The Life and Times of a Simon MBA Student

Just the same....

2006-02-13T20:14:00.000-05:00

I have not blogged for a while so I figured lets make an entry. My nerves are at an end these days since I don’t have an offer and I am dying to get one. Every week something promising comes up and then just as fast as it comes it slides by into eternity. Classes are going well I am use to the regular rush of exams and the late night studying, although I am much better at time management now then I was in the first quarter. I also think people have stopped caring about grades so the curve has gone lower. We have our MBA PROM coming up … well the formal for the year which should be rather fun to attend. Nothing more hopefully next time I post I will be talking about THESE AMAZING OFFERS I have …

Uhhh Ohhh

2005-06-16T21:29:00.000-04:00

The internship started this week, it seems like its going well but I afraid that I might not be getting a full time offer. The group is very small, so I have decide to start networking again. This weekend will be strategizing weekend …..

Outlier's effect on the average

2005-05-17T11:29:00.000-04:00

Today we were asked to fill out an internal survey to see how our first year experience was. My first year experience has been nothing short of phenomenal; with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions was a new teacher the administration experimented with, this I believe this was not really the administrations fault, since it was a one time deal. ONE BIG PROBLEM I have faced is one other faculty member who I will write a detailed elaboration about after June 9th.

For today’s survey purpose I decided no to include both of the bad faculty members and write a note on the survey that the outliers were not included. I am puzzled if the average should go down because of the outliers. Should the professor for Finance 402’s performance be judged by the performance of one bad egg? If so how awful is the experience and how does that tie in with the whole experience? I am a very puzzled student today!!!

How Business Schools Lost Their Way

2005-05-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

I just read the article in May's Harvard Business Review "How Business Schools Lost Their Way" . If you have the time the article is well worth the 20 minutes reading time. I agree with most of the article, I am a big supporter of the small private universities that spend their budgets on student education rather than trying to get into the next Journal of Finance. If the most important task at hand was the development of students then we wouldn’t have teachers that can’t communicate their brilliant ideas with the students. That said I have not run into any bad teachers at Simon. There were only two teachers that I would rate below perfect. One was new and wasn’t able to connect with the students; and the other one … lets just say it seems as if he’s on Viagra all the time.

I question some of the theories derived in the article. James O’Toole Says in the article “When applied to business—where judgments are made with messy, incomplete data—statistical and methodological wizardry can blind rather than illuminate.” I am not sure about other schools but it is a well known fact that most of the renowned faculty members make most of their paychecks through consulting. Some have even discussed their lucrative careers in consulting in class.

“Today it is possible to find tenured professors of management who have never set foot inside a real business, except as customers.” Again I question where these teachers teach; When reading about professors like Aswat Damodaran or Frank Fabozzi, one surely can tell that not only have they done extraordinarily in the world of research but also have set their flags in the real world too.

In conclusion although I am not a big fan of judging faculty based on research it is not true that all faculty members in B-schools do is research; they are also profit maximizing individuals who consult or are partners in firms.

Operational Excellence?

2005-05-07T00:45:00.000-04:00

Simon is a great school very well recognized faculty; one thing not that well recognized about Simon is its own operations. How can a business school that teaches about how great Wal-Mart is, through numerous HBS case studies, have such bad logistics? Some issues I have encountered and do not know how to rectify are:

The parking lot for MBA students is about ¾ of a mile away from the school. This has resulted in me getting more than 200$ worth of parking tickets. You say well there is not much Simon can do about that, well hold on; there is a parking lot right behind the school which is usually half full, but is only for administration of University of Rochester. When I was working the parking lot was about 5 minutes from the main entrance of the building; and maybe its just me, but making 28 years who have an average of 5 years of work experience, park in the “KIDDY” parking lot is a bit obscure!
The main reason for this entry is what happened today. I went to the Management Library looking for a book by Fabozzi. The management library is located in the main library of the University of Rochester, and funded by Simon. The book that I wanted was on a 2 hour reserve, and I was not allowed to take the book out. This was totally understandable, then I asked if it would be possible for the book to be ordered to the Simon School Career Center Library? I got a long winded speech about how many books there are and they couldn’t make exceptions. As I looked around the Management Library I did not see one MBA student, there were a lot of students there, but all from the undergraduate, now I ask if the books are there for me and 149 of my colleagues why can I not read the book on my own time?

