October 31, 2007
here we go again
During Fall break last week I attended the West Coast Forum with about 100 of my closest Ross friends. I was one of the lucky people to tour Google and Cisco. It’s really amazing what awesome work can be created when you put top minds together. It was also great to meet alumni and just hang out with my friends in a non-academic setting. I also visited the high school I used to teach at, and it was really good to see how some of my students matured. It also really makes me appreciate my experience teaching and now being a student.
Fall B began this week as anti-climactically as Fall A ended. Marketing and Finance should be blockbuster courses, as they combine creative thinking and analytical skills. I’m psyched! Work is already piling on, but I think I have a better grasp of prioritizing this term.
I definitely also need to focus on my role with the Community Consulting Club, where I am leading the team of BBA’s and MBA’s to consult with the National Association for Multicultural Education. This ends in merely 6 weeks, so I need to carve chunks of time out of the next few weeks.
After the spectacular experience with the Medtronic case competition, I’ve entered another one with another group of friends. They’re awesome to work with as well, and I’m excited about our project so far. These cases do suck the time out of space though. They’ve definitely been one of the better uses of my time. Highly recommended.
Good book I’ve recently read: The Tipping Point... finding time to read at school is definitely something I've prioritized.
Ann Arbor’s about to ice over. Good thing I’m inside almost all day.
Highlights since last blog:
- Doing well in all of my Fall A courses
- West Coast Forum: seeing old friends and hanging out with new friends ; networking with alumni
- Return of my laptop
Lowlights:
- Recruiting season is well underway and slightly over-whelming
Looking forward to:
- Running and rock climbing more
- The section activities
- Marketing and Finance
- Ohio State game (I’m not even a football fan, but the experience should be one of those “once in a lifetime� deals)
Posted by amyhuang at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
Fall B
We just had a week off for Fall break (though there was much scheduled on the recruiting front – more on this later), so I had a little time to reflect on the first part of school – they really packed a lot into those first 7 weeks. Accounting, Statistics, Business Economics, and Strategy - it sounds crazy to me that I took all of those classes in that brief period and did not fail anything, but that is what my transcript says. In all seriousness, the professors were awesome, and I learned a lot of tools that will be incredibly useful for the remainder of classes this year, as well as for future internships/jobs.
Next up: Marketing, Human Behavior and Organization, Finance, and an Erb Seminar – this last one is tied to the Erb dual degree program I’m doing.
Outside of class, one of the things I’m working on at the moment that I am particularly excited about is helping to develop a “Leadership Crisis Challenge.� This case competition, which will take place in early January, is one of the ways that Ross has woven leadership development (beginning with the Ross Leadership Initiative Foundation Session discussed earlier) throughout the academic calendar. I got involved in this project after I joined Net Impact, specifically their Curriculum Committee, which works with Ross faculty and administrators to incorporate issues relating to Corporate Social Responsibility into the business school curriculum. The Leadership Crisis Challenge will focus on leading companies amid crisis situations and developing skills such as quick thinking and persuasively articulating a point of view. The exercise will also heighten awareness of corporate social responsibility.
I mentioned above that there were recruiting events over Fall break, and I just wanted to provide a little color on that. Each year, Ross organizes Forums, such as the Wall Street Forum and the West Coast Forum, that give students an opportunity to meet with companies in their area(s) of interest. As an example, check out the list of forums organized by the Finance Club.
And just to give you a sense of the day-to-day here, I am currently sitting in a coffee shop with a classmate (one of the friends I met on the golf course) strategizing about summer internships – we are both interested in the alternative energy industry, so we’re working together to make as many contacts as we can. I have a section officers meeting in 30 minutes, class in 2 hours, and then a section happy hour tonight at 6:30pm.
And finally, to update an item I mentioned earlier, I continue to look for ways to fit the Triathlon Club into my schedule.
Happy Halloween!
Posted by leahyt at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2007
Fall B
Its hard to believe that I am entering another term. Fall A ended pretty well and some grades have started to come and they look good so far.
