Dynamic
\dīˈnamik\
Perpetually productive.
Global outlook. Soft skills. Flexible thinking. Core knowledge. A sense of direction. Students need all these things to succeed in today's competitive and rapidly changing world. A McGill education enhances traditional classroom learning with opportunities for hands-on research and community engagement, helping students hone the intellectual and real-world skills needed to face future challenges.
"I'm someone who always knew what she wanted to do," declares Fatoumata Diané. And what she wants to do is help modernize the banking system in her native Guinea. That's the long term. Right now, she's doing a whole lot of time management to juggle her frighteningly busy schedule. Fatim, as her friends call her, is now in her final year of the Desautels Faculty of Management's undergraduate honours Investment Management Program. She begins her days with 7:30 meetings, reaping the finer points of finance from leading professionals. Then she's in class all day, and at her part-time bank job at night.
In between, you'll find her putting in time as president of McGill's Entrepreneurs Society (which won the 2009 Entrepreneurs International Competition at the London School of Economics) or keeping her taekwondo skills sharp (she was a gold medalist at the 2007 Canadian North American Taekwondo Championship) or representing McGill at the national Intercollegiate Business Competition (her team won the 2010 finals).
She's even managed to indulge her passions for travel and languages – at last count, she speaks five – with a study exchange with the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid. Sleep is brief, and deep. You can see why she sought out a school that's a lot like her: flexible and high energy. "I wanted to be part of something diverse, to learn from different people," she says. "McGill students are not only smart, they think. It doesn't help to just know things by heart. You need to be able to think and apply your knowledge and skills."
