OwenBloggers: Isaac - MBA '08

Standard Deviations

So i'm going to start a new series of semi-weekly posts titled "Standard Deviations".  It'll be bits-and-bites of information--- likely incoherent, but it's my ill-concieved  attempt to force myself to get my head out of my books and blog more. 

• This weekend was almost a complete bust.  Spent Saturday writing one paper, Sunday another.  With finals coming up and a 5-course class load, i'm trying to clear my plate for this week so i've got ample time to cry myself to sleep over my upcoming Derivatives final. 
• Weekend wasnt a complete bust--- i take that back. Had a lovely dinner with four old friends and one new one.  Fantastic little Italian restaurant named Cafe Nonna.  Highly recommended.  Great wine good food, better people.  After dinner we somehow were talked into going to one of these commercial haunted houses.  The actual haunted house was nowhere near as scary as the customer base.  Standing in line to get in was 100 times more frightful than the freakshow inside.
• Here's a little advice--- dont ask me what i think about the economy.  It seems that since i'm in my second year of an MBA, everybody thinks i can look into some crystal ball and predict where the economy's heading in the next year.  The fact is that even with an MBA, i'm only better at talking through and understanding the complexities of the free market--- the powers of prediction is not a course offered at Owen.  I have a more informed opinion--- but that's it.  Remember, even people who call themselves "economists" really dont have a clue.  If you look the academic economist's track record, they have successfully predicted 15 of the last three recessions.  Simply put--- nobody has an answer, but there are indicators. 
• But like everything in economics, the answer "it depends" even applies to seemingly clear-cut signals.  Take for example the fact the Canadian dollar (the loonie... i get a kick out of that).  is now somewhere at/above the level of the USD.  I bet in the last two weeks i've heard fifty people tell me what a bad thing this is for the economy.  Really?  Are you sure?  If i'm an exporter of US goods, this is great news.  Canada, our largest trading partner, now views US made goods as slightly "cheaper".  So... is that a bad thing?  The point is there's no right answer.  It's kind of like predicting the weather... storm systems are made up of an infinite collection of temperatures and pressures.  If I look at the barometric pressure and it's falling--- does that mean it's going to rain or shine?  It doesnt, but taken into account along with all the other "inputs" into the system, you can make a pretty good guess.  Same thing in economics, except there are many more variables and you can't measure many of them directly...
• A very good friend of mine sent me this link.  It's a somewhat morose topic--- the last lecture of a CMU professor diagnosed with terminal cancer.  However, it's a fantastic presentation and i urge everyone to take the time to watch it.  It really helps you take a step back and check your bearings--- we all need to do that from time to time.

One down, One to go

Well, just took my last final of the year.  That went by very, very quickly; I was recounting the last year at Owen, and to be honest, it seems like about 8 weeks since Orientation.  Whew. 

Finals get easier, the nervousness is still here, but they get easier to take, I think.  Just finished S&P; it was similar in difficulty to core Finance, but I'm a lot more comfortable with my performance now than I was back then. 

I'm going to rest for the next few days, do some work for the company I used to work for full-time, and then head off to Denver for my internship in 2 weeks.  Graduation will be sad; don't want to see the 2nd years go; more than that, don't want to think about the fact that in what will seem like "8 weeks" it will be my time to go...

Question of the Week: What I wish I knew for finals, MOD I

Looking back on MOD I there is a lot of stuff I wish I knew then I know now, especially for test time.

I was talking with an Alumni yesterday and we got on the topic of "passing down tips and pointers" to the incoming class.  He had a great point-  most of the underclassmen you try and "coach' about finals strategy really just turn around and ignore your words of wisdom and end up making the same mistakes you did.  Looking back, I did the same thing when 2nd years tried to give me tips on test taking.

Besides the fact most of you incoming students wont heed this advice, I think it's still cathartic for us 1st year students to share our thoughts on how we'd be better prepared for MOD I finals.

