tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188750452024-03-07T03:28:50.669-05:00The Brain DumpA Low GPA to Top MBA StoryCheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.comBlogger213125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-30064826466641394992017-11-01T17:45:00.000-05:002017-11-01T17:45:21.353-05:00I'm Alive...and Moving<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's been some years since I've written a post for this blog. I often forget that it exists...that is until I get an email from a prospective MBA student. It's nice to know that more than half a decade after I embarked on my journey to business school that others are still reading all of my neuroses as they forge their own path to an MBA.<br />
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Alas this chapter of my life closed when I graduated from Chicago Booth in June of 2014. Since then I stayed in Chicago, found a job doing exactly what I wrote about in my essays, and quit that job after 7 months to go back to doing what I did before business school. Now I'm getting ready for another career transition. I've also started a new blog to capture that journey. Come on over to my new site <a href="http://openmouthsgetfed.com/" target="_blank">Open Mouths Get Fed</a> to read my musings on the money part of adulting. Get an idea of what life looks like after the MBA.</div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-67513332323848420592013-09-01T22:36:00.002-05:002013-09-01T23:16:17.491-05:00A Few of My Favorite Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm sitting on <a href="http://mbaover30.com/" target="_blank">MBAOver30's</a> couch watching him nurse a case of malaria (as he calls it) which is really just a good old fashioned hangover (as anyone else would call it). I'm in Philly for a wedding and I dragged him to the outdoor ceremony and reception on this especially humid day. I find it amusing that he thought drinking from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. was a good life choice at his age. Old men should know better. <br />
<a name='more'></a> My stay here in my old town is a short one. Tomorrow I head back to Chicago after an 11 week internship at Google. There's no way I can get into the details of all 11 weeks so how about I give the Cliff's notes in the top 11 things about my Google internship.<br />
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11. Location, location, location. I love New York City. It's the happiest place on earth. This summer I was all over the 5 boroughs (well 4 of the 5 boroughs, Staten Island just ain't happening). I did ball games, concerts, boat cruises, races, a polo match, the US Open and more. Best of all I broke in a new pair of 5" wedge sandals walking to work every morning.<br />
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10. Discounted gym membership. I vowed to get my fitness game on point this summer and Google made it easy to do. Employment has its perks and that included a discounted and subsidized gym membership at one of the nicest fitness clubs in NYC. Although the fitness instructors were evil, sadistic, torture masters I made good use of that membership all summer.<br />
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9. Discounted everything. Free entry to museums, discounted movie passes, store and restaurant discounts. Everywhere I went was at least 15% off with a flash of my Google badge<br />
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8. Intern boat cruise. Google put all 200+ of the NY interns (both grad and undergrad) on a big boat, opened the bar, brought out the food, blasted the music and cruised us around the Hudson River. It was a roaring 20s themed event which I swore I wasn't going to dress up for, but somehow I wound up in a flapper dress with long beads. <br />
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7. Intern scavenger hunt winner!! On the first day of my internship I joined two Stanford MBAs on a search of the NYC offices. We didn't find everything, but we had the best pictures so winners we were declared.<br />
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6. I built my first model. And by golly that thing works! I built it all from the formulas to the input page. For someone who has never taken a finance or modeling class this is huge. <br />
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5. Google Glass! All of the interns were obsessed with getting their hands on Google Glass all summer and whenever we did the occasion was commemorated with a picture. Many full-time Googlers were accosted for their Glass.<br />
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4. Free massage!! Nooglers start their time at Google with 60 free massage points which I used for a one hour traditional massage that was simply divine. I only remember the first 10 minutes of it because I fell asleep when the masseuse hit my trapezius muscle.<br />
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3. FREEDOM!! Sometimes I worked from my desk. Sometimes I worked from the library. Other days I worked from the loft and others from 5 Boroughs Bistro.<br />
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2. 5 Boroughs Bistro. Actually the radio in 5 Burroughs Bistro. For three days straight the music was set on mid 90s - early 2000s R&B. I damn near fell out of my seat when Jagged Edge's "He Can't Love You" came on, but all bets were completely off when they played R Kelly's "Sex Me." It was like listening to the soundtrack of my high school and undergrad years. We're talking Mary J Blige's "You Are Everything," Monica's "Before You Walk Out My Life," 702's "Get it Together." I can't, I just can't.<br />
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1. Free food! Free breakfast, free lunch, free snacks, free dinner. And this isn't the crappy cafeteria food from your old job. There were multiple cafes serving a different menu everyday. The omelet station at Water Tower on Tuesdays gave me life for the first five weeks of my internship. The cheesecake was scrumptious. Don't get me started on the cheese bar in the Market Cafe. Manchego, fontina, Nettle Meadow Kunik cheese, fresh grapes and strawberries, fig jam, crackers, little pieces of toast...LOVE! And 5 Boroughs Bistro had more than just good music. The deli sammiches were always freshly made and toasted. The smoothie bar made me happy on many occasions. And just when I thought the food couldn't make me any happier, the Hemisphere's cafe served fried chicken and waffles on my last day. Score!<br />
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I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and now I'm heading back to Chicago before setting off to enjoy the last 4 weeks of my summer break on a beach. </div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-54885917493863097812013-06-26T11:05:00.002-05:002013-09-04T22:53:40.304-05:00Working Girl<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last week I ended my one year streak without gainful employment. As much as I love Booth I was definitely ready for the school year to be over (as evidenced by my inability to conjure even an ounce of "give a shit" for my ops class). However, not wanting to be in school does not equate to wanting a job. Anyone who knows me is well aware of my <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2011/07/theres-no-place-like-home.html" target="_blank">strong aversion to the actual process of going to work</a>. But on June 17 instead of hitting snooze three times, surfing the net for an hour, and grudgingly dragging my ass to an office 20 minutes late, I actually woke up before 6, went for a jog, and showed up 15 minutes early. Why was I so eager? One word: GOOGLE!<br />
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Last week I started my summer internship in Google's NYC office. While I can't divulge too much about what I'm working on, I can say that I'm in the large customer sales division working on the automotive team. As much as I wanted to get out of sales I do have to admit that this job is catering to my strengths and past experience. It's been easy for me to make the connections between what I was doing in CPG and how Google does sales. I think it helps that I'm working in a completely different industry (tech vs CPG) and focused on completely different products (cars vs. food). This job doesn't feel like more of the same because it's exposing me to new go to market strategies. Did you know that dealerships are independently owned entities that are not tied to the manufacturer? In fact it's actually illegal for car companies to own dealerships. <br />
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While I am totally engaged in my assigned projects for the summer I am still very much so interested in nosing around to other parts of the organization, in particular Google.org. However, I do realize that I need to make the role I was hired into my primary focus if I want to have any hope of navigating through the company. And what a company it is! Even though Google is a large company it doesn't feel like one. There doesn't seem to be the engrained hierarchy that you see in other corporate environments. But then again I wouldn't describe Google as corporate. Even with thousands of employees across the globe the company has managed to maintain a lot of the feel of a start up. Most of all, like I suspected, I feel very comfortable being me here. I can say what I want, dress how I want, and be totally accepted.<br />
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And don't let me forget the perks! Oh this place is perks central. Yeah, there are discounts galore that can be used throughout the city on everything from clothing to fitness to the arts. However, the perk to end all perks has got to be the free food. I'm not talking free snacks in a break room. We're talking numerous full service cafeterias that each serve a different menu everyday. And this isn't just lunch. It's breakfast, lunch, and dinner too! That's on top of the kitchens stocked with fruit, yogurt, chips, and almost anything you can think of to meet your snacking needs. I can't tell you how much money I save by not having to buy breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner 5 days a week. Last week there was a guest chef in one of the cafeterias. I cannot be held responsible for what I did to that plate of fried chicken. It was so damn good!! In my defense, the other interns did it too!<br />
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Oh wow, look at the time. It's past noon already. Hmm...what cafeteria do I want to eat lunch in today?<br />
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Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-41534797982988376102013-05-30T21:42:00.002-05:002013-05-30T21:42:37.215-05:00Victory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I woke up yesterday morning to an e-mail from Clear Admit notifying me that the Brain Dump is this year's Best of Blogging winner. I would like to thank everyone who reads, comments, and lurks on my blog for all of your support. When I took a hiatus from blogging back in 2007 I could have never imagined that an MBA would be the impetus for reviving The Brain Dump. I had no idea that a few posts to get me back in the habit of writing in preparation for b-school essays would turn into something that is appreciated by so many people. I know that I do not update as often as some people would like (I'm looking at you Mr. MBAOver30), but I hope to keep up with writing throughout the summer while I'm on my internship. I'd like to congratulate MBAOver30 and Julianne for placing 2nd and 3rd in this year's competition. I'm a fan of both blogs. Also congratulations to all of the nominees. I'm really hoping that Str1der blogs about his time at Tuck and I can't wait to see where hamm0 ends up after the upcoming application cycle. Thank you again everyone.<div>
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Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-87573239149360416922013-05-10T23:12:00.001-05:002013-05-10T23:31:40.446-05:00And the Nominees Are...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been a long day. I just returned home from performing in Booth's
annual Follies showcase (with three hours of class and an hour of LPF
preceding it). On such a full day it's just like me to forget my phone
at home. So imagine my surprise when I finally see my Samsung's beautifully cracked screen and it's displaying a message from my buddy <a href="http://www.hamm0.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Hamm0</a> saying, "I voted for your blog in the ClearAdmit thing." "What ClearAdmit thing?"you ask. Well, it turns out that it's time for Clear Admit's annual Best of Blogging awards and I am happy to announce that The Brain Dump has been nominated for one of this year's best blogs.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Insert school girl squeal here! I remember the BoB's from last year. Although I had been blogging for nearly a year at when the 2011-2012 nominations were announced my blog was not featured on Clear Admit's <a href="http://blog.clearadmit.com/category/fridays-from-the-frontline/" target="_blank">Fridays from the Frontline</a> series, a weekly roundup of the happenings in the MBA blogosphere. My homie <a href="http://thesenator2014.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Senator</a> had just been nominated right around the time we did a joint post together. This led to the Brain Dump also making its way into Fridays from the Frontline. To come full circle now with a nomination for one of the best blogs featured in the series is truly an honor. There are a lot of great writers who document their journey toward an MBA so to be recognized in any way means a lot to me. <br />
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So now that I'm nominated, what happens next? Well, dear readers, that's where you come in. If you've enjoyed my musings over the past year please be so kind as to vote for me </div>
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<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B3CL2ZK" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">HERE</span></span></a> </div>
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You can also cast your vote by tweeting Cheetarah to @clearadmit with the hashtag #ClearAdmitBoB. </div>
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I'm in the company of some pretty amazing nominees this year. Special congratulations to MBAOver30, UnclearAdmit, CCatcher, Sassafrass, The Senator and Hamm0 for their nominations too. All of their blogs are great reads and are chock full of great information and insights about the application process and being in b-school. Thanks again to ClearAdmit for the nomination and thanks to everyone who reads, comments, emails, and lurks here. I hope to continue to write a blog that you want to read. </div>
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Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-42006264487406897182013-05-06T15:34:00.004-05:002013-05-06T15:45:45.343-05:00Easier Said than Done<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">I chose to pursue an MBA for one reason: to change my career. I knew exactly what I wanted to do after business school long before I was even accepted anywhere. I want to create
and manage soci<span style="font-size: small;">al impact </span>partnerships between private and social sector organizations.<span style="font-size: small;"> I want<span style="font-size: small;"> to start in the <span style="font-size: small;">corporate sector in <span style="font-size: small;">eith<span style="font-size: small;">er a foundation, sustainability, or CSR role (social impact in the corporate sector doesn't look the same at every company so t<span style="font-size: small;">here is variability in what department the job<span style="font-size: small;">s I'm interested in are staffed)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span>. My career goals played a major part in <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-matters-most.html" target="_blank">choosing which school to attend</a>. Deciding to attend Booth ultimately came down to determining that it was the school where I'd receive the best support in terms of recruiting. I was absolutely correct in that assessment. The career services team at Booth is phenomenal. Career coaches helped me plot my target list of companies. Second year career advisors gave me great feedback on my resume, cover letters, and interview skills. I had access </span>to every company I came to school knowing I wanted to target and many more that I hadn't even thought of before getting here. I found job openings that weren't posted. I interviewed through both on-campus and off campus recruiting methods. In February I landed an offer from the world's largest retailer for the exact job I came to business school to get. Three weeks after receiving the offer I declined it in favor of joining Google in a role very similar to what I was doing pre MBA. <i>*Insert loud record scratch sound* </i>What happened? <br />
