Every year, new international students are welcomed to Halifax universities; Dalhousie alone counts students from over 115 countries among its student body. One such international student is Dina Ding. Dina is a bright and articulate student originally from Beijing, and currently completing her MBA. Her varied career interests include marketing, strategic planning, and corporate finance. This week, Coburg Consultants sat down with Dina and chatted about how Halifax is the perfect fit for international students wanting to experience Canadian culture for the first time.

Q: What are the main reasons you chose Dalhousie for your MBA?

I chose Dalhousie mainly because it has one [eight-month] residency, which I think is appropriate since I want Canadian work experience to decide if I want to stay after graduation, but don’t want to spend time looking for jobs multiple times, such as McMaster’s co-op.  The other reasons are the small class size and reasonable tuition comparatively.

Q: What advice do you have for international students thinking about moving to Halifax?

I would suggest incoming students prepare more of the business-related knowledge before coming since I had a hard time transitioning business field study initially, especially in English. Another piece of advice is to understand the Canadian educational system better, especially how grades are earned in each class. I didn’t pay any attention to the different weighting of assignments and exams and learned a tough lesson.

Q: How does Halifax fit into your Canadian journey?

I traveled to Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Montreal before coming to Halifax; I traveled to a couple of cities in Maritime provinces too. After graduation, I’ll live in Halifax for a while and then probably move away. I haven’t decided if I want to move to other places in Canada or back to China.

Moving to Halifax definitely does open doors to the rest of Canada! Whether you want to spend a few years studying here before moving to Toronto or Vancouver or spend the rest of your life in Halifax, it’s all possible.