Interview: A 2024 Admit to Warwick MSc Business with Marketing

📍 Interviewee background

Cecilia

Bachelor's: Taipei Medical University

Major: Health Care Administration

Average: GPA 3.81 / 4.0

Admitted:

Warwick - MSc Business with Marketing

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📍 The work I put into applying

My undergraduate major is related to business and management, but its coursework is still very different from most traditional business programs, so when applying I had to give up on programs that expect a certain background. I was also worried that my current background wasn't strong enough and would get me screened out. So once I decided to apply to Warwick's MSc Business with Marketing, I spent a lot of time doing my homework, thinking about which qualities to highlight in my application documents that would help someone like me without a business undergrad. For recommendation letters, I specifically asked professors from my business and marketing courses to vouch for me.

📍 Why the UK?

The biggest reason is that you can get a master's degree in just 1 year, which was the best option for me in terms of both money and time. On top of that, I really like European culture and hope to have the chance to live there and travel in depth someday, so I chose the UK.

📍 Why Warwick?

Once I'd settled on a Marketing-related program, I went back and forth between Manchester and Warwick for a long time and searched through countless resources on LinkedIn, Xiaohongshu (RED) and other platforms. I found that each school comes out ahead in some areas, whether in rankings or reputation in the field, so there was no straightforward way to say which was better. So I stopped looking up how society values the two schools and instead went back through their official websites, introduction videos and Instagram pages, thought about what I liked and what suited me, and finally chose Warwick.

📍 SOP/CV/RLs: which comes first?

The order I think works best: CV --> SOP --> RLs

Use your CV first to take a fresh look at your education, experience and highlights. Then combine your most competitive experiences with your motivation for applying and write an SOP that reflects your own thinking and personality. Once the CV and SOP are done, look again at what still needs strengthening, or which soft skills you have but can't easily show in the first two because you lack concrete results. Put those together and ask mentors and teachers to boost you in those areas when they write your recommendation letters.

📍 How to improve IELTS speaking/writing

Lots of online platforms have high-score strategies for speaking and writing shared by people who've been through it (Medium, YouTube, Xiaohongshu). I think it helps to read through these scoring formulas and internalize them first, then keep practicing speaking and writing. That's more useful than just grinding away or mechanically working through the IELTS books on the market.

📍 On-campus or off-campus housing?

I had originally made up my mind to live in on-campus housing. If you pick a low- or mid-tier room type, it's close to campus and cheaper too. But after looking into Warwick's housing application rules, I worried that by the time I was eligible to apply, the room types I wanted would be gone. That would mean spending more money and also missing out on the convenience and entertainment of living in the city center. So after weighing everything, I chose an off-campus apartment with acceptable living conditions and rent.

📍 A few words for everyone

While preparing, even though I had a rough picture of my future career, I still had a lot of doubts and almost gave up applying because I couldn't make up my mind. Now I'm really glad I went in with the mindset of applying seriously first and worrying about it once I had an offer. That's why I didn't make a choice I'd regret. Sometimes the longer we stay stuck overthinking, the harder it may be to see the full picture. So if you're even a little tempted to study abroad, take the first step and start preparing! The answer in your heart will get clearer as you go~

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