GO BLUE!!!

No matter where we end up for grad school we will always bleed maize and blue! My freshman year I remember rushing the field after our win against Ohio state, I miss the Big House.

GREAT job Michigan & Coach Brady on the win against Ohio state! IT'S GREAT TO BE A MICHIGAN WOLVERINE!!

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Happy Thanksgiving!!

How are you spending your thanksgiving? After all my school visits I'm way over my bschool budget so this year I won't be going home.  I'm a little sad but at the same time kind of happy. I will have a few days off from work and with no distraction I can really finish up some of my essays/applications. I already made my thanksgiving break checklist ( You know I LOVE checklists) so now I just need to start checking things off and finish up these applications.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!

-Ms. HR

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Understanding the Value in School Visits

Everyone always talked about visiting schools and how important it was. I now truly understand the value of school visits. If you asked me back in March the rankings of my schools they would be totally different from what my rankings are today. My visits to school definitely changed my rankings.  When I first started this process I thought " No way I'm visiting all the schools I'm applying too. That's to much money spent on just visiting. When I get an interview I will visit."  Someone I met along this bschool process said it best. Would you purchase/apply for a house without seeing it in person? I wouldn't, I would take a tour of the house. Maybe even do a few drive bys to make sure I really like it. lol

I decided if I (or someone else) was going to pay $100k for school I might as well spend a little bit more and visit my list of schools. I'm so glad I was fortunate enough to visit all of the schools I'm applying to.  After each visit I was able to tell if the school would be a good fit for me. The students, professors, admission officers and career center staff all played a different part in how that school fits into my personal rankings.  During my visits I arrived early and usually sat in the common area just to people watch and see how the students interacted with each other.  Not only did I get a chance to experience the schools culture but I also saw/heard specific things I could talk about in my essays.  My visit to each school allowed me to  make the an impactul statement in my essays about why that particular school.

Now let's hope my #1, #2 school choices love me as much as I loved them. For those of you who are starting your bschool journey make sure to budget in school visits. It will definitely be worth it!


-Ms. HR

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My Visit to NYU Stern

Seems like I’ve been spending a lot of time on the E. Coast :-) Anyways, last week I had the chance to visit NYU Stern for their Diversity Weekend.  It was also sooo cool.  Every time I get to go to the city I just get a huge Mary Tyler Moore moment and feel like I can do anything.  Also, I like how I don’t have to use a car…and get lost.  First thing, I LOVE Greenwich Village.  It’s SUCH a cute area!! 

Now on to Stern…It started on Thursday afternoon and icebreakers.  It was really cool to know they really wanted us to get to know each other.  Next, we had a mock marketing class.  Once again, I can’t believe how much I learned! It seriously had me yearning for more.  Anyhow, afterwards was dinner and we had the AWESOME opportunity to hear Dean Henry.  I was floored by his speech, openness and availability to talk to us prospective students…oh and the night ended with a Beer Blast which is a Stern Tradition :-)

The next day we worked on our 60-second pitch and then spent the rest of the day at the AABHAS conference. The conference was really informative, I met a lot of current students and heard some dynamic speakers- included Steve Stoute ::drool::  After the conference a happy hour.  :-)

The nxt morning we met at a beautiful venue to recap the week and meet alums.  Great time for networking and helpful hints!

Photo of Stern

Overall, Stern was great and same with NYC!!

-Motown

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My Visit to Johnson (Cornell)

I had the chance to visit cornell a few weeks ago for Johnson Means Business.  Let me tell you the campus is beautiful!  I got to campus a little early just to walk around and explore since it was also my first time to Ithaca. There was a lot of gorges around campus and each one I seen I had to stop and just admire the view. The picture to the right is one I took with my phone while walking across a bridge. The picture doesn't really do it justice but you kind-of get the point. The picture below I'm not sure what building that is lol. I want to say it was sage hall but I'm not sure. I took it when I was walking around. Again the campus was really pretty especially with all the fall colors.  So with this post I'm just going to highlight a few things I loved about visiting Johnson/Ithaca. Actually I loved everything so let me change that statement to things I REALLY REALLY loved. The ODI office did an AMAZING job putting together this event.  In the few days I was up there I learned so much and met so many people.

First, Sage social was really cool! You had faculty, students and their families hanging out enjoying food and drinks. It was a nice chance to network and talk with everyone.  Also the dean of Johnson was walking around talking to everyone. Throughout the weekend that was one thing I notice the dean was really involved with the events on campus.