My conclusion of this problem is that there was probably a big grant given to the school by a notable alumnus for the library and everyone forgot what the real purpose of the library was. This has also made me think about giving to the school and how one should allocate the money it gives to non profit organizations. I would surely be proud of myself if I was ever in the position to sponsor a library for a gifted set of Business students, but if the students were not able to use the resources, wouldn’t it be better to sponsor dying children in South Africa?

Who Moved My Cheese?

2005-05-06T01:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday instead of reading Lou Gerstner’s book “Who Said Elephants can’t dance”, I read who moved my cheese and then thought of who I was in the book. I relate most to the speedy mouse, which is not a good thing. I am always ready to get up and go, up for anything and change doesn’t scare me. Does that mean I am risk neutral, and if so how is this going to play a role in the career of a portfolio manager? Well I am not a PM yet, but it is on the List of things to do! I am attending a lecture buy an alumni of Rochester University Edmund A. Hajim (UR ’58) Chairman & Chief Executive Officer a privately held firm, where the topic of discussion will be who moved my cheese. I am really curious how this is going to play out. I was probably not able to read enough between the lines, but I really want to know how this book can be so helpful to so many people.
One thing I found similar to Haw in the book is that I can laugh at myself, but I am 10000% more competitive then him. On a closing note there was a session on lean Six Sigma today about how it works and what it really is. The presenter in the lecture made a reference to the book by saying either you make things right where you are or you go somewhere else and read “Who moved my Cheese” to cheer yourself up!!!

Fixed Income

2005-04-24T22:59:00.000-04:00

Before coming to school I had very little idea about fixed income products. They seemed like a mystery to me, since I will be dealing with them over the summer I have started learning more and more about them. I can not believe how smart you have to be, to be a real player on WALL STREET. I am starting to wonder if I will be able to survive in this doggy dog world.
From the beginning of the year my main focus was getting an internship in Buy-side Equity research. No I did not think that the job was “sexy”, but rather the competitive environment and risk / reward of such a job clicked with my ambitions. I have landed an IM / Fixed Income internship, and reflecting back I am happy I am doing this, but I wonder if this is really for me? I love the people that will be in my group, but learning about some of the products gives me headaches. Well hopefully everything will turn out for the best …

nothing new

2005-04-07T02:14:00.000-04:00

nothing new has really happend since last quater.. its somewhat routine to be really really busy allthe time.. I have found a great internship which I know I will love over the summer ..

US news MBA rankings just came out and I was surprised to see my choice of school confirmed.. Rochester came at #23... I know thats not great but its better than where it Rochester was a couple of years ago.. I am hoping for us to get in top 15 within a couple of years.. but for now 23 will do..

Well good luck with your summer internship or your application decision...

Ouch

2005-01-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

last 2 week have been ugly ... I just got dinged from 2 bulge bracket I-banks 1 was right off the back and 1 I went for a super Friday... Met a couple of interesting people there... but alas nothing came out of it ... I am still waiting to hear from a boutique and a middle market bank both in NYC... I have started applying for other positions too mainly leadership programs.
I have not lost hope totally yet, I keep telling myself that if I can get to these people maybe I can actually get 1 of these jobs. Good thing is that the top candidates in my school have been offered jobs that they will most likely be taking. (Yes no more blocking)!!!
I will keep everyone posted, GOODBYE FOR NOW

School again!