During fall break or “professional development week� I attended the West Coast Forum. It was kind of exciting since it was my first time in the Bay Area and because of the interaction with the students and companies. The forum was very helpful and I was able to met with representatives from the companies that I am interested in – Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon.com, etc. I feel a bit better about the differences in Product Management at the various companies and now its time to do the necessary research to determine if the companies are the right fit for me. So much of this term will be spent doing that and also preparing for interviews. I’ve heard so much about how Fall B is a heavy recruiting period and now I see why. Preparing for interviews and doing company research is comparable to taking another course. I just need to come up with a plan and I’m sure that it will all get done.
So Fall B has officially begun and it's busy. This term I am taking 4 classes, which is one in addition to the core schedule. I am currently taking World Economy, Marketing Management, Management & Organizations, and Finance. I am excited about my classes , however I can already see that the workload is going to be intense. I looked at my schedule the other day and this week is extremely busy with meetings and presentations. I am confident that I will make it through this term just as I did Fall A. I just need to come up with my schedule again and I will be just fine.
Posted by alantria at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
Fall A
Fall A for me was especially good! As I am an Erb student last year I did half of the MBA core while I was doing my credits at SNRE (School of Natural Resources). This is one of the advantages of being Erb, you have more flexibility in your schedule.
The advantage of doing part of the core last year was that I was able to take two electives in Fall A. One was “How to solve social problems through enterprise solutions� and the other is a full semester class, so I am continuing to do it during Fall B, it is “New Venture Creation�. Both were very interesting, for the former we had interesting discussions around the theme. The Professor gave us plenty of interesting resources, data and cases that offered us meet to enhance our analysis. On top of that, it was a very diverse class with students from the Public policy, social work and engineering courses; they have different views of the issues, which contribute to expand and delve into our discussions. The latter class is very fulfilling. I was able to form a team and develop a business plan toward a business idea I have. It is very good to have such a qualified team and the perspectives of the professor of a business that I might launch in the future.
The two core classes I did, Strategy and Microeconomics were very good and extremely well organized. Although Strategy demanded a lot effort and time and the “cold call� approach isn’t that relaxing, I learnt a lot and I see the applicability of it throughout my further career. The analytical skills I got were priceless.
After all this effort the break came in good timing and I went to Brazil, my home country, for a week. I had a chance to relax and meet my family and friends. I feel now recharged for Fall B.
Posted by rsoares at 07:45 PM | Comments (0)
Fall A over?
It’s hard to believe that Fall A has come and gone. For those of you not familiar with the Ross scheduling system, we work in quarters (Fall A, Fall B and Winter A, Winter B), with some classes continuing over two quarters. The core classes are only 1 quarter long, which means we’re done with 4 of them already! Incredible, it feels like orientation was yesterday…
Finals week was pretty intense, and everyone was studying hard to do well, since they were worth 40-80% of the course grade depending on the class. After long sleepless nights, everyone was ready for some R&R and fall break.
Over Fall Break (one week between Fall A and Fall B), I attended the Wall Street Forum, which is a networking event organized by the Finance Club. We were in New York for three days and visited 9 banks (UBS, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Citi, Credit Suisse, Bear Stearns and Bank of America). It was a great opportunity to get some face time with bankers and to learn more about the differences between the banks. For me, the highlight of the trip was a speech delivered by Jon Winkelreid, President and Co-COO of Goldman Sachs about the current economic situation in the US and the world. Overall the event was a great success and a testament to the power of the Ross Finance Club, which did a great job of organizing the event and leveraging alumni contacts in some of the most prestigious firms on the Street.
