my office - messy as ever...

Visit to Tepper (CMU)

coming up...

the marvelous experience...

Visit to Cornell (Johnson)

Johnson was one place I really wanted to visit. I have had researched so much on the school that I couldn't possibly have missed the chance to experience it in-person. I reached Ithaca at four in the morning, called a cab to the hotel, had a short two hours sleep and here I am standing afront the Sage Hall. It was snowing outside and being a Floridian I was having a hell of a difficulty adjusting to the weather. I should have packed extra pair of gloves and sweaters. Anyhow! I decided to move around the place and talk to some current students; no one else can provide a candid view than does a current student.

The info session started at 12 noon with a Free lunch. Info: about Johnson, why we are good etcetera and then obvious questions from our (prospectives) side. After all the usual stuff, I attended Operations class, which was setup to discuss 'Monte Carlo' simulation on the spreadsheet. I would say that the class wasn't quite interested in the lecture, or, possibly, that lecture was supposed to be like that. But the professor was kind enough to come over and talk to me - on the hindsight, I should have apporached him.

I contemplated that the students here don't have a defensive attitude about the school, but rather they are proud to be a part of Cornell's Ivy community. They do emphasized that this school is all about the fit. You need to balance your interest with what school or the area can offer. But that applies to most of the rest, doesn't it? Johnson is a small close-knit community where school and administration are adaptive to student's needs. You can stay assured that you won't get lost in the crowd. The school offers wonderful opportunities to improve upon your interpersonal skills through student's club and interations with business leaders. And over that who can argue on the maturity of immersion courses.

Whoever I talked to has an enthusiastic view about the school and the university. Seems like people take this school to heart. One student told me that an alum named (middle) his son 'Cornell' - really, these guys are fanatic about the school. I loved this feeling. Where else can you expect such a warmth in a bone-chillin' weather? It was snowing most of the time during my stay and Ithaca expects to get more snow fall in next two days. Right now, sitting in the bus and watching the white outside, I feel privileged.

If you are a wallstreet freak, you will get hell lot of opportunities here. That being said, students get to talk and work with wallstreet veterans at the Parker centre. And believe me high profile companies know that Johnson has a Parker center (simulation lab) in the school. Wow! I got conflicting views on School's strengths in consulting. Because of the economy downturn most of the consulting companies didn't recruit during last couple of years, but this year all the big-shots showed up. School and students are taking initiatives to bring companied on-campus. I was told that the career center organized private jets to and from Ithaca to bring companies executives on campus. And also the power-recruiter Deloitte showed up, as expected.

Anyway, finally I got a chance to sit in Entrepreneurship class. Today, this was merged with two other lectures b/c a guest business leader was to comment on the Case, which the class worked on. There were other professors and people from real businesses who provided and analyzed the comments on the case. The class, really, was like a big board room with so many issues and solutions around. This was one helluva experience that I expected from the school and got it before I left to my way back to my hotel. I am still waiting for a formal interview invite (btw, I talked to the AdCom Director for quite a while), but if called and selected, I would definitely come to enjoy this gruelling weather.

fingers crossed!

Visit to Yale

Finally, I am done with my interview and rest of the process at Yale. I understand that most of the people consider Yale as a back-up, but, candidly, this school provides best of the resources that an MBA needs. You get good brand name; you get proximity to NY; Consulting firms consider Yale 'the one to go for' - well! if you are looking at consulting as your career; you get unmatched resources at the Yale university. But, then you ask 'what exactly do I need?'.

I have had two interviews and visits, now I can have unbiased view in comparing the goods and the bads of the schools.

a) Darden's students and professors are really proud of their School. They just don't want to compare Darden with any other. For them, it's the best in the whole world - ah! it certainly is. In comparison, Yale students have kinda defending attitude. I guess, that is b/c of its comparatively newly founded MBA degree.

b) Darden has gorgeous campus - it is in a hilly area, thus the natural beauty adds to the facade of the building. Yale is on the campus of the university and is in the middle of the busy world. So, if you like to have a serene environment for study, Yale is not for you. But proximity to NY will surpass any pleasure :)

c) Darden encourages IT freaks to take their skills to the class - I mean only their notebook PCs. Yale discourages the use of notebookss as they may be distracting to others (on the back seats). Oh well! why should somebody be surfing the net in the class, that too after paying $70,000 in tuition?