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<a name='more'></a>No, I did not do a 180 in the 13 days between <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2013/01/pick-me-choose-me-love-me.html" target="_blank">this post</a> and <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2013/01/you-like-me.html" target="_blank">the next one</a>. My career goals haven't changed one bit. I was adamant about what I wanted to do and did not pursue back up options in case I couldn't find the job I wanted. I came to Booth with a laser focus on Google. Ever since June 2012 when I saw a job posting for a Manager of Partnerships for Google.org I knew that I would be recruiting for an internship with them. I became even more determined when I learned that Google.org took interns. I tailored my resume to highlight my interest in social impact as well as my cross-functional and client management experiences. I submitted my application to the general internship program and hoped for an interview.<br />
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While waiting I also explored other companies. A couple, like JP Morgan and Viacom, had been on my list before coming to Booth. Others came across my radar once I got here. I hadn't thought about the retail industry until a Booth alum contacted me and encouraged me to apply to the retail giant's strategy and finance internship. Even though I had no interest in that role I did know that the company had a pretty robust sustainability program so I asked about opportunities in my area of interest. That led to more informational interviews than I can count. The great thing about asking people for what you want is that they will often try to give it to you. Informational interviews turned to real opportunities in sustainability as well as corporate responsibility.<br />
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In the midst of exploring other companies Google invited me to interview. However, the role wasn't in Google.org but in sales, my area of expertise. I took the interview and hoped I'd also get the nod from Google.org. It never came, but an offer to intern in sales did. Shortly afterward the retailer offered me my choice between sustainability and corporate responsibility internships. I had to make a decision, which if you read my blog posts from <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html" target="_blank">April 2012</a> you know is not the easiest thing for me to do. <br />
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Before coming to school I had prepared myself for a long internship
search. I had come to terms with making less money than my classmates. I
had envisioned a dozen different recruiting scenarios, but I never foresaw what actually did happen. I was faced with a choice between the job I came to business school to get and the company I came to business school to work for. Since coming to Booth whenever I spoke about my career goals many people told me that it would be impossible to get a corporate responsibility, sustainability, or corporate foundation role right away. The teams are small and the jobs are highly coveted and are primarily filled internally with employees who have been at the company for a few years. They told me to get into a company, work for a few years, and then try to make the move over to my desired role. I pretty much ignored that advice. I had numerous companies approach me about rotational programs, strategy roles, and consulting gigs. If they didn't have immediate opportunities in my areas of interest I didn't bother to apply. I felt (and still do) very firmly that I had reached a point in my career where I had the necessary skills and overall business experience to get the job I want now not after 2-4 years of proving myself in some other role. However, as my plans began coming to fruition I started to realize that simply finding the right job was only part of the picture. <br />
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For weeks I agonized over which offer to accept (and conversely which one to turn down). The job I wanted came with a great company in a not so great location. Although my career is important to me, I value my personal life just as much and knew that there was a high likelihood I would not be happy in such a small town. Conversely, I worried that taking the sales job at Google would keep me pigeonholed in a function I wanted to get out of. However, I knew that I felt more myself at Google and I had more of an affinity to building a career there. The company culture appears to fit me quite well, from the casual dress code to the non stop daily supply of free food. I liked the large retailer when I visited for final round interviews, but I was in love with Google the moment I stepped into their NYC offices. As I contemplated which offer to take I took some time to sit down with one of the coaches in Booth's career services office. She put my dilemma in terms of making the choice between a short-term opportunity (an internship is only 2-3 months) vs. my long term career. I had to ask myself whether a summer internship would drastically improve my marketability for full-time recruiting in the fall for my chosen field if I knew I would prefer not to live in a remote area post MBA. I also had to consider which offer I had a greater likelihood of revisiting if the internship with the other wasn't a good fit. Even though the answers to all of these questions pointed toward choosing Google I still couldn't reconcile the idea of turning down the chance to do exactly what I want to do right now. I felt like I would be a hypocrite if I did that.<br />
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It wasn't until I spoke with a current Googler that I started to get some clarity. She told me that Google hires "mental athletes," meaning people who are capable of performing a variety of functions. Just because they bring you in for one function that doesn't mean that's where you have to stay. She also took a more long-term view of things and said, "choose the right company for you, not the right position. If you're at the right company the position will come." Although I still had reservations I ultimately took her advice. It's humbling to admit that I got exactly what I wanted just not the way I thought it would look. I got Google and I got a CSR job, they were just mutually exclusive. Securing a social impact job in the corporate sector upon graduation is still my priority. My plan is to go into Google this summer and work my butt off in sales. I've already asked my recruiter and manager if I could also take on an additional project that's more aligned with my interests and they were amenable to making that happen. Ironically, one of my classmates (and fellow Random Walkers) will be an intern for Google.org. He's more than happy to help me network with his team throughout the summer. Hopefully, these efforts will lead to a full-time offer that is closer to a more impact focused role. Most importantly, if I say that Google is the company where I want to build my career then I can use the summer internship to help confirm that. Am I absolutely, 100% comfortable with my decision? No, not completely. However, I don't think I would feel any more certain if I'd chosen differently. In less than 6 weeks I'll be on my way to seeing if I get this <br />
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<br />Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-41947664235491478752013-04-22T16:34:00.000-05:002013-04-22T22:04:07.822-05:00School Ties<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the questions that I am often asked about Booth from prospective students and recent admits is, "If there are no cohorts and students live all over Chicago does Booth really have much of a community?" According to <a href="http://poetsandquants.com/2010/07/02/chicagos-booth-vs-northwesterns-kellogg-school/" target="_blank">Poets and Quants' article Chicago Booth vs. Kellogg</a>, "T<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">he school purposely lacks core cohort groups and has no residence halls for its MBAs, factors that make it harder for real community to occur. Some Chicago students say the school still lacks the camaraderie you’ll find at many other b-schools, especially Kellogg, and that some students graduate from Chicago with only a handful of people they would call friends." I've also repeatedly read comments like, "the flexible curriculum does not allow for bonding," and "Booth is a commuter school."</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">There is a lot of information about Booth on the web. However, in my opinion much of it is misinformation disseminated by people who heard something from someone who knows someone. So does Chicago Booth have much of a community? I think that the first step is to define what someone means by community. Kellogg is known for having a strong community, but so is Tuck and these are two very different schools. So what's the standard. I think that there are two main ways to define a school's community: tight-knit and engaged.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">I will say upfront that Booth does not have a tight-knit community. However, I would argue that neither do schools like Kellogg and Wharton (both of which are known for having strong communities). When people say a school's students are tight-knit they often are saying that everybody knows one another. Everyone goes to the same parties and bars and the class does everything together. That's the type of community that schools like Tuck, Johnson, and Haas foster. However, these schools also have class sizes of under 300 students. I'd argue that when any class has more than 400 students it's impossible for the students to be tight-knit by that definition. Tuck students know all 275 of their classmates at least by name. I too can say that I know roughly the same number of classmates by name. However, I have about 300 additional people in my class. When you think about knowing over 200 people in 6 months' time then you start to understand that that's a lot of people and knowing over 300 more is virtually impossible. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">So then if a school isn't tight-knit by the above definition does that mean that it does not have a strong community? Of course not! One of Kellogg's claims to fame is its distinctive student culture. However, that sense of a Kellogg community comes as a result of engagement. And I will vehemently argue that Booth has a community that is just as strong based on this metric. "Bullshit!" you say? How can I possibly claim that when students live all over Chicago and so far from campus? That's impossible because there is no core curriculum nor cohorts.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">First, I need to clear up some common misconceptions, the biggest one being that Booth students are dispersed all over Chicago. No, most students do not live in Hyde Park near Harper Center. Yes, the vast majority of us commute anywhere from 15-30 minutes to campus. However, over 80% of students live within a 2 mile strip of the downtown neighborhoods the Loop, South Loop, and Streeterville. Heck, over 60% of students live in three buildings that are often referred to as the dorms (Millenium Park Plaza, Columbus Plaza, MDA). Even in the South Loop it is impossible to sneak in and out of 1130 Michigan Ave without running into someone from Booth. Just because Booth students do not live in close proximity to the school does not mean that they don't live in close proximity to one another. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">So what's up with living downtown? It's probably the same motivation that drives Wharton students to live in Rittenhouse Square instead of University City where Huntsman Hall is located: lifestyle. MBAs aren't like typical grad school students. Most graduate students enter their programs immediately after undergrad. MBAs have been out of school for at least 3 years (some of us even 10+ years) and have become used to living a certain way. If we have the opportunity to maintain that lifestyle (lack of income and debt be damned), we're going to do it. Hyde Park is lovely, but most of us just aren't about that 2.5 kids, Sunday at the park life quite yet. Chicago's public transportation makes it easy to commute to school and we have lockers so that we can keep the stuff we need on campus to avoid extra trips. Given these conveniences we choose to live where the Chicago's night life does. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.140625px;">Now that we've cleared up one myth, let's address the lack of cohorts. Technically, Booth does have cohorts. In fact I just participated in a cohort scavenger hunt on Saturday (no babies were harmed during the event, but some were subjected to awkward holding). However, cohorted learning is only in place for Booth's one required course, LEAD, which takes place during orientation and the first 4 weeks of the first quarter. After LEAD there are a few big cohort based activities like Golden Gargoyles and Leadership Challenge, but for the most part cohort activities are spearheaded by cohort members and the graduate business council (i.e. cohort trivia, cohort t-shirt day, etc.). Although students aren't required to be at these events there is always a very healthy turnout (it could be a function of the free food and drink that is always offered). </span><br />
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I think this illustrates the beauty that is Booth. At it's core this place is an exercise in free markets. Everything is driven by students' choices and Booth students <i style="font-weight: bold;">choose</i> to be actively involved with the school. I have yet to go to any event that wants for participants. The "Running of the Bulls" (annual Booth vs. Kellogg basketball game at the United Center) sold out in an hour. Demand for Winter Formal resulted in 100 extra tickets being released. The tech trek required an application because there wasn't enough capacity for all of the students who wanted to attend. The list can go on and on. Even without the typical structures to build school loyalty and student body engagement, students are so tied to Booth we often struggle to excoriate ourselves from the "Booth Bubble." Chicago is a virtual treasure trove of people yet most of my classmates struggle to spend time with anyone who isn't a Booth student. I have friends that I've known for years living in Chicago and I think I've only hung out with one of them one time. After ending our Valentine's Day with a McDonald's picnic on her living room floor one of my friends and I vowed to go explore Chicago's happy hour scene without 250 of our closest classmates. Thus far the closest we've come is LPF (Liquidity Preference Function) at Underground Wonder Bar with only 150 of our closest classmates. Everything from Friday night parties to week long spring breaks to summer internships always seems to include classmates. <br />
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With a city as large as Chicago it would be easy for us to leave Harper Center and scatter amongst the throngs only to see one another for classes and recruiting. However, that's not what happens. There is more activity going on at Booth than any person can keep track of and the majority of it is student run. <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2013/04/we-ghana-party.html" target="_blank">My spring break trek to Africa</a> - organized by the Chicago African Business Group. My winter career trek to NYC - organized by the Media, Entertainment, and Sports Group. Follies - student written, produced, and performed. Booth students choose to invest their time in making sure this community is thriving. There is an overflow of people clamoring to participate in Admit Weekend, career services, admissions, and more. Oftentimes these activities require hours of work and we still want to to do it. I think this speaks volumes to the ties people have to Booth.<br />
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I will readily admit that although Booth has a very vibrant community it is built differently than at other schools. The flexible curriculum is not conducive to having prolonged avenues for socializing (i.e. dorms, curriculum cohorts, etc.). In allowing people to pick their classes, schedule, and professors (and study groups within those classes) it's very much so a choose your own adventure kind of place. Booth is set up so that students aren't interacting with the same people day in and day out. Booth fosters breadth of socializing, but it's up to the individual to determine where to seek depth. One of the best consequences of this breadth is a greater sense of cohesion between the 1st and 2nd year classes. This is the very opposite of the structure at most schools where the depth of socializing is built into the program and it's up to students to seek out a wider breadth. Truth be told the breadth was difficult for me at first. I felt that I was meeting a lot of people but not really forming deeper relationships. I wasn't doing on campus recruiting so I was always interacting with different people but not spending significant time with anyone. It wasn't until ski trip when I had a week of consistent socializing with people that I started really making friends. The opportunities to really bond with people are all over the place at Booth. However, it might take a little patience and being proactive to figure out what those opportunities are for you.<br />