The Wall Street Forum and Finals week were a lot of fun but very intense, and when they were over I was ready to sleep for a couple of days. For the remainder of fall break, I enjoyed Ann Arbor, took long walks with my dog, spent time with my wife, and charged up the batteries to do it all over again in Fall B. Classes started at full blast on Monday with homework and cases already due this week. Add on networking and recruiting events, and it looks like it’s going to be a very busy Fall B….Of course, I expected nothing less…
The Michigan weather is also starting to show its colder side. Although temperatures during the day have been quite pleasant, there’s been ice on the cars and the grass has been crunchy in the early morning…
Posted by jtlynch at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2007
The Tauber discussion…
I went to my first hockey game a few nights ago with a couple of friends from Venezuela and Peru. After the game we went out to get a few drinks and ended up talking about, what else, school and career paths. Even during our “break-time� we are never truly on break. The discussion basically centered around how easy (or hard) it is to switch career paths. Although we all agreed that some skills, like communication and leadership skills, transfer over into any industry the majority of the “technical� ones don’t. The conversation that went on for a couple of beers (micro brewed beers, which I am NOT a fan of, but that’s for another blog) did not really get to me because up until today, I had no intention of changing paths drastically.
Now that “Fall B� has started the lens through which I look at my MBA experience has fogged up a bit, and it’s actually a good thing! Thanks to Professor Andy Gershoff and his brief introduction to Marketing Management, I have now begun to question whether the Tauber Institute for Global Operations and following an “operations� focus is really what I want to do. Coming from an engineering background and working in supply chain management for six years led me to think that I wanted to continue in that area because I truly enjoyed what I was doing. Yet part of the reason I came to B-School was to learn about new opportunities and either validate or dismiss preconceived notions I had of what certain career paths were like. My idea of marketing, and what someone who works in marketing does was very different from what was introduced today. Thanks to this introduction, marketing is now a path that I will look into with more detail. This doesn’t mean that I’m done with Tauber and my OMS-605 (Operations Management class for Tauber students) but it does mean that there are new options that didn’t exist before, at least for me.
I guess the most appealing opportunity that Ross offers me is that I don’t know what all the opportunities will be (I hope that makes some sense). I am sure that as I go through my two years here, my ideas of what I want and what I thought I was good at will probably change and morph into something different and thanks to a great Office of Career Development I am confident that I will be able to work in a place where I will continue to develop my new-found passion (whatever that may be).
Posted by jolaiz at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
Introduction from Alantria
Hello, my name is Alantria Harris and I am a first year MBA at Ross. I am extremely excited about my two year journey at Ross and I eagerly look forward to the enormous amounts of opportunities here. So far, I have met people from different countries such as Siberia, Chile, Peru, Israel, etc. I have also met student from different professional backgrounds as well. Some of my classmates were doctors, lawyers, and professional athletes before coming to Ross. I have been overwhelmed by the diversity of people in my class and I am so honored to be a part of the program.
Before I go on and on about how much I love Ross, I first wanted to go a little into who I am and why I am writing this blog. Prior to Ross, I was a Project Manager at The Weather Channel, yes The Weather Channel, which is located in Atlanta, GA. I worked there for nearly nine years counting internships in college. And even though I thoroughly enjoyed my experience, I wanted to 'change my career' so coming to business school would allow me to do so. I am looking to move into either Product Management or Human Resources in the high-tech industry (I am still figuring this out and more to come on my discovery in future blogs). I am currently involved in the High-Tech Club, Black Business Student Association, Michigan Business Women, Gourmet Club, Southern Club, Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, and the Forte Foundation.
I chose Ross not only because of its academic excellence and action-based learning, but mainly because of the culture of the school. When I first visited Ross during November of 2006 for the UpClose Weekend, I knew that I found my home based in Ross. The thing that struck me most was the passion displayed by the students, which along with the overwhelming generosity made me feel like a part of the Ross family. Every student tht I encountered that weekend was extremely excited about being at Ross and more than willing to answer my questions and show me around the school. Equally as important, throughout the presentations I noticed that this same enthusiasm was displayed in the faculty, admissions officers, and Dean Dolan. Given that this would be my first time outside of Georgia and away from home, I longed for the sense of comfort by those in my class and in the school. The culture of the school was one of the most important aspects in deciding on a business school and seeing that this level of excitement was displayed throughout the school, I knew that Ross was the place for me.
