[5 min. read]

I have known Myles Mugo since we were still shedding milk teeth in class 2 and now, 2 decades later I get to share with you an interview with him on our shared birth date about his move to the UK as an undergraduate student and how the initial process was. He is currently living in London.

Q: What was the process to get to the University of Leeds like?

A: Growing up, I definitely knew I wanted to live abroad mostly because of how the entertainment industry glamorized life in Western countries. At first I wanted to go to the US then that changed to Canada so Leeds, or the UK was not even one of my main options. After high school I knew I wanted to study something technical. The options in Nairobi were not wide enough for me especially when I decided to study Chemical Engineering. One of my friends had actively began the process of looking to study abroad and that’s when the idea was planted. I used UNISERV and they had lots of UK universities at the expo I attended so that’s how I ended up deciding on the UK, along with the fact that my friend was going there as well.

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Q: How did you choose Leeds?

A: When choosing the specific university, I was paying attention to different things like student satisfaction, ranking of the university, job prospects after school in that university and things like that. Through that process, I narrowed it down to 5 universities. Leeds wasn’t my top choice, that was Imperial College, but I couldn’t get in because they didn’t accept 8-4-4, even with a bridging course. I narrowed it down to Leeds because they had an easier process than the rest, like Manchester, and accepted my application the quickest.

Q: Did you know from the beginning what course you wanted to do?

A: I think I chose my course the way every 17 year old picks a degree. What did I do well in school? What will give me the best career prospects? What will make my parents proud? I hate that last one but it’s a fact. I literally just googled top programs for Maths, Chemistry and Physics that have good job prospects. In hindsight, I highly doubt, knowing what I know now, that I would pick what I studied and where I studied it but that’s a conversation for another day.

Q: How was your experience when you first got there?

A: My experience in Leeds when I first got there was very surreal. I didn't have time to sit and really process things. I was just like, okay, I just need to get into it. I got into survival mode very quickly, but not necessarily in a negative way. I needed to adapt quickly. Things like; how do I get a train from here to here? I need to open a bank account, how do I do this? Where do I open it? Where am I staying? Also, buying sheets, cutlery, toiletries, all that stuff. Mind you, I’d never lived away from home even in boarding school or anything. And I think the one thing that really helped me out early on was that I decided that I'm just going to have to be an extrovert for a bit because I just felt like I needed other human beings to survive. I needed that companionship and friendship. I'd say my first year at Leeds was probably the easiest since I've moved abroad, including now when I'm working because I felt like I belonged, even though I was the only Black or Kenyan person in my dorm. Everyone was very receptive.

Q: In hindsight, what was the best thing about it?

A: University of Leeds is very strong in its international experience opportunities. They’re really big proponents of doing a year abroad, doing summer schools elsewhere, things like that. And in my second year, they launched this program called the Leeds to New York leadership program where they picked 15 students to go do a leadership course in New York which involved a series of workshops, events, trainings, work experience at various different types of companies, from companies that work on social causes to hardcore corporate companies. So luckily, I got picked, okay, not luckily, it worked hard for it too. And it was honestly, so life changing.

Q: What would you advise someone who also wants to study in the UK?

A: In Kenya we don’t have a strong understanding of what corporate companies look for which is very much brand heavy. I didn’t know which are the best perceived universities in the UK because there’s a difference. A university might have a really good program, good curriculum, and good student satisfaction. But then when you go to JP Morgan and ask them, “Which are the top five universities that you'd hire from?” that university might not be on their list. So I think probably speaking to people who are maybe at points in their career that you want to end up in and hear their opinion and recommendations on where you should study. Another piece of advice: just be open minded. It's very easy for people to sort of stick to what they know. And trust me, it's safe, it's easy, right? But try to meet people outside of your comfort zone as that's how you fully integrate. Also, study hard. It's very easy to get into this hole of, “We’re studying abroad lets just party” sort of habit, you know, but you’ll end up regretting it.

We will here more from Myles in the future as he has lots more to share about #LivinginLondon.

For now, watch this video I made below to celebrate my birthday and reflect on my 20s!

Myles Mugo is a Real Assets Financial Analysts at HSBC and a graduate from University of Leeds with a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical and Energy Engineering and Imperial College with a Master of Science in Management and Finance. You can find him on LinkedIn here.