2005-01-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

Oo baby Rochester is Cold… today was the 1st day of the school’s second quarter. Reflecting back I see that I am much wiser than I was 4 months ago and have a better plan for the next 3 months then I did for the provisos 4. This quarter is especially, 12 straight weeks of classes without a break. How will I survive?
I got a call telling me that I cant join my first choice employer. I had a second round interview for an internship at arguably the best bulge bracket Investment back on Friday. I was pretty hopeful but my dreams were totally crushed by the call today. I am waiting to hear back for a second round call from some other banks, but today was especially a devastating day. HOPEFULLY TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER…

Post Exams

2004-12-22T01:31:00.000-05:00

So the exams are finished, I didn’t do as well as I know I could have done, but I’m sure I will live. I have been going out for a couple of days and partying like I was still in undergrad. I have also been reading, just finished “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Not too heavy reading, I am going to start on Valuation by McKenzie. I am sure that Valuation is not going to be as fun as The Goal… Everything else is going good , gotta run talk to you guys later..

not so much of a rejection?

2004-12-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

I was at my first second round interview, after the interview I wrote a thankyou letter to the recriters that interviewed me and this is the response I got from one of them:

Dear Pablo:
You are welcome, and thank you for coming to the ###### and for your interest in ###########. It was a very positive experience.
The team will be contacting you soon with our final decision.

Best wishes in your future and career.

Regards,
#### #####

Now if this doesn't screem "WE DONT WANT YOU" I do not know what does!!! Kinda ticked off about it but it was my 1st secound round interview hopefully I will have more.. anyways I'll keep everyone posted...

I am soo darn LaZy

2004-11-26T17:17:00.000-05:00

I have done absolute 0 studying in this break and its Friday night already. I have a tendency to be lazy and slack off with studying.. Although I like the material we are doing in Accounting and Finance, I just cant get myself to read. And if you think that is bad you can just imagine how well I am doing with Econ and Stats. On a brighter side I have a two day final interview lined up for the end of the week and got 2 interviews with major investment banks set up for January (Now you know where I have been spending most of my time). I came back to the blog after almost 1 full month, but I do plan to post more in the winter break… well bye for now and hope everyone out there is doing well…
Pablo

NSHMBA Overview!

2004-10-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

I was not aware that there are so many MBA students… This place was a meet market. I did not end up going to my target companies after I burnt 2 of them. I am actually enjoying networking through alumni compared to being a # from anywhere getting 30 seconds of the recruiters time. I did get a offer to be flown to the HQ of a company that was not even on my radar. It’s a fortune 100 company and has a great LDP program. An LDP program is not what I’m looking for but it might be a better lifestyle than working in an I-Bank. I look back and see the reason of me being at B-School is being challenged. Being in Dallas sweating talking to recruiters the weekend before the midterms is definitely a nice challenge. Well I will see I’m going to crank up my internship search in the midterm break Nov 2nd to the 5th…

Businesses Week MBA Rankings!

2004-10-11T01:56:00.000-04:00

So the business week MBA rankings are out. I am truly disappointed to hear that Simon fell 2 points in the rankings… Its still Tier 1 but now there are 2 schools considered “better” than Simon.

“Two of the positive notes from the most recent Business Week rankings are the high level of satisfaction our students expressed with the quality of instruction that they receive at Simon (we earned our highest grade, an “A”, in this category) and being rated positively in terms of our intellectual capital (#18…up from #25 in 2002). We can take just pride in this recognition of our faculty’s successful business research and commitment to classroom teaching quality.” (Dean Zupman)

We got clobbered with placement assistance. All I can think is that this might just be a good thing. The Career Management Department is under a lot of heat, which means that they will try much harder for us… My search is going well I will keep you guys updated with what happens… !

CHEERS

http://www.businessweek.com/@@gru7xoUQZbX0ghMA/bschools/04/full_time_profiles/rochester.htm

GOLF

2004-10-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

Within the last week or so, I have learnt how important golf is for the world of business. I use to play for my High School team a couple of centuries back, since then I have not even touched my clubs. I just went home over the weekend and picked up my clubs. I am going with a team mate of mine to the range tomorrow to see how rusty I really am.
I feel a bit strange playing golf when I have a load of HW to do and stuff to catch up on. Work load is not that hard but juggling corporate presentation, workshops and classes, gets a bit hectic. I am attending this minority business development forum at Cornell on the 15th, which should be interesting. Everything else seems to be working out ok.

