OwenBloggers: Isaac - MBA '08

And just like that... It's over.

Just walked out of my last class at Owen. 

I'm not going to take your time to bore you with all the various thoughts and emotions running through my head right now.  Suffice it to say, it's nothing if not a sad day.  Two years has streaked by in what seems like a three week period.  Nothing prepares you for the sudden realization that all the friends you've made, all the life-changing experiences, all the restless nights in the library cramming for Corporate Val--- It's all over.  It's right now, in this very instant, that i wish i could hit the "reset" button and flash back to the summer of 2006. 

This chapter in my life is closed.  If you've ever read a really great book and you stumble on that one chapter that seems to clear up all the questions and set the stage for the rest of the story, well, that's pretty much the feeling i have right now.  I feel like the chapter in my life known as Owen will define where the rest of my own story will take me.

Goodbye Owen--- I will truly miss you and look back on my days here as some of the best of my life.

Second Year MBAs: The Dukes of Moral Hazard

The two years spent in an MBA program are likely the most dynamic (even unstable) years in your life. The first year at Owen is heavily concentrated in the Core, which basically takes your life and sucks it down into a deep, dark hole.  You’ll spend the first three MODs working harder than you ever can imagine.  100 hour weeks become the norm, you begin to feel like the library should become your permanent mailing address, and you’re bouncing back and forth among Finance, Marketing, Operations, Accounting, and almost every other business subject you can imagine.  The workload is unmanageable, but somehow you prioritize your deliverables and you make it through.

Along comes MOD IV, and all of the sudden the workload gets a little lighter.  The deliverables are, shockingly, manageable.  You start to maybe even take a Saturday off.   You’ve likely decided on an Internship and start shopping around for housing.  The Capitalist Ball (aka, Prom) lets everyone blow off a considerable amount of steam.

Then, all the sudden, your first year is done.  You end up doing a little traveling before your Internship begins.  You move to a new city, meet new people, and fill your days with new experiences.  You complete your Internship and then pack up and move back to Nashville and prepare for your second year.
You attack your Second year with much the same ferocity you took into your first year.  You’re ready to get back to academia and resume filling your brain with information and proving your aptitude.  You’re also very much ready to get back and stick it to the first years with all of your accumulated knowledge. 
But, then… Something happens.

Sometime between November and February, the climate shifts.  The majority of the class is now holding at least one job offer.  Many people have already accepted. You then look at your GPA and begin calculating the chances you’d be able to actually gain or lose even one tenth of a point.  And then it hits you--- you realize you can’t change your class ranking, and even if you did--- it wouldn’t matter anyways.  You are already sitting on job offers that wont change regardless of how hard you work.  Or, if you’re still looking for the right job, you think back and realize nobody has ever really even cared what your GPA was.

And so it begins.  The “Senior Slide” takes full effect.  Second years go from taking four or five courses per mod to one or two.  The chance of seeing a second year burning the midnight oil in the library becomes roughly the same odds of Britney Spears winning the Nobel Peace Prize. 

The strange thing is that we’ve just spent the previous 18 months having the concepts of incentives and moral hazard beaten into our brains.   MBA’s are masters of expected future value--- its one of the fundamental concepts that defines our education.  So we all sit back and realize the expected future value of us beating ourselves to death in 2 or 3 more courses rapidly approaches zero. 

I guess my take-away is this.  The MBA curriculum is very similar to a theme park roller coaster.  It starts off big, throwing you around, seeing how much you can take.  There’s a little breather right in the middle as it climbs up the second hill.  That second hill takes you for a short, but extreme burst of dips and turns, and then it ends far too quickly and you pull into the station wishing you didn’t have to get off. 

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.

A little housewarming gift

One of the problems students have when they move to a new city to attend B-school is that they've got to uproot their lives, change address, change phones, and start up fresh in a new town.  Then, two unbelievably short years later, you uproot and move again, get a new address, a new phone number, etc. 

There exists a solution to at least part of the problem, and i have an answer.  Grandcentral is a unique service (now owned by Google) that provides a centralized telephone number; the way it works--- you get a brand new number (in the area code of your choosing).  That number is your number from here on out--- till death do you part.  Anyone calling that number is routed (through rules you set up on their website), to your cell phones, office phones, home phones, etc.  If you move--- GrandCentral stays with you.  You simply take the new home/office/cell you have in your new city and tell GC to ring them instead.  It also allows centralized voicemail, tons of great messaging and routing features, and all sorts of other cool tricks.  No more worrying about updating all your contacts with your new information--- this is they number you keep for life.  It's the single best thing i've done since Tivo, and the slickest Google aquisition yet.  Above all else, it's 100% free. 

