OwenBloggers: Sharran Srivatsaa

Owen Transitions, Part 2: Batman Bruce

I am living proof that business school makes you smarter... that is if you at least take it halfway seriously.

People often say that you go to business school to network and learn the buzzwords... I guess, but the networking and the buzzwords are absolutely useless if you have no idea what you are talking about when you network and use the buzzwords. That's why, as Isaac would say, we need to get our learn on.

Looking back, the core curriculum at Owen is fantastic. I admit...I whined and complained about the material, assignments, professors, and group members from time to time, but it was definitely worth it. Everyone struggles with the core... or at least some part of the core... and now they (we) are better for it.

Batman Bruce taught us core Statistics... this class was a good wake up call for Isaac and me. I remember we spent six hours in the library one Thursday evening over numerous plastic cups of our regular Thursday evening beverage trying to decipher every single component of a one page regression output. I can proudly say that it was the best six hours spent studying anything in Mod 1... and it was probably the reason that I was (personally) able to walk out of the final without any hurting body parts. I also served as Batman Bruce's Teaching Assistant (along with Asif and Isaac) and the Batman is one brilliant bird.

In Mod 3 of my second year, I used one of Batman's regression model lectures to build a pricing model in our New Product Development marketing class. Isaac saw it and said, "Whoa, that is awesome" and I even sent Batman a copy of my paper. I did not care who liked it and who didn't, but I was able to take something that I had learned in core and apply it, without any direction or syllabus-oriented-coercion, to a problem that I was faced with in a completely different scenario... and it worked like a charm.

If you come to Owen, you need to take a class with Batman... He knows all about the rhythm of the samba.

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What are you taking in Mod 3?

 
I saw this during the holidays...

A lot of prospective students (both the ones who visit and the ones who send us emails) have been asking questions about course loads, types of courses, and in general what we are doing in the classroom. Everyone's course load varies based on the other commitments outside the classroom. Most students take at least one lighter module in their first year when it is peak recruiting season for the careers that they are interested in, and the first part of the first year is filled with the core curriculum anyway. 

I have one of my heaviest academic loads this Mod. It just so happens that all the courses that I want to take before I graduate are somehow offered in Mod 3... and I know that I will not have the inspiration to take a very heavy load in Mod 4 when graduation is just around the corner ;-)

1. Equities Markets
   > Professor Nick Bollen
2. Game Theory
   > Professor Mike Shor
3. Developing and Marketing New Products
   > Professor Dawn Iacobucci
4. Derivatives
   > Professor Bob Whaley
5. Project Pyramid: Economic Development and Global Poverty Alleviation
   > Professor Bart Victor

Each class deserves a blog entry of its own but I want to write about the Taxation class that Isaac and I are taking...

Taxation of Business and Investment Transactions
> Professor Bill Henderson

Owen students talk about Corporate Valuation being the most challenging class they take at Owen, I am starting to think otherwise. Taxation is probably the most challenging yet intellectually rewarding course that I have taken in my educational career. Professor Henderson is "old school" and will cold call you until you are blue in the face... which means that you don't dare show up for class unless you are prepared (oh, and if you don't come to class, he will pick on you more the next time... so you are done for either way ;-). Isaac and I just go to class prepared, and it is awesome... Professor Henderson knows the tax laws inside out and does a phenomenal job of giving us real-life examples and bite-sized information so that we can understand the material. The take home final (which is a mini-binder) which he gives you in Week 2 is to prepare an entire tax return (yes, the complicated kind) which on average has taken students about 75 hours to complete in the past. This is a class that I will remember forever, and every Owen alum who has taken it raves about it. I am particularly enjoying this class because it brings a whole new dimension to what I learned last semester in the law school in my Trust and Estate Taxation class.

My favorite part of his syllabus for the class:

What is Expected of You as a Student:

You are expected to perform as a professional -- with dedication, integrity and a commitment to excellence. You are expected to attend all classes; to arrive on time and remain until dismissed; to arrive with all assigned reading and homework problems completed; to participate actively and effectively; and to demand of yourself and your fellow students complete fidelity to OGSM’s Honor System in all aspects of your course work.

Oh, and he means every word.

Bottom Line: This class is not for the faint-hearted and it jives to the rhythm of the samba.

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Chat with a Prospective Student

A prospective student from India and I had been exchanging emails on potential times when we can connect to talk on the phone. It was a little challenging to synchronize schedules so we decided that we would talk over Google Chat as and when possible. We got a chance to catch up and chat today.

She threw some tough questions my way... and those were similar to the questions that I had when I was looking at MBA programs. Here is one of the questions that she asked me... and a summary of my answer:

How are career opportunities at Owen different from those at other schools?

This is a tough question and I can only give my perspective... I am very fortunate. I believe that I got the "best" internship and the "best" full-time job for me. I would have probably gotten the same job if I had ended up at one of the Ivys. US News ranks it as one of the Top 3 most desirable companies to work as an MBA, so I am very grateful.

