From Dhaka to London through Dundee in less than 18 months

In Dhaka, a career path can be rather predictable if you’ve the option to go to a good school and then a good university. In these circumstances, it is very likely that a person will end up in a good job, in the sector of their choice. I was on this path. I always loved numbers and initially, I was thinking about a career in physics but later decided that there was too much theory on that path. I wanted something more practical and finance was an exciting alternative. Dealing with numbers is a substantial part of this field, and it provides an opportunity to solve practical issues on a day-to-day basis. During the three years after graduating from IBA University of Dhaka, I worked in corporate finance in Dhaka, reaching the position of a financial reporting analyst with Citibank. It was an amazing experience, but I felt I could do more. My father and my cousin have degrees from UK universities, and I decided to try this as well.

I applied to 10 universities in the UK and got offers from nine of them.  It was a nice problem to have – deciding which university was the best out of many alternatives. I thought about the things that were most important to me and looked at which university best met those criteria. I chose Dundee. The cost of living in Dundee looked relatively low compared to the cities of the other eight universities. Tuition fees were reasonable. Plus, Dundee offered the  Vice Chancellor's South Asia Scholarship. The accountancy and finance courses at Dundee’s School of Business are professionally accredited, so I felt confident that I would be in a good position to find a job after graduation. 

I wanted to study in a relatively small city so that I would be able to get to campus and other important places on foot. Dundee was one of the few cities on my list where I would be able to do that. I also wanted to live in an international environment. The University of Dundee is a relatively large institution with many international students, so I felt like I would be comfortable living and studying there. Finally, my father and my cousin recommended that I study in Scotland, even though both of them graduated from universities in England.

The closest international airport to Dundee is in Edinburgh. The airport is well connected to Dundee, so it did not seem like travelling would be a problem. Especially given that later I found out that there was (and still is 😊) a regular bus service taking you directly from Edinburgh Airport to Dundee city centre in just over an hour, even during the night!

The weather was the first challenge when I arrived in Dundee. The temperature in Bangladesh in winter is 18–19°C. It was 13–14°C in Dundee at the beginning of September. In winter, it can go to 0–3°C during the day and a bit colder at night. Fortunately, there is a team in the University of Dundee responsible for making the life of international students easier. At one of the online orientation events before I arrived, they described what to expect and advised on the clothes I should bring. It really helped! Rain was less of an issue. I bought a big umbrella when I came to Dundee. Shortly after that, I forgot it somewhere. I never bothered to buy a new one, because when it did rain it was more of a drizzle, and I got used to it pretty quickly.

Another challenge was living on my own. In Dhaka, I lived with my family, so cooking for myself was new to me. The University of Dundee offered free breakfast. It was a great help as I did not need to bother preparing breakfast on my own while I was still adapting to my new lifestyle. After a month or two, I got used to cooking and did not need that support anymore.

The learning experience in the University was rather different from what I had in Bangladesh. There was a focus on critical thinking. Students are encouraged to study a lot on their own and to participate in discussions during lectures and tutorials. Initially, it was tough, but by the end of the first semester, I improved my skills in this area and started to enjoy it.

Many lecturers had real-world experience. For example, one of the lecturers who taught me was Dr Egor Kiselev. He has 20+ years of work experience in the asset management industry, including 12 years with BNP Paribas Asset Management. It was especially motivating to participate in the discussions on modules taught by such lecturers.

My favourite lecturer was Dr Stavros Kourtzidis. He taught us econometrics. It was all about numbers and how to apply different models to real-world problems. I liked the flipped classroom approach Dr Kourtzidis used. We had to go through a part of the material before the lectures. There were weekly quizzes for a small contribution to the module mark, which we had to pass after self-studying the materials. Initially, it looked strange, completely different from what I used to do before. After a few weeks, it felt amazing. I came to lectures and tutorials much more prepared and was able to participate in discussions much better. Later in the summer, Dr Kourtzidis supervised my dissertation. We had many meetings to discuss my work. I enjoyed them a lot.

Both paragraphs are about the weather so could just be made into one paragraph - for some reason it won’t let me change it though ☹️

Outside of classes, my life was full as well. I made many friends with people from around the world. We travelled around Scotland on trips organised by the University and by ourselves. I fell in love with Scotland 😊 Beautiful nature, friendly people and lots of options to travel around. Normally, buses or trains are not overcrowded. I even managed to see the Northern Lights in Dundee! Summer was especially great due to a very long daylight period. At its peak, the daylight can last for 18–19 hours.

I started to search for a job after the end of the first semester. The Careers Services team organised several events to give students some insight into the UK job market and what is needed to improve their chances of finding a job. They advised us to start our job search early as the market is competitive. My initial attempts in applying to different job opportunities were frustrating - I wasn’t getting any responses. I asked the Career Services for additional support. They showed me how to tailor my CV to certain job opportunities and how to write a cover letter. That helped and different companies started to invite me to interviews. I went to the Career Services again for advice on job interviews. They did a mock interview with me and showed me ways to answer tricky questions. That gave me another boost in my search for a job. Within several months I reached five final interviews. One of the companies, Macquarie Group, offered me a job. There were more interviews in the pipeline, but I decided to stop my search and accept their offer. I liked what I was going to do in Macquarie. Plus, it is a global company with close to 20,000 employees around the world so I felt confident that there would be other opportunities for me within the company in the future.