Hello dear readers,

You may remember me from my guest post, Texas MBAs Go to Ghana. I had a blast doing it, which wasn’t too surprising since I enjoy writing. There was a need for a permanent blogger from the Houston program, so here I am. I am proud to be representing the Texas MBA at Houston program on this blog among all the full-timers!

At Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall with Dad in 1991

My biographical info blurb sums up who I am, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself further. I am a “Third Culture Kid,” or “someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in a culture other than her own, thus integrating elements of that culture and her own birth culture, into a third culture.” I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. Then, in fourth grade, I moved with my immediate family to Dallas, Texas, and later to Plano, a suburb north of Dallas where I graduated high school. I was almost set to become a Longhorn when fate called: I visited my alma mater for the first time and fell in love with the tall and fragrant Eucalyptus trees growing along Strawberry Creek. Thankfully, Cal had a pretty decent chemical engineering program, too.

View of Cal (and SF) from the Hills

When I graduated, my interests lay with semiconductor processing due to my undergraduate research experiences, so I took a job with a major semiconductor manufacturer in Austin. This allowed me to experience second-handedly life as a UT student since I made friends with people in the Texas MPA program, and thus planted the seed in my mind that I will finally become a Longhorn through a graduate program of some sort. I eventually moved to Houston, since it offered more opportunities for engineers, specifically in the oil and gas industry, where I have stayed ever since.

My decision to apply to the program was the culmination of my work experiences. Right before I applied, I was traveling a lot overseas (e.g., China, Taiwan, Germany) to meet with clients for technical meetings. During these meetings, I used both my technical knowledge and language skills, particularly when interacting with Chinese clients. Sometimes, the business managers accompanied us, the engineers, to visit the clients. That’s when I saw some “behind the scenes” action or the contracts negotiation and business development aspects which got us the work. Intrigued by those aspects, I realized I have the perfect skill set to conduct business, especially in the burgeoning Chinese economy.

However, I needed the business know-how as well as the networking needed to steer my career path from engineering to business. I knew getting an MBA was the way, but which was the one? A single info session sold me on the Texas MBA at Houston program—I saw that it allows me to obtain formal business training while continuing to practice engineering, which I enjoy. Nevermind the prestige of the program or convenience of its location; it was the people that I identified with the most, which shone through during that session. True to word, I have been constantly amazed and inspired by my peers as well as the program’s faculty and staff. When my biggest supporter and confidant, my husband, said he was equally impressed after that info session, with no hesitations I applied to this program only. The rest, as they say, is history.This brings me here to share my experiences for the next two years as a student in the Texas MBA at Houston program, while being a full-time engineer, a wife, and a mother of two spoiled cats as indicated in my bio. Rest assured that my post contents are decidedly mine, in an earnest attempt to offer you, dear reader, insight into the program. With that, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me at cindy.liu@mba14.mccombs.utexas.edu with questions or blog post requests.