted the ice breaking session. I was surprised(but relieved) that they skipped me because I’m apparently “a blogger”. Haha, I thought I was supposed to camouflage as a student?

The students and the lecturers had a good time throwing around playful banter during the ice breaking session.

Really funny and lively lecturers!

Most of them were already friends hence they all felt at ease during the session except yours truly who smiled politely throughout everything.

The lecturer showed us a video of the 1st years’ trip to Dukun Eco where they did activities not unlike what I did back in National Service. She also told us that the school is planning for a trip to Laos. The purpose of the trip is to foster team building spirit among the first years. They will also be exposed to social responsibilities when they visit various communities and are encouraged to network with the locals there such as business representatives.(Hey, it’s a business school after all!)

The programme also encourages their students to take part in forums and actively debate about topics..er, related to business, I guess.

The video was fun. It made me remember my National Service days. 🙂 One of the students even held a videocam while he went down the flying fox. Crazy fellow!

Soon after, we were sent off for our first class!

Finally! Boss is here. Hello Lou Pan 😛

Tim posing with the beautiful glass door, the entrance to our classroom. I bet all the little girls inside the class were wondering what’s this sexy working man doing in their classroom. Wonder if anybody got wonder about the sexy not-working-yet woman next to him. :pPp

Must camwhore first! Even though everyone went in already.

I was telling Tim that these are the same tables I was using back in A-levels. He, on the other hand, wouldn’t know as he did his A-levels at Help!

My new classmate! I never thought I’d ever share a class with him.

So our first class of the day was Business Law. I think it was a tutorial, or as they call it, a workshop. We were put together with the second years. During their workshops, they conduct tutorials in the form of Problem Based Learning. The lecturer throws questions at the groups and they were expected to present their answers within minutes.

The students were divided into their groups and were given various situations to discuss. After 5 minutes, almost all of them could answer pretty well! I was really impressed. The only word I remember from the class is Sue.

What is a tort? You tell me. I was just trying my best to grasp a little bit of knowledge(later Nuffnang jatuh muka how?:D) and at the same time tried my best to not fall into an oblivious stupor. Which I probably did.

So diligent!

She was saying, “Sue”. Really one.

Tim sneakily took a photo of me trying to pay attention in class. Tim! You should be like me! Pay full attention! Tsk, tsk.

You’ll see this photo on his blog lah, the one where he was “also diligently paying attention in class”. 🙂

During one of the more difficult powerpoint slides, my attention drifted away.

So hardworking. I don’t know if I’m like that during MY group discussions.

During their presentation, the rest of the class was pretty vocal. One girl even got quite worked up with her points against the boys’. Hahaha. Strong women, indeed! You go, girl!

The workshop was pretty interactive. Better lively than dead, so I don’t fall asleep. I tend to fall asleep in lectures. I was telling Chee Kiang that it’s damn amazing I stayed awake for a business class when I practically zone out in my usual lectures.

While they were discussing their answers, I started doodling.

Then I remembered that I had my iPod with me. Loaded with many TVB dramas too! Yay! Oh and yes, I was taking notes too. Hahaha.

We then breaked for lunch. I was told that students can go to the Study Skills And English Language Centre to improve themselves with the aid of the audio equipments available there.

Christine, who was responsible for dealing with us blogging reps, sat with me during lunch and told me loads about the programme! There are usually 60 students per intake. They are different in the sense that they emphasize on quality learning based on a structured teaching method. Students are also exposed to soft skills, which are essentially what they need when they are sent out to the big bad world. Being textbook smart can’t get your far in the working world!

While waiting for the lift for our next class, I looked out the window and was amazed to see the whole of Subang Jaya before me. There isn’t many sky scrapers in Subang Jaya but it’s quite heavily populated.

Salmon Steak! One of my favourite restaurants back in those days.

My house is somewhere on the right side of the photo!

So beautiful..

The next class was Global Business Context. It’s a year one subject. The lecturer who conducted the class had me in perpetual stitches.

I made friends with a girl next to me and she let me read her notes.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d have taken it as my dentistry lecture notes at a glance!

The lecturer uses many real life situations to explain her theories. I actually learned a few things from her class! I know what External and Internal Growth means! I even now know about Vertical and Horizontal Growths!! She used names like Tesco, Virgin, Starbucks to illustrate her points. There was even fun being poked at neighboring colleges which had me in stitches.

She went around asking the prospective students simple questions.

It’s okaylah, slightly easier to understand than Business Law.

I took notes again!

At one point, she asked the class, “Does anyone know Mee Yoke?”

The class didn’t respond and I meekly put my hand up. The lecturer damn layan and applauded me. Hahaha.

Turns out that none of the other students knew that Starbucks was previously a small coffeeshop named Mee Yoke. And with that, I knew I was definitely years older than that bunch of students. I’m SO old!

All in all, it was an experience to know the going-ons inside a business class. 🙂 Never thought I’d ever get such an opportunity! Now, let’s get a business student to come see what it’s like to study my course! Come, come!
remember what the marketing manager said? Learning centre. Soft skills. not just book smart.