MBA Student Profile: Antony Rich, University of Cambridge

Antony Rich tells us what the life of an MBA student at the University of Cambridge is like. 

1. Why did you decide to do an MBA?

I had been working for the same company for over 9 years. Whilst I enjoyed my job and did not look at the MBA as a way of leaving, I did want to expand my skill base and broaden my horizons.      

2. How did you choose which MBA to do?

There were three main things I wanted from an MBA. Firstly it had to be a world-class masters degree, with the ability to tailor my academic focus into investments and finance. Secondly I wanted it to be truly international. Thirdly, I have always been interested in International Development and wanted the opportunity to gain real life experience in this area. I also wanted to have a great time.

When choosing an MBA I didn't think that any one course could offer me all that I was looking for. Now I can truly say that the Cambridge MBA provided all this and more.

The International Diversity of the Students

The Cambridge MBA is truly international. My class were from over 30 different countries. The other great thing about the Cambridge MBA is that due to its size and collaborative nature, the whole class really comes together. I now have friends all over the world.

The Academic Experience of Cambridge

It goes without saying that the University of Cambridge is one of the finest universities in the world and the academic experience of studying here has been the most fulfilling of my life. The blend of world-class academics, with international business leaders and politicians was an engaging and exciting environment in which to learn.  It is great to be taught by the same person who wrote the textbook or paper you are studying, or to attend lectures outside the course by a Nobel Prize winner such as Jose Ramos-Horta or a world expert like Stephen Hawking.

MBA Projects

During the Cambridge MBA, you complete two group consulting projects.  The first is an Entrepreneurial Consulting Project. My group (a Peruvian, a Romanian, a Chinese and an Australian) chose Arca Associates, a small educational consultancy firm, which specialised in post conflict areas. Each of the Associates had massive amounts of international experience and through the interview and research process I was able for the first time gain exposure to this complex and diverse field.

The second was the Major Consulting Project. Both myself and Cesar (my Peruvian friend from the ECP) were keen to further our exposure in international development and gain some actual work experience. We put an incredible team together, for a project with the World Health Organisation. The group had experience of working in Government, with multinationals and in consulting, spoke 6 languages and was from 5 different countries on 4 continents.

The project was to advise the WHO on strengthening their partnership with the World Bank and the European Commission. This entailed a week of over 30 interviewees in Geneva at WHO Headquarters (including Directors and an Assistant Director General), and then we split and some went to Washington to meet with members of the World Bank and others to Brussels to meet with the European Commission. Finally we returned to Geneva to present our findings to around thirty WHO representatives.

These experiences have given me the grounding to pursue my final project for the Cambridge MBA. This Individual Project will be in the area of key success factors in private sector investment in the developing island states of the Pacific. I am currently using the experience I gained through the course to build a project involving multilateral, government and private organisations.

Competing globally

The Cambridge MBA class were asked to participate in the ATK Kearney Global Prize. This is an international consulting competition between many of the worlds leading MBA programs including Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, London Business School and many others. We formed a very mixed team, an English Pharmaceutical Veterinarian, a German Financial Analyst, a New Zealand IT executive and me, an Australian Shopping Centre Executive.

The competition involved progressing through a simulated consulting project where AT Kearney Associates and Consultants played the role of the client. We advanced through the University Final to the European Final, and then onto the World Final against the winners of the US competition. And we won! It was great, the whole of the Judge Institute got behind us!

I also had the opportunity to attend the 34th Annual ISC Symposium in ST Gallen Switzerland. I was made aware of the symposium via a faculty member and proceeded to apply via a competitive application system which involved writing a contribution on this years topic which was "Growth and Development". The symposium was one of the most amazing events I have been to in my life. There were over 500 Politicians, Diplomats, and Business Leaders from around the world, combined with over 100 media and 200 students. This was another amazing opportunity to meet Ministers and Ambassadors, CEO's and fellow students from all corners of the world, and actively participate in debates on the some of the greatest issues facing our societies today.

The Cambridge lifestyle

This is one area that I can't believe you could beat at any other university in the world. The University of Cambridge is everything I was expecting and more from an 800-year-old university with a global reputation.

Being part of a College is a great experience. It really gives you the opportunity to meet people outside of your course and get involved in other activities. I chose to give rowing a go for one term and joined a novice crew. We trained in the mornings and participated in the Fairburn's Cup.

The College Formal Halls are also great and you get to go to other colleges with your class mates as well as your own. These are formal dinners in the great dining halls of the colleges with your gowns on and all the pomp and ceremony. The Colleges also have parties throughout the year, which culminate in the May Balls and June Events. These are amazing. They are enormous themed events in the grounds of colleges.

As for sports, we had a Soccer and Cricket team, which played in university tournaments and most importantly the MBA Olympics vs Oxford. This was held over two days, one day at Cambridge and one at Oxford and fantastic fun.

Relaxing in Cambridge is great as well. Just the fact that you get to cycle everywhere makes it so easy, and even though the course work was intense, we still had time to go to parties, go punting or attend a concert in Kings College Chapel.

Finally there were the class trips arranged by different students. This year we had trips to Dublin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Greece, Barcelona, Rome, and Russia. These were incredible fun and a great opportunity to get to know each other outside of Cambridge.

Your MBA is what you want to make it. The University of Cambridge gave me the opportunities I needed to create the experience I was looking for. In fact it was better than I imagined. I truly believe I would not have had this experience anywhere other that the Cambridge MBA.