Now this is what I told her... In my experience, the students who I have seen who have been successful in their job search are the ones that have a story. A story that show where they are coming from, why they are here, and how all of it ties into where they want to go with their post-MBA lives. Recruiters have told me that it is challenging to tell one candidate apart from the other, and having a story that can uniquely identify you and show your fit with the company and the career path makes you a very attractive candidate.

For finance careers on Wall Street, it seems like schools that are away from the Street are at somewhat of a disadvantage. This goes for any school outside the NYC area. I have heard this from many interns this summer and I think we have a challenge just like other schools. But I feel like there are two things that set up apart:

1. Owen has an amazing finance faculty. We have experts in almost every branch of finance and I feel that is one of Owen's biggest Assets. Hans Stoll created the put-call parity. Bob Whaley wrote the textbook on Derivatives. Craig Lewis is a rockstar in valuations. Nick Bollen's research in Hedge Funds has been featured in the Wall Street Journal. Dewey Daane was a Fed Bank Chairman and the last appointment of JFK. Bill Henderson is an authority in taxation. Associate Dean Bill Christie's research changed the way trading happens today on the exchanges. We have new professors who have just joined us who I have yet to take a class with, but they were recruited specifically because of their research and teaching excellence. I recently took a law school class that has a direct impact on my finance learning and I am happy about the opportunity that I had to do that over at the Vandy Law School.

2. We bring NY to you. Rather we take you to New York during Wall Street week. Owen collaborates with its alumni and corporate contacts on Wall Street to setup an entire week for students to visit different companies in the financial world in New York. The Owen alumni around the world play an integral part in supporting the school and in the recruiting. I spoke with about 30 alums before I even had my first interview... and these people take time out of their days to support Owen students. Dean Jim Bradford and Peter Veruki (Director of Corporate Relations) are constantly developing our relationships with companies around the world, and I know this first hand as I serve as Owen's Corporate Ambassador.

Owen also has regular visits from experts who run seminars on valuation, financial modeling, etc. every semester which give students a chance to learn about how exactly things are done on the street and a way to build their skills before they actually get there. The Finance club does a whole program with sector leaders specializing in each of the different areas of finance. These sector leaders help with resume reviews, cover letters, mock interviews etc. The school really goes out of its way to give students career resources and tools. I appreciate that and definitely took advantage of it during my career exploration.

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Whatever. If something sucks, it sucks.

Today one of my colleagues ripped on me, in the presence of numerous other folks, and plainly stated that he/she was ticked off at my lack of support for one of the administrative entities of the school on a particular matter. First, I am glad that this was said... 1. I serve in some official, elected capacities and it is my responsibility to hold up my end of the bargain 2. It takes courage to say "what the heck," especially in public and at the right time... and most importantly 3. It is the right thing to do... if not it would get brushed under the rug and there would be all that harboring-negative-feelings-crap, which I hate.

Then I got to thinking... should I be all PC and support the administrative entities of the school (maybe it be faculty, staff, deans, admissions, career management, library etc.) at all times, no matter what I thought? I think I am blessed with enough common sense to not bash the school... but if I am having a discussion with three friends in the hallway and we talk about how one of the recent projects done by one of the schools administrative entities sucks, well... if I think it sucks, I will say that it sucks. That's the friend and Owen student in me talking. Now what is unacceptable given my role on campus as a member of the student government is that I don't do anything about it... that is wrong. And I try very hard to make sure that never happens. But that is a discussion for another time.

The Owen Student Government is a body has elected officers... elected by the students. The interest and development of the student body is my primary responsibility and I feel very strongly about it. I see it as my right as well as obligation to call a spade a spade... if something sucks, it sucks. Well, I probably shouldn't say that it "sucks," (i.e. I should probably substitute it with another word) but I am going to call it as I see it... and its going to offend a few people in the bargain, but I am sorry that I cannot deal with mediocrity, especially when excellence is clearly within reach.

So how does this quasi-rant help potential students: The Owen culture is not one of accepting what is given to us. We try to challenge it. I try to challenge it. We should challenge it. Change is challenging in an educational institution, and at the very least it takes a whole academic year for a new initiative to get rolled out just because that's the way everything works. But that should not change the way we look at problems and potential solutions. This is a school that embraces change... and is constantly looking for ways to make this place better. That is one of the fundamental reasons why I love Owen. Please...call a spade a spade when you come to visit. Tell us what you like about Owen and also share your ideas that will help us make this a better place to live and learn. For that matter, send us an email right now... to owenbloggers at gmail dot com and tell us what you think. We want to hear from you. If something sucks, we want to know.

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Whatever. If something sucks, it sucks.