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I will tell any prospective student how much I love being here, but I will also say that it isn't for everybody. If you really like structure and aren't looking to try something different then Booth isn't the school for you. If you tend not to be proactive in getting to know people and don't like feeling somewhat uncomfortable at times then you probably shouldn't be here. However, if the bevvy of choice appeals to you or you want to try a social environment that is different from what you're used to then this might could be the place for you. </div>
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Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-13353083310995611292013-04-01T13:55:00.002-05:002013-04-01T13:55:23.021-05:00We Ghana Party!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm chilling in a hotel room in Addis Ababa with 5 other Boothies right now. We're ordering room service and watching Naija music videos right now. I may or may not be doing a mean chair dance right now, but I admit to nothing. Classes started today but we extended spring break for another day or two. All good things must come to an end and in another hour or so we will be on our way to the airport to start the nearly 20 hour voyage back to Chicago. Spring break 2013 is coming to an end and goodbye to Africa we must say.<br />
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The 2013 Chicago African Business Group spring Africa trek was a week of professional, cultural, and recreational activities in Accra, Ghana and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for about 27 Booth students from both classes. Don't think this trip was just for Africans. The group consisted of Nigerians, Ghanians, Chinese, Americans, Indians, and more. Although the official trip dates were from March 25- March 31 most of us arrived in Accra on the 21st or 22nd. Before the official company visits and city tours started we found our way to Accra's beaches, restaurants, and night clubs. On Sunday March 24 22 of us piled into a minibus and headed toward Ghana's coast to visit Kakum National Park and Elmina Castle.<br />
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The hike through Kakum to its famous canopy walkway started with over 200 stairs through the rainforest in what felt like 100% humidity. I thought I was going to die but when I saw a guy with a broken foot and cane making it up the hills faster than me I sucked it up and kept climbing. The view from the canopy walkway was well worth the bug bites and buckets of sweat to get there. The bridge was like something out of <i>Temple of Doom</i>.<br />
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After surviving Kakum we headed to the coast to visit Elmina Castle. Elmina was built by the Portuguese in 1482 and was a trading post along Africa's Gold Coast. </div>
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Eventually, trading gold gave way to trading people and the castle became a major part of the Atlantic slave trade. We walked through the male and female dungeons which housed hundreds of people at one time. Even with the breeze from the Atlantic the holding cells were sweltering. There were only about 25 people on our tour and the heat was oppressive. I couldn't imagine how awful it would be for over 100 people locked in there for months.</div>
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For over one hour our tour guide walked us through the countless atrocities that occurred at Elmina for centuries. People were forced to eat on the same floor that they relieved themselves and others died on. Women were raped on a consistent basis and were separated from their babies before being shipped across the Atlantic. Men were chained together in dungeons without food or water until each one died. In the meantime Europeans lived in luxury on the castle's upper floors. It's hard to describe how seeing that history up close feels. It's more than haunting and disturbing. It's gut wrenching to see man's inhumanity to man. Ironically, I wasn't going to join the group tour that day because I didn't want to wake up for the early bus departure and I had been to a slave trading post in Cameroon a couple of years ago. I'm grateful that my friend convinced me to get out of bed and go. The experience is something I (and many of my classmates) will never forget.</div>
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The trip wasn't all somber. Accra is an up and coming city where modernity crashes into the past. I spent a lot of time at the Golden Tulip and Movenpick hotels. I indulged in a pedicure, sitting by the pool, and lots of food. Discovering the buffet at Golden Tulip was life changing. There's nothing a West African loves more than some fufu and stew. Forks and spoons be damned. </div>
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As for the company visits in Ghana...well I meant to go to a few, but I usually wound up finding other activities to occupy my time (food and sleep). I did make it to the best visit of them all: a meeting with the Vice President of Ghana Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. He sat down with us for over 30 minutes to discuss Ghana's economic prospects and the opportunities we would find should we decide to pursue careers in Ghana. One theme that kept coming up was the exponential increase in energy needs as the country develops. There were video cameras and press present for the meeting and all of the pomp and circumstance definitely felt a bit overblown and awkward. But hey, who am I to complain. At the end of the meeting we took a photo with the VP and he asked me who did my hair. I proudly let him know that I had twisted my hair myself. The impromptu conversation with Ghana's 2nd in command wasn't even the best part of visit. We were provided a motorcade to the airport to ensure we arrived in time to make our flight to Addis Ababa. Watching the lead motorcyclist slice through Accra's traffic parting traffic like Moses parted the Red Sea was thrilling. I saw my life pass before my eyes a few times with a couple of near head on collisions but it was so worth it.</div>
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From Accra we were off to Addis Ababa...but this post is long enough so I'll continue the story soon.</div>
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Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-29808625768263009242013-03-20T23:10:00.001-05:002013-03-20T23:13:13.999-05:00Quick UpdateLadies and gentlemen, we are in the middle of final exam week. Lucky for me none of my classes had finals this quarter. But wait! Before any of my fellow MBA students throw daggers at me I do have a huge final project due on Friday for my marketing research class. I don't even want to get into the hellish clusterfuck that assignment is.<br />
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Alas, I do not have til Friday to finish it. It needs to be out the door tomorrow because by 7p.m. I will be on my way to O'Hare to begin my voyage to Ghana for spring break. Thirty of my classmates and I are heading to Ghana and Ethiopia for Chicago African Business Group's annual Africa trek.Africa isn't new to me since I've been to Cameroon many times to spend time with my ridiculously awesome (and awesomely crazy) family. However, this will be my first time going to Africa's east coast and I can't wait. I love me some Ethiopian food and I'm about to eat that country out of all injera I can stomach. </div>
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I will likely be away for the week of spring break (but that's not unlike most weeks lately) so I want to say good luck to Booth's R2 applicants and a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to the new admits. </div>
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When I get back I'll update you all on the haps in Ghana and Ethiopia as well as do some poetic waxing about career choices in business school. Til then, may the odds be ever in your favor. </div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-77936864440331451312013-02-27T20:12:00.001-05:002013-05-05T13:19:44.945-05:00Already?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Less than a year ago I was sitting in Harper Center 104 amid a sea of several hundred admitted students listening to Kurt Ahlm, Dean of Admissions, welcome all of us to Chicago Booth. Me and my future classmates were like newborn babies in a family. Booth lavished us with attention and adoration, constantly congratulating us on the accomplishment of gaining admission and welcoming us into the Booth community. Fast forward 10 months and just like that there's a new bunch of babies on the way and we're the not nearly as adorable older siblings. It feels like class of 2014 just got to campus and we're already welcoming the class of 2015. People were right, business school moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Today I attended a luncheon for new student leaders. With a little over half of my first year behind me I am already one of seven new co-chairs for Booth's Net Impact chapter. I'm ecstatic to have been selected for the role. However, I don't quite feel ready to be a "student leader." Most of the time I can't even find my way around the lower level of Harper Center. Me leading a student group is like the blind leading the blind. </div>
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I'm sure I will figure it all out and won't send a 100+ member club crashing to the ground. I guess what's freaking me out most is not that I could mess up as a student leader, but that being a student leader means that my first year already has more time behind it than it does ahead of it. It wasn't that long ago that <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/09/take-two.html" target="_blank">I was worried about making friends</a>. Somewhere between December and now that worry went away and in its place are now an amazing group of girlfriends who drag me to TNDC and a gorgeous gay boyfriend who won't break up with his gay boyfriend so that we can get married and have lots of babies. In the words of LadyRoadWarrior, they are "my people."</div>
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If I just found my people shouldn't we have more time together before our internships start? I surely think so. Alas, someone set the timer on business school to warp speed so the time ticks away no matter how much I want it to slow down. So what lies ahead for me? Spring break will be spent in Africa with 29 other Boothies (both 1st and 2nd years). Chicago African Business Group is sponsoring its annual trek and this year's destinations are Accra, Ghana and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Africa trek will be a mini Random Walk Fiji reunion as one of my four trip leaders and two other Random Walkers will be trekking too. In a couple of weeks I will be auditioning to perform in Booth's annual Follies and will also apply to be a 2nd year Career Adviser. As for my summer, I'm pleased to say that I will be spending it in New York City working at Google...and that is another story for another day.</div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-33856137221098148412013-02-21T10:00:00.004-05:002013-02-24T12:13:31.146-05:00Tell Me About a Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since January the halls of Harper Center have been alive with the sounds of recruiting. From calls of "good luck" as friends march toward the temple of doom (interview rooms) to the hushed condolences after a botched case interview recruiting is all around us. In fact, it's even spread to the applicant pool as schools have now released (or are releasing) the round 2 interview invites. Inevitably, after the cheers of joy for moving on to the next phase in the process, the panic of moving on descends. In honor of this festive season of nerves, paranoia, and ocassional nausea I would like to recount my interview experiences from last application season and give some advice for this year's applicants (Booth's in particular).<br />
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Last year I interviewed with three schools: Kellogg, Booth, and Wharton. I self-initiated an on campus interview at Kellogg and was invited to interview at Booth and Wharton. The three interviews were very different but I felt that all three went well. I would say the most formal one was Kellogg's. I met with a 1st year student. The questions were very standard: "Walk me through your resume." "Tell me about a time when you had to convince a group of people." You know the drill. The interview lasted 30 minutes exactly.<br />
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For Booth I chose to interview off campus with an alum. I had already visited the school two months prior and didn't feel the need to come back for the interview. I didn't know much about my interviewer beforehand. I did look him up on LinkedIn prior to reaching out to schedule the interview, but that was because he has a unisex name and I couldn't figure out if I should address my email to Mr. or Ms. I wound up just using his first name and hoping I wasn't being too informal. We met in a coffee shop. I remember that one of the first things he said to me was, "I don't make the decision on whether or not you get in so let's just have a conversation." And converse we did. We spent nearly two hours talking about our suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, football (really how much I hate the Philadelphia Eagles), the dot com crash, and of course my interest in Booth. Although on paper we had nothing in common, my interviewer and I connected so well that he even sent me a thank you note the next day.<br />
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However, my best interview had to be with Wharton. A second year student interviewed me. It was only 30 minutes but it was very memorable. After the standard behavioral questions my interviewer asked me a question I wasn't expecting. "If you had a ticket to go anywhere in the world where would you go?" I took a second to mull it over and told him that I would go to Thailand because I wanted to see the places I'd learned about in Mr. Verno's 9th grade Global Studies class...and also because I wanted to eat my way through the entire country. My love of Thai food quickly led to us comparing our favorite Philadelphia eateries and discovering a mutual love for <a href="http://sabrinascafe.com/" target="_blank">Sabrina's</a>, a local cafe that serves amazing breakfast. Pretty soon he had whipped out his smartphone and we were examining the brunch special menu from the week that Whitney Houston passed away. If he didn't have a line of other applicants awaiting him in the waiting area I'm sure we would have skipped out of Hunstsman hall and wandered over to the Art Museum neighborhood for some stuffed French toast.<br />
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While all of my interviews turned out differently, I prepared for each of them the same way. I searched online for other people's interview debriefs and practiced answering the questions they were asked with a mock interviewer (one of my friends). I had stories prepared that could cover questions on leadership, working in teams, overcoming objections, and recovering from mistakes. I knew exactly why I wanted an MBA, why I wanted to go to that school, and what I wanted to do in my post MBA career. I figured if they asked me a question that didn't fall within any of the realms for which I'd prepared then I would just figure it out in the moment. <br />
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Having interviewed so much over the last 15 months (application and internship interviews) I'd like to share some of what I've found to be true.<br />
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<b>1) Business school interviews are not like job interviews</b><br />
Many applicants see the interview as all that stands between them and that coveted admit. If applying to business school was like applying to a job it would be. But the two processes are very different. For a job, your application simply gets you the interview. At that point your fate hinges on your performance in those interviews. In MBA admissions land your application does get you the interview, but it's also what gets you the admit. Here's the thing about those nice, shiny interview invites. They are not all created equal. Everyone is not starting from the same point and you don't know where you're positioned in the herd. The interview is only one piece of your overall application and is not evaluated in a vacuum. People who had great interviews still get dinged and others who had so-so interviews get admitted. While you don't want to fall flat on your face in the interview, don't put so much emphasis on its importance that you pysche yourself out.<br />
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<b>2) It's not about "connecting" with the interviewer</b><br />