1. It gets easier.  MOD I and MOD II finals are a nightmare.  You'll have at least 3, maybe 5, finals.  For MOD III and MOD IV, I had 3 and 2, respectively. The sheer volume of studying is simply easier to digest later the in the year.
2. It will be very, very, very hard if you want a good grade, very hard if you want an average grade.  You should know now the scores in any given class usually follow a normal distribution; to have an average grade (let's call it a "B") you have to be very prepared; hours and hours of studying, be fully prepared, etc.  To get a good grade (let's call it an A) you have to work more than 3 times as hard.  You have to be over-prepared.  You have to leave the test wishing they would have asked you question X because you were more prepared to answer that question then the question they had on the test. So the good news is, with a reasonable amount of studying you can get a descent grade.  The bad news is, to get a great grade, the amount of work is unreasonable.
3. Grades matter, but then again, they don't.  I've had a slurry of interviews for internships and not ONCE did anyone ask about my GPA.  Then again, for some jobs, like traditional business consulting roles, they probably will ask.  So if you know what you want to do, and you know you want to work for firm X, they might care about your class rank; this means if it's halfway into the semester and you decide then you want to work for firm X, it might be too late.  I'd estimate for about 85% of the jobs and internships, as long as you're getting average grades, you'll be fine.
4. Get a good study group.  Get it early.  I had the best study group the world has ever seen (affectionately known by Sharran as the four wise men).  We each had our strengths; some were rational about setting goals, some of us were constantly pushing the group to work just one more accounting problem... Some knew the finance cold, some knew the best way to frame up the marketing exam (which we ate alive, by the way).  Had I not been in this group, my GPA would be half a point lower than it is right now.  This group will become a part of your life; you'll know their schedules and routines by heart by the end of the first two MOD's.
5. Keep all your notes.  Keep them in order.  Keep them organized.  B-school prof's are pretty good at annotating the entire MOD through their class notes.  It's a tremendous amount of material (my MOD 1 binder is over 4" thick) but if you keep it organized, it's your best friend come test time.
6. Use OneNote or a similar note-taking software.  The Four Horsemen approve OneNote for class outlines and Visio for diagrams/formula sheets.  We had notes for Accounting and Ops that would bring tears to your eyes. Now if we can only get sponsored by Microsoft...
7. B-school exams arent tricky, they're just very very thorough.  Undergrad exams tried to trick you to see if you were paying attention.  B-school exams force you to use what you know to connect the dots and answer the problem.  A typical question, let's say in accounting, will look similar to other cash flow problems you've done, but will require you to "think" about how to structure the answer.  It's not a trick, it just asks you to push back from the table and ask "ok, this is a new way to approach this, but if (X+Y-T/G) =Z, X, T,and Z are given, how would I back-solve to find Z given a logical assumption of G?  That's an oversimplification, but you get the idea.  It's asking you to take what you've been taught and be able to actually work with it to find answers, not just plug in values to formulas.

MIA, AOA's, and other TLA's

Coming into business school I thought I'd experienced a lot, thought I knew a lot, thought i was a pretty capable guy.

Nothing. Nothing prepares you for this.  Business school overtakes your life; it is your life.  You rush from class to studying, group meeting to presentation, and somehow, you don't go insane.  You start to think an Outlook calendar with appointments from 8AM to 10PM with only one double-booking is a "light day".  You ask your friend "is this Monday or Wednesday"... which causes your friend to promptly check his Treo to confirm that yes, it is Monday (ah, but what month?).  I actually got upset with my new version of Outlook because it defaulted my calendar to only the 5 "weekdays" in its main view; come on guys, 5 days isnt enough to do anything... 7 is barely enough. 

Some of you (all two of my loyal readers... hi mom and dad!) might have noticed I haven't written in, oh, two weeks.  TWO WEEKS.  That seems like yesterday. Honest.  It seems like it was only a matter of hours ago.  In two weeks I've given 7 presentations, finished several assignments, read hundreds of pages of textbooks, prepared 4 papers, been in countless meetings, attended the Capitalist ball (think Prom for grownups), had a little fun, slept a little, and managed to find time to, oh, go to CLASS.  I actually traveled to California for a presentation last Thursday, something i penciled into my calendar like most people block off time for a doctor's appointment. I was actually looking forward to the 10 hours of flight time because it gave me time to study.   Back in the "real world" I used to think cramming in a trip to the west coast and 4 important meetings during that same week week made me a "stud"; what a joke.  This last week,I had 3 classes and 2 group meetings the same day i left for California. Efficiency has a totally new meaning for me now. 

I don't tell you accepted applicants this to scare you off; quite the contrary.  Just sit back, relax, and strap in for the ride.  It's going to be hard... sometimes, it's going to take all you've got.  But, in the end, you'll find your abilities far exceed what you had previously thought possible.  Maybe now i've discovered  why most MBA's use TLA's so much; it saves the oh-so-precious time. 

(TLA=Three Letter Acronym)

The best blog idea that didn't make it...

It's hard for me to say what the best un-written blog entry has been for me... there have been a lot.  I tend to sit down and write entries as a cathartic exercise when I'm stressed out or upset about something; typically that occurs about 3 times a day. It's not that I'm a nutjob or drama queen, I'm just a passionate person.  I see something wrong, something unfair, something inconsistent, and i want to change it.  I wont be the guy who just says "that's how it is".  If it's something i care about, I'll do my damnedest to make it better; if i cant do that, at least I'll let others know how i feel.  I don't like to sit back quietly.

