My Cranfield experience

My Cranfield journey has been one of the most enriching and valuable experiences I have lived so far. Something that one day seemed unreachable and beyond my expectations, became true.

Everything started with the idea of becoming a more prepared professional, throughout the tools, resources and experience that a master’s degree offers, specially in another country, that allowed me to make an impact in my community and be a positive influence for others.

During my research, at the beginning of the process, I realized that UK was among the countries with better rankings for financial masters, offering a wide variety of programmes and resources that fitted with what I was looking for to continue my personal and professional development.

I have to admit, that the process was not easy at all, but what I can assure, is that it totally worth it. During each of the steps that I was required to complete, and for all the information and queries that arise throughout the whole process, scholarships, documents, interviews, etc. Across the Pond offered me their support, which made everything much easier, compared with what would have been without their aid.

Once I arrived to UK, a whole new world was disclosed for me, discovering new customs, cultures, lifestyle, food, weather, etc. Furthermore, >80% of my classmates were from other parts of the world, outside UK, which made the master more insightful, since it helps you to develop a broader vision, mindsets and learning to work with multicultural teams.

There are countless of memories that I most remember and appreciate, including all the friendships, trips, hangouts, social activities both inside and outside the University, football games, professors, classes, teamwork projects, exams, seminars, thesis, etc. It was like living again old times in a very short period of time, trying to take the fullest advantage of each day.

Something that I found really interesting during that time, was having a closer understanding of the different cultures around the world. Some actions that for one person can be natural and part of their daily life, for other cultures might not be interpreted the same. Among all the activities the University organize, I remember one called “the international week”, where different students from their respective countries coordinate for showing others some of their most traditional dishes, customs, clothes, and anything else that represents them. In my case, we prepared some “tacos of cochinita pibil” (or at least we made our greatest effort for that), being a wonderful experience not only showing others part of your own culture, but also learning from others part of them, beyond of what we can learn from any books or videos.

Finally, what I learnt during that time, was that a master’s degree is not the end of the road, there’s a whole world outside, always something new to learn, and that anything that challenge your comfort zone, will always worth the effort.

- Miguel