I'm noticing that a lot of applicants spend time trying to figure out how to bond with their interviewer before they ever set foot in the interview room. I've had multiple applicants ask me to do reconaissance on their alumni interviewers so they could come in prepared to wow that person. I declined. Why? Because I honestly don't think it matters. Applicants aren't asked to interview in order to evaluate if you can bond with a stranger in 30-60 minutes. The interview is about seeing how you present yourself in person (are you professional, can you articulate your ideas clearly concisely, can you speak English, etc.) and digging a bit deeper into who you are beyond the paper application. You don't have to connect with your interviewer in order to do this. Besides, there really is no way to predict if a connection will happen no matter how much you do or do not have in common. Some interviewers are stoic, others are informal. You won't know what you're gonna get until you get in the room so why bother worrying about it ahead of time. And don't forget that some interviewers just have a really great poker face. <a href="http://mbaover30.com/" target="_blank">MBAover30</a> thought that he didn't "connect" with his Booth interviewer the way he'd wanted to. When he met her again at an admit event he learned that she was very enthusiastic about his candidacy. My advice is to take the focus off of your interviewer and put it back on yourself. <br />
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<b>3) Don't overthink it</b><br />
A couple of months ago I pleaded with applicants to get out of their own heads and <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/12/think-first-ask-never.html" target="_blank">believe the information the adcom communicates.</a> Please apply that same advice to the interview. I have lost count of how many questions I have received about whether or not it's better to interview on campus with the admissions committee or a student interviewer or to choose the option to interview off campus with an alum. I must have heard every rationale for and against both options. "What if the alum has an axe to grind?" "What if I get a student interviewer who doesn't like me?" "Shouldn't I go on campus again to show how interested I am?" "My friend had a horrible on campus interview with an adcom at school X, so I think I should interview with an alum for school Y." Here's the thing, if you ask 10 difference people who you should interview with (adcom or alum) you will likely get 10 different answers backed up by a 20 different stories that people will swear are gospel. My advice to you is to ignore it all and listen to the admissions committee. If the admissions committee says that both interview types are weighted equally, please believe them and choose the one that works best for your schedule, finances, and preferences. For every story you hear about a great alum interview you will hear another about a horrible one. The same goes for the adcom. It is impossible to predict how your interview will turn out based on who is conducting it so don't bother trying to hedge your bets either way. Do alumni interviews tend to have more variability in HOW they are conducted? Sure. But that variability can swing the pendulum just as far toward awesome as it does toward awful. And to be honest, I'd say 90% of interviews still stay within the fair to good zone.<br />
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<b>4) Know yourself. Know your story</b><br />
The most important variable in the interview equation is YOU. And that's great because you have 100% control over that variable. Be prepared to speak to your career path to date and how an MBA factors into your future goals. Be prepared to defend your career goals if pushed a bit. Don't look at follow up questions as something to be avoided. Just be ready to give a reason for why you want to make the move to consulting or brand management or entrepreneurship or whatever it is you're interested in doing. Know a bit about the industry landscape you purport to want to be part of. Interviewers aren't there to trip you up, but they are there to gauge how well you've thought things out. Just like your applications, your interviews will get better with the 2nd or 3rd one. I highly recommend getting help to prepare for the first one. <a href="http://essaysnark.com/salespage/interviewprep/" target="_blank">Essay Snark</a> offers a relatively inexpensive preparation service. You can also get together with a friend to run through your answers to questions. If you want to video tape yourself to see your mannerisms and speech patterns that's a great idea too. While you don't want to come across as over rehearsed becoming comfortable with answering common interview questions will definitely help.<br />
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I hope I've covered everything you'd wanted to know, but if I missed something feel free to shoot me a question in the comments or via email. Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-73532459278477205682013-01-31T19:34:00.001-05:002013-02-23T08:25:38.595-05:00You Like Me!!!Halleluljah the miracle came early! I just got a summer internship offer. I don't want to say much right now because I'm still in the middle of recruiting with several companies. The job is with a company that has been at the top of my list since before school started. Hell, I even mentioned them in my Booth career goals essay. The phone call was very unexpected. Actually it was so unexpected that I screamed in the recruiter's ear and told her to shut up. I really do need to handle getting good news better. Whatever. So freaking happy right now.<br />
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I have an interview tomorrow that I should stay in and prep for...but screw it! I'm going out tonight!</div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-55608618943857308862013-01-18T04:13:00.002-05:002013-02-23T08:25:11.756-05:00Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>I lied. I'm not out of this relationship. I'm in. I'm so in, it's humiliating cause here I am begging. Shut up. You say, "Meredith," and I yell, remember. Okay, here it is. Your choice it's simple. Her or me. And I'm sure she's really great, but Derrick, I love you. In a really really big pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you love you. So, pick me. Choose me. Love me. </i><br />
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Replace Meredith with Cheetarah and Derrick with Nike/Google/Viacom/Warby Parker/etc. and you've got exactly how I'm feeling right now. Ladies and gentlemen, it's January. And January means recruiting. Recruiting means sitting by the computer (or the phone) waiting for a company to pick me. I'm so pathetic right now.<br />
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The Chicago Booth on campus recruiting machine has been churning at full speed since the beginning of fall quarter. Within three weeks of classes starting 95% of my classmates morphed from casually dressed college students to suited up job hunters. While they lunched and learned, coffee chatted, and corporate conversationed, I stuck to my jeans, leggings, sweats, and assorted Booth t-shirts and scavenged the leftover boxed lunches. It's well known that I didn't come to business school for the traditional career paths and even as the herd stormed the halls of Harper I felt no inclination to follow it. My social impact loving ass was happy picking up more extracurricular activities than the law allows and poking my head into the on campus recruiting circus only when it suited me. <br />
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I knew before I got to Booth that the jobs I wanted wouldn't be offered up to me by an army of recruiters and that my job search would be more of a marathon to the end of the school year rather than an intense sprint that ends in early February. If I liked a company's CSR or corporate foundation initiatives, only then would I attend a recruiting presentation (for functions in which I had no interest in working). However, my main purpose in attending was to find out if there were opportunities in my area of interest and who I'd need to speak to in order to make something happen. The strategy definitely wasn't foolproof. I felt pretty ridiculous at one investment bank's presentation. The amount of hair gel in the room was enough to freak me out for the entire 2 hour event. Plus, I hadn't been to a single banking event all quarter and there I was in organized crop circles trying to answer the question, "So what area of banking are you interested in?" Ummm...<br />
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However, sometimes my forays into company presentations yielded promising results. It turns out that more companies than I thought hire interns (well really more like AN intern) for their sustainability/corporate responsibility/corporate foundation teams. Color me optimistic, but why can't one of those single spots be for me? They definitely won't be if I don't apply, so that's what I've been doing. Applying. While cover letters aren't quite as taxing as admissions essays they are no less nerve wracking. I spent at least 30 minutes debating with myself about how to address the recruiter for my Nike cover letter. I'm told that companies really don't read them anyways, but I still am scared shitless that the wrong salutation or closing could put the nail in my candidacy's coffin. Once the submit button is pressed the only thing I can do is hope that I've pleaded my case enough for the companies I'm targeting to pick me (then keep picking me in subsequent rounds til they hand over an offer).</div>
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I see some signs that I'm making good progress. Booth's career services team has been really supportive and has more resource than I can use for my off-campus search. I've gotten great advice about companies to target from the career coaches too. Best of all is being included in Booth's resume book. This book is not just an exhibit that gathers dust on a shelf. Employers actually pull resumes from it and reach out to students with backgrounds that they like. I've added several companies to my target list by steering conversations with the ones who have contacted me toward opportunities in my areas of interest. Also, there are a bunch of companies that don't visit campus but post internship positions on Booth's job board. It's veritable treasure trove of cool and interesting companies (Dalberg, Warby Parker, Cars.com, etc.) looking for talent in everything from marketing to strategy to finance and more. But the biggest indication that I'm going in the right direction came this week in the form of an interview invite from a company at the top of my list. </div>
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Since I am doing a combination of on-campus and off-campus recruiting (but mostly off campus) the hardest part is not to panic come February when so many of my classmates have their offers and I'm still searching. While it would be great to get one of the few corporate foundation internships available through on-campus recruiting and to bow out of the recruiting game before spring break, I am being a pragmatist. The majority of my opportunities won't reveal themselves until April or May or even June. So until miracle or May happens I'm spending a whole lot of time giving my own version of the "Pick me, choose me, love me," speech to any company that will listen.</div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-57442907678671623122012-12-28T19:05:00.000-05:002012-12-28T19:14:08.683-05:00What's Fit Got to Do With It?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Now that the dust has mostly cleared from Round 1 applications there are some very happy recent admits amongst us. <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/12/well-done.html" target="_blank">Congratulations to all of you once again</a>. For some people December brought multiple admissions offers. Remember being worried that not even one school would say yes? I definitely do, so it feels amazing when two, or three, or even four or more schools see just how awesome you are. It's also just nice to feel wanted. I encourage you to bask in your achievements for a while. However, all good things must come to an end and when it's all said and done you can only enroll in one school. So which one is gonna be?<br />
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As many of you know I went through this dilemma last application cycle. While I will never complain about the situation (I felt incredibly blessed and humbled to have the options that I did), having to pick which school to attend caused a lot of internal turmoil. Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know. First world problems. There are people who don't get in anywhere so what am I bitching about. I swear that I'm not pulling a woe is me act. However, I do empathize with this years admits who now feel torn between 2 or more schools. The "Amazing School A vs. Incredible School Y" threads are popping up left and right. It's obvious that for many people the decision is not as simple as close your eyes and pick. What always bothered me wasn't the idea that I would choose wrong, but more the thought that I may not choose best. Also it's difficult to let go of schools that you've become attached to during the admissions process. Unless you went into this process with a clear preference for where you want to go, deciding which schools walk the plank is very rarely cut and dry.<br />
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For many people the decision comes down to fit. Fit. Fit. Fit. What does that even mean? Is it the perfect alignment of school resources with career goals? Is it the perfect match between learning and teaching styles? Is it being surrounded by "your people"? Is it the place that feels like home? In my opinion fit can be all of these things. Different schools can satisfy different aspects of fit. However, I think that there is often something that applicants don't consider. Is finding the perfect fit really necessary?<br />
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When choosing which school to attend I think that a person needs to ask him/herself what they want out of the MBA experience. Just because a school doesn't feel like a perfect fit doesn't mean that it's not the right school. I like to think of it along the spectrum of stretching. Remember the sit and reach? You sit up straight with your legs together and directly in front of you, shaping your body into an L. Then you lean forward as far as you can and try to touch your toes. For most of us we reach a sticking point where we just can't bend anymore. This sticking point is where our muscles tighten and our body says, "Don't you dare go any further." This is where we're stretched. I think there are some schools that make us feel this way. We're not comfortable, but we're not in pain either. I encourage admits with multiple offers to evaluate schools in terms of this stretch test. Is a school in your comfort zone? Is it at the point in the exercise where everything still feels good and is comfortable? Or does the school feel a bit past your comfort zone? I encourage you to stay away from schools that are so much of a stretch you're pulling a muscle.<br />
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So which school do you go for? The one in your comfort zone or the one that feels a bit uncomfortable, but not awful. Well, that's up to you. When evaluating schools based on fit, once they are able to pass the "can I get a job from here" test the next step is to ask yourself what you want out of your MBA experience. Do you want to be in a place that feels like home? Do you want to go to a school that takes you past your safe place a bit to help you stretch your boundaries and perspectives? I think either option works. Entering business school is often a time of great life changes and you may just want to be at a school where you feel like you're around your people. For other people it's about taking two years to do what you normally wouldn't, socialize with people you would never even think to say hello to, or try a new working environment. I chose to do the latter. I will readily say that Booth was not the school that felt like home to me. I didn't walk around Booth's admit weekend thinking, "these are my people!" However, I did like the intellectual energy I felt in Harper Center, the advice I'd received from alums, and the positive endorsements about career services. Although I didn't instantly connect with many of the people who are now my classmates, I determined that making the effort to do so during the next two years would be good for me. I was right. During midterms I was talking to one of my squad mates and we both acknowledged that we would never have naturally gravitated toward one another, but that we're glad that we were forced to go outside of our tendencies because we actually have a lot of fun together.<br />
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All of the above ramblings are just some food for thought as you're visiting schools and making your decisions. Remember that it's absolutely wonderful to find your perfect fit school. It's also just fine to go to a school you have to grow into.Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-77595896513603886012012-12-20T12:56:00.001-05:002012-12-23T14:43:12.947-05:00Well Done<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings from Telluride! The sun is out, the snow is fresh, and a day of skiing awaits. Alas, I am not posting to regale you with tales from Booth's annual ski trip (at least not yet anyways). Today's post is dedicated to others. "Who?" you ask. None other than some very special Round 1 admits.<br />
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Congratulations to three of my favorite GMAT Clubbers/Class of 2015 applicants!<br />