Here are two topics i recently started to write, only to decide against actually publishing them to the site. 

1.  The recent jump in rankings Owen experienced makes me nervous.  Whenever there is a huge movement in any kind of poll like that it makes me think one of two things: one, the ranking system is flawed, or two, there have been radical changes at Owen that garnered a better score from the powers that be.  If it's the latter, that's where i get most scared; what could it be that we've done so much better?  What is it that we are doing right today we weren't doing right last year?  Do we know what it is that we've done?  If we don't know what brought on the jump in the polls, how do we keep pushing those programs... or, do we even want to promote certain aspects of the school just to bump the rankings a few slots? The last thing i would want is for the school to suddenly start working the polls rather than focusing on producing more educated and capable MBA's. When i was choosing a school, it was obvious some schools spent 95%  of their energies positioning for the annual school rankings; Owen seemed to spend 95% of its energy on the STUDENTS.  That was a big selling point for me; i hope that doesn't change.

2. Grades or no grades?  There seems to be a debate on campus around the idea of moving from the current 4.0 grade scale to the common B-school grading system of pass/no pass.  I've been giving this a lot of thought and here's what i've come up with.  We should keep the 4.0 grade scale; how else do you know how well you learned the material?  If i get a "Pass" does that mean i know the material better than most?  If i'm an operations concentrator and i get a "Pass" in core ops, does that mean i'm pretty good at ops, or that i'm average, or below average?  If i work my butt off and get a "Pass" and someone else just skims through and gets a "Pass", what does that do for anyone?  What's the sense of accomplishment from a "Pass". 

Business is about quantifying things; at times, it's about quantifying the seemingly unquantifiable.   As MBA's, we're taught all kinds of ways to value money you don't have yet, how to generate cash from cash from cash, how to value a company that hasn't even started making its widgets yet... It seems sacrilegious to then turn around and tell students we're not going to quantify your performance. 

To be honest, the strongest supporters i've heard of for the "pass/no-pass" system are professors; i'm sure grading would be a lot easier... but hey, that's got nothing to do with it, right?

Summer Plans, Spring time, and prepping for next year

I've finally gotten around to cementing my summer plans; I'll be working for a company in Denver in a wide variety of capacities; there's a little marketing, a little customer services work, a little product management.  Company seems like it's got a great work environment and the people couldn't be better.  Perfect fit for me.  It's funny how life completely changes once you land your dream internship; classes seem less stressful and there isn't that constant worry that you wont find the perfect job.

Denver should be a lot of fun; my wife and I are looking at condos now; you forget how hard it is to find short-term housing.  If anyone has any ideas where to live (furnished) from mid-may to early August, drop me a line at owenbloggers@gmail.com. 

Spring is here and it's absolutely gorgeous around town; mid 60s to 70s, sunshine, just beautiful.  Nashville springtime weather has to be one of the best things about Owen; it's just perfect. 

Prospective students are contacting us frequently with all the typical questions; what will it be like?  What is it like in XXXX concentration?  Where should I live?  When should I arrive in Nashville?  What should I be reading to prepare for class.

Everybody's got their list of questions, but I figured I'd start with the basics.  If you're an admitted student for the class of 2009, here's what I'd be doing today:

1. Take it easy.  Relax.  Travel some.  The first MOD's going to be a meatgrinder.  Rest up.
2. Look into the federal loans and get that paperwork started.  FAFSA registration and enrollment can be confusing.   Get an early start.
3. Start networking.  I didn't do this; wish I had.  Start contacting our AOA's here at OwenBloggers and emailing back and forth; we'll get an email distribution going if there are enough people.  Just email OwenBloggers@gmail.com and we'll start a list.  Getting to know you classmates early takes some of the edge off the first few days of orientation.
4. TAKE THE MATH PREP COURSE!!! Even if you don't need the brush-up on math skills--- do it just to get back into the studying groove.
5. Start looking at apartments in Nashville.  If you have some in mind and want our opinions, email and OwenBlogger and ask what the property is like.

So, you've got 5 things to do in the next month... that's not too bad.  You've got plenty of time to prepare/study this summer; take this time to breathe a deep breath and recharge. 

This kind of stuff makes me worry about our educational system...