If any Owen student is interested in this service, it is currently in private Beta, but i'd be glad to share some of my invites with you.  Send me an email to Isaac (dot) Rogers (dot) 2008 (at) owen.vanderbilt.edu using your new Vanderbilt account and i'll send out an invite.  I've only got a few invites, so first come first serve.

Don't say i never gave you anything nice, class of 2009.      

Why Culture Matters in Business School

Back when i was looking at various business schools, there was little conversation about the "culture" or "fit" that School X has--- rankings, size, and concentrations dominated the dialog.  Sure, every admissions officer told you how important the "culture" is, how School Y has this amazing culture that breeds Z type of learning, and fosters W type of critical skills.

These "touchy-feely" notions didn't resonate much with me back then, but in hindsight, the culture of the school should have been in my top 3 qualifiers.

I'm a year into this whole process and i'm finding out just how important the Owen culture is to me and my experience.  I guess getting away from school for my internship has really allowed me to step back and view this all with a critical eye.

As it turns out, Owen is a very, very special place.  Recently at an old friend's wedding, i struck up about a dozen conversations with B-school alums and current students from various schools--- we talked about our experiences, what we've learned, what surprised us--- and guess what... none, NONE of their experiences sounded anything like mine.  They all talked about their schools with the vim and vigor one talks about their choice of dry cleaners.  I was shocked; was I crazy?  Was I some sort of zealot?  Turns out... no... i'm not a zealot, it's just that most people just have a totally different reaction to their MBA experiences.

What separated my experience from all others was how I felt I was part of a community that cares about their students. What do I mean by this?  During the summer I've run into challenges during my internship; I wasn't sure where to look for a certain piece of research, I wasn't clear what direction i should taken on a certain analysis-- so what did I do? 

I asked a professor for help. 

I'd send an email to a professor asking a question, and guess what, they answered.  Every time.  Not only did my professors answer my initial question, they took interest in what i was doing, how i was doing it, and wanted to help in any way they could.  They then referred me to OTHER Owen professors (some of which i've never had class with), who had more experience with the subject matter or who had faced a similar situation back in their business careers. Those professors, who didnt know me at all, took the time to answer my questions, referred me to additional sources, or even offered to have a phone call to discuss my challenges.

The bottom line is, this support network we have at Owen is unparalleled.  The faculty really, truly cares about my performance during my summer internship.  I feel like i have access to all the fantastic resources this summer that i have during the school year.  That gives me a distinct advantage over other MBA interns.

How do you foster such a culture at a B-school?  Hire the right professors.  Support a low student-to-faculty ratio.  Have an academic program that focuses on the student's real-world success. 

Hats off to the Owen administration; you have built a very special place that focuses on all the right aspects of our education--- even those that don't get a quantitative "rank", but a so important for my growth as a successful professional. 

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.

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. 

You gotta hate seeing this

if you're Microsoft that is...

Forbes article on Vista

I swore to myself just this morning, no more Microsoft-bashing, not more Mac exalting. 

Then windows crashed on me.  Twice.

Shortly there after I read this article on Forbes; rarely do you see this kind level of disdain in a Forbes article--- I almost feel sorry for the guys in Redmond.

One paragraph in particular caught my attention; it's message is so powerful it seems to have kinetic properties.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I suggested to one Windows product manager that if the company were truly serious about security, Vista might offer a simple way to delete files securely and eliminate all traces of identity and passwords so you could safely pass the machine on or sell it years from now. His reply: "Does any other operating system do that?" That tells you all you need to know about Microsoft. The real slogan: "No innovation here."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One more Vista-bashing article wont hurt...

 

Technorati Tags: Microsoft - Vista - Owen - MBA - Business School - Vanderbilt

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.

A break from studying

Somehow I bought the lies that MOD III is a cinch compared to MOD I and II.  Yeah, it's not as intense as first semester, but right now I'm staring down two 10 page reports, 2 presentations, 1 business forecasting final exam model, and 2 in-class presentations; did I mention this all has to get done by Thursday?  Oh, and did I mention I've got the 2 presentations tomorrow?  and I'm hosting a prospective student? 

Note to incoming class: MOD III isn't quite the workload of the previous MOD's, but don't think it will be easy.  Add on top of that your interview search and it makes for a very hectic MOD. 

The good news is that I've basically got 2 weeks of vacation coming--- turns out we have a spring break and I've got no finals scheduled for next week.  How did I miss the fact we have a spring break between the MOD's?

 

Technorati Tags: MBA - Owen - Vanderbilt

Life moves pretty fast

 It feels like I've been at Owen for about 8 weeks; it's been over 6 months now.  so much has changed, I feel I've learned so much, its hard to even remember what life was like back then.