Today one of my colleagues ripped on me, in the presence of numerous other folks, and plainly stated that he/she was ticked off at my lack of support for one of the administrative entities of the school on a particular matter. First, I am glad that this was said... 1. I serve in some official, elected capacities and it is my responsibility to hold up my end of the bargain 2. It takes courage to say "what the heck," especially in public and at the right time... and most importantly 3. It is the right thing to do... if not it would get brushed under the rug and there would be all that harboring-negative-feelings-crap, which I hate.

Then I got to thinking... should I be all PC and support the administrative entities of the school (maybe it be faculty, staff, deans, admissions, career management, library etc.) at all times, no matter what I thought? I think I am blessed with enough common sense to not bash the school... but if I am having a discussion with three friends in the hallway and we talk about how one of the recent projects done by one of the schools administrative entities sucks, well... if I think it sucks, I will say that it sucks. That's the friend and Owen student in me talking. Now what is unacceptable given my role on campus as a member of the student government is that I don't do anything about it... that is wrong. And I try very hard to make sure that never happens. But that is a discussion for another time.

The Owen Student Government is a body has elected officers... elected by the students. The interest and development of the student body is my primary responsibility and I feel very strongly about it. I see it as my right as well as obligation to call a spade a spade... if something sucks, it sucks. Well, I probably shouldn't say that it "sucks," (i.e. I should probably substitute it with another word) but I am going to call it as I see it... and its going to offend a few people in the bargain, but I am sorry that I cannot deal with mediocrity, especially when excellence is clearly within reach.

So how does this quasi-rant help potential students: The Owen culture is not one of accepting what is given to us. We try to challenge it. I try to challenge it. We should challenge it. Change is challenging in an educational institution, and at the very least it takes a whole academic year for a new initiative to get rolled out just because that's the way everything works. But that should not change the way we look at problems and potential solutions. This is a school that embraces change... and is constantly looking for ways to make this place better. That is one of the fundamental reasons why I love Owen. Please...call a spade a spade when you come to visit. Tell us what you like about Owen and also share your ideas that will help us make this a better place to live and learn. For that matter, send us an email right now... to owenbloggers at gmail dot com and tell us what you think. We want to hear from you. If something sucks, we want to know.

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All positive eh?

So I recently got some feedback that everything we write has a positive spin on it. Things like, "classes are hard, but I am learning a lot" or "my team sucks, but its good for me to work with different people" etc. Although there is a level of truth to this and this is why we come to school (to take the tough stuff and develop personally and professionally), I will write completely about negative feelings in this post.

I have never been more swamped. This past module has continuously felt like I have been spinning my wheels and not really getting anywhere. I have a fully booked calendar with classes, organizations, career counseling and group meetings. I would say I have the least amount personal time this semester  and it always feels like I am rushed and that I am scrambling. Thank heavens the job search is done. Last year I made it my business to take one day off. I took one day a week for myself, where I did not schedule any meetings and use the time to get caught up on my life... may it be putting my notes in order, sleeping in, making personal calls and answering personal emails, laundry, read, catch up on my TiVo etc. This semester I have not been able to do that for myself and I have been working at the same rate and that is burning me out quickly. I was able to stay in good mental and physical shape all last year because I was able to have this personal time, but I am unable to do that this year and that is really burning me out much more quickly. So what? Heck, its not fun.

And I know we are better off that the Northeast and the Midwest when it comes to the weather, but I after living in the tropics over the last 5 years and most of my childhood, I think my body has gotten more Clark Kent-ish, i.e. deriving a lot of strength and inspiration from the sun. These days Nashville has been bloody cold, and it is absolutely depressing. As I walk out of the building dressed in more layers than a Samoan living in the north pole, the first words out of my mouth are definitely not, "Yay Hurray!" Yuck.

I am ready for winter break.

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All positive eh?

So I recently got some feedback that everything we write has a positive spin on it. Things like, "classes are hard, but I am learning a lot" or "my team sucks, but its good for me to work with different people" etc. Although there is a level of truth to this and this is why we come to school (to take the tough stuff and develop personally and professionally), I will write completely about negative feelings in this post.

I have never been more swamped. This past module has continuously felt like I have been spinning my wheels and not really getting anywhere. I have a fully booked calendar with classes, organizations, career counseling and group meetings. I would say I have the least amount personal time this semester  and it always feels like I am rushed and that I am scrambling. Thank heavens the job search is done. Last year I made it my business to take one day off. I took one day a week for myself, where I did not schedule any meetings and use the time to get caught up on my life... may it be putting my notes in order, sleeping in, making personal calls and answering personal emails, laundry, read, catch up on my TiVo etc. This semester I have not been able to do that for myself and I have been working at the same rate and that is burning me out quickly. I was able to stay in good mental and physical shape all last year because I was able to have this personal time, but I am unable to do that this year and that is really burning me out much more quickly. So what? Heck, its not fun.

