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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