The below article is is from Wired.com:

University of Michigan Identifying Students to RIAA, According to Email

Today, I received an email apparently sent by Paul Howell, Chief Information Technology Security Officer of the University of Michigan, to all of the university's faculty and staff.  In the email, Howell writes that the university is in the process of identifying to the RIAA the [at least] twelve students belonging to the IP addresses on the RIAA's hit list, in cooperation with the organization's new anti-file-sharing initiative.  The email also said that the university will notify the students that their names are being turned over to the RIAA.

Although Howell had already left the office by the time I called, University of Michigan staff confirmed that a letter regarding file sharing was sent to students; I hope to speak with Howell tomorrow for more detail.

Here is the full text of the email:

--------------------------
On Friday, March 9, and Saturday, March 10, the University of Michigan received notification that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) intends to sue or receive settlement from more than a dozen members of the U-M community engaged in unlawful peer-to-peer file sharing of music over the Internet. The RIAA has designated these individuals through IP addresses, and the University is in the process of identifying and notifying them.

This action is part of an increased effort to curtail unlawful peer-to-peer file sharing. As a result, individuals who engage in this practice are more likely than ever to be identified and sued by the RIAA. Most have settled these lawsuits out-of-court, typically for $4,000-$4,500.

The University does not condone unlawful peer-to-peer file sharing. Individuals who engage in it are violating a variety of University policies including Standard Practice Guide 601.7 - Proper Use of Information Resources, Information Technology, and Networks at U-M. This reminder also has been sent to all faculty and students.

Faculty, staff, or students who have installed peer-to-peer file sharing programs on their computers and are concerned that they might be unwittingly sharing files illegally should visit the University of Chicago's useful web page that describes how to disable file sharing on a variety of programs (http://security.uchicago.edu/guidelines/peer-to-peer/).

U-M maintains a web page (http://www.copyright.umich.edu) that describes the University's position on illegal sharing of copyrighted materials and also includes a growing list of FAQs.  All members of the University community are encouraged to study the materials on this page.

Lawful downloading of music is possible through sites such as Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Ruckus, etc. Details about a number of these sites are available at:
http://mp3.about.com/od/wheretobuymusic/a/all_profile.htm and http://mp3.about.com/od/freemusicdownloads/tp/freeandlegalmp3.htm.

Paul Howell
Chief Information Technology Security Officer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, help me out here; I want to understand this better.  I don't really have a stance on the RIAA/filesharing debate; I see both sides of the coin.  But in this case, what in the world is UM thinking?  Read the email very carefully--- the RIAA "intends to sue" these students... they haven't actually even brought a case against them.  UM is hunting down and identifying the students and turning them over to the RIAA--- so they're the police now?  

If I have a problem with an Owen student because they keep posting derogatory comments on OwenBloggers, and I decide I might sue them, I can just ask IT for their identity?  If I write something here on OwenBloggers (a non-Owen site) that someone believes is defamatory to them, and they "think" they might sue me, they can ask Owen to identify the PC that accessed OwenBloggers to post that entry? 

It's disheartening to see an educational institution such as UM forget that in this country we have a legal system; if the RIAA wants to know the identities of these students, we have courts and we have subpoenas.  Where will it end?  If I think a classmate that doesn't care for me is writing emails to my prospective employers telling them what a jerk I am and not to hire me, can I waltz into the IT department and demand this person's identity because I *might* sue them?  How about if someone quotes my work on OwenBloggers on another website and doesn't give me credit for it?  Can I ring up their hosting service and demand their name and address? 

Where does it end?  You used to be able to count on your educational institutions to at least err on the side of caution... Now, it looks like they work for the recording industry.

Mod IV first impressions

I'm going to like this MOD.  I'm really really going to like this MOD. 

So I'm taking Professor Owen's "Managing Innovation", Securities and Portfolios, Survey Design and Analysis (marketing), and Business and The World Economy (macroeconomics). 

My classes are really, really good.  David Owens is my new favorite professor.  His energy in the classroom, the way he engages the students is fantastic. 

I've got my internship all lined up for the summer, I'll be working for a software company performing a range of duties from working on new projects to marketing.  Sounds like a blast.  Now that the worry of finding an internship is past, I feel like I can take a deep breath and really focus on what I want to focus on.

My family is in town this weekend; Kim's mother and father are here for the first time since we've been married.  I'm excited to have them here and the timing couldn't be better, the first week or so of this MOD is a little less aggressive, so I'll have time to take them to Loveless cafe, show them around Owen, and possibly play a little golf (for only the second time in my life...).

Owen wins (another) case competition

Owen's been in the news a lot lately; i like it when we whip up on other schools, especially in areas that aren't considered our "specialties". It seems like every case competition we go to we either place 1st or 2nd, and as you can tell by the picture, we look good doing it too.

