Student Success Stories

• Monash College student to finish her Monash journey in USA!
• Monash College students move on to success in national UBS competition

Monash College student to finish her Monash journey in USA!

Chui Wong (Sammi) began her Monash journey with Monash College in Melbourne where she completed a Diploma of Business (Marketing). From there it was on to a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) at Monash University. She will soon be completing her undergraduate degree by studying her final semester in Boston through Monash Abroad.

Sammi is an international student from Hong Kong who always wanted to study Marketing as her major. Due to recommendations from friends and the option of a faster path towards her goal (Bachelor degree), she chose to apply with Monash College. The College has given her a great foundation for future success at University. “I am really glad I chose to study at Monash College, all the staff were so friendly and they are amazing teachers. We bonded so well that I even view them as my friends now. They were very helpful and have a passion for teaching. I would have loved to study my whole degree at the college and highly recommend to my friends who come to study in Australia to do so at Monash College” said Sammi.

Being an international student has been a great experience. It has made her more independent and organised. The experience and learning has been extensive, with the learning going well beyond just study. She came to a new country, she learnt to read maps and go on trips by herself, and even found herself a place to live. She says “its all very exciting and is a great opportunity to develop my own responsibility and equip me to the working environment.” Sammi loves to travel, and is keen to see the rest of the world. She wants to experience more and explore the world before starting work place and to practice what she’s learnt; so she decided to go for an exchange. Before leaving she said “Going on exchange has always been my dream, especially when my friends have told me how good their own experiences have been overseas…I was delighted that my application was successful and am looking forward to my exchange. I will definitely treasure this precious chance and enjoy my exchange life.”

Monash University’s Monash Aborad office is committed to providing international opportunities for all students. They support and encourage students interested in studying overseas for part of their Monash degree, giving them advice about approved Monash Abroad programs and assisting them with the application process.

Allan Lam Tat Cheong and Keefe Chie Ziyang, who came through Monash College and are now Monash University (Accounting and Finance) students, won the “Best First Year Entrant” in the 2008 UBS Investment Banking Challenge.

Conducted Australia wide involving undergraduate and postgraduate university students, the competition began in 2005 and in 2008 expanded to seven universities, including Monash. They were presented with the award earlier this year in a ceremony at the Melbourne offices of UBS.

These international students, Keefe from Singapore and Allan from Macau, chose to study at Monash College Australia as a direct entry route to Monash University. They were impressed by Monash College’s reputation and success rate along with the fact that it provides extensive academic and personal support and facilities to students, and flexible entry periods spread through the year.

Their Monash College accounting teacher, Andrew Phillips was very impressed by the boy’s efforts and success in the competition saying “they even taught themselves some of the finance components needed for the competition, they are only first year students and don’t normally learn those things till 2nd or 3rd year”. Andrew said while he “answered some questions for them along the way, they entered the competition off their own backs”.

Obviously the strong foundations they received from Monash College have served them well for the transition into Monash University - hopefully resulting in more success in the future, at University and beyond. A great deal of initiative was shown by these students when they took on the responsibility of entering. The competition required and helped them to further develop their confidence, strong communication skills in new language, and teamwork, including recognition of their individual skills and strengths.

They both entered the competition due to their interest in investment banking. It allowed them to experience what it might be like to work in an investment company and gave them the opportunity to meet people in the industry. Allan said “The competition presented as a rare chance for us to get some basic ideas of what the life and expectation would be working in an investment company.”

While to competition was difficult for them it was also an enjoyable challenge. Through their research and preparation they learnt a lot, including the importance of effective communication and coordination with team members. For Keefe “this competition was very trying. The nuts and bolts of the competition required information and understanding of the financial and accounting system beyond our current abilities” Allan said “…we got some ideas of what highly regarded companies like UBS would expect from university graduates and the chance of learning from the excellent performance of the overall winners.”

Both Allan and Keefe have indicated that they would be keen to enter the competition again, it was an enjoyable exercise for them and they would love to do even better.