School Ties

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 Poets and Quants' article Chicago Booth vs. Kellogg, "The 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."

We Ghana Party!

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.

Quick Update

Ladies 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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

Already?

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.

Tell Me About a Time

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).

You 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.

I have an interview tomorrow that I should stay in and prep for...but screw it! I'm going out tonight!

Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me

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. 

What's Fit Got to Do With It?

Now that the dust has mostly cleared from Round 1 applications there are some very happy recent admits amongst us.  Congratulations to all of you once again.  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?

Well Done

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.

Congratulations to three of my favorite GMAT Clubbers/Class of 2015 applicants!

Testing 1, 2, 3..

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*.

Think First, Ask Never

Last February I wrote a post venting my frustration at some of the posters on MBA forums (check out Etiquette 101).  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.

The Life and Times

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.

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.

This Weekend is Brought to You by the #2

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. 

Just Keep Swimming

 “I’m drowning,” I replied to his inquiry about how things are going. 
He looked at me, his expression neutral, then shrugged. "You ain't drowned."
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 upon 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.

One Sixth

"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.
"Here's one!" the assistant announced, striding toward me with a microphone in her hand. 
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.

Fill in the Blanks

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.

Leadership Training

How 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.

Take Two

I 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."

Necessary Evils

22 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:

On the Road Again

It's early. Very early. Even when I had a job I was never awake at this hour, but today I have to not only be awake I also have to function.  It's moving day and I have "miles to go before I sleep."

Chicago is about a 13 hour drive from Philadelphia.  Yesterday I loaded up my car, left my summer residence (casa de mami y papi), and drove four hours to Philadelphia to unburden myself of the storage locker that has not only taken a $200 bite out of my bank account every month but also held all of my furniture and 95% of my belongings since May.  It took 3 hours for my movers to transfer everything from my 10X10X8 garage and transfer it onto the 26ft moving truck that I am sharing with one of my Booth classmates.  Let the hauling begin.