---

Congratulations to Kristin Arterburn, Michael Augustine, Mark Becher, and Denver Glazier for their second place finish last Friday at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Real Estate Development Case Competition.  This is the premier MBA real estate development case competition and it draws students from many of the top real estate programs in the country.  In the span of two days teams were tasked with creating a full development plan, including a financial analysis, project design, and a project timeline.  The competition included 15 top business schools with Owen, NYU, Emory, and Wharton competing head to head in the final round.  The Owen team gave a dominating performance but were narrowly edged out by NYU.  Other competing schools included: Chicago, Columbia, Tuck, Georgia, Ross, Kellogg, Rice, McCombs, UCLA, Kenan-Flagler, and Darden.

Dean Lehman's top 10 takeaways from Strategic Management 355

Our Strategic Management course came to a close Thursday and Dean Lehman (wearing his professor's cap this time) left us with a fantastic list of takeaways.  I was so engaged in the discussion I didn't have time to take them all down, so he was gracious enough to email them to me after class.

It was one of those moments when I was sitting there thinking "this is why I went to business school". When one gets the opportunity to hear someone like Dean Lehman, seasoned veteran from the business and academic world, speak from his heart and share some of his most important life lessons...  it's the kind of thing you experience just a few times in your life.  Great, great, great way to end a class.

So here's the list; I'm only going to share the first 5 for now;  you'll get the rest of the list later, so stay tuned!.

 

10. The world really is flat!

If you aren’t thinking about the impact of globalization on your business now, you will be.

9. Good strategy requires a leap of faith.

It takes time to determine if your strategy will succeed. I takes guts not to change course too soon.

8. Strategies need to be simple to understand and easy to articulate.

A successful strategy is one that everyone in the company can understand. The most elegant can be described in only a few words. If it takes too long to explain, it’s probably not a great strategy.

7. Truly sustainable advantage is an elusive goal.

Most every strategic move can be emulated by your competition, very little is truly sustainable. You need to constantly work hard to stay ahead.

6. Strategies must be internally consistent.

All of the operating levers of a strategy need to reinforce each other. If one area of the company is out of synch, it will have severe ripple effects across the company.

5. There are many potentially successful strategies even in the same market.

There is no “perfect strategy” for any given market. If executed well, there are many ways to succeed.

Dinner: a required part of the MBA learning experience

So I always knew your education extends outside the classroom, but I never stopped to think how far it would go.

So I grew up in middle America, small town, public high-school, the whole nine yards.  Growing up I new maybe a dozen people who weren't your corn-bread, apple pie white people types.  My family was very progressive and always fostered experiences that put me outside my "cultural comfort zone", but being around people from different backgrounds was still an uncommon event.  

As I got older and moved off to college, my world opened up to different cultures; I now knew and interacted with individuals from all over the globe, but these people were mere acquaintances, not really close friends.  You learn about these different cultures, but you don't really get to know the people and how their backgrounds shape who they are and how they approach life. 

Fast forward to business school and now the tables have turned. I'm immersed in other cultures, Asian, European, Indian, Latin.  Everywhere I go, every group I'm in, I get to spend tremendous amounts of time with people whose lives have been so different from mine a times it seems we're from different planets.  You learn so much seeing how others approach problems, how they phrase answers, how they resolve conflicts.  You begin to realize that you've viewed life through this cultural lens, and, lo and behold, there are better ways of looking at things.  There are better ways at approaching problems.  For those of us who can see these differences and learn from them, you start to realize there's a lot more out there that you just don't know. 

What brought this all into perspective for me was a dinner we had at my house last weekend. My wife and I had over 4 of our closest friends; we ate, we told stories, we had a great time.  About halfway through the night I'm sitting there and I realize in our group of 6 we have 4 different nationalities and several different religions.  Yet, we're sitting around a table that must look like something from a UN meeting, and we're talking about the same issues, laughing at the same jokes. I had more in common with these 6 people than I have in common with friends of mine from back home.  You realize for all our differences, we're basically the same people, but, we have so much to learn from each other.  

The first book we all read for Owen was "The world is Flat" by Thomas Friedman.  Yes, Thomas, it is very, very, flat, and through it's flattening you can now see that what you thought you knew before is but a sliver of the world we live in now. 

Psst... Check out the new kid...

OwenBloggers recently introduced a new writer, Serdar, to the Owenbloggers family.  Serdar is an admitted Owen applicant and he'll be joining the class of 2009 in the fall of this coming year. 

Check out Serdar's page, and leave him a comment welcoming him to the team!