Second, I sat in a finance and statistics class. The stats class interesting and had interesting sound effects. I guess the teacher is know for having sound effects with his powerpoints.  The finance class was also fun. I love class visits because you really get to see the student faculty relationship, which is always interesting. We actually had one of Johnson's communication teacher host a session on public speaking. She was FABULOUS.  I immediately wished I was a student so I could  sign up for her class.

Lastly, prior to the JMB event, they asked everyone to I had take an MBTI test. During a session we actually talked about the results and how the different personality types could make changes to themselves to effectively work together.  It was a fun interactive team building exercise.

After JMB, there was the diversity symposium. That event was also GREAT. Time permitting, I may do another post just about the diversity symposium. If your just starting your bschool process and Johnson is on your radar. I would definitely recommend going to JMB next year.

Side Note: So for those who have an inner fat kid like me, I had the BEST sandwich from this place called college town bagel. Anyone who's planning on going to visit Johnson try college town bagel!


-Ms. HR

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Articles I'm Reading....

Just wanted to share some articles/blogs I found interesting this week:

• Freakanomics Article about grade non-disclosure
• Interesting blog about acquiring no debt while in an MBA program

I'll keep trying to share these periodically.  Happy Reading!

-Motown

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My Visit to HBS

A few weeks ago I had the chance to spend a day at Harvard Business School, overall it was really cool! Since I happened to be on the E. Coast for work I was totally able to swing by Boston, visit a friend and visit HBS for Prospective Students Day!

Source

Before I start my recap, I will be honest, my Boston trip was kind of last minute…So I ended up staying at a friends apartment (who was gone on business for a night) and she said I could use her car.   So…my first experience that morning in Boston was conquering Boston traffic in torrential rain.  As I drove in the wrong direction, my contact decided to rip in my eye…OUCH.  So as I’m at a stop light, I throw out my left contact…and decide I’m just going to have one good eye for the day……now on to HBS

Just to recap, it started off with a warm welcome.  We got a presentation from admissions and a warm welcome from students.  From there we had a mock class, which was also super cool.  It was one of the first times I ever sat in a case class. As a person from an engineering background, I was shocked about how much I learned in such a short time and seriously…it was SO INTERESTING.  I should also note that we had to prep a case before.

Next we had lunch with prospective students and current students.  It was also really nice too.  The students were really open and honest about the whole business school application process, not just HBS.  

Following, we had a tour of the school.  So nice to know that there are Bschool dorms and HBS apartments as well.  Also, there are tunnels that connect all the buildings which will be SO convenient in the winter and worked in our favor since it was raining.  Post-tour, we listened to Alum and current student panels which was SOOO open.  I really LOVED the honesty and frankness that everyone exuded.

Finally, the day ended in a reception.  I appreciated how intrigued the students and alums were in my success.  Shocked.  They listened to my goals and even thought about ways I could improve it and hone it to fit the application.

Overall I really enjoyed my experience and the people! Even the prospective students were super cool.  Also, the facilities were fantastic as well and the architecture…uber impressive.

P.S It was raining really bad and I took one photo, and it sucked...also remember..my vision wasn't up to par.  My photo was sideways and gloomy looking…So I had to just use this image instead.

Anyone else visit HBS?  Thoughts?

-Motown

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First Interview of the Season

Last week I had my first bschool interview. Before I tell you about the interview let me tell you about prep. Over this bschool process google and I have become GREAT friends. I feel like google should know my computer's ip address by heart lol. Anyway there are some great tools/websites out there for the interview. The one I used the most was the clear admit wiki. I read ALL the entries and made sure I knew how to answer each question. I also did some mock interviews with a few people and some went well and some were really rocky. Motown can tell you that the first mock interview I did with her was a STRUGGLE!! THANK YOU MOTOWN FOR THE PRACTICE PREP!

Now interview story time (Sorry this wont be best story lol. It all happened so fast I can't remember the details ). I ended up waking up super early. I guess I couldn't sleep because of all the nerves. I arrived at my interview 30 minutes early. I'm the type of person that needs to get there early and get use to my environment.  The interview itself was more so a conversation rather than the "question after question" type interview. Overall I was able to convey the message I wanted to and left feeling good!

One interview down! Hopefully a few more to go. Good luck to you all that have interviews coming up!!


Ms. HR

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