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<a href="http://unclearadmit.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Str1der</a> - This man is the definition of perseverance. I met Str1der last year on GMAT Club's Kellogg applicant thread. We built a fast rapport and reviewed one another's essays. I will always be grateful to him for the feedback he gave me on Kellogg's short essay. He really helped me improve it. Alas, although he was invited for an interview he was not admitted at Kellogg last year. This year he came roaring back with a 40 point improvement on the GMAT, a job promotion, and killer essays. I just knew that he was getting into business school this year. And I was right. St1der has been offered a spot in Tuck's class of 2015. His email telling me the news was one of the best parts of my week. Hats off to you my friend! You're going to be a wonderful addition to Tuck. Tell my friends The Senator and LadyRoadWarrior I said hello and to take good care of you.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mybreakaway.com/" target="_blank">Sassafrass/Machichi</a> - A few months ago some person named machichi popped up on GMAT Club, wondering how a non traditional candidate such as himself would fare in MBA application land. One read of his blog and I knew he'd fare just fine. He's witty, thinks critically, and has a wonderfully unique background that would add to any MBA class. This week both Yale and Kellogg confirmed what I already knew and called him with news of acceptances. I am so very happy that such a well deserving candidate got into two amazing schools. Selfishly I want him to choose Kellogg so I might have the chance to meet him in Chicago next year.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mbaover30.com/" target="_blank">MBAOver30</a> - The second I saw that screen name I knew that I had found a kindred spirit. Being a 30+ applicant myself, I knew exactly where he was coming from when he wrote <a href="http://mbaover30.com/2012/05/12/a-not-so-winding-road/" target="_blank">this post on his blog.</a> It took a long time and a very winding road for me to figure out that an MBA was the right path for me, so I immediately connected to his story. I still can't tell who befriended whom, but we've been tight since last spring. He got me through the <a href="http://mbaover30.com/2012/08/05/a-change-in-plans-mba-applications/" target="_blank">late night portion of my drive from Philadelphia to Chicago</a> and I blasted holes in a good percentage of his application plans. We finally met in LA this summer while I had a layover on my way to Fiji for Random Walk. Even though I tore his Wharton essays to shreds he still took me out for sushi to say thank you. Since then I've seen his Booth application go from alright to pure Boothie and talked him off the proverbial ledge a few times. This week was quite the week for Mr. 30+ as he received back to back admits (with scholarships) to both Booth and Wharton. I have already started the 24/7 "Come to Booth" campaign.<br />
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There are a number of other R1 admits who I was also very happy to see on the MBA forums. So in no particular order, congratulations to: astrochriss88 (Kellogg); Top10MBACandidate (Booth); elbie (Kellogg, Booth, Wharton); query007 (Kellogg); ak2012 (Booth); c00guy (Kellogg, Booth); emanuelle (Wharton), and a host of others.<br />
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Enjoy this time and I hope to see all of the Booth admits at Admit Weekend Feb 8.Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-25332189251118968832012-12-13T01:39:00.002-05:002012-12-13T01:39:54.310-05:00Testing 1, 2, 3..<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfofxBEMkiZKERPglzTDT44wBY8QMjSe4rrMgg9Ic_B-wM-nZIYs18gYD80Xk-9uxGr8uq7RY9rc8SzVEs06zCWUnNSkaUCJRiStx-KuByztle2SRq5X9QupybWUP8vZYM7Km9Q/s1600/final+exams+cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfofxBEMkiZKERPglzTDT44wBY8QMjSe4rrMgg9Ic_B-wM-nZIYs18gYD80Xk-9uxGr8uq7RY9rc8SzVEs06zCWUnNSkaUCJRiStx-KuByztle2SRq5X9QupybWUP8vZYM7Km9Q/s320/final+exams+cartoon.jpg" width="320" /></a>It's all over. As of 11:00 a.m. today my first quarter at Chicago Booth has come to an end. I finished my last final exam this morning and will never again have to understand what a z-score is or how much a government subsidy will need to be in order to incentivize a monopolist to lower their price. Now that finals are over I can finally do all of the things that I have neglected to do for over a week, such as write cover letters for internship applications, working out, preparing the marketing campaign for a startup I'm working on, sleeping, doing my hair*.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>So, how did it all go? Hmmm...where do I start? The beginning, I guess. Fall quarter I took four classes, two Monday classes, one Wednesday, and one Friday. Why is that important? Because the day of your class determines the day of your final exam; and you guessed it: on Monday I had not one, but two final exams. I had the privilege of waking up at the butt crack of dawn to a statistics final from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and finishing my day with a microeconomics final from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. (with a free lunch from Potbelly in the middle. Thank you Booth administration). Two finals in one day made for a pretty terrible Saturday and Sunday prior. Before I go further, let me back up. Back in late October <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-life-and-times.html" target="_blank">I mentioned that I was working on a case competition</a> that just so happened to be taking place right in the middle of midterms. Turns out that spending 12 hours working a case and 12 minutes studying for a midterm does not bode well for exam performance. I pretty much bombed my two exams that week. The two midterms I'd taken previously (which just so happened to have been stats and econ) weren't disasters but my scores were definitely not Dean's List material. All of that to say that my final exams were gonna have to carry a very heavy load if I didn't want flunk out of school or lose my fellowship. <br />
The issue was that right after midterms my professors decided to lose their damn minds and go places that basic classes should not go. K, L, MP<span style="font-size: xx-small;">K, </span>MP<span style="font-size: xx-small;">L, </span>Rsquared, and p-hat flew by me and I didn't catch any of it. I knew that it would take time for me to review all of the material and be able to apply it in some intelligible way. However, my study schedule looked something like this:<br />
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While I did start studying prior to midnight before the exam, by Saturday evening I realized that trying to cram 5 weeks worth of new material and relearn 5 weeks worth of stuff I'd "already learned" for two classes was not a good life choice. I spent over 5 hours alone just figuring out cost curves (go ahead and ask me how much labor and capital are required to produce 100 pens!). The majority of Sunday I spent trying to figure out statistics. My professor was kind enough to provide us with previous year's exams to use in our preparation. However, upon getting to question #3 in the 2005 final exam I soon saw an incongruence:<br />
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I went to both the professor's and the TA's Sunday review sessions (on opposite sides of town no less - one at Gleacher, one at Haper Center). One of them was helpful, but I will not say which one. After the second review session I stumbled upon some classmates in a group study room and joined them for a marathon review session. Hell, we even used the white board to work out problems together. By 9:00 p.m. I still had not been able to work through the entire 2005 statistics final and had yet to do the practice exams for micro. At that point I resigned myself that my stats knowledge was what it was and that it was time to move on to micro. Over the next 5 hours I got a better handle on price discrimination, production optimization, and monopoly behavior in uncertainty. I didn't leave school until close to 2:00 a.m and finally crashed by about 2:30.<br />
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Less than 5 hours later I was awake and heading back to campus to face my executioner. I opened the statistics exam booklet at exactly 8:00 a.m. to find that God had smiled down upon me. The 2012 final was eerily similar to the 2005 final exam (yep, the same one I'd been studying from). As I went through the questions, section by section I found myself doing little happy dances in my chair each time I knew how to apply the information on my allowed cheat sheets to the exam questions. While my professor may have been nice enough to give us an exam that was similar to our preparatory materials, he was sadistic enough to make the exam a dense, time consuming ordeal of calculating means and variances of linear combinations and finding standard errors for hypothesis tests. For the most part I knew what I was doing it just took me a long time to do it. With about an hour to go in the exam I noticed that some people were starting to turn in their exams and leave.<br />
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I kept working until time was called. Although there were a few questions that I had no clue how to do and a couple of others that I forgot how to approach for the 3 hours of the test (WHY COULDN'T I SEE IT WAS A BERNOULLI!!!!), overall I didn't feel bad about the exam at all. I probably got about a 70%. However, there's this beautiful invention called a curve that turns a 70% into a high B and that's alright by me.<br />
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A half hour after completing my stats exam I sat down to my micro economics final. Once again, much of what I had studied was on the exam. There were some problems that I knew how to solve but just spaced on (I'm looking at you Stackleberg), but for the most part I felt okay when it was all done.<br />
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With all of the studying for stats and micro over the last few days I had neglected to start reviewing for the final that mattered most: competitive strategy. That midterm was my worst one and it was abysmal. In fact the professor listed my score in the caution zone when it came to grading. I knew I would have to knock out the final in order to not risk losing my fellowship, let alone get a good grade. I had missed a lecture toward the end of the quarter due to a recruiting event. Last night, one of my study group members was kind enough to sit with me for a couple of hours and explain all of the concepts I wasn't quite getting. I stayed up til 1:00 a.m. working on my cheat sheet for the exam. Thank sweet baby Jesus I was able to cram 10 weeks worth of notes onto the front and back of an 8.5X11 page because I broke that puppy out by the second question and copied those notes verbatim onto my test. I quickly figured out that competitive strategy exams are not really difficult when you actually prepare for them. While finding an exam to not be a Jedi mind trick is great on one hand, on the other it usually makes for a very high mean and an extremely narrow standard deviation. I've gone over the exam in my head multiple times since this morning trying to figure out which questions I probably lost points on (Replacement Effect, minus 7 points there).<br />
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I don't have a final exam on Friday because the professor assigned a final group paper that was due the last week of class. So now, I'm freeeeeeeeeee! Grades will be posted by Dec. 21, but until then I'm just going to forget about academics and focus on fun, which means one thing: SKI TRIP!!!!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Side Note: I really can't stand people who still look good during final exams. Finals week is the one time where it is acceptable to wear the same sweatshirt for days, throw your hair in the same ratty ponytail everyday, and not wear make. Looking good just spits in the face of this right and makes those of us who exercise it look bad (well rather worse than we already do). </span>Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-90150522694792485272012-12-03T11:49:00.002-05:002012-12-03T11:53:36.302-05:00Think First, Ask Never<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last February I wrote a post venting my frustration at some of the posters on MBA forums (check out <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/02/etiquette-101.html" target="_blank">Etiquette 101</a>). While some people agreed with my assessment there were others who didn't take to kindly to my words. Meh, oh well. You can't please everyone. Alas, I am once again feeling the need to offer some candid advice to this year's crop of applicants (and actually applicants in perpetuity). However, in the name of personal growth I am going to try my best to avoid name calling and keep the curse words to a minimum.<br />
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Lately I have noticed two distinct trends on <a href="http://www.gmatclub.com/" target="_blank">GMAT Club</a> and <a href="http://www.beatthegmat.com/" target="_blank">Beat the GMAT</a>. The first is an inexplicable tendency to ignore the obvious. The second is a desire to be spoon fed information. Actually I think the two often overlap. What do I mean? Here is an example.<br />
<b>AnnonymousMBAApplicant2012:</b><br />
<b>"Does anyone know if Wharton/Booth/HBS/etc extends interview invites after the mid decision deadline?"</b><br />
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<b>ObliviousMBAApplicant2012:</b><br />
<b>"Does anyone know when Wharton/Booth/ect starts sending interview invites."</b><br />
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So what is the issue with questions like these? The school already answered them. I can't figure out whether some people just don't read the communications a school sends or they don't believe what the school is telling them. I will admit that some schools' admissions processes are rather opaque (I am looking at you Stanford). However, more and more schools are extremely transparent. Not only do they tell you when you will hear back from them, they also tell you what information they will be telling you. <br />
When a school says, "All interview decisions will be announced on October 31. You will either be invited to interview or released," that's what it means. There are no additional occurrences outside of these. There will be no invite on November 5. There will be no waitlist without interview (unless the school specifically states it may do this). I promise that there isn't some secret message embedded which applicants must figure out in order to be admitted.<br />
That brings me to another point. Please trust the schools to which you are applying. I notice that a lot of applicants feel the need to remind the school that they exist. They freak out if their application status hasn't updated after an interview or clearly state that it's being reviewed. Even worse is when these freakouts lead to calls to the admissions office. I really do understand the stress involved with applying to business school. However, schools have been doing this for years. They know how to collect interview feedback from your interviewers. You do not need to help the process along. In fact it could reflect badly on you if you pester admissions (or your interviewer) about every little thing. If the school has not told you to specifically be on the lookout for some type of notification that means that it's not important and you shouldn't worry about it. Schools communicate what you need to know. Outside of those things, I implore you to not add more stress to the already simmering pot.<br />
Why? Because this stress is often unleashed upon everyone else and is never helpful. All it does is unnecessarily stress out your fellow applicants and make the people who want to help (current students, alums, consultants, admissions officers, etc.) roll their eyes and groan. It also gives the perception that you're lazy (right or wrong) when you ask questions that are easy to answer on your own. The internet isn't as anonymous as it seems and you don't want to make people dread being your classmate before you've even been accepted to school.<br />
So from now on can we all agree to first read the communications the schools send and then believe it before typing another post asking if December 18 is really the date by which you will be notified if you've been admitted.<br />
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The second tendency that I see from applicants is even more insidious and problematic than the first. It is the desire to be spoon fed. What does this look like?<br />
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<b>JustStartedResearchingMBA:</b><br />
<b>"Hello everyone. I have 5 years work experience and a 720 GMAT. What schools should I apply to?"</b><br />
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<b>IWanttoKnowEverything:</b><br />
<b>"Hi! Can anyone tell me which MBA programs are the best ones. I want to do healthcare."</b><br />