Question of the week: Reader Supported

Our Editor-In-Chief, Sam, asked his readers to pose some questions about Owen, and he'd respond to them.  I'm also going to answer these questions from my point of view.  If anyone has other questions they'd like to ask, email them to Owenbloggers@gmail.com, or leave them in the COMMENTS section below each post and they'll be answered within 24 hours.

· Can an Owen student survive without a car?

Yes.  Absolutely.  Many students, something along the lines of 20%, don't have a car at Owen (or, don't need one).  Vanderbilt located basically downtown Nashville, a city of about 1.5 million people.  First, there are abundant housing options around campus, and all of them are tailored to student living.  Second, there are dozens of grocery stores and retailers within just a few miles; Green Hills Mall (very trendy) is just 5 minutes away.  Even if you don't have a car, a fellow student could take you there when you're in desperate need of a shoehorn or plunger or something.  Third, Nashville has a pretty descent public transportation system and taxis are everywhere... I personally bought a house about 15 minutes outside town, so I couldn't survive without a car, but I know many people who do.

· Is it realistic to find reasonably-priced housing within walking distance to Owen?

You bet.  I was an undergrad at Vanderbilt some years ago (making me officially a "double-dore"), and so I've got a pretty good idea of the off campus accommodations.  You can find anything from around $500/month on up to $3000/month; this is a metropolitan area, so prices aren't rock bottom, but you can find housing at about any price point.  Finding a walking-distance apartment is no problem at all.

· Have you ever seen a professor do a keg stand at the Thursday night shindigs?

No.  But I would definitely pay to see a professor perform said act. 

The Stress-O-Meter

One of the first things I always asked 2nd years or Alumni was "how bad does it get" or, in other words, what will my first 2 MODS look like?  Will it get harder, then easier?  Will MOD I be more work than MOD II?  Is there ever a break?  I'd heard horror stories about the workload and time commitments (they were 95% true), but I never had someone sit me down and walk me through the first 2 MODS. 

So I decided to make a cheat-sheet for all of you that are interested.  This graph attempts to depict what it's going to be like, at least from my perspective.  My colleagues will argue and want to redraw the thing; let them--- this is purely from my vantage point.  I can only hope MOD III and beyond are more linear and homoscedastic, but we'll see...

Back in the real world

Well, I've been out for about a month now and there are some things I've learned.

1.  Internet is not a want it's a need.  At my parents house, they don't have highspeed Internet.  I felt cut off from the world, I felt I could barely communicate. I now know what life was like back in the 1950's.  It's scary how much I depend on my PC.

2.  I have learned more in 6 months than I learned in 4 years of college.  I look at the world a little differently than I did just a few months ago.

3.  Family is important; at B-school, it's often a single-minded focus on careers and education and success.  Being able to spend time with friends and family is worth a lot more than that raise or end-of-year bonus for spending more time at the office.  I hope I never lose sight of that.

Enough rambling; off to Marketing camp...  John Hamilton has put on a hell of a program this year, I'll fill you all in later.  For those coming to Owen next year, even if you don't concentrate in Marketing, DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT.

We are listening...

With admissions season in full swing, our traffic around the site has started to pick up considerably.   We know hundreds of people read this site each day, but we get very little direct communication from our valued readers. 

We have an email address set up just for readers of this site.  The box is monitored constantly by OwenBloggers staff, and we typically respond within just a few hours.  We're open to anything; questions about life, school, admissions, the economy, whatever... Just drop us a line.

 

Our email address is  Owenbloggers@gmail.com

 

Also, at the bottom of each blog entry is a "comment" section.  We welcome readers to comment on our entries or ask us questions.

The OwenBloggers team is dedicated to de-mystifying the B-school experience, so just email us!  We always respond to your questions or comments.

Weekly Roundup: What would I change about Owen?

There is both a long and a short answer to this question.   I think there are very few major things I would change about Owen, but there are some that come to mind.  I'll list them below in no particular order...

1.  Admissions Staff.  I think I speak for everyone when I say the experience we receive from the admissions staff is one of the reasons we come to Owen.  These individuals were some of the most likeable, impressive people I met while applying to business school.  However, once you get here, they kinda drop off the face of the earth.  Where did you guys go?

2.  Books.  Ok, I know this is sort of a pet peeve of mine, but it seems like the professors consistently assign at least 3-4 very expensive books per Mod that will do nothing but collect dust.  I'm a very cash-strapped student; blowing $250 per Mod on books I will never use is a complete waste.  Classpacks are great, but when they cost as much or more than actual hard-bound books, something just doesn't add up. 