I received an email this week that reminded me just how fast life is moving.  On Wednesday I'm going to host a prospective student and bring him with me through the day.

It's only been about 12 months since I myself was in those shoes... that seems like a lifetime ago. Meekly following along as Alan Hopper showed me around the school and brought me into his Operations class.  Have I really been here long enough to fill the role as a "guide"?  Have I become so much a part of a community in 6 months I'm now qualified to show the ropes to the next class at Owen?

Moral of the story; if you're thinking about business school prepare yourself for a whirlwind of an adventure.  Get ready to learn a lot, live a lot, and please, please, please take the time to soak it all in.  Before you even know it you'll be admitted, taking classes, finishing finals, getting jobs, hosting prospectives, and then graduating and moving on with your life, all in what seems to be about the same length of time it takes for me to write this sentence.

 

Technorati Tags: Owen - Vanderbilt - MBA - B-school

Valentine's day... continued...

I'm going to follow up on Justin's post with a quick response to the article on "can your relationship survive B-school?"

I was a little nervous about this same topic before starting school last August.  Kim and I had just gotten married in May and we were just getting used to married life, and along comes the hell that was the first two MOD's.  It was hard, I worked long... long... long nights and didn't get to see her much (especially around exam time).  Weekends were soaked up with group work.  Days were tied up in class.  Kim and I would sometimes go days without seeing each other awake.

So what is my take-away from my experience?  Can your relationship survive?

Looking back it seems like a stupid question.  Business school is just another challenge.  Life is full of them.  If you're sitting back asking yourself if your relationship can survive B-school, ask yourself another question.  Ask yourself if your relationship could survive a big career change.  Ask if it could survive some sort of unforeseen financial stress.  Ask if it could survive having children.

See, these are all just challenges in life--- some bigger, some smaller.  If you're in the right type of relationship, no matter what the challenge is, your relationship will survive.  Business school makes it seem all scary; tests, late nights, hectic schedule, but it's going to be no different than other challenges at other points in your life together. 

If you're in a relationship that you know you can weather the ups and downs of life still come out together... your relationship can survive business school. 

If your relationship does not fit that profile--- you've got bigger issues than figuring out whether or not to get an MBA.  You're going to have bigger, nastier challenges later on in life; those should worry you just as much as a master's degree.

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/16132004

Grouped to death

B-school is all about groups, but right now I'm grouped to death.  I have 3 groups projects all vying for my time.  It's almost impossible to find a time that works for everyone where we all can be productive and minimize wasted efforts.

I know, I know, in the real-world you have to coordinate meetings, but nothing like this.  Trying to balance interviews, job searches, 4-5 other class meetings, clubs, and, oh yeah, life, means there are very few timeslots that are free in your day.  Trying to coordinate this effort feels like herding cats.

Sometimes I feel the number of "group assignments" is a little obscene; there was no for at least 2 of my group assignments to be done in a group (but it is easier to grade them...).  As a matter of fact, they were less effective because you spread the efforts across several people, and no one person had all the knowledge.

Off to my second group meeting of the day--- and yes, it's Saturday.  But before i go, i'll share one of my favorite posters from despair.com.

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...

MOD III Begins

First day back at Owen; such a different feeling coming back for the first day of MOD III than it was to start the first day of class just 6 months ago.  The anxiety and uncertainty are all gone... it all feels so easy now.  Not to say it will be "easy"; I just walked out of Cooil's business forecasting class and it appears we covered all of MOD I stats in about 45 minutes; if we move this quickly for the rest of the time I'll quickly be overwhelmed.

Marketing camp was one of the best experiences I've had so far.  I was reluctant about coming back 3 days early for the sessions, but in hindsight I would have come back a week early.  The mock interviews Friday really capped off the experience; I think my interviewing skills increased 50% just through 2 one-hour sessions.  If you're planning on coming to Owen in the next few years, do yourself a favor and plan on attending Marketing camp; you'll be glad you did.

We've been receiving a lot of emails from Round-1 admitted students; I was a Round-1 admit and I can barely remember what it was like back then--- my whole world has changed in the last year.  It would be fun to go back and do it all over again, but the thought of MOD II finals is a memory I'm trying desperately to expunge from my memory bank.  I ended up doing (better than I ever expected) in all my classes but I'd resolved myself to either retaking a class or failing out of school entirely.  Luckily, neither occurred. 

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.

Fall has arrived

 

Nashville weather develops multiple personality disorder this time of year.  It was 43 degrees one day last week, pushing 70 yesterday, and cold and rainy today.  I took the above shot from my patio this weekend... when I got up this morning, all those leaves that just started to change Saturday have by now all left their trees.  It's amazing how quickly the weather swings around here. 

