Thoughts From The Cake Scraps

Originally Posted: 6/12/2014 9:18 AM  

I believe there are probably enough posts about how great an MBA is, how many friends people made, how the experience changed a life, or how it might be the best two years of your life. For my part, I can say all of that is true, but I thought it might be interesting to close my time blogging by saying some of the things which surprised me.

To incoming first-years:

1)      MBA recruiting is its own beast; no matter how well you think you prepared to apply to school, or how polished you were for your job before it, you need to be trained in the ways of MBA recruiting. Pay attention to your club leadership and you’ll be fine.

2)      Your courses, immersion, clubs, and most other things don’t matter all that much for interviews. Don’t get me wrong: they are table stakes and they matter for success in your internship. The thing is that you’ll only have taken core courses and attended club meetings by the time you interview. You won’t have had job-specific classes nor done any club leadership roles. Hopefully this reinforces point #1 about MBA recruiting being its own beast.

3)      It is surprising just how much change you can impart on the school in the relatively short time you’re part of the student body. With the whole school turning over every 2 years the only thing known is what one class learns from the class above them. If you teach the class below you something else, you’ve just changed the way things are done going forward.

4)      There are lots of great places to study outside of Sage (you are at an Ivy after all). It might suck when you can’t find a room in Sage, but there are amazing buildings within a 5 minute walk. Go find them instead of being frustrated with the lack of a room.

To returning 2^nd year students:

1)      Where did all the free food go? Seriously. First year students don’t know how good they have it.

2)      Your default question, when you don’t know what else to say, changes by semester of business school:

1. Semester 1: What are you hoping to do?
2. Semester 2: Where are you going for the summer?
3. Semester 3: Where are you going full time?
4. Semester 4: When are you leaving?

3)      It is very difficult to stay involved. I found that it wasn’t because I didn’t care (far from it) but that you’re just not at Sage as often. That means all of the stuff that goes on becomes an extra trip into school rather than another meeting where you’re just moving from breakout room to breakout room.

4)      There are lots of ‘last events’ and you’re never sure which one is actually the one where you won’t see somebody again for a very long time, if ever.

5)      Johnson’s graduation is better coordinated than any other program I talked to. For as smart as we are, it sure is nice the administration makes it so we don’t have to think on our big day.

The End; The Beginning

I’ll close by saying thank-you. Thanks to Peter Krakow for trusting me with a platform for my thoughts. Thanks to my classmates for supporting me and reading my posts. Thanks to the many readers who attended Johnson previously. Thanks to those readers who may (or may not) attend Johnson in the future. It’s been my pleasure to share my journey with you.

What a great 2 years. Time to move on and tackle whatever comes next.

Part of a series of my re-postings of my blog for the “Life @ Johnson” section of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University MBA program website.

Originally Posted: 4/1/2014 1:37 PM

If you are fortunate enough to have options for an MBA program, you have the very difficult decision of picking the program that is right for you. This is not an easy thing to do; I have a three point guide on information you should have before making a decision.

Career

Your career choice may change within the first week of your MBA program, but get yourself some facts from the school on your current career aspirations.

Mistake: Asking “who recruits here”. That’s a terrible question since most programs will have a long and prestigious list of companies.

Solution: Ask specific questions that provide context. “How many of the people recruiting for x received offers in that area”, “which companies consider this a core school”, “how many alumni do you have at company x”. Take this information and convert it into ratios. A large school will always have more people doing x than a small school, but on a % basis one program may give you higher odds of getting the career you desire. Obviously nothing is guaranteed but failing to adjust numbers for total students is a huge mistake.

Culture

Visiting a school and trying to get a feel for the culture can be tough. Make sure you’ve talked to lots of different people to get unique perspectives.

Mistake: Asking “how do you like it here” or “which clubs are you involved with”. These will give you obviously biased answers and provide little information on how active that person is in the community.

Solution: Ask specific questions that provide context (sound familiar?). “What were your favorite club events you attended/organized”, “how did club x impact you so far”, “what session did you find most helpful for you”, “what is your favorite memory you’ve made here”. The questions you ask need to change depending on the context, but the general idea is the same. These sorts of questions give you a sense of how involved that person is/was, what the clubs actually did that was memorable, and gives you a flavor or what the experience might be like.

Reflection

Now that you have options, spend time thinking about what you really want out of the program; what did you say you wanted when you first thought about an MBA?

Mistake: Worrying about the above two things too much.

Solution: Spend time thinking about what you want out of a program beyond a job. This will likely be the last degree you ever get. Do you want a place that values academics or not? Do you want to make new friends or live in an area where you know a bunch of people already? Do you want a campus you can walk around on or not? Will you ever want to attend a reunion at your college 5 or 10 years from now?

These questions and many more, were (hopefully) on your mind as you applied to MBA programs. Take time to revisit those same questions. Remove all of the other clutter and focus on whether or not you’re going to be happy attending the program and proud telling people about it – both now and down the road.

I already know you’re not going to make your decision lightly. What I’m encouraging you to do is make the most of the time you have by giving yourself the facts you need to make a decision.

And once you’ve made it, there’s only one thing to do: have fun. It’ll probably be the best 2 years of your life.

Part of a series of my re-postings of my blog for the “Life @ Johnson” section of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University MBA program website.