OwenBloggers: Serdar

4 stages of a first-year MBA student

Company information sessions are going at full-speed here at Owen, and we are having a great time and learning a lot about different industries from company representatives.  Recently, one of the world's largest manufacturers of health care products held an info session on campus, and the lead representative (who also has an MBA) shared one of his observations about first-year MBA students all around the world.  I thought it was very accurate & interesting.  I'm going to state his "4 stages of a first-year MBA student" while putting some of my spin on it…Please tell me what you think:

Unconscious - Incompetent:  You think you are God's gift to your MBA program...you believe you are smarter than most of your classmates, and this 2 years is going to be a walk in the park for you...However, you are unaware that you are actually an incompetent, struggling first-year MBA.

Conscious – Incompetent:  You just realized that the work load is ridiculous and you're struggling to keep up with all the classes, team meetings, student clubs, networking events, information sessions, symposiums, career management events, resume reviews, etc.....at this point, you have totally ignored the internship search and trying to stay on top of your school work....you might need help and you keep telling yourself that it's all going to get "easier" after Mod II.

Unconscious – Competent:  You have just gotten used to the work load in school and actually are putting real effort into making contacts for your internship, working on your resume, cover letter, etc. You are competent at this point; you just don't know it yet...Maybe it is too good to be true?

Conscious – Competent:  Congratulations!  You know you can do it, because "Impossible is nothing."

Fun Fact of the Day: Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

 

Big changes @ Owen

It is hard to believe Mod I is halfway over.  I thought now would be a good time to talk about some significant changes at Owen this year, and how they impact the lives of Class of 2009 students.

• Grading system

Yes, you read it right.  The grading system at Owen has been changed from a standard A,B,C...to a Superior Pass (4.0), High Pass (3.5), Pass (3.0), Low Pass, Fail system.  In this system, everything is about the curve!  The school "strongly recommends" professors to hand out a "Superior Pass" to no more than 25% of the class.  Moreover, it is also strongly recommended that at least 35% of the class receives a "Pass."  This new system is designed to really differentiate the good students from the better ones.  Simply put, if you fall into the top 25% of your class (out of all 216 students for Core classes such as Finance, Operations, Accounting, Marketing, Statistics), then you will most likely receive a "Superior Pass."  If you are in the bottom 40%, you will be awarded with a "Pass" or "Low Pass."

Every "Low Pass" will earn you a point, and if you accumulate 2-3 points (can't remember the exact number), you will earn yourself a trip to the Dean's office to discuss your future studies at Owen to try to get you back on track.

Owen is not the only b-school that is using this grading scheme.  HBS and Darden are just a couple of other examples.

• Graduation requirement

Starting this year, students will be required to boost a 3.0 GPA (or a "Pass" average in the new system) to be able to graduate from Owen.

• Core Finance

One of the most important changes this year is the move of the core finance class from Mod II to Mod I.  This was done mainly because of the early recruiting cycle of finance-related companies.  In previous years, Microeconomics was taught in Mod I instead of the core finance class.  That meant the finance students, who usually interviewed in January for their summer internships, only had gone through the core finance course in Mod II.  Now, finance students have the ability of taking the core finance course in Mod I, and then take Corporate Valuation in Mod II before they face their internship interviews.   This, I believe, is a much needed change and I am certainly glad that it happened.

Owen is an ever-changing b-school and you can just feel it in every aspect of the program.  It is certainly very exciting to be a part of the first class with all of these significant changes.  I have no doubt that innovation at Owen will continue.

Fun Fact of the Day : Chuck Norris doesn't wear a watch, he decides what time it is.