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Since starting school I have stuck around the MBA Forums to help the next crop of applicants. I got a ton out of the forums and I'm a firm believer in paying things forward. However, posts like the ones above make me turn and run. Even if I have advice for these people I have no interest in giving it. Why? Because they have shown absolutely no effort to help themselves. These here interwebs are a trove of information and this little website called Google helps you find where the information you're looking for is. Schools have websites with more information than a person can possibly read. To simply throw out a GMAT score and years of work experience and expect people to tell you your options (which they can't possibly do with such little information) comes across as very passive. It's actually borderline obnoxious because it gives the perception that you won't put forth the effort for yourself but expect others to do so on your behalf. If after doing your own research you still have <i>specific</i> questions or want a gut check on whether you'd be a viable applicant to certain schools then people will be happy to help you out. They'll tell you that you could brush up on your leadership experience or retake the GMAT. They'll be more inclined to tell you everything they know because you have shown that applying to business school is important enough to you to do some legwork on your own.<br />
More importantly it is best to get into the habit of figuring things out for yourself now. Business school is definitely a place where you learn a tremendous amount from your classmates. However, your classmates will not teach you that which you are not willing to try and learn on your own. You will quickly become the person that no one wants in their study group if you show up expecting everyone else to give you the answers. It's one thing to get stuck in the middle of figuring out a problem, but it is something else entirely to not even try. Posts asking to be spoon fed information that you can easily find on your own is a sign that you are a person who does not even try. Better to reverse this tendency before starting school, and MBA application research is a good place to start.<br />
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The summary of the past 1000 words is simple. Don't be that person. Nobody likes that person. Everybody judges that person. If I have not convinced you that there is a problem with being that person then the following message is for you:<br />
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Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-9549680618447212862012-11-09T00:00:00.002-05:002012-11-10T17:27:49.701-05:00The Life and Times<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's almost 10 p.m. and I am still on campus. I am holed up in a study room with three of my classmates working on our presentation for a case competition. Tomorrow afternoon I have a midterm for which I have yet to study. In the words of the Beastie Boys, there will be "no sleep til Brooklyn!" I don't even know what that means (no one knows what it means but it's provocative...it gets the people going!), but I know I won't be seeing my queen size bed anytime soon.<br />
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This week has been a killer. I'm smack in the middle of midterms, and am once again way over committed. Oh, wait!! I just found someone to replace me in an admissions info session I was supposed to do yesterday. Yay! That's 1 hour of my day I get to reallocate. I know that I sound whiny, but I'm not necessarily complaining (well I am complaining about midterms, but I haven't figured out how to get them banned yet). I wanted to do this case competition and thus far I'm enjoying the work. Actually, I'm more so enjoying working with my teammates. I think we've come up with a really good solution. We all come from different professional backgrounds and it's pretty cool to see that diversity in action. I was able to contribute a pretty solid retail plan. Our finance guy is figuring out the NPV of our investment. The hedge fund lady is making sure all of the numbers are tight and our engineer is all over the nuances and numbers behind the market research. I'm looking forward to presenting all of our findings this weekend. Even more than that I'm looking forward to getting some sleep afterward.<br />
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On another note, I just found out that I got off the waitlist for the annual ski trip. One of my friends kind of twisted my arm about going (okay fine, she simply told me that she was going) so in the next 24 hours I have to dip into my savings and drop some duckets on ski rentals, a flight, lodging, etc. From what I hear the ski trip is an experience that's worth every cent. Too bad that that I had to spend 75,000 cents on my car last week. Silver Betty was wounded in battle against Chicago's potholes. Car repairs are NOT in the student budget. Speaking of the student budget, my classmates and I have all agreed that it is not enough to keep us in the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed. None of us have quite realized that while we are spending money there is none coming in. I didn't realize just how difficult it is to adjust your entire lifestyle to fit the new reality of being unemployed. My honeycrisp apple habit is unsustainable, weekly gas fill ups are unrealistic, and daily Thai takeout is a money suck. So have I switched to Fuji's, taken the bus more, and cooked the majority of my meals at home. Hardly. My regular bus riding days ended before classes even started, I eat at least 2 honeycrisps per day, and we don't even want to talk about how much Thai I have eaten this week alone. It's not that I haven't tried. Two weeks ago I brought my lunch to school everyday and cooked for a whole week. Silver Betty spent almost the entire month of September parked in the garage. I just can't seem to make all of these changes last nor coincide. When problem sets are due, coffee chats are scheduled, and classes have sapped my strength, it's just easier to hop in my car or log onto Grub Hub. Maybe by next quarter life will calm down and I can plan my purchases more carefully.<br />
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Did I mention that there's a stoplight party on Saturday? <br />
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What is a stoplight party, you ask? It's a party to broadcast your relationship seeking status. Red = unavailable, yellow = it's complicated/maybe, green = single and looking. There is brilliance in this absurdity. With nearly 30% of the class partnered up this is the best way to know if that girl or guy you've been checking out in stats is actually available. Are there more mature ways to learn these things? Sure. But business school is hardly the place for maturity. I only wonder just how honest people will be. Who is really going to admit to being green. While it's perfectly acceptable to be single, it's still kind of taboo to admit that you're actually looking (or at the very least open). I'm not quite sure why that is. Maybe it's a function of my age, but I don't think there's much point to pretending to not feel some way that you actually do. Besides, it's a very normal, natural human desire to want to find someone so why waste energy trying to hide it? Plus a lot of people doth protesteth too much. If you've ever been out with MBA students it's obvious that most are quite eager to get close to a warm body. Yet in spite of our actions we still feel the need to proclaim the opposite. While no one wants to be viewed as desperate, does simply being open to the possibilities of an environment that's perfectly set up for mating make someone desperate? I don't think so. I just think that people can be up front without fawning. I know that I'm going to see a lot of red and yellow on Saturday. I'm curious who's going to have the guts to go green. What color am I going to wear? Wouldn't you like to know.Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-310838945595661142012-10-31T23:51:00.000-05:002012-11-10T17:28:20.791-05:00This Weekend is Brought to You by the #2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.birthdaydirect.com/images/71967-sesame-street-number-2-elmo-candle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.birthdaydirect.com/images/71967-sesame-street-number-2-elmo-candle.jpg" width="320" /></a>I am not a morning person. It's not that I won't wake up early. Years of working have permanently reset my internal clock to awaken before 8 a.m. However, just because I'm awake that doesn't mean I am functional. 8:30 a.m. classes do not agree with me, and I tend to take advantage of any day that I can laze in bed til noon. Saturdays are supposed to be that day, but this past weekend it was not meant to be. Self selection and the nomination of my peers had me representing my cohort in the annual Leadership Challenge. Leadership Challenge is part of Booth's LEAD program. It is an all day case competition judged by distinguished Booth alums. More importantly, Leadership Challenge is an inter cohort competition with points, bragging rights, and cash prizes up for grabs. So of course I want my team to win. </div>
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While Leadership Challenge seemed like a ton of fun on paper, in reality the experience was about as fun as being in front of a firing squad. Participants weren't privy to too many details prior to the competition. All we knew was that each cohort's team consisted of 14 people who would be divided into two 7 people squads. Within the squads four people would work in teams of two and the other three would work individually. The cases would not be known until the competition. I envisioned the day to be a series of presentations by me and my teammates to a panel of judges.</div>
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WRONG! I should have known that no Booth activity would involve passive listening. To my surprise the cases weren't meant to be presented, they were meant to be played out. Yep, when the case reads, "You're the new CEO and you're meeting with your executive team," when you walk in front of those judges you <i>are </i>the CEO and they are your unruly team of discontented execs. I think I was most amazed by how well the alumni played their roles. I was particularly enthralled by the "head of marketing and sales" who felt he should be celebrated for bringing in $4 million in business in the four months since he joined the company, but should not be accountable for failures to communicate with his colleagues since he had only been with the company for four months. </div>
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Being the person in the middle of the madness that the alums were a bit too gleeful to enact felt like being a deer in headlights. Their questions and objections came at me so fast that everything I'd learned from nearly ten years of work experience completely escaped my mind. I spent more time reacting than acting. When it was over I felt like I had been bludgeoned by Ali, Tyson, Frazier, and Balboa. The feedback me and my partner received was surprisingly positive given how awful I felt things went. </div>
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I think it took most teams a few cases to realize that we weren't students when we were in front of the judges. We were their colleagues (and in some cases their boss). However, once people got into the right mindset it was a hoot to watch them tell an alum, "I'm in charge now!" When it was all over I felt that my team performed really well over all. With the exception of my case everyone was able to close their deal. It was still impossible to know our position relative to the other cohorts because with the exception of one joint case we never got to see any other team's cases. When we won one of the individual "best case" awards I knew we had a shot at winning the whole thing. We came pretty close with a second place finish! I'll take that! </div>
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The day didn't end there. It also was the night of the annual Belgian Halloween party (no Belgians were harmed during the festivities). I had to put together a costume at the last minute because the one I'd originally planned didn't come together in time (or I procrastinated for weeks in putting it together and refused to pay Amazon's exorbitant shipping fees to get the components to me in time). It turned out my last minute costume was a hit. While it wasn't the most practical getup (I had to strip in the ladies room because my costume wouldn't fit in the bathroom stall), it was definitely an attention getter. People were taking pictures with me all night and I think I may have spied someone recording my spastic waltz with Tony Montana to "Don't Stop Believing." I was even a finalist for best costume and came thisclose to winning the whole thing. However, I maintain that the voting was a bit unfair since the eventual winners got a second round of voting to break the tie, but I did not. I wound up with a prize anyways. For now I am perfectly content to have a lock on second place. </div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-7376999293542489802012-10-25T17:42:00.002-05:002012-10-30T23:27:10.966-05:00Just Keep Swimming<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> “I’m
drowning,” I replied to his inquiry about how things are going. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">He looked at me, his expression neutral, then shrugged. "You ain't drowned."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Not quite the response I was expecting. For over a week I had been functioning on minimal sleep and time. My days were filled with 3 hour long classes, study group sessions, club presentations, training sessions, and forced networking. I was exhausted and overwhelmed and staring down an additional eight hours in a day that already had the first eight in the bag. I thought I would find a moment of solace from the sympathetic ear of a second year MBA. Not so much. But u</span><span style="line-height: 17px;">pon second thought maybe his words weren't really dismissive, but rather encouragement. Was he telling me that struggling against an undertow is still better than being on the bottom of the ocean? Right now I am not so sure.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Classes started five weeks ago. I was lucky to start the quarter off right with a visit from the respiratory infection that was working it's way through Harper Center. According to my roommate I looked like shit. The congestion and sore throat left me sounding like a chain smoking tranny. By day three a chronic cough joined the party. The box of Puffs plus I carried with me everywhere completed my picture of health. Unfortunately,there's no time for recuperation in business school. Classes go on and homework is due even when you're puking up chicken parm. It took almost two weeks, but I did manage to excoriate myself from death's clutches only to run headlong into the abyss that is Booth student groups.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone knows about FOMO. It's the fear of missing out. It leads people down rabbit holes that they normally wouldn't go simply because everyone else is doing it and they are afraid they will miss something. I honestly thought that I was immune to this and for the most part I am. I know exactly what I want to do after business school so I don't have to explore what's out there. My issue isn't FOMO. It's more insidious. I can easily say no to a Lunch N Learn about Investment Management, even if free lunch is being served (leftovers are easily scavenged anyways). IM isn't my thing and I don't need to sit through a panel discussion just to make sure it isn't. I am not missing anything. My problem is that there is a ton of activities and events at Booth that are my thing. Thus far I have joined Chicago Women in Business, African American MBA Association, Net Impact, Dean's Student Admissions Committee, Christians in Business, Chicago African Business Group, and Media, Entertainment, and Sports Group. I just signed up for Giving Something Back, am contemplating purchasing an Epicurean Club membership, want to get involved with the Follies production, and am considering doing an international development consulting project next quarter. All of this is in addition to being the screenwriter for my cohort's Golden Gargoyles movie and competing in the Leadership Challenge case competition. I even signed up to attend a Net Impact conference at Kellogg in two weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why have I taken on so much? I swear I am not crazy (well not completely). Student groups aren't really optional. If you're going to search for summer internships and full-time employment the student groups are often the first line of recruiting. Many events are members only. If I want to interact with my target companies I need join the clubs. Club membership also directly impacts the quality of your resume. You want to make the switch from accounting to doing marketing for the NFL, but there's nothing on your resume to suggest that you even know what a touchdown is? Then you better be in the Media, Entertainment, and Sports group to show that you have some sort of interest in this area. Even better than being a member is holding a leadership position. But guess what? You can't hold a leadership position without first being an active member in your first year. Being an active member requires consistent event attendance and volunteering wherever there's a need. