Zhang Yichi: If every step is done well, luck will be naturally by your side.

Major: Accounting        Target school: Duke University (USA)

If you open Zhang Yichi’s introduction during her four-year school life at the university, you will find yourself being surrounded by various scholarships: 2015-2016 first prize of Wenzhou-Kean University (WKU) Academic Award, 2016 Zhejiang Provincial Government Scholarship, 2017 Zhejiang Provincial Government Scholarship, etc.

And finally, the three high-quality offers from Duke University’s Master of Quantitative Management: Business Analysis program, (WUSTL) Washington University’s Master of Business Analysis program and Wake Forest University’s Master of Business Analysis program, including a total of $2,500 scholarships, are the best rewards for her four-year performance in the university.

Never Say No to English Study

Zhang Yichi encountered obstacles when she just began her life at WKU. At first, she felt a little bit difficult in the school’s all-English teaching mode, and her spoken English couldn’t keep up with others. However, she did not fear, and instead she took a different approach and chose one of the most serious English teachers in her freshman year to force herself to improve English. To do this, she had to spend 6-8 hours each time to write a first draft. It was this spirit of “never say no” that helped Zhang rapidly improve her English.

In the summer of 2018, Zhang Yichi was led by Professor Chen Rongjuan to attend the IBSS academic conference held in Waseda University in Japan. At that time, she was able to present her research results in English at the conference, and communicate freely with the participants from all over the world without any problems. Because of her excellent presentation, Zhang’s research results even caused a hot discussion on the spot, and finally these results had then been published in the Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research (RIBER).

Not only that, she participated in the 2015 GatheMing Model United Nations Conference Delegate when she just entered the school and made outstanding contributions to it. In September 2018, her research was even included into the National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program。

Experience Survival in Hangzhou and Support Education in Thailand

Although Zhang has outstanding academic performance, she is not a “nerd” at all. In the school, she not only served as a student ambassador, but also actively participated in various affairs. She was very popular among her classmates and participated in various extracurricular activities.

During the first summer vacation at WKU, Zhang Yichi went to Thailand to support the local education, where her job was to teach local children English and learning, and help these children open their eyes to the world. In the first winter vacation, she participated in the survival experience activity organized by the school, during which she was required to live in Hangzhou for 5 days with only 15 yuan. The final balance from this activity would be donated to the YOU MAKE MY DAY charity event. “At that time, I needed to make money for food and living expense. I had to work from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. On the first day, I made a small mistake. Because I was not familiar with the business, I was deducted for half of my salary. This was a very precious experience for me.” Zhang Yichi said when recalling this experience.

There was also a teamwork experience in the university that made Zhang Yichi unforgettable. At the time, a professor asked them to design a marketing plan for a product. Because she was very interested in this, she tried it without any hesitation. The facts also showed that this attempt was worthwhile. Every classmate gave some good ideas in the brainstorm, and they also obeyed the deadline. Finally, among all the groups, their plan became the only one with full marks.

Reasonable Planning Allows You a Qualitative Leap in the University

Looking back at the four years of school life, Zhang Yichi bluntly said that she liked the quiet learning atmosphere in the University. “School life is a period during which you can get a qualitative leap. If you can seize this opportunity, you will gain more than your peers.” And Zhang Yichi herself was a typical example. When she knew that she had an offer from Master of Management of School of Business, Duke University, her high school teacher posted a passage in the WeChat Moment – she was so proud of this student and could not believe this. You know what, Duke’s Business School ranks among the top schools in the United States.

Never give up or change your mind if you decide to focus on something – Zhang Yichi came down to this sentence when summarize her learning experience at WKU. Since entering the university, she has been pursuing the goal of developing herself in an international background, so besides the main goal of studying, she would also set up different small goals every semester for herself in this framework. In the freshman year, there were not so many professional lessons, so she put her focus on extracurricular activities; and in the second and third year, she mainly focused on improving her internship and academic background, including such indicators as passing the TOEFL and GRE examinations, and preparing for postgraduate entrance exam.

“I know what I should do every semester. I just follow my framework, so things will become organized. And if we can finish everything step by step, things will happen; if every step is done well, luck will be naturally by your side.” Zhang Yichi said.

Zhang Yichi aims at business analysis for her future study. She wants to connect her knowledge with customers and give more people advice.

By Zhou Yucheng