And I know we are better off that the Northeast and the Midwest when it comes to the weather, but I after living in the tropics over the last 5 years and most of my childhood, I think my body has gotten more Clark Kent-ish, i.e. deriving a lot of strength and inspiration from the sun. These days Nashville has been bloody cold, and it is absolutely depressing. As I walk out of the building dressed in more layers than a Samoan living in the north pole, the first words out of my mouth are definitely not, "Yay Hurray!" Yuck.

I am ready for winter break.

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All positive eh?

So I recently got some feedback that everything we write has a positive spin on it. Things like, "classes are hard, but I am learning a lot" or "my team sucks, but its good for me to work with different people" etc. Although there is a level of truth to this and this is why we come to school (to take the tough stuff and develop personally and professionally), I will write completely about negative feelings in this post.

I have never been more swamped. This past module has continuously felt like I have been spinning my wheels and not really getting anywhere. I have a fully booked calendar with classes, organizations, career counseling and group meetings. I would say I have the least amount personal time this semester  and it always feels like I am rushed and that I am scrambling. Thank heavens the job search is done. Last year I made it my business to take one day off. I took one day a week for myself, where I did not schedule any meetings and use the time to get caught up on my life... may it be putting my notes in order, sleeping in, making personal calls and answering personal emails, laundry, read, catch up on my TiVo etc. This semester I have not been able to do that for myself and I have been working at the same rate and that is burning me out quickly. I was able to stay in good mental and physical shape all last year because I was able to have this personal time, but I am unable to do that this year and that is really burning me out much more quickly. So what? Heck, its not fun.

And I know we are better off that the Northeast and the Midwest when it comes to the weather, but I after living in the tropics over the last 5 years and most of my childhood, I think my body has gotten more Clark Kent-ish, i.e. deriving a lot of strength and inspiration from the sun. These days Nashville has been bloody cold, and it is absolutely depressing. As I walk out of the building dressed in more layers than a Samoan living in the north pole, the first words out of my mouth are definitely not, "Yay Hurray!" Yuck.

I am ready for winter break.

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Social Impact at Owen

We have many great initiatives at Owen. We are doing some very exciting things to contribute to a greener world. We have a whole new system of low-flush restrooms. The entire building has energy efficient lighting. Isaac and I created the Green Room last year... a printing resource room that has energy efficient printers, recycled paper, full-duplex printing, no cover pages, and handy paper recycling bins. We use recyclable cups at our social events and we got some very cool social event glasses that students are using instead of using the plastic cups. Recycle bins all over the place. Recruiters and companies cannot spam our mailboxes with recruiting flyers. Baby steps.

What I am particularly excited about is the new set of positions we have created as part of the Owen Student Government. We have a first and second year position on the student government executive board that focuses entirely on Social Impact. Daniel and Jeff and doing a wonderful job building a strategy to integrate the students, clubs and organizations, recruiters, and alumni... all using the power and responsibility of Social Impact. These guys just shared the strategy and timeline they have built with me and I am so impressed. The goals for integrating Social Impact into the student government was to have a central clearinghouse and repository for social impact activities related to Owen, to make a formal commitment to recognizing and supporting the impact that we can have on our community, and most importantly to allow the students to be stewards of the community.

Jeff and Daniel, thank you for doing such an amazing job. I am proud of our team and I am excited to see the new initiatives that you are going to roll out over the next six months.

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Christmas Home Stretch

I cannot believe it is December already.

I normally don't get nervous about final exams. I try to put in the work during the term and normally the final does not seem to hard. These last few weeks have somehow flown by and I don't know if I am really ready for my finals.

I am definitely nervous about the final exam I have at the Law School. Vandy Law is a different beast... with many horns, many teeth, many trunks, many fire-spitting orfaces, and many claws. I dont even know how the exam software works there. The professor bascially told us that we could bring in any material that we wanted... open book, open notes. He also very clearly said that he would even give us parts of the questions beforehand but was confident that it would not help. Okay, if that does not make you uncomfortable, I dont know what will. I am going to have to crack down and study for this puppy.

Today I got together with the wise men to talk about schedules. We looked at everything that was due for the rest of the semester, and blocked off times on our calendars to meet and crank it out. Sometimes I dont know what I would do without my Outlook calendar. I would definitely not make it through the semester without my study friends.

Owen is an interesting place. Some people work in groups, some work individually, some use a blended approach. But I have noticed that there are very few students who study individually. There is a very strong culture of studying in groups at Owen. Professors encourage collaboration, not sharing of answers. Most of the classes are built around group work, so I have very few assignments which I have done individually. Everyone learns differently... and I am a big fan of group work. The hardest part is finding the right teams, but when you do find the right team, the learning is rich and is filled with many different perspectives. The true spirit of a diverse skill set comes to bear when different team members contribute in different ways to the same assignment. Its awesome to see someone else do something better than you, and as a result it affects your grade and your learning positively. If you have a dysfunctional team, good luck. But that's why you get to pick your teams after the core classes. But I must say that I have always had great teammates.