3.  The climate inside Owen.  I say climate because that's exactly what it is; a climate.  There are seasons; summer, winter, spring and fall--- these seasons change roughly 3-4 times per week.  Yesterday, we were so hot we had to open the door to our study room just to keep from sweating.  Today, my hands are numb it's so cold. I would be willing to bet it's a 30 degree temperature change in 24 hours.  Amazing.  Annoying, but amazing. 

4.  Study Room Reservations.  This is a huge problem.  I cant even begin to tell you how much this bothers me.  We have about 25 study room scattered around Owen; you sign up in the library for one of these rooms in 3-hour blocks. If you show up at 10Am to reserve a room for that day; forget it, they'll all be booked.  But, a discerning Owenite will know how it really works- just show up when you want a room, and you'll find that about 1/4 of them are empty.  Go back to the book, and you'll find that the person that should have one of the rooms is actually signed up for 3 rooms at the same time.  I've mastered the artform of figuring out who these offenders are and finding their name in the book; I go to the room they should have and they're never there.  Supposedly we're automating this process, but I've been hearing that since orientation...

Absolutely Exhausted

 

 

Sitting here in the 810 Cafe (breakroom/coffee shop in Owen) about to fall asleep.  I've gotten less than 4 hours of sleep the last 3 nights.  Cracked open the first Redbull of the day; I'm sure it wont be the last. 

Accounting test didn't go well... woah, deja vu.  But, despite that, I left the exam smiling; our accounting Professor, Richard Willis, is an absolute riot.  He's an excellent teacher, but he also throws in a little humor to boot.  Today, for our "midterm celebration", he wore a full tuxedo to class.  I kid you not.  Somebody took a picture; I'll post it later.  I almost lost it.  I walked into class all stressed out--- only to see the prof up there in formalwear. 

Made the test a lot easier to take- thanks Willis. 

You gotta love that kind of energy.  We have a lot of that around here, and it's one of the best things about Owen.  Profs here arent snooty self-involved academics; most are real people who really care about students learning the material and enjoying the experience of B-school.  It makes you feel like you're part of a community.

Off to Finance... thank god the test in that is weeks away.

Finally! A peaceful weekend.

 Finally got some quiet time this weekend.  First week of MOD II was last week, and although we had 2 projects due today, I still managed to stay ahead and get some free time this weekend.  It's amazing how much your perspective changes when you enter B-school.  My last job was high stress and high workload, but I still had some free time at night and on the weekends.  B-school takes all that away--- you're left with maybe one day of the weekend that you can have to yourself.  Many times, you're working 7 days a week.

I got lucky this week and didn't have any work Saturday.  It was homecoming weekend, but I really don't care about that kind of stuff, so Kim and I got to spend all day together. We went to see The Departed, good flick, but really violent towards the end.  Kinda ruined it for me.  Not to mention movie prices are up to $9.50 per person; when did that happen?

This week is not too bad, the finance knurds are off to Wall Street Week, some conferences are coming up this weekend, so it's really nice and quiet around here.  I hope to get caught up in Operations and Accounting II.  A friend just reminded me the midterm in Accounting II is in 2 weeks; yeah, we've had class 3 times and we're already getting ready for the midterm.  There's a special place in hell for the person that came up with the MOD system. 

Taking a day off this weekend, going to the movies, or just spending time with your friends are so vital in B-school it's not even funny.  You could burn out quickly if you don't take some time to recharge and de-stress.  Go to a concert, go camping, get out of the library (which, coincidentally, is where I'm writing this...). 

Ferris Bueller said it best: "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it...". 

 

Technorati tags: Owen, MBA, The Departed

Back to school...

Business school is a lot like the plot of the movie Billy Madison.  You're in a set of classes for what seems like 2 weeks, covering all the material you thought you would learn in about a year, you take a round of tests, and you move to new, more challenging classes.  Billy moves through his classes so quickly, he covers grade school to high school in like 6 months. 

It was humorous in the film to watch Billy go from eating glue in kindergarten to learning 11th grade algebra in such a short amount of time, but to be honest, B-school moves a whole lot faster.  The only difference is Adam Sandler's character had a heck of a lot more fun than I'm having. 

Just last week I finished classes for Accounting I, Stats, and Econ.  I had from Thursday to Sunday off (although I had to work on a mock business plan...), and now I'm sitting in a whole new round of courses that build on what I learned in the first MOD.

Now I'm in Accounting II, Finance, Operations, and Marketing.  It's scary to think that in 3 weeks I've got midterms in some of these courses.  Really scary.

But you know what, you cant be scared... you gotta get out there, learn what you can, work hard, and find that ****-ing dog!