Classes are really bearing down on us all.  Two big projects due this week, more next week and a midterm in Accounting Wednesday.  I'm pretty much living in Walker now, to the point I even know what librarians are on staff what days...  

So where are we with MOD II? I'm in Accounting II, Finance, Marketing, and Operations.  Going into this Mod, I would have said I would be in love with Marketing and Operations and hating Accounting and Finance.  Right now, I feel exactly the opposite.  Marketing just railed me on our first paper... which I'm not too happy about... and Operations seems to include a whole lot more ambiguity than I had expected.  Accounting is taught by a fantastic professor, but the material just isn't gelling like it should... hope it solidifies by Wednesday. 

I need a life. See Exhibit 1. 

 

 

Technorati tags: Owen, Vanderbilt, MBA, Nashville

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

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? 

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.

Yet another reason I love this place

You know you're at a top-notch institution when the professor takes a mid-term survey of all the students, gets some reaction to the class progress, and then CHANGES THE CLASS to meet the desires of the students.  Come on, how many times do you see that?  It's not that he was teaching poorly; quite the contrary--- the various sections of students reacted differently to the class discussions.  So, the professor took the results, went back, and tweaked the rest of the syllabus to better fit the tempo of the different sections! 

Most of the professor's I've had until know would have just taken the survey results and gone back and said "well, you students just dont see the magnitude of my style  This professor comes back and says "Ok, let's take my teaching style and alter it to better serve the needs of the students".  Wow. And, doesnt that make sense?  It takes the student-professor relationship and brings it down to a teacher-learner level... and every now and then, the roles switch, and the teacher learns something as well.

A day in the life...

So what's it like here at Owen?  First off, i've been here for 3 weeks of class, and so far, i could not imagine learning more or being more excited about where i am.  The students, the faculty, the resources; tremendous experience. 

That being said...

I want to document for my own personal records how i perceive life today.  I think, as we build routines and regiments, we perceive the same actions differently, but here's how i see them now.
--------------------------------

1. 6:00 AM- wake up.  This is new for me.  I'm not a morning person.  It's because of my wife.  See, she's got a job now, and she's got to be at work by 7:30, so she gets up at the unholy time of 5:30.  So in order to actually see her, which i simply must do, i get up with her.  It's nice; i take the dogs for a walk, get ready, etc. 
2. 8:00 AM- Head to school.  No, i dont have any classes at this time, but i commute in (about 20 min drive) so i need a head start.  That'll give me about an hour until my first class to review emails, catch up, or actually DO the reading (if my professors are reading this, i'm only kidding). 
3. 9:40 AM- Class.  Accounting.  Please see previous post.  This is not a good time for me.  Classes are 90 minutes, so we're out at 11:10.
4. 11:20 AM- Econ.  Great class.  Just great.
5. 12:50 PM- Lunch.  So, you should know this; lunch is not from noon till 1; it's from 12:50 until 2pm.  This goes for everyone.  Why they designed a schedule this way, i do not know.  But i will tell you this 70 minutes all but evaporates in front of your eyes; either you have a club meeting, a speaker, or some studying to do.  This whole week--- i never sat down for lunch; i was doing SOMETHING.  Keep that in mind if you're like, diabetic or something, and have to eat.  You will have to plan accordingly. 
6. 2pm- Leadership Communications.  Still trying to figure out my reception to this class.  I'm sure you'll hear about it later.
7. 3:30- your day begins again.  Most likely one of your friends has scheduled a study session or a review or a group project or something for 4pm.  So, consider from 3:31-3:55 recess--- you are FREE to do what you want--- this would be a good time to eat.
8. 5:30--- your study session/project is probably over.  Time to start your real job; studying.  See, they should really tell you more about this in those glossy brochures; you have 5 classes per MOD (half-semester), but, you really have 10.  WHY? because, see, your 90 minute class sessions are little case study/application sections for the material you already need to know.  There is ZERO reading from the book during class; hell, i dont know if some of my classes have ever referenced the book.  See, you prepare yourself, then come to class, and they take your knowledge and make you apply it.  So from 5:30 till about 9:30/12:30, your'e "self-teaching" those five classes.
9. 9:30/12:30- head home, shower, wash, rinse, repeat.

B-school seemed like such a good idea at the time.

First exam is out of the way

Well that was painful.  First exam is over.  Stats.  Probably my biggest fear coming into B-school; i never had to take it in undergrad.  Studied hard, think i did OK, but dont think i 'aced' it.  We'll see next week.  I did have a good conceptual understanding of the material, could explain it to other people, but sometimes i just make calculation mistakes that screws it all up...  but it's a great weight off the shoulders.

My new home...

Just to get you guys acquainted with the place...

OGSM