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So why don't I just choose one or two activities to be really involved in and just fall back on the others? I would love to. The problem is that my career goals are more function than industry specific. I can do what I want to do in professional sports just as easily as I could in the financial services industry. My target companies are quite disparate but if I want a shot at any of them I have to participate in activities for all of them. That explains my membership in MESG and Net Impact. The other groups I either feel a personal affinity to or am just really interested in. Dean's Student Admissions Committee is the road to being an Admissions Fellow in my second year. I really want to be on the admissions committee and help shape the class of 2016. That means spending 3-4 hours a week devoted to DSAC activities. My competitive streak led me to fight for Phoenix cohort pride in this year's Golden Gargoyles competition. It's funny. When cohort elections were happening I chose not to run for Film Chair because I didn't want to take on the time commitment. I figured that if I was just on the production team then I'd have plenty of time to pursue all of my other interests. Ahh, the best laid plans. Writing and filming our cohort film has definitely taken up more hours than anything else. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On top of the time commitment the majority of my student groups also came with a price tag. You can purchase a one year or discounted two year membership. Although the two year membership costs more up front it saves money in the long run. Still, I had to ask myself, "Will I want or need to be a member of this organization next year?" In the case of African American MBA Association I sprung for the two year membership because I'll still be Black next year so I might as well. My impression is that the dues pay for themselves because members get free entry to most events and conferences. We shall see how long it takes me to recoup my investments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know if I am more busy now than I was when I was working. However, I feel as though I have more places to be. At work my busyness was fixed in one location most of the time. At Booth I feel like I'm running all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off while lugging a 15lb backpack with me. I always feel like I'm running 10 minutes late. It's overwhelming because I fear I'm going to drop one of the many balls I have in the air. I cross one commitment off the list only to add two more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This lifestyle doesn't feel sustainable. However, it does feel oddly satisfying. In all honesty I am doing this to myself because I want to. I'm enjoying taking prospective students on Harper Center tours. I just saw a clip of our cohort movie and it's hilarious (we are so gonna win). Last week's Net Impact conference just reinforced my desire to pursue a career in social impact. And I cannot forget all of the free food I've eaten because of all the co-curricular activities. I go to sleep and dream of boxed lunches. Thus far I have made it through five weeks of school without a meltdown. Maybe that second year was right. The feeling of drowning is probably much better than the alternative. Sure, it would be nice to just float along but that's not really an option. If I can complain then that must mean that even with tidal waves crashing around me my head is above water. Since I'm still alive, is that a sign that I should sign up for the ski trip?</span>Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-21147879625590139542012-10-08T23:32:00.001-05:002012-10-30T23:24:47.407-05:00One Sixth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Let's get a black woman's opinion on this issue. Are there any black women in the room?" The facilitator scanned the room for a target. Immediately, I averted my eyes and fixated on the lint on my sweater. Maybe no one would notice me in the far corner.<br />
"Here's one!" the assistant announced, striding toward me with a microphone in her hand. <br />
I should have known I wasn't going to blend in, because even in the middle of a diversity session with nearly 300 classmates I was still the only person in the room who looks like me.<br />
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"Stand up,"she said, "As a black woman, how would you react to this situation?"<br />
If there is one thing I loathe it's being asked to speak for black women (or black people in general) as if my opinion or experiences apply across the board. Regardless, I humored the eager woman in front of me and told her how I would react to a white male classmate referring to a black woman as a bitch during a class discussion. She nodded her head in understanding as I spoke (bottom line: NOT COOL, no matter who is saying it in reference to any woman) then asked if the other black women in the room agreed with me.<br />
After a few seconds of silence I let her in on what I already knew, "There are only six black women in the entire class. It seems the other five were front loaded in the morning session. I'm the only one here."<br />
The facilitator looked at me with incredulous eyes. "Six? Are you serious?"<br />
I wish I wasn't.<br />
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Out of 576 students in Booth's class of 2014 black women comprise 1.4% of the class. Considering the fact that we are roughly 6.5% of the total US population we are definitely underrepresented. It becomes more glaring when comparing our numbers at Booth to other top business schools. Kellogg boasts three times the number of black female first year students with a similar overall class size. Even more interesting is that Johnson with a class size less than half of Booth's (and in very remote location) beats it on this measure too.<br />
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So why does this even matter to me? Why should I be concerned with the
choices other applicants make in regard to where to pursue their MBA? I
care because when diversity discussions happen I don't want to be the
de facto token. It would be different if I went to school in China or
Singapore, but in my home country that is home to tens of millions of
black women I shouldn't be the only person who looks like me in my
cohort, classes, and activities. For me, it feels like there is a
gaping omission in the student body. Also, I want there to be enough of
us here so that no one thinks that I even could speak for the "black
woman's perspective." <br />
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Am I shocked by the lack of black women in my class? Yes and no. I knew coming into Booth that there weren't many of us. In fact this summer I thought that there was only four of us. Even though I knew the situation before I got here I still don't understand it. Given Booth's top 5 ranking and urban location it should be a popular choice with black applicants (particularly women who are in search of that M.R.S. to accompany their MBA). Our numbers at Booth should be comparable to Kellogg's if not higher. So given all that Booth has going for it that should attract a large pool of black applicants, why am I only one of six?<br />
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After speaking with a member of the admissions committee last week about ways to improve minority recruitment it seems like the problem is two-fold. First, Booth struggles to attract a large pool of quality black applicants, especially women. Of those who do apply and are accepted, not enough of them choose to come to Booth. I think I know why this may be. After talking with several potential applicants I've noticed some common threads. Here are some myths, misconceptions, and supposed disadvantages to Booth (and my response to them). <br />
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<b>1) "I've never heard of it"</b> - It might be the name change from Chicago GSB to Chicago Booth, but it may surprise you just how many people say, "Where's that?" when you say, "Booth." While the University of Chicago is well known for being a powerhouse in terms of economics and finance that hasn't translated to lay recognition of the Booth brand. Usually I would say it doesn't matter if John Doe on the street doesn't know about Booth because the people who should know (i.e. employers) do. However, it does matter when John Doe is contemplating pursuing an MBA and Booth doesn't come to mind the way HBS, Wharton, and Kellogg do. Also, Booth is still building its international reputation. I like to think of my school as the best kept secret of MBA land. I, myself, didn't know about it until I checked out US News and World Report's rankings. Booth's marketing machine is hard at work to get the school's name into the mainstream vocabulary, but I think that's a gradual process that will take time to bear fruit. In the meantime it's my hope that student blogs like mine will get the word out at the grassroots level. <br />
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<b>2)"Booth has too much quant"</b> - A sorority sister of mine (black woman) visited Booth last spring while researching schools. She loved it. However, she excluded Booth from her list of target schools. Why? Quant. Chicago is known for placing a strong emphasis on quantitative analysis across its curriculum, even in areas where some might not expect it, like marketing. My sorority sister explained that she didn't feel that she fit in with Booth's quanty reputation. Being in my second week of classes I will admit that Booth's reputation is well earned. However, I think it's also misunderstood. First, Booth isn't just a place for quant jocks. I never took a finance or accounting class in undergrad, barely passed stats, and stopped studying math after pre-calculus. Booth's admissions committee knew this and still admitted me. Why? Because they are looking for students for the MBA program, not the math PhD. If you have critical thinking skills then you have the ability to get through the quant that Booth's professors throw at you. And let's be clear, this isn't quant for the sake of getting off on equations. We aren't sitting in class deriving differential calculus equations all day. There is a purpose behind the quantitative focus. Today more than ever, business is driven by data. Knowing how to work with, interpret, and most importantly USE data is one of the best ways to prepare yourself for any kind of management career. Booth is all about developing leaders with strong analytical skills. One of the biggest reasons why Booth is Businessweek's reigning #1 business school is because Boothies set themselves apart in the workforce with their quantitative abilities. If you're the person at your internship that can model outcomes for a new line of business and make solid recommendations based on these numbers or is able to sniff out when the numbers look funky, then you will stand out over your peers who don't have this skill set (and trust me there are plenty of MBAs from other top schools that do not). So if you ever hear someone tell you that Booth has too much quant just know that 1) you can handle it, and 2) it's to your advantage.<br />
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<b>3) Booth is a commuter school with no community</b>- To that I say, "Bullshit." Nearly every school is a commuter school. With the exception of HBS, Stanford, and Tuck students most MBAs live off campus. This is the case at Kellogg, Wharton, Stern, and most other schools I can think of. Booth is no different. Yes, most students do not live in Hyde Park. However, we do live in close proximity to one another downtown. And don't forget we also have a building downtown (Gleacher Center) that is home to the Evening, Weekend, and E-MBA programs. Tons of events, student group meetings, and more happen at Gleacher all the time. Plus Booth is bursting at the seams with all types of clubs that everyone participates in. Boothies don't go to class and then disappear into Chicago never to interact with each other outside of school. Which brings me to another myth I would like to dispel...<br />
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<b>4) Boothies are nerds who don't socialize</b> - I will admit that this was my first impression of my classmates. Our facebook group for admits was dead when I first joined it (versus Kellogg's that was plastered with calls for happy hours in every city on earth). Admit weekend definitely had more than its fair share of conversations that stalled at "So where are you from?" before descending into awkward silence. But something happened once June hit. A flip got switched and all of a sudden my classmates came alive. The facebook group overflowed with announcements for happy hours, travel meetups, sporting events, and more. I met up with a soon to be classmate this summer in Prague during my European adventures. We met for the first time in our hotel room and I don't think the conversation lulled at any time over the two days we hung out other than when sleeping. Since I arrived here in August not a day has gone by that some social event wasn't going on. These people run me ragged with how much they like to go out. It may have taken my class a while to get going but now that the party train is rolling it is not stopping.<br />
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<b>5) "I don't know about Chicago"</b> - Look, I get it. Even though I have spent the majority of my adult life in the Midwest, I am not a fan. I was born and raised on the East Coast and the states that don't border an ocean tend to upset my sensibilities. Communities are insular, people can't drive, and the weather is inhumane. However, in all the time that I've lived here I have always thought of Chicago as an oasis in the dessert (winter still sucks thought...no escaping that in this part of the country). I am always the first person to delineate what is (New York City) and what is not (Minneapolis) a city. Is Chicago New York City? No, but you can't tell me that this isn't a city in its own right.</div>
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Chicago is a diverse metropolis filled with people from all over the world. It has the perfect blend of collegiate and professional life, boasts countless great restaurants, is home to my beloved Chicago Bulls, and has night life to boot. This is not a city in which you can say, "been there, done that, " after only two years. Plus it's a good place to take a break from New York for a while without giving up an urban life. Like I mentioned before, Booth is a national powerhouse business school. If you want to work in NYC (or LA or San Fran or DC) after graduation you will have ample opportunity to do so. </div>
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I realize that the above reasons for being wary of Booth do not just apply to black women. There are potential applicants across all racial/ethnic/cultural backgrounds that are on the fence about my school. However, if you happen to be a black woman and you're reading this while in the process of deciding on where to apply I encourage you to give Booth a second look (especially if you have any of the above reservations). Come visit. Get to know the African American MBA Association. Join the entire community for LPF on Fridays. Reach out to current students. And please know that if you do decide to come here in the fall that the admissions committee is working very hard to ensure that you will not be one out of only six. </div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-13261710272010282152012-09-16T22:59:00.001-05:002017-12-22T21:02:28.137-05:00Fill in the Blanks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Aaahhh...it's the weekend. A time for relaxing, sleeping in, eating elaborate breakfasts, and doing a whole lot of nothing. Unless, of course, you're applying to business school in Round 1. If you're an applicant then a September weekend means essay writing. Last year at this time I was trying to get my Kellogg career goals essay down to 600 words from an original draft of 1400. Calling that process arduous would be an understatement. From my observation of friends' applications and MBA forums it appears that this year's crop of R1 applicants to Chicago Booth are going through an ordeal of their own: the infamous Power Point.<br />
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For those of you unfamiliar with Booth's application, one "essay" question is to fill up to four blank pages with any information you feel isn't covered in the other parts of the application. For most applicants this question is answered in the form of a Power Point presentation. Although the PPT is technically optional this year (candidates can choose to write an additional essay on any topic), it is still considered a signature piece of the Booth application. It is also the part of Booth's application that gives applicants the most fits.<br />
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When I was crafting my application this past winter I remember being stymied by the idea of 4 blank pages to fill as I desired. I'm all for independent thought but a little direction would have been nice. I tossed around ideas (write ups of my future accomplishments at Booth; a mock newspaper), but none of them felt right. I looked at a current student's submission but his approach didn't really suit my style. I agonized over what to include and how to do so. I will confess that I Googled "Booth power point essay" and wound up stumbling across a link with photo essays for some unrelated competition (I don't remember the website I found). I definitely found my inspiration that day. Once the idea for my final submission clicked it only took a few days to put it together (had to do some last minute photography). I have to admit that that one "essay" made Booth's my favorite application to do.<br />