So I am writing a blog as a Ross MBA Ambassador to give a perspective into my experiences at Ross. So how has it been is what you are probably wondering? In two words-exciting and busy. I enjoy the opportunity to learn about new things so being immersed in my new environment at Ross has been great for me. I am not only learning a lot in my classes, I am also learning about my classmates, the school, and career opportunities available. It stays busy not only because of class work, but also because there is so much that I want to be involved in and that has not been a bad thing since i realize that my busyness has been very worthwhile. I have managed to put myself on a good schedule in terms of managing my tasks and sometimes I feel overwhelmed, however it is not too often. This term I am taking Accounting, Statistics, Economics, and Strategy. I love my professors and section mates so it makes class extremely fun. I can't believe that this is the las week of classes and that I will be taking finals next week. The seven weeks went by extremely quickly. Apart from the classes, the social aspects such as football games, section events, and other random activities has made me feel very comfortable with my new home in Ann Arbor. I can't say enough about how excited I am about being at Ross and I am looking forward to learning more over the next two years.
Posted by kkellerz at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
Introduction from Renata
Hi there!
My name is Renata A Soares and I am from Brazil. I did two undergrad courses: one in business and another in philosophy. I developed my career in the marketing field. I started working for big companies such as DuPont and Philips in their marketing departments. As I was working in these companies I also began working with consulting firms and realized I wanted to do the same tasks they were doing. So I moved to a marketing consulting firm. I liked it a lot, developed primary research and led big accounts such as MasterCard and Microsoft. After 2.5 years I wanted to further analyze companies, so I joined a sustainability consulting firm. I fell in love with the field and decided to specialize. I did an extensive and deep research and concluded Michigan was the best school.
I applied to the Erb program and here I am enjoying all the Erb and Ross communities’ interactions and benefits. Erb is a 3 year program and I am currently doing my second year. I started at the School of Natural Resources (SNRE) and now I am at Ross. I started in the Erb program focusing on how to provide big corporations a sustainability strategy, but the more I get in contact with the social entrepreneurship field, the more I like it. Recently, I was accepted as the Team Clean $3.5MM Wolverine Venture Club fellow and will learn how VCs invest in clean tech. The opportunities are huge at Ross, the difficult part is to decide which ones we want to focus on.
Please feel free to shoot me your questions!
Posted by kkellerz at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
Introduction from Jaime
It is a little hard to start this blog because I want to introduce myself so that you can get a feel for where my blog is coming from, but at the same time I don’t want to bore you with my entire life story. Feel free to e-mail me and let me know if you are interested in learning anything more about me.
So, here we go…
I am Jaime Olaiz, a 29 year old married man from Nogales, Mexico. For the past six years I had been running an international third party logistics firm along the Mexico/US border. Before that I studied at ITESM, in Monterrey, Mexico where I earned my Mechanical and Industrial Engineering degree. A few months after my graduation I met my wife Magui, now 26, at a festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico called “La Pamplonada� or the Mexican version of the running of the bulls in Spain (but without the huge bulls; instead we have small cows). I come from a “typical� Mexican family, with one older sister, two younger brothers and a younger sister.
So, that’s my background. Now, the reason you are probably reading this is because you are interested in learning a little more about the Ross School of Business and my experience at Michigan. I’ve been here for a couple of months and I am still very impressed with all my classmates. First, just learning about their backgrounds and the amazing things they have done has been a great. Everyone is really open and willing to talk about their experiences and they are interested in learning about you too.
One thing that was definitely new for me was the grading scale here. It doesn’t really matter what your score is on a given assignment or test, but rather how you compared to your classmates. The “forced curve� basically means that you have to do better than the mean in order to score an “excellent� Now, the funny thing is that you would imagine that this would create a lot of competition between students (which it does), but people are actually really helpful when it comes to preparing for finals. I guess the best way of describing the atmosphere here is a “competitive collaboration� where everyone is trying very hard to achieve excellence, but at the same time willing to lend a helping hand to make sure that anyone who needs help gets it.