I cannot wait for the semester to be done. I want to be able to read for pleasure, workout everyday, see if I can get back on the tennis court and watch football. I am pretty sure I will be doing a good chunk of wedding planning, which I am actually excited about.

I am also using the rhythm of the samba to fight the flu. Sun Tzu would be proud.

Tags: sharran, srivatsaa, owenbloggers, vandy, owen, ogsm, mba
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OwenBloggers Summer Advice: 5 Orientation Fortune Cookies

Hope y'all got to read Tony's post on Orientation Do's and Dont's. I read his post and 20 minutes later I bumped into him at lunch... haven't seen the kid all summer and he works a block away from me. Swayzee.

Orientation is going to have a little different feel that what our class experienced last year. Its going to be a lot more hectic for two simple reasons:

1. Its been cut down from 2 weeks to 1 week (you are welcome)
2. The incoming class is going to have about 50+ more students this year, so get ready!

In light of those two reasons, here are a few Orientation tips:

1. Go to all the sessions: A lot of the students, staff, and faculty have been working on the structure and content of orientation since the beginning of the year. We were ruthless in how we cut out things from the schedule that we thought were not completely useful. I am sure you are going to dislike some sessions…but treat it as your time to get acclimatized… its only a week, we had two.
2. I hate to do this in a public forum but I think this needs to be said… make an effort to interact with your classmates from different cultures. So if you are an international student, make an extra effort to connect with the domestic students… and vice versa. The reason I say this is because most international students arrive 2 weeks early for USBCC/International Student Orientation. Its very easy for everyone to stay in comfortable groups formed from this time…
3. Orientation is the only time when you can randomly walk up to people and say Hi… without feeling awkward. You might be introducing yourself to the same people more than once…especially when you under the enchantment of certain beverages… trust me, it happened to us all.
4. Ask better questions… seriously, I was sick and tired of telling people where I was from and what I used to do before Owen. But please don’t bore your classmates with the same questions… be creative. Stand out. You might not be able to keep everyone’s hometown and prior career straight – but I am sure you will find it easier to remember the more unique traits of your classmates.
5. If you have not quit your job yet – please put in your two weeks now. You are going to be so slammed and it takes a while to get into the rhythm of school. I would try to get settled at least a week before orientation and get into a sleep cycle that you are going to follow when start school. (wake up before 7 and sleep after midnight).

Leave me a comment if you have questions and I will be happy to write about them. I will be around during Orientation, so I look forward to sharing some buckets of samba with you across the street.

OwenBloggers Summer Advice: 5 Orientation Fortune Cookies

Hope y'all got to read Tony's post on Orientation Do's and Dont's. I read his post and 20 minutes later I bumped into him at lunch... haven't seen the kid all summer and he works a block away from me. Swayzee.

Orientation is going to have a little different feel that what our class experienced last year. Its going to be a lot more hectic for two simple reasons:

1. Its been cut down from 2 weeks to 1 week (you are welcome)
2. The incoming class is going to have about 50+ more students this year, so get ready!

In light of those two reasons, here are a few Orientation tips:

1. Go to all the sessions: A lot of the students, staff, and faculty have been working on the structure and content of orientation since the beginning of the year. We were ruthless in how we cut out things from the schedule that we thought were not completely useful. I am sure you are going to dislike some sessions…but treat it as your time to get acclimatized… its only a week, we had two.
2. I hate to do this in a public forum but I think this needs to be said… make an effort to interact with your classmates from different cultures. So if you are an international student, make an extra effort to connect with the domestic students… and vice versa. The reason I say this is because most international students arrive 2 weeks early for USBCC/International Student Orientation. Its very easy for everyone to stay in comfortable groups formed from this time…
3. Orientation is the only time when you can randomly walk up to people and say Hi… without feeling awkward. You might be introducing yourself to the same people more than once…especially when you under the enchantment of certain beverages… trust me, it happened to us all.
4. Ask better questions… seriously, I was sick and tired of telling people where I was from and what I used to do before Owen. But please don’t bore your classmates with the same questions… be creative. Stand out. You might not be able to keep everyone’s hometown and prior career straight – but I am sure you will find it easier to remember the more unique traits of your classmates.
5. If you have not quit your job yet – please put in your two weeks now. You are going to be so slammed and it takes a while to get into the rhythm of school. I would try to get settled at least a week before orientation and get into a sleep cycle that you are going to follow when start school. (wake up before 7 and sleep after midnight).

Leave me a comment if you have questions and I will be happy to write about them. I will be around during Orientation, so I look forward to sharing some buckets of samba with you across the street.

The pink elephant dances to the rhythm of the samba

1 year down. I am spent. But I feel awesome.

