I moved from Lagos, Nigeria to the Bay Area to pursue an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. It is a bold move from my part, and I choose to document and share my experience in my own very little corner of the internet for posterity sake. My life is quite structured at the moment, I spend roughly 85% of my time either in academics, career growth and having fun. The remaining percentage are mostly very personal experiences. With that said, this is how the first three months have gone in those facets:

1. Academic Progress

The MBA program at Haas is structured in two mini-terms per semester, and I've just completed Fall A with four core courses. Financial Accounting was the most engaging, thanks to the professor's excellent teaching style. Data & Decisions, while challenging, aligns perfectly with my tech aspirations and did push me to think more analytically. The Microeconomics course has been particularly thought-provoking, forcing me to approach business decisions from first principles. In Leading People, I had unique practical experiences and excellent conversations, including a fascinating interview with Magoosh's CEO that gave us real-world insights into leadership challenges.

Now, in Fall B, I'm taking a new set of courses: Marketing, Finance, and Business Communications. In it's early days, Finance is proving to be quite demanding, but I'm embracing the challenge.

2. Career Development

I've taken a systematic approach to my career planning. Each week, I've been refining my resume - now in its nth iteration - to better communicate my unique experiences and value proposition. I've submitted applications to 19 companies for Product Management roles, though I'm also exploring strategy and operations positions to broaden my opportunities and committing to submit 20 applications per week. The tech recruitment landscape has been exciting and challenging; while I had an encouraging screening call with ServiceNow, I didn’t hear back from the recruiter 🙁.(update: I did, fingers crossed).

I'm also working closely with Haas's Career Management Group, leveraging their resources for resume optimization and alumni connections. I've also been actively attending career events, including sessions with Google and other tech companies, which have helped me better understand what these organizations look for in MBA candidates.

3. Community Building & Fun Moments

These past three months have been rich with experiences beyond academics and career planning. As part of the Oski cohort (named after Berkeley's mascot), I've found myself in a diverse team that's becoming like a second family. I had the joy of hosting them for dinner for my birthday introducing them to Jollof Rice.

October brought a relieving highlight when my girlfriend visited from the UK, giving me the perfect excuse to explore more of San Francisco. Earlier in September, I also joined classmates for an unforgettable trip to Las Vegas – and yes, I stayed away from the gambling tables! Through the Black Business Student Association (BBSA), I've discovered two Afrobeats club in the Bay Area; at least I can have fun Fridays.

The last three months have been excellent, I am generally optimistic as always :)

I uploaded some of my best experiences here, enjoy the watch.