Ashley Cai

Read Ashley's story

Why did you decide to study MSc Business Analytics at Imperial College Business School? 

Prior to joining Imperial, I had three years of work experience in finance based in New York, working in risk management and operations roles at Morgan Stanley and Bank of China. As a result of my experience, I understood the increasing importance of data and the skill of analytics in modern organisations. The MSc Business Analytics programme at Imperial College Business School is ranked #1 in UK and top five globally, and provides the best combination of data and technology insight with foundations of business. I am inspired by the spirit of striving for excellence at Imperial and I want to learn from the best in the field. 

What aspects of the programme do you most enjoy the most? 

I really enjoy the great quality of our coursework, which is challenging but at the same time extremely rewarding. The programme not only equips us with the knowledge to become data analysts but also provides a great platform to go into other fields, such as consulting, tech, or startups. I am also amazed by the faculty and programmes team, who are always there to support us. 

So far, I have found that all of the modules have been informative and beneficial to my personal development; two that I have particularly enjoyed are Data Structures & Algorithms and Visualisation. I like Data Structures & Algorithms because it helped me build on my existing knowledge of Python and learn about real-life applications of programming, as well as further developing a structured and logical process of thinking. I also enjoy the Visualisation module because it is eye opening on how we can process and utilise data to present our findings graphically, which has wide practical applications that are relevant for my future career. 

"I highly recommend that you to apply for the MSc Business Analytics programme, as you will surely learn and grow a lot from doing so."

Did you have a favourite professor or lecturer and why? 

I have found the quality of the lecturers to be extremely high, as they are all highly knowledgeable and attentive to students’ questions, striving to create the best educational experience. I especially like Dr Wolfram Wiesemann, who teaches Optimisation & Decision Models, because he is very thorough and clear in his teaching, with a sense of humour. He is also very responsive to students’ questions and concerns, and I can tell he cares about us as students. His strives for precision and detail in academia, which also inspires me. 

What are your future career goals and how have they been realised since being at Imperial? 

I aspire to take on positions where I can help firms grow and succeed in the international market in a strategy consulting or strategic planning role. I came to Imperial with the goal of transitioning from finance to consulting and realised this goal within three months after starting at Imperial, as I was able to successfully obtain several full-time consulting offers.  

I received my dream offer from L.E.K. Consulting and will be joining as an Associate after graduating. I will be working as a general consultant to start with, helping clients solve their business problems, do market research, perform analysis and come up with solutions to improve clients’ businesses.  

Imperial provides a great platform and career services for students searching for jobs, and these have been very helpful throughout my job search. 

"The MSc Business Analytics programme at Imperial College Business School is ranked #1 in UK and top five globally, and provides the best combination of data and technology insight with foundations of business."

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about applying for the programme? 

I highly recommend that you to apply for the MSc Business Analytics programme, as you will surely learn and grow a lot from doing so. The advice I would have for future applicants is to start preparing early and to understand more about this programme beforehand. This is a very quantitative programme, and the requirement is the same whether or not you have coding experience. I would suggest you look through all the core module descriptions and understand what you will be learning. If you have time, start learning coding in Python, SQL and R, as many students came in with those skills already.