This past year has been filled with all kinds of joy and junk. I have learned more in this past year than I have during any other period in my life. For all of you getting ready to come to Owen or go to business school elsewhere, here are a few things I wish I had known before I came to business school:

1. Everyone gets through business school... how you get through is what is left to be decided. Right from the first day you have to make choices... and the more things you say "yes" to the more things you will have to say "no" to. For example, if you say "yes" to a full range of extra-curricular activities, your grades will probably suffer. My point: have a rough sense of what you want out of your business school experience. This will act as a filter and allow you to make choices that are right for you.

2. Extra-curricular activities are not like the ones that you did in undergrad. These are a lot more involved and demanding, and you cant get away doing a poor job. Well you could, you would just let down a lot of people and that is no fun. So add things to your plate carefully.

3. Study your brains out. Ask for help. Find people with like-minded goals and from a study group to keep you in line. Study your brains out. Ask for help. Did you hear me? Study your brains out.

4. You don't have to party hard, but show up for social gatherings. I would recommend that you show up for every social gathering, even if it is just for a part of the time. Nobody is going to force you to drink, hang out with a Sprite and get to know your school mates. And there is absolutely no freaking excuse for you to EVER miss a social gathering at school... remember, at least show up.

5. Be selfless. Everyone is at school to move forward in their lives, its just not you. The best thing that you can do is always be available and accessible to help anyone that you can in anyway that you can. Don't hold back your answers to the Stats homework. Share your contacts with your classmates. Show up at their parties. Don't be selfish, everything will come back full-circle.

Oh, and everyone is going to be stressed... so smile.

Map of US Internship Placements

Isaac wanted to take a break from studying for our Macroeconomics final and play... so he came up with a recent map of domestic internship placements for the class of 2008. Enjoy...

(click to magnify)

10 Pearls of Advice: What I wish I had known

Some lessons looking back over the last 4 Mods...

1. Without a dependable study group, I would have probably quit in October
2. The only way I got through Mods 1 and 2 was staying two weeks ahead of the class in terms of reading and assignments (wherever possible)
3. I am so thankful that my class schedule allowed for flexibility during Mod 3 because I spent the entire 7 weeks on career management. If you know which Mod is going to be loaded with internship search, weight your classes accordingly
4. Decide what you want your transcript to look like... if you know that you are going into a field that is not going to scrutinize your GPA, don't sweat it... work for the B. My point - if you know you want a vowel-based transcript, say "yes" to school work and "no" to the extra-curricular stuff... because its hard to juggle them all AND do them well... and worst of all it will kill you. I speak from experience.
5. Force yourself to get six hours of sleep... the super-human spirit at school carries over into our personal lives and sleep deprivation is not cool. If you get at least six hours of sleep a night, you will do amazingly well at bskool.
6. Do not ever eat Pizza... in fact, give up pizza for the two years you are here.
7. Take 1 day off a week. Block off your schedule. Don't care about what people say. It is your day. Do whatever you want. Study. Sleep. Whatever. But don't schedule anything for that day. Let your body, mind, and spirit get rejuvenated.
8. Take full responsibility for your internship search. Put the CMC, your peers, and your contacts in a position to help you. Work on your career from Day 1... think of it as a project that does not end until you get that internship offer. This means that if you don't know what to do when you grow up, please don't try to figure it out on your own... please, please, please get help.
9. Go out with the Owen gang. You don't have to drink... just go out. Amazing friendships are built at the local watering holes... and 10 years down the road the beer you bought me might come back to you 10,000-fold :)
10. Optional reading is exactly that... optional. Don't be an overachiever and try to read everything... you cannot. I thought I could - but I could not. Dude, there is no way you can do the optional readings in addition to everything else that you have going on. (Maybe if you are super interested in the subject matter, once in a while it might be worth it)

If I had time to blog, I would take a nap

Its a school night...  I am home working on a case and attempting to be a quasi-geek by running regressions to show the quantity theory of money (inflation and its relationship to growth of money etc.) and an email pops up from a cool friend:

I was surfing the OwenBloggers website and noticed you haven’t posted anything in almost 2 weeks!!  What’s up with that?  I think you should stop slacking off!!

In light of my new celebrity status, I better get back in the blogger saddle. This is what is on my mind right now...

1. I miss my lovely cousins. K and A are in Shanghai on spring break. I think this is going to be the first summer in almost ten years that I might not get to spend time with them.

2. I was in a five-person round-table discussion with Peter Shutz, former CEO of Porsche. You can read his bio here. The dude is awesome! One of us asked him whether he was spending his time [these days] doing consulting work. To that he responded:

"Consultants listen to your problem and (normally) tell you what to do to fix it. I listen to your problem and tell you a story. I am not a consultant. I am your friend, I am your mentor."