Technorati tags: Owen, MBA, Vanderbilt, Billy Madison

Group Think

Think you're ready for business school? 

• Gmat Score?  Check...
• GPA?  Check...
• Work Experience?  Check...
• Proven Ability to Succeed?  Check...
• Group Think...  i'll get back to you.

Most of you B-school buddies will have great Gmat scores, awesome work experience, and great undergrad performance.  That will get them through about half of B-school.  The other half will be a little more challenging.

If you've been working in a company where you're more of a "cog in the wheel", and didn't spend a lot of time depending on teams to get projects accomplished, you'll want to work on your group dynamics.  In B-school, fully half of your major projects will be done in groups of 2-5 people.  You'll end up studying with others about half the time... if you struggle working effectively in teams--- get over it.  It's something you're going to have to get used to.  If you can't find a way to work with others, your grades will suffer accordingly.

 

Technorati Tags: MBA - Owen - Vanderbilt

How do you want to spend YOUR Saturdays from now on?

Remember that whole Fridays off thing?  Yeah... well, I have some news for you.  Saturdays aren't looking to good either.

Here's where I've been since 9:30 AM.  Walker library has about 20 awesome meeting rooms with whiteboards, so we camp out here all day.  I spend about as much time in these little suites as I do at home, so I've sent an email off asking if I can have my mail forwarded.

(Excuse the terrible resolution of my camera phone)

 

On the bright side, I'll be going to the tailgate party at three...

 

Technorati Tags: Library - Saturdays - Owen - MBA

For all of you overachievers out there

Now, there's very little chance I would have taken advantage of this in the year leading up to B-School, but had I taken the time to look over core concept material, I'd have been in much better shape coming in.  Turns out many of the core textbooks in B-school have online resources.  Back in undergrad we had some online addenda to the coursework, but they weren't very useful... thankfully, many publishers now realize the value of putting content online.

Two of my core books provide open access to these resources; Accounting and Stats. Oddly, you don't need a login or anything... just follow the link.  If you're the overachieving type, you could start looking over the material now to prepare for year one. 

•   Essentials of Business Statistics
•   Financial Accounting

These are tremendous free resources.  I can guarantee if you spend even 2 hours per week looking over the sites before coming to school, you'll find your first few core classes are much easier.

---If anyone has other free online resources, email me at Isaac (dot) rogers (dot) 2008 (at) owen.vanderbilt.edu and i'll post them...

Dont let 'em fool ya

So i'm sure you've heard by now how many business schools get fridays "off"... WOOHOO!!!, right?

Wrong. 

Right now i'm sitting in the library with 50 of my closest friends other students, studying away.  It's a beautiful Friday afternoon, i'm sure most of my corporate colleagues are breezing through the last 30 minutes of their day and are then off to dinner or drinks or something fun.  No, not me.  I've got a Friday night jam-packed full of Accounting, Stats, and some Economics. 

It's quite the bait-and-switch they've got going; "come to business school, 4 days a week!".  I should have known something was up with that. 

Just, for your sake, dont plan to have fridays off--- ok? 

Another pearl of wisdom

So, any of you thinking about coming to business school... make sure you get your affairs in order before starting classes. 

I've got a wedding to go to this weekend; it's in town, it's just an afternoon, but, it's a huge dent in my study schedule.  I've had to work extra this week to lessen the load this weekend, and I'll be behind on studying come Sunday.

My advice is; if you've got a wedding, a move, a vacation, planned for your first few months at business school... forget it. There just isn't enough time.  Get everything settled before school starts. 

I lived in Nashville before classes started, so for me, the transition was simple.  If you are moving a family here, I'd get into town 3 weeks before orientation to get settled in, figure out where to buy groceries, get your drivers license, etc... otherwise, you'll be unable to do these things once school starts.

Bombed the Accounting test...

Had my accounting test yesterday; let's just say I dont feel all that confident about the results.  I knew the material, I mean, I KNEW the material, but that didnt seem to matter.  I got into the test and folded like a cheap lawn chair.

 

The only reason I'm not posting this from the bottom of a bottle is because I aced my Managerial Statistics mid-term. 

 

Got a wedding to go to this weekend--- will be a nice break from reality... I'm sure that feeling of levity wont last long.

Accounting--- here's a tip

So here's a quick tip before my accounting mid-term. 

If you havent taken accounting before, or if it's been a long time since you have, do yourself a favor before going to B-school and take a refresher course.  To understand accounting, you need repetition.  There just isnt enough time to practice journal entries and depreciation and everything else in the short time we have here.  Build a good understanding of the mechanics before you enter, and it'll make your classwork much easier to handle.