A school's programme is much more than just the courses you take. Tongji originally caught my interest because of its top rankings, not only in China but worldwide. I chose this programme over other top Chinese universities because of the staff. The extensive support I received from the MGM programme admissions team during the application process helped me to successfully obtain the Shanghai Government Scholarship. All the administrators and professors here want you to be as successful as possible and are available to help you whenever you need it. When applying to a university, the community was just as important as the academics. You can be at the best university in the world, but to succeed you need a support system. Being on the other side of the world from home, the Tongji administration made sure to be that support system that international students need, not only to adapt to a new environment, but to create a community with other MGM students and to ensure academic success.

One of the best classes I have taken so far in the MGM programme was Business Negotiations in China with Dr Lan Jun. Just like any other class, you learn the theory, but in this class, we also learned the application and cultural implications of not only business negotiations in China, but also cross-cultural business negotiations in general. What stood out for me about this class was how interactive it was; we got to actively apply what we had learned in class. We had several case simulations that we had to do throughout the semester, and since we had students from all over the world, you had to actively apply the cross-cultural negotiation skills that we had previously learned in class. These skills, which you learn not only in theory but also in practice, are skills that I've had to use in my daily life here in Shanghai, interacting with both Chinese and international people. This is one course you will not want to miss.