 

 

3. I will get a chance to attend Dr. Mohammad Yunus' address at the Vanderbilt Senior Day on May 10 with Dean Jim Bradford, Prof. Bart Victor and Project Pyramid Co-Founder Rehan Choudhry.

There is some amazing stuff happening in the Microcredit/Microlending world... check out this PBS:Frontline story.

And if you missed the World Premiere of OwenBloggers: The Movie, we have released a couple of clips on the OwenBloggers Video Gallery. Check out the trailer first...

And if you are wondering what the weather in Chicago is...

The best recent blog idea that I didn't write about...

It was supposed to be called, "6 seconds into the world you don't understand..." but then I really had no idea how to begin or end it.

This video is six seconds long, but if you have been to India, you know exactly what I am talking about... you can write essays about what you see in this video, about the sounds you hear... one of those people riding the motorcycle might be answering your next customer service call, or doing your next medical transcription, or writing a piece of software for a pacemaker that runs in your grandpa's heart...

But all that you see is a noisy, busy, mess... a street with no markings, with vehicles flying by for six seconds.

Sammy?

Technorati Tags: sharran - srivatsaa - owen - vanderbilt - vandy - india

My lunch with the CEO of Wal-Mart

Yesterday I had lunch with Wal-Mart North America's CEO Eduardo Castro-Wright (Corporate America's Rising Star by Fortune) as a part of Owen's Distinguished Speaker Series. This is one of the favorite parts of my Owen experience, a chance to connect with business leaders from around the world in a small group setting. I see Webcast's of successful individuals giving lectures and presentations at different schools, but I wonder if those students get to have lunch with the speaker, sitting right beside the Dean of the school, engaging them in great conversation. After the presentation we also had a reception where the Owen community was able to meet and speak with Mr. Castro-Wright in the lobby. There was brain-food for the famished students :)

At lunch I jumped in line right behind Mr. Castro-Wright because I wanted to ask him a question about a potential connection with his past position at Nabisco. I was a part of the Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) Program, a joint initiative between the Amritraj Brothers and Britannia/Nabisco to build the future of Indian Tennis Players. Indian Davis Cup player Leander Paes is a product of this program. Mr. Castro-Wright ran the Asia-Pacific operations for Nabisco at that time and I wanted to see if he remembered the BAT program. Of course he did, and what was better... he is a tennis player himself, a common thing that brought both him and me to the US.

I began to look at Wal-Mart from a different perspective when Mr. Castro-Wright said,

"We at Wal-Mart save people money so that they can live a better life."

He is the first big-time CEO that I have met that actually answered the questions that I asked him, instead of beating around the bush. Glad to meet you Sir.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart - sharran - owen - srivatsaa - vandy - vanderbilt

Managing Innovation - Day 4: "Draw" to improve on emptiness?

While working though parts of the Google Labs Aptitude Test designed for the uber-geek (Dave), I was thinking about how I would answer the question:

 

This space intentionally left blank. Please fill it with something that improves upon emptiness

Dr. Betty Edwards discusses the ways to use drawing to make the shift from left-brain mode to right brain mode. Learning to draw turns out not to be "learning to draw." Paradoxically, "learning to draw" means learning to make a mental shift from left brain mode to right brain mode. You can practice some of her exercises here. I guess if I learned how to draw and could potentially do it well, it would give me the ability to get into right brain mode at the blink of an eye. Now how does that really help me when I am presented with a blank box on a non-traditional aptitude test?

I did an simple experiment.. I gave the question and a blank box to seven different people. Every single one of them drew something (i.e. did not fill it with text or numbers) Why? If the natural tendency for the average person is to draw when presented with a blank box, and if the act of drawing taps into the right brain, then all the people in my sample (can make the switch to right-brain mode when necessary and) don't need Dr. Betty Edwards' book.  

I like my small sample, jump to quick conclusions, non-scientific way of looking at life. Don't you? :-)

Managing Innovation - Day 2: Rockin' the burbs

What is innovation at its finest? Making up hip-hop lyrics is definitely up there. On Day 2 of our Managing Innovation class, Professor T-Love brought the ladies of Northern State to share their story with us.

Being a young band is challenging... extremely challenging. The ladies spend more time on the business side of things (at this time in their career) than on the actual singing, writing, performing side of things. There were times when I felt like interrupting them to say, "Hey, y'all need to go do what you do best... hire me and I can do the rest for you!" Now whether I can do the rest or not I don't know, but I do know that the MBA has given me skillz that I never had before.

It was amazing to see how their on-stage personalities transferred to their business personalities as well. The class asked the band questions about everything from illegal downloading to MySpace, from record labels to road trips. One thing was evident - that you had to get along pretty darn well to just hang out and be relaxed in front of group of business school students who are hungry to dissect your life in an attempt to show off their MBA skills to solve all your problems.

T-Love... I owe you big time for missing the concert. Thank you for the Northern State sticker - you are a rockstar, gentleman, and a scholar.