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So having been where many current applicants are I would like to share what I learned less than a year ago:<br />
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1) Don't freak out if you still have no idea what to do with your four blank pages. Trust me. When your idea becomes clear, putting it all together will be a piece of cake. You have plenty of time to let the creative process happen. Do not rush it. Do not panic. Even though you have the option of writing an essay I am of the opinion (as are many of my classmates) that a Booth application isn't really a Booth application without the PPT.<br />
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2) Follow the directions. Really read over your application prior to Essay 3. What have you told the admissions committee? Do not repeat this in your PPT. If you've covered it in your other essays, recos, the online app, and resume then there is no need to rehash it in your four slides. If you're looking at your PPT thus far and it seems repetitive with other parts of your application, then you're including the wrong information. If you want to delve deeper into an aspect of your life (professional, volunteer, academic, personal, whatever) that you may have mentioned elsewhere then that's fine. Just be sure to bring in new information and a different perspective.<br />
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3) Know your audience. Booth has student admissions fellows do the first read on all applications. These people are your first screen. Do you know what students are looking for in applicants? People they would want as classmates. This is your chance to show why someone would want to be in your study group, or plan a conference with you, or simply hang out with you at TNDC (Thursday Night Drinking Club). Don't be afraid to show off who you are beyond your professional accomplishments, Captain Save the World mission, and academic pursuits. Which brings me to my final piece of advice...<br />
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4) There is no template. Please do not think that your four slides have to hit on four specific topics. Do not think that your four slides have to be picture essays. Do not think that your four slides have to have a theme (although it's cool if they do). Do not think that the pictures you do use have to include you. Do not think that your PPT has to look like your friend's/sibling's/coworker's who got in last year. There's nothing wrong with looking at examples for inspiration. However, you must be cautious not to internalize what you see as a set of rules for what your slides must be. As long as your message is clearly communicated it doesn't matter how you choose to convey it.<br />
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Okay boys and girls. That is my lesson for the day. I hope it was helpful. Any questions? </div>
Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-2476668333058848842012-09-14T10:58:00.000-05:002012-10-30T23:27:58.525-05:00Leadership TrainingHow does an elite business school mold tomorrow's captains of industry? By dressing them in matching t-shirts, loading them onto a dozen buses, and shipping them 2 hours north to Lake Geneva, WI for two and a half days of outdoor activities, team building exercises, and cohort competitions. Thanks to Chicago Booth I pretty much relived my days at Camp Is-Sho-Da Girl Scout camp, albeit in a co-ed setting with better accommodations and four drink tickets. This excursion known as Leadership Orientation Retreat (or LOR as Boothies call it) is
the kickoff to Booth's only required course, LEAD (Leadership
Effectiveness and Development), the six-week class designed to help
students develop our leadership style by giving us a deep and accurate
view of our strengths
and development needs.<br />
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The jury is still out on how adult summer camp relates to leadership, but it's definitely an interesting study in human behavior. I have come to realize that Sunil Kumar and his crew are sadists who enjoy having 20 and 30 somethings make fools of themselves. From the moment we stepped onto our buses we were asked to sing, rap, and tell our embarrassing stories all in the name of earning points for our cohort. Amongst the captives there are those who embrace the foolishness and others who do their best to avoid it. I tend to embrace it. I have found that half assing these things only makes a person look more awkward. It's better to fully commit. Besides, a little "Call Me Maybe" never hurt anybody. However, let's be very clear. There is a line. It is perfectly acceptable to tell the story of the time you puked on yourself in your future mother in law's new Infiniti. It is TMI to tell everyone in your cohort about losing your V-card. And that right there is the biggest challenge of LOR: how to fully participate without doing something to ruin your reputation before classes even begin. My goal for the "weekend" (Monday - Wednesday felt a lot like Friday - Sunday) was simply to not be "that girl." In the past I have dug myself into social holes out of which I could never completely climb and wanted to avoid making the same mistakes during one of the only times that the entire class would be together. I think I made it through LOR unscathed. <br />
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Initially I was reluctant about the LOR experience. I am not a fan of huge crowds or forced bonding time and tend to require 8 hours of sleep to function. However, it wasn't that bad. In fact I actually had a really good time. I worked up a sweat running around the Abbey Resort and introduced one of my male classmates to Mac Lip Glass (Russian Red) during the scavenger hunt. Side note: Does anyone know who won the scavenger hunt? I don't think it was announced. I was having so much fun the first night that I neglected my need for sleep. Not only did I dance my old ass off at the party in the bar, I also hung out at the after party until 3 a.m. That was not a good decision considering the fact that I had to be on a bus in four hours.<br />
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In spite of the lack of sleep I did make it to the bus on time (unlike some people). However, I didn't fully wake up until I was balancing on a wire, holding onto a rope above my head. I was in no mood for the ropes courses when I dragged myself out of bed but got into it as my squad scaled a 14 ft wall (I really need to work on my upper body strength). I will admit that I got a bit of a rush experimenting with ways to get the final group member over the wall without the assistance of a boosting hand. If we didn't have to discuss our feelings afterward I would have given the challenge a perfect 10. <br />
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What does get a perfect 10 are my classmates. That evening at the year's first theme party I saw just how creative and imaginative these people are. There was a black Elvis, a male Missy Franklin, and a legion of preps (kudos to the dude who managed to wear SIX popped collars). We played twister, ping pong, poker, and cornhole while complaining that the only way to get through the event was with copious amounts of liquor. Awww, I think thou doth protesteth too much. My decision making abilities improved dramatically that night as I only attended one after party before calling it a night before 2 a.m. Yay for 5.5 hours of sleep!<br />
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The bus ride back to Chicago was noticeably different from the ride to Wisconsin. There was no singing, no storytelling. The bus was nearly silent as we all passed out from exhaustion and alcohol. I was knocked out before we made it to the interstate. I woke up about an hour outside of Chicago and surveyed my sleeping cohort. That's when I noticed the biggest difference that had occurred over the last two days. The seat pairings had gone from unisex to co-ed. But that is another story for another blog post. Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-40024702185580646552012-09-06T00:31:00.001-05:002012-10-30T23:28:17.860-05:00Take TwoI started today by making omelets. 3 egg whites, 2 full eggs, turkey sausage, sauteed spinach with diced onions, and a sprinkling of feta cheese. A hearty yet nutritious breakfast intended to take me from late morning through mid afternoon. I took care in choosing what to wear for the day, something chic yet casual (lest I look to be trying too hard). I forewent makeup but styled my hair. At my roommate's request I emerged from my room, dressed and ready to go, in less than 10 minutes. We walked the three short blocks to the train at a quick pace, hurrying not to miss the soon arriving train. We hit the platform as the outbound cars pulled into the station. Stepping onto the train I looked to my right, searching for a seat. Instead, I saw a familiar face. Walking over to greet my friend I saw another person I know, then another and another. It suddenly dawned on me that in that train car I was surrounded by classmates. As one guy offered me his seat he said, "Aww look! You brought a lunch box." I smiled and replied, "Well it is the first day of school."<br />
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After months of funemployment that included trips abroad, pre MBA classes, endless soap opera watching and a cross country move, the day that I (and 575 other Booth 1st years) have been anticipating for months finally arrived. At 1:00 p.m. today orientation for Chicago Booth's Class of 2014 kicked off. As I stepped off the Metra at 59th street I followed a sea of familiar and unfamiliar faces to Harper Center to start what many say will be two of the most amazing years of our lives. <br />
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Today not only marks the start of our school year it is also one month to the day that I moved to Chicago. I knew so many familiar faces en route to school this afternoon because I've spent the last month meeting them at house parties, bars, on Random Walk, and other social gatherings my classmates have organized in Chicago. Even though I knew several dozen people before today, seeing all 576 of us gathered in one place for the first time was more than a little overwhelming.<br />
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In the last two weeks leading up to this day I had started to worry that business school may not turn out to be the great experience I'd imagined it to be when I was still an applicant. Although they are no walk in the park, it's not the classes nor the job recruiting that strike fear in my heart. No. These things I am sure I can handle. While attending the pre Random Walk party at Dave and Busters several weeks ago I soon noticed people migrating from game to game in small, impenetrable groups and suddenly felt like I was back in high school, looking for a place to fit in but not finding any open spots. I survived high school once and I am so not about that life anymore and thought I'd never have to be. However, watching people close ranks around each other so soon I fear that business school will be an unasked for do over.<br />
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It's not that I don't get along with the classmates I've met thus far. I do. I just haven't found my people yet, those permanent fixtures who will be my crew. It's really early and I would not be worried about this yet if it didn't seem like everyone else already found their bestie. Being one of 576 just increases my anxiety. There's so many people to meet I don't know where to begin. I worry that by the time I form close relationships all of the "cool kids" will be taken and I'll be left to hang out with Farmer Ted, Long Duk Dong, and Booger. Am I being shallow? Yes. But I don't care. I don't need to be the most popular girl in my class, but I'd at least like to be moderately cool. <br />
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Thus far everyone I've met has been quite nice, but if business school really is like high school I doubt that will last much longer. It won't be long before we are gossiping about one another (check out Overheard @ Booth in Chibus) and skewering "that girl or guy" in Follies. We are adults now so I doubt there will be any showdowns in the halls of Harper but one bad night could land a person on the "do not invite" list. I don't want to be on the outside looking in when everything shakes out. I've done that before and it's no fun. I honestly don't think I have the energy to be all the way into everything. I simply don't want to be out of everything either.<br />
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I know I am not the only person feeling this way. Several other girls have shared similar sentiments with me. None of us want to reenact the movie Mean Girls for the next two years. I am sincerely hoping that even though I now have a locker to put my backpack in everyday and the Metra is a school bus on rails, that my high school days really are behind me forever. Cheetarah1980http://www.blogger.com/profile/07030323484936160187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18875045.post-84865318540007591012012-08-09T08:28:00.000-05:002012-10-30T23:28:44.917-05:00Necessary Evils22 hours. That's how long it took me to get from downtown Philadelphia to downtown Chicago. According to the pushy GPS lady who lives in my Blackberry (don't judge me; I'm waiting for the new iPhone), Chicago is a 12+ hour drive from Philadelphia. I had scheduled a 9a.m. move-in for Sunday so I left Philly before 8 a.m. on Saturday to give myself plenty of time for rest stops, fuel ups, detours, and car naps. I got to my apartment building nearly three hours early. Unfortunately, my movers arrived nearly one hour late. Fast forward 5 hours and my life looks something like this:<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In the midst of all the boxes and unassembled furniture there is something else that also needs my attention. </div>
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Moving day also marks the deadline to register for Booth's Pre MBA Accounting class. "Huh?" you say. "Cheet didn't you already do a Pre MBA bootcamp that included accounting?"<br />
Why yes I did. After staring down my fear of statistics and micro economics during a great first week of Manhattan GMAT's Pre MBA bootcamp I was actually looking forward to the next week's lessons on accounting and finance. Can you say false anticipation? The finance lesson wasn't so bad. The subject matter seems pretty straight forward. Financial accounting...not so much.<br />
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It began simply enough. Pretend we own a business with $150 in assets. We have an outstanding loan to Uncle Joe in the amount of $90. Our instructor drew what looked to be a flow chart of boxes and lines on the white board. Here's where things got tricky for me. One box contained $100 of income that somebody pays my business. This money is debited into my account. Wait just a gosh darn minute. WHAT? You put money in my account and it's a debit? That makes no sense at all. My understanding of accounting devolved quickly as the lesson progressed. A cash flow analysis and an annual financial statement flew right over my head and landing somewhere between I Don't Know Land and Why Should I Care World. Even using the tools through the lens of the ongoing case study we were working through didn't help matters (or make the subject matter interesting). I don't think there was anything more the instructor could have done to make it accounting appeal to me in any way. They did feed me pizza afterward, during the class break so I can't really complain.<br />
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Unfortunately for me, accounting is a necessary evil in the pursuit of my MBA. Although Booth is famous for it's "flexible curriculum," that flexibility does not extend to all out of avoidance of problematic subject areas. Booth is all about discipline based education and come hell or high water in order to get through Booth, you've gotta touch them all. I'm pretty keen on keeping <a href="http://cheetarah1980.blogspot.com/2012/04/final-answer.html" target="_blank">my fellowship</a>, and failing accounting is not conducive to that goal. So I'm going to take the strong hint that my brush with the subject during bootcamp gave me and get myself some extra help. So I gave my bank account another workout, waved goodbye to a week of relaxation the week before orientation and signed up for a week long accounting class. Hopefully this time something will click in my brain and I will be able to build a strong enough foundation to get through the most basic accounting course that Booth offers in the fall.<br />
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When I first saw the notice for the class I planned to skip it and head up to Michigan for a few days before school starts. Thanks Manhattan GMAT for showing me that that's <b>not</b> an option.<br />
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