Completing the Foundation Year and gaining a graduate scheme at Accenture

After recently graduating from WBS, we caught up with BSc Management (with Foundation Year) alumna Taiyla to reflect on her time at WBS and discuss her next steps.

Hi everyone, I’m Taiyla and I participated in the third cohort of the Foundation Year programme at WBS in 2017/2018. Following the successful completion of this programme, I went on to study BSc Management and have recently graduated with a First Class Honours.

The main way I believe that the Foundation Year helped me transition into university life is its ability to allow students to adjust to the new location and campus-based life. I found myself to be at a real advantage by the time the first year of my BSc Management course began as I was extremely familiar with the ins and outs of campus life, including not only where the best social nights were but also how to navigate the large campus. This advantage may be overlooked, but it allowed me to focus more on my degree rather than struggling to find my feet in a completely new environment whilst adjusting to a new course, which is a common experience for many first-year students. Additionally, the Foundation Year modules helped me understand which subject areas I would be interested in pursuing further upon starting the BSc Management course.

During my Foundation Year, I found that two modules were particularly useful in developing my academic skillset. The first was Academic Practice, where I learnt about the foundations of creating strong arguments and developed my critical evaluation skills. Upon completion of this module, I discovered that each aspect taught on this module was pivotal for producing high-quality work, whether it was an essay or a presentation, throughout my degree. The second module was Problem-Solving in Organisations. This module played a more significant role in providing a foundation for the content I would be exposed to during the BSc Management course. Some subject areas included classical management theories, design thinking and organisational behaviour. This module also involved my first ever group project named the City of Culture project, where I worked in a team with 4 students to create a way to boost intercultural awareness within Coventry and support Coventry’s Refugee and Migrant centre. My group and I placed first out of 5 projects and received the highest grade for producing a recipe book filled with recipes from different countries and colouring book designs in addition to raising over £100 through our GoFundMe page. I enjoyed these engaging modules so much that I ranked first in my cohort for both modules. 

The main thing I enjoyed about my Foundation Year was the small community I was able to build. I made close connections with some of my peers, which helped me navigate the BSc Management course given that the transition from Foundation Year was one only my fellow FY students could relate to. Additionally, I created relationships with some influential staff members within WBS particularly within the Undergraduate CareersPlus Team who supported me in effectively preparing for my virtual assessment centre for Accenture’s graduate scheme. Both the relationships with peers and members of staff helped me establish a multi-level support system to aid my journey in WBS.

Thankfully, during my final year, I was able to secure a Consulting Analyst graduate scheme with Accenture, starting in February 2022. During this graduate programme, I’ll be exposed to a range of industries from financial services to communications, media and technology in project-based work where I will support clients, from the world’s largest companies, who need help solving their most significant and challenging business problems.

If I had to describe my journey at WBS in three words I would say:

• Development – At WBS, you are encouraged to step outside of your comfort zone through a variety of assessment styles. For example, group projects were unfamiliar to me outside of a sporting environment until I started university and it helped me, alongside my participation in extracurricular activities like the SSLC, develop strong teamwork and communication skills.
• Resilience – As with all journeys, they have their highs and lows, and my WBS journey is not exempt from this trend. Navigating the second half of my penultimate year and my entire final year during a pandemic was a challenging yet enlightening experience that allowed me to adapt to a new style of learning (i.e. virtually) without compromising my grades.
• Opportunity – WBS is a business school full of opportunities, which is one of the reasons it is so highly regarded globally and why it appealed to me initially. There is always something for students to be involved in that suit a range of interests and these experiences help provide students with a valuable skillset that will strengthen their future applications to the world’s best companies.

For students looking to join the Foundation Year programme, I would say that there is no other opportunity as valuable as this for students from widening participation backgrounds. You will be pushed to develop academically, personally and professionally, which will leave you with a toolkit to excel upon starting either the BSc Management or BSc Accounting & Finance course and beyond.

If you successfully gain a place on this competitive programme, never lose sight of the end goal, i.e. gaining a place on one of the formal undergraduate courses and be aware that you will only get out of the experience that you put in. In other words, make effort with every task and opportunity you are presented with and you will surely reap the benefits!

Our Foundation Year course is designed to prepare you for degree-level study. In a supportive environment, we are here to help you realise your ambitions and unleash your full potential.

Find out more about our Foundation Year course.