___
Managing Innovation: Mod 4 2007
Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management
Professor Dave Owens: Bio | Personal Site
Class Blog

Nat Robinson... take a bow!

Owen's "make it happen" spirit drives students to dive in and get things done. There are a few students who work extremely hard and sacrifice many many things to follow through on their commitments to the school. Nat Robinson is one of them.

As a founding member of the Project Pyramid team and fellow Owen Blogger, Nat jumped in from the beginning and worked to shape the program from the bottom up. Along with colleague Alan Hopper and a few first year students, Nat led the planning of the collaboration and immersion experience of the trip to India.

 

Planning a trip that includes faculty, staff, and students from both Owen and the Divinity school is no easy task. Nat thought about every single detail of the trip including tickets, visas, ground transportation, accommodation, food, meetings, tours, finances, entertainment and more... and he did all this in just a matter of a few months. The 25 individuals who went of this trip are going to remember it for the rest of their lives, and we all a huge part of this experience to Nat Robinson.

Thank you Nat for going above and beyond, thank you for creating an experience that will cherished forever, thank you for your commitment and sacrifice... You are the man.

Technorati Tags: project pyramid - nat - sharran - vandy - owen - srivatsaa - owenbloggers

Bradford introduces Barry to Project Pyramid

Dean Jim Bradford is out connecting the hidden treasures of Owen with each other.

Bradford met with Jeffrey Barry (Owen MBA '89) who is the Senior International Economist at Overseas Private Investment Corporation in Washington DC, and spoke with him about the Project Pyramid initiative at Vanderbilt.  

"OPIC was created to facilitate the employment of private capital in emerging markets.  They fund micro-lending, seek to promote transparency, collaborate with private and public partners for promotion of business development, and provide housing and many other services in over 150 countries worldwide."

Thank you Dean Bradford for making the connection with Jeffrey and OPIC, we are looking forward to building this relationship! 

Read Dean Bradford's blogosphere introduction here.
Read about Project Pyramid here | Contact Project Pyramid
Read my last post on the hidden treasure here

Technorati Tags: project pyramid - owen - bradford - opic - projectpyramid - owenbloggers

Project Pyramid: Owen's hidden treasure

Do you care about poverty?

Project Pyramid is currently the only interdisciplinary, sustainable development focused, student-driven, global poverty alleviation initiative in the world. Now the question to ask is whether this organization's mission is to "do well" or to "do good?"

The root of this question points to the tension between the individualistic economic prosperity and community-oriented values that pervades our culture and the media. In today's world, "doing well" translates to making a great deal of money, living a luxurious lifestyle, and take care of oneself. "Doing good" means serving the common good by doing what is considered the right thing to do. "Doing good" is often seen as altruistic and soft-hearted, and also soft-headed and anti-business.

The problem with adhering to the stereotypes of "doing well" and "doing good" is that they become mutually exclusive. Project Pyramid's belief is that we can embrace both.

Currently in its first year, Project Pyramid has gained the support of the entire university including Vanderbilt University Chancellor Gordon Gee, and retired Chairman & CEO of Dollar General, Cal Turner. Mr. Turner has not only pledged his full support for the program but has also sown the initial financial seeds.

Students from Owen and the Divinity School are currently on a spring break trip to India studying the implications of existing "bottom of the pyramid" solutions and exploring the viability of new business models to alleviate poverty.

Do you care about poverty? You should.

The media is starting to uncover more of Owen's hidden treasures:

• Owen and Divinity Students Travel to India to fight poverty
• OwenBloggers and Project Pyramid
• Vanderbilt's Owen students use capitalism versus poverty
• Business and faith: a unique partnership inspires future; Vanderbilt business and divinity students travel to India to fight poverty
• Business & Faith... On AScribe: A Public Internet Newsroom

Some Project Pyramid resources:

About Project Pyramid
Project Pyramid Blog
Contact Project Pyramid

Technorati Tags: project pyramid - sharran - srivatsaa - owen - vanderbilt - vandy

Talking Macheads: OwenBloggers Executive Board

This morning I spoke with Erin and Ria, Owen students on the Project Pyramid trip in Hyderabad (India), through Apple iChat. The blog entries and pictures from the students in India have made me miss India so much.

The OwenBloggers Executive Board had its first virtual meeting today on Apple iChat. I am proud of the OwenBloggers team... with support from Owen we have been able to build this into a community that ties many generations together... prospective students, accepted students, current students, alumni and even the dean... kinda.

Kudos to Isaac for building in the OwenBloggers Special Projects Section by creating platforms for Owen in China and partnering with Project Pyramid to showcase their India trip.

We are working on a lot of great stuff... stay tuned to the "Updates" section of OwenBloggers.com site

Macs have the rhythm of the samba...

Technorati Tags: owen - vandy - owenbloggers - owen bloggers - vanderbilt - sharran - srivatsaa