Shelina Dhalla

Having developed a career as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist, Shelina Dhalla, had tried several different courses and found they weren’t helping her make an impact to her career as she expected.  Shelina, wife and mother to 3 boys, had always been a continuous learner, and whilst the thought of starting her MBA felt daunting, she decides it was time to take the plunge.

Starting her MBA in 2021 and already having the Graduate Certificate of Management under her belt, we spoke to Shelina at our most recent visit to Canada to find out more about her experience as an MBA student so far.

What was your motivation to start your MBA?

I had done some other courses and I thought they would get me further, but they didn’t. And the more I tried and I realised, you know what? I need something more than this.

Have you overcome any initial fears you had?

I hadn’t been in formal school since I graduated at 20 in 2000. And then I had just been doing a few courses here and there but to be in a school, I thought, will I even be able to do this? That was my biggest fear. And then just to see if I still had it in me basically.

There’s a lot of support services and systems in AIB that make it really easy for you. Everything is very step by step. I had a lot of questions. I called Student Central, and they were able to answer all of them.

Another one of the big ones was also the cost for joining. And AIB made an exception for me because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do this at all. So, I said, ‘you know what, I want to pay course by course rather than just for the entire program’. I had thought what happens if I do one course and I completely flunk? Then what am I going to do with the rest of it? So, they’ve set me up course by course. I pay each course as soon as I finish and then I pay.  And I’m down about 5 now and I am definitely going to finish everything.

So, they were very helpful in making sure that everybody succeeds, and they accommodate you. So, it was great.

What do you say to others that may not be sure about starting?

Tell them to pick up the phone and speak to somebody at AIB. That’s it.

Just speak to somebody and they will answer all your questions. I had a lot of questions. I called Student Central and they were able to answer everything – just pick up the phone.

Explore more AIB student stories.