d) Yale has a comparatively small class size with some having non-profit interest, thus you will have more opportunities to spread your wings and showcase your abilities. Darden too has a small class size, but not everyone can be an active part of the case study curriculum. It has already been said everywhere, but again, please don't choose case study just for the heck of it. See if you fit.

e) My impression (and research) on Yale's professors tells me that the professors are more research oriented. They are trying to change the basic philosophy of business world and the business strategies and ethics are designed - 'Ethical Organization' and all. Darden strenghtens you on the existing business norms and cultures. - rest is your effort - Oh! Probably, that what I will need in my whole life time.

f) Leadership forums are the best at Yale. Where else would you get a chance to meet with these leaders? Darden too provides the access to it, but in my opinion, it is limited.

Lets talk something about my tour of Yale in general. I, actually, was expecting SOM to be a big campus-wide building, but it turned out to be miniscule compared to the image I had. Furthermore, the AdCom office and the cafeteria are disjointed from the main campus building. It gives you a feel of living in a big city, so if you are the one who evades city life, then give it a second thought if you are considering Yale. As it is in the university, this place is full of students. When on the road you will figure out what identity-theft actually means. One thing that I liked was SOM's glass peek-a-boo kinda lecture rooms. A side-walker can easily take a peek into the class and make a good deal of impression about the class/lecture. Some people might find this intruding, but I found that interesting. I am kinda weird, I know. The school also has glass-backed rooms where you can hang-out and discuss or rest after the lecture.

It doesn't seem like that Yale(ees) like to study in groups, it is more like an individual performance tussle, or, probably I got that kinda impression. One good thing about living in the middle of a city is that you don't need to buy a car. This would come out to be a huge saving - atleast for me, it will. Being closer to NY, you can attend numerous conferences, which you might miss living afar from the place you think you gonna work at. This is a huge advantage of being a Yale(ee). Further, who can deny the brand existence of Yale.

Anyway, I am off to Cornell (Johnson) now; will wait and see where I finally land.

ISB is on 19th; Tepper on 21st

Charlottesville area and Monday at Darden

It is not very often that I get up early in the morning and get ready for something, but today was different. I got up early and ran out to check out of the hotel and rushed to Darden. It was raining and was 'Darden-Cold' - you can just imagine what I mean. Anyway, I reached the school and was all lined up for the whole day activity. I think their mail system blew off, so my host didn't get an e-mail that he needs to take me for the tour. Anyhow, Virginia - at the AdCom office - led me to the class, which was hosted by Prof. Bourgeois. It was entrepreneur'ship class - out of my area of expertise.

But it was interesting to see the class participation and varied inputs from students of varied backgrounds. That really create a lively environment, where you can critically analyse your idea and see what is best. I think that around 70% of the class participated actively - not a bad number for a class of 1:30 hrs. Or, probably it is the pushing factor for the grades. Whatever it is, you will get to learn alot from the discussion. But if you feel indimidated of discussing infront of 60 people, then Darden won't just click for your future.

In my case, I love discussing rather than mugging the whole book from some odd professor. I am sure I will fit snugly if get a chance to be a part of Darden. At 9:30 all the Prof. and students go for a first cofee where you can meet and discuss anything of your interest. This also provides prospective students a chance to meet some new people and get friendlier with them. Or, ask any question, for that matter.

It was pretty considerate of AdCom to offer me an interview - I was not yet invited. It was kinda impromptu, but I had to take the plunge. Haley at the AdCom office conducted the interview; it all went fine - I hope - but I think I got little nervous in the middle of it. I hope I was able to put in some good interesting points. I will just keep my fingers crossed and wait. Well! I need to keep the engines running till I get interview with Tepper. Till then there is no looking back. But I hope I get into Darden, it is just the right fit.