I hope that you stop by again soon.
Until next time…
Posted by kkellerz at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
Introduction from Amy
Hello!
I come from a “non-traditional� background, aka, when people ask, “What’d you do before business school?� the facial expression they give after hearing my response is a mix of surprise and confusion. So, brace yourself. Before b-school, I was a Teach for America corps member, teaching high school science in Oakland, California at BEST High School, a new small school at the McClymond’s Educational Complex, focused on business and entrepreneurship. (Big shout out to my former students and colleagues!) Teaching biology and chemistry at BEST was an amazing experience; I learned tremendously from my students and colleagues, both about the issues of education equity and about my personal leadership strengths and weaknesses.
I went directly into teaching after graduating from the University of Rochester, in upstate New York, with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. Rounding out the reverse chronology of my background, I grew up in Kingston, New York, about 2 hours north of NYC. From BME to teaching to MBA, my professional development has taken several abrupt twists, but I’ve loved every bit of it, and this good fortune continues here at Ross.
How did I get to Ross? I attribute it mostly to good luck. I mean, I’m young. In applying for schools, I recognize that with only two years of work experience, I had to really demonstrate my intellectual capacity, how my Teach for America experience has shaped me into a future leader of some significance, and how great a fit Ross will be. And it has been an amazing fit.
All clichés aside, it’s really about the people here. And, of course, I need to give my caveat of how some fellow peers make me wonder how they got into this school, but those people are definitely in the minority. Most of the people here, especially those in my section (Deuce!) have been amazing: really bright, good-humored, and overall fun to learn with and from. I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know each of them better in our time together.
It’s not just the people in my section who have really impressed me. Recently I entered a case competition team with friends from another section (Section 3), and, although the project took much longer than any of us anticipated, we had a great time (or, at least, I did) dissecting the case and synthesizing our recommendations. I would be remised to leave out the result: we ended up as the Runner-Up (with the winners being MBA1’s from Sections 2 and 3, as well), so it was definitely a great first case-competition experience!
I’m also in another team projects – they’re definitely the norm here – for my Strategy class. This one has proven, again, more challenging that what my teammates and I anticipated initially. The biggest challenge has actually been in finding time to read the papers and actually writing. I think that’s going to be a major challenge for these next two years: finding time to execute plans.
Lastly, I want to conclude with other highlights/lowlights of my MBA experience:
MBA Games – day-long inter-section competition; it was competitive, and lots of fun. Section two came back from last year’s last place standing to third this year. We won some key events and, more importantly, I think that’s where my section really bonded.
Computer breakdown – after getting my computer set up and running well, the LCD broke. It’s definitely frustrating not to have my laptop, but, illustrating the generosity of my classmates, my friend Joe has let me borrow his old laptop for the past 3 or 4 weeks.
Getting my car towed – lesson learned, thank you City of Ann Arbor: read those street signs…
Penny Wars – raising money for Free the Children. Wow! It’s unbelievable how much our class raised in one week: almost $12,000!!
Looking forward to:
West Coast Forum – networking with the alum there, and visiting companies that I’m interested in for my internship.
Fall B classes – marketing with Professor Nordheim! I really like how classes are only 7 weeks long.
Posted by kkellerz at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
Introduction from Tom
The first question I get asked when I call friends and family back home is, “How’s school.� My response has consistently been some variation of “great / busy / insanely busy.� And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. About the only things you can count on is that you’ll have 8 classes each week (2 ½ hours each), there are Wolverine football games on Saturday, and there’s always much more to do than hours in the day.
Before I get into specifics about school, I just wanted to start off this blog with a bit of background info on me: I studied undergrad at Georgetown University (they don’t have a good football team, so no mixed loyalties for that sport) where I majored in Political Economy. Before coming to Michigan, I worked at the New York Stock Exchange for five years, specifically in NYSE Regulation. So I worked in the securities markets, but my responsibilities were very much on the legal side of the industry.
