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Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies at University of Western Ontario
Claudia (Graduated)
What did you wish you knew before going to your university? What made you choose this institution over all others? What are advantages and disadvantages of your institution or campus? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your university.Â
I chose Western over others because Western offers a good balance of academics and social life. It has a strong sense of community which makes it easy to meet new people and build connections. The environment is very positive and not as competitive. Everyone is friendly and is willing to help each others by sharing lecture notes and test banks. Also, living in London is really cheap compared to Toronto. As I lived off-campus on my first year, I wish I knew how messed up the London Transit is. The buses never come on time and they are always full. If I knew, I would have chosen to live closer to campus.
What did you wish you knew before choosing your specific program? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your program? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your program of study.
This program is very straight-forward and course load is very light. Every year, I had 2 days off for at least one semester. With that being said, I had a lot of time for myself such as to study, exercise, party, etc. I wish I knew my area of interest because there are mandatory requirements that you need to meet for each area/specialization under the program. Initially, I wanted to do finance and I chose to follow the module for finance. However, I switched to HR the following year and I had to complete the prerequisite courses in order to be accepted into some courses in the new module which I felt that this wasted my time.
What was your favourite university experience?Â
The Mustang experience is the best at Western. Being a Mustang is something to be proud of at Western. You get to meet a lot of people who share similar interest as you and represent the school in competitions. I can confidently say that Western has the best team cheer and the best team spirit out of all the universities.
What was your least favourite university experience?
I don't really have any bad experience at Western. The only bad thing that I could think of is living in London. The never-ending road constructions always caused traffic. London Transit is also a disaster as you can never get on the bus because it is always full. Though London is a great town, but it does not have much around.
What is the hardest part about your program and what were the steps that you took to overcome any difficulties?
The hardest part about my program is that the content for some courses is a little dry. It is important to choose a good prof who try to make the class more fun and engaging. Moreover, lecture time is always 3 hours long for majority of the courses in my program. This makes it hard to concentrate in class. An advise is to take class with a friend in order to help each other stay focus in class. It is not hard to achieve good grades as long as you prioritize, stay on track and keep up with the course material.
If you were able to take electives, what was your favourite elective? If you were not able to take electives, what was your favourite course and why?
My favourite elective course is computer science 1032. This course is very useful for a business student. The material is very simple and the assignments are fun to do. In terms of my program, my favourite courses are MOS 2181 and MOS 3280 in which I took both courses with Prof. Ross. Although I was not that interested with the course material but she taught the content in a clear and interesting way which made me want to go to class to learn more.
Additional Comments
Join clubs and meet as many people as you can in first year. Go to class and do your readings. Lastly, do have fun and enjoy the university experience. Work hard, play hard.
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