Anyway, I requested the AdCom to provide me one more class - of my area of interest - visit and she was able to provide me the Operations class. This Case was cool - something about deciding over the product marketing/manufacturing strategy in an automobile company (I didn't quite get the name). Yep! this is what you gonna do when you are sitting in a board room or banging over to resolve real business issues. After the class Kiran and Cathy took us (me and three other pros. students) for the tour and the lunch. All (or most) professors here have an open-door policy (right! one leadership quality), which encourages students to discuss anything about the case after regular session.

I got a chance to talk to Mr. Bourgeois about the case study methodology and how and why these are taught this way. He gave me good insight about how these cases are selected and what faculties expect from the discussions. Cases can come from faculty's research (on that company), company's willingness to share a particular decision/strategy with the business school students (I assume this again linked to school links to the company) or from external sorces i.e. business articles or other business schools. He also told me that professors don't delineate the expectations beforehand; professors bascically look for the constructive flow of the discussions and not the right or wrong answer. From him, I got quite good understanding of a case methodology from teacher's perspective.

You see how close-knit, emotionally strong, perfectly founded this school is. I am still holding a great impression of Darden, lets see if I am able to make and continue to hold it for next 2 yrs.

Visit to Darden

I got up two hours after the alarm 'rang and died' in vain. I guess, I was tired after a long stroll around Independence Avenue in DC. But I was too excited about visting the Darden School, so I got up and asked the hotel's reception to call in a cab. In the interim, I talked to manager - a nice guy - of the hotel; he gave me pretty good information about the Charolettesville area. This town provides some good adventure sports facilities such as river rafting, ballooning etc. I think I will quite fit in here in this town - small, serene and hill-side. The manager told me that this town has a very low crime rate. Boy! seems like things have started to fit in the slots.

I reached the School around 10:30 in the morning; it is Sunday, so I didn't expect to meet many people there - and this is what a current student told me. I walked by the Gymnasiun hoping to meet somebody down there, but in vain. I talked to the beautiful ladies at the desk and headed towards the library. whoa! the library seemed like yearning to invite someone to visit. Nonetheless, I met a Law school student and talked to him for a few minutes. And then I had a walk around the library facility and I must say, it is impressive. Big Plasma TVs and a nice computer room.

Justin (the Law student) told me that I may find someone in the main hall - alongside the library. Yep! I found a couple to 2nd yr students in the hall, but they were discussing a case (preparing some presentations that they have to do on Wednesday). Thus I thought I will just look around the School where I may land up in next few months. The school's facility is pretty. Nice and Cozy. But impressive. I had nothing more to do, so I came back to those students and excused myself to ask some questions about what they were doing and about the school. They seemed busy, but were willing to answer the questions - all right, in a hurry.

One of them offered to walk with me to show me the classroom and bit more of the building. We passed through the hall where students and faculty have a first cofee. I like this concept. At the school, they first have a class session at 8am and first cofee at 9:30. Students can talk to the faculties about anything during the first cofee. It is the time when you can bring up your souls for days work. Just adjacent to that the School has put in Flags of all the countries representing students of the current batch. You can imagine what a person feels like when (s)he notices her/his country's flag in an another country. I feel that the School does feed emotions to make a close-knit community.

He showed me one of the classroom where they have case discussions. It may be the reason that I haven't seen classes here at the US schools that I came out impressed. It was a small classroom enough to sit 30 students and provides enough ground to have a one-on-one case discussion. He also showed me the sound proof rooms where students like to meet if they don't like to be distracted. It is quite an effort the School has put in to make great leaders of the future. You get whatever you want, you get best in class study facilities, you get great professors. All you need to do is to forward yourself to the guillotine and take the plunge.

Anyway, that guy was in a hurry, so I showed some restraint and bid him goodbye. Then I came the study room next to the main hall, a couple more students were getting ready to discuss the case. I just talked for few minutes and sat besides them to write this blog and to get a feel of what exactly students do in case discussion - nay! I didn't eavesdrop, I asked them for their comfort with me being sitting next to them. Now I have nothing more to do. Students told me that I can find more students late in the evening when they come to meet the group and to take prints for the next day's discussions. So I will take one more stroll around the place and try to kill some more time.

Tomorrow I have a class in the morning and school tour sometime later. I will know more about the culture when I meet some more students and attend some classes. Till then, I am sold to Darden. Lets hope that the AdCom finds something worth buying.