I am currently an Erb Institute dual degree student (MBA/MS at Ross and the School of Natural Resources and my career interests lie in the renewable energy industry, particularly the intersection between government policy and business strategy.
Enough background, here’s a quick summary of life at Ross up to now:
Late August: Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) – our version of orientation with a heavy emphasis on developing leadership skills and on section bonding. I never pictured that in my first few weeks in Ann Arbor, I would 1.) make a movie with 5 classmates 2.) help coordinate the preparation of a 3-course dinner for approx. 100 people 3.) spend a day with my section cleaning up a park in the greater Detroit area (well, this one I expected) and 4.) do a workshop on screenwriting/how to tell a compelling story. Those are just a few highlights (and for any non-quant folks worried about how cooking and filmmaking is going to help you in accounting, stats, and economics, don’t panic – there’s a Quantitive Skills Workshop the week before RLI).
Now onto the first couple of weeks of classes (and corporate presentations and clubs). It is not an exaggeration to say that you get hit with everything all at once. By the time I remembered that school has a painful byproduct called homework, I could barely find time to actually do it. On the first game day of the football season, and two days before the start of classes, there was a meet-and-greet tailgate sponsored by an investment bank. Most people I know attended, at minimum, several corporate presentations each week. Then there are the clubs and other activities, some of which are so popular that they require applications and interviews. I joined Net Impact, the Energy Club (http://www.rossenergyclub.com/), the Ross Admission Ambassador program (hence this blog), and I’m a section representative for Ross’s student association.
I also seriously thought about applying to these 2 programs:
1.) The Wolverine Venture Fund
2.) The Community Consulting Club).
They are incredible opportunities that are extremely popular – I decided not to apply this year, which is just one of many examples I have so far of not doing everything that I would like to. It is just flat out impossible. Check out a list of other clubs and activities.
I literally would like to join 90% of those. Ross Triathlon Club would be one example that’s in the 10% – I just don’t enjoy pain enough to participate, but you never know, I’m here for 3 years. Seriously though, it just goes to show that there’s something for everyone and that the students here are incredibly active in the community.
So what else to highlight in this first introductory post? The first term (Fall A) flies by – picture the above plus 4 semester-long classes all fitting into a 7-week time period. By the way, the professors are incredibly engaging and make the material rigorous, but accessible. The new ballpark in Detroit is awesome, I saw a Tigers game in early September. In addition to football, I bought student tickets for basketball and ice hockey, so I expect to see a lot of Wolverine games this year. I know I talked a lot about sports already, so just a plug for those of you interested in other forms of entertainment: I keep getting invited to go to concerts and other shows, a lot of great stuff come through Ann Arbor and Detroit – a group of my friends just went into Detroit two Fridays ago to see ÂÂKings of Leon. And another friend just went to a Henry Rollins Spoken Word performance last weekend here in Ann Arbor. For anyone looking for outdoor activity, there is hiking, camping, fishing, kayaking, skydiving, and paintballing all nearby. And this isn’t just a random assortment of activities, this is what I know some of my friends and classmates have done over the past couple of weekends.
Finally, the University has a beautiful golf course – maybe not as exciting as skydiving, but it’s a great way to spend an afternoon. I’ve played 45 holes so far, and I met some classmates who have become good friends out on the course.
That’s it for now. It’s been an intense and awesome couple of months!
Posted by kkellerz at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
Introduction from James
My name is James Lynch and this is my first MBA Blog. I was born in São Paulo, Brazil and lived there for most of my life. My father’s family is American and my mother’s is Brazilian, which makes me a dual citizen. All and all, being a dual citizen is pretty cool but it opens up a whole can of worms when people ask me where I’m from. I am married (to Cari) and have three pets, a dog (Pete) and two cats (Tigger and Lily).
I studied at an American school in Brazil and decided to go to college in the US, because I felt it would be good to experience life in my other country. I studied industrial engineering at the University of Southern California and had a great time living in Los Angeles. During my senior year there, I started working with a VC fund and really took a liking to finance. When I graduated, I moved back to Brazil and started working for a boutique investment banking shop, dealing mainly with M&A, restructuring and financial advisory jobs.
Working in a small firm was excellent for my professional development. I had the chance of working closely with directors and partners of the firm and took on a lot more responsibility than would I could have at larger firms. However, the size of the organization also limited my growth opportunities and I decided it was the right time to apply for an MBA.
I decided Ross was the right school for me because having a strong quantitative background and substantial financial knowledge, I felt I could learn the most in a school with strengths in several areas and a general management perspective. Ross was also the place at which I felt the most at home. Everyone I met here is brilliant and has an impressive life story, yet is balanced with a dose of humility which makes them very easy to interact with.
My MBA experience so far has been amazing! I Moved to Ann Arbor with my wife and pets in July, and had about two and a half weeks to get set up, before I started the accounting waiver prep course, which I recommend everyone take (even if you don’t want to waive the class). Dr. Dave, “The World’s Most Dangerous Accountant�, was my professor, and he actually made sitting through six hours a day of accounting seem fun (amazing).
After that I went on an M-trek to Croatia. The trip was unbelievable. We spent ten days travelling around, going canyoning, rafting, playing paintball, boating and drinking. I think I’ve never laughed so much in my life, and experienced things I will remember forever.
Right after Croatia, orientation and RLI (Ross Leadership Initiative) started, and that was a very fast paced and interesting week, which culminated with my team winning the MBA Oscars (yes I’m bragging, see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJ8zAXYJr4 ). The football season started right after RLI (not so well), and classes right after that. It was amazing how many recruiting events were going on in the second week of classes, and by October, most major investment banks had already visited campus (some more than once).
With all the classes (all of which I love BTW) and recruiting events, one would think that there is no time for social events, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Ross students take “socializing� and “networking� opportunities very seriously, and for a small city, Ann Arbor really offers a lot in terms of restaurants, bars and night clubs. For those less inclined to nightly activities, the parks and golf courses are also great.
In conclusion, Ross is awesome, Ann Arbor rocks (ask me again during winter), and I’m having a great time! I’ll write again soon…..
Posted by kkellerz at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)
Introduction from Jagroop
Greetings prospective MBA students! Welcome to my blog. My name is Jagroop and I am a first year at Ross. Here is a quick introduction: I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and graduated with a BBA from University of Michigan in 2001 – I am a Wolverine for life! How I ended up in Michigan after growing up in Ohio is an entire blog entry by itself. I absolutely loved my undergrad experience at Michigan – challenging education, great city, and of course Michigan Football!
After college, I worked as a management consultant and non-profit director in New York. I decided to pursue my MBA so I could combine my private and public sector experiences to develop a framework to focus on corporate social responsibility. In the next five to ten years, I would like to apply the management concepts learned at Ross to establish a consulting firm in South Asia. The goal of the firm will be to assist corporations to meet the demands of the shareholders while interlacing social responsibility into the culture of their businesses. The new firm will work with both public and private sectors to ensure social and environmental responsibility through sustainable business practices.
I decided to return to Ross for my MBA because of the emphases on action-based learning and leadership development. The Multidisciplinary Action Projects Program will provide me an opportunity to solve real world business problems faced by corporations beyond the class cases. Furthermore, the MAP experience will enhance my ability to leverage others’ capabilities and integrate knowledge of various business functions to develop cutting-edge management and strategic solutions. In addition to participating in the action-based learning programs and Ross Leadership Initiative, learning from distinguished faculty and interacting with other MBA students with backgrounds in all sectors will provide me with a framework to manage an enterprise in an ever-changing business environment.
I look forward to sharing my experiences with all of you. I’ll discuss my first two months at Ross in my next blog. Have a great week! Go Blue!
Posted by kkellerz at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)