And they're off....

2004-09-29T13:26:00.000-04:00

Pre-Term is over and I it’s the 3rd day of classes, I feel like our school is so behind everyone else. Reading all the other blogs people are already preparing for midterms in the 1st Quarter and were finally getting over our first week. 1 thing that really annoys me about Simon is that the grade is curved around an average of 3.2. This is totally ridiculous, since all the other good grad school curve at 3.5, a recruiter wont know what your grading policy is… Lets say at Simon you have a 3.3 (a bit above average) and someone from another college where the curve is based around 3.5 has a 3.4.. the recruiter isn’t going to know about policies, all they know is 3.3 < 3.4.
As you guys can see were pretty concentrated on finding internships these days. I feel like I will be the only person whose not going to get 1 this year… I will be in NYC over the weekend attending a 2nd year Simon recruiting event, getting some pointers. There is NSHMBA (http://www.nshmba.org/) conference going on in Texas… I will probably attend that to… My travel expenses are going to high this year but hopefully it will pay off in the long run… Just joined LINKEDIN a couple of days ago.. It is definitely a good networking tool… if you have not joined it yet you should… if you would like email me and I will add you to my network… well let me know what everyone else is doing ..

2nd day at Simon

2004-09-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

I decided to attend career camp, which is a week long review of how to get yourself noticed, in the league of thousands of other MBAs. This has been a tiresome week… right now I am sitting alone in my apartment while my roommate and some of our newly found friends are at a local pub watching the game…
I got to Rochester Tuesday night on the 7th a long tiresome trip (ok not that tiresome 5hrs)… Classes started on the 8th… I am living on an air mattress till tomorrow… no furniture in the room, doesn’t feel like home at all… Well hopefully I will get my bed tomorrow and will get a chance to go furniture shopping over the weekend… but for now I have internet, an air mattress and my laptop ;)…
Back to Simon the people here are extremely nice… (The ones I have met are at least). People from all walks of lives… all ages… I really think this is going to be a step in the right direction… I will keep you posted .. bye for now

Making an Internet Machine.

2004-08-19T20:40:00.000-04:00

Before move forward to Rochester, I am trying to spend time with the family. I am at my parent’s house making an internet machine. Basically I took their computer (Athlon 1150) and removed everything. Installed MS XP SP2, Mcafee, Office 2003, Spybot / addaware and Kazaa Lite. This should last them for two years after which I will get bored with my p4 and give it to them. I also recently purchased a laptop R3000Z Compaq, not a bad machine if you get it around 850$ fully equipped (Thanks for Fatwallet.com).
I will be in Boston with the grandparents next week, then go and chill with my fiancé, before heading to Rochester on Friday Sept 3rd.

UPDATE

2004-08-11T01:30:00.000-04:00

Well I haven’t posted for a while so I figured might as well update the diary. I have gotten a place to live in Rochester; I went with an apartment in a residential area instead of the trendy "Park Ave" area. I am moving September 1st. In the meantime I am currently reading 2 books "The Art of War" (the history part is getting a bit boring) and "Armchair Economist" (Actually quite interesting).

Paying attention???

2004-07-21T02:05:00.000-04:00

So I refuse to pay attention to the fact that I just got stabbed in the back by corporate America again… I have started studying for the CFA exam. I borrowed the Video CDs from a friend who took the exam June 5th and hopefully passed. I think that sitting for the exam in December might a bit too much but I am definitely aiming to go in fully loaded next June. I am planning on going over the whole course (comprehensively) within the next 4-6 weeks and then revising it as I get time. I know that CFA is not for everyone but I figured a little learning won’t kill me… and I am also in the process of doing pre-term work for Simon…

Well off to bed for the night…

To collect or not to collect

2004-07-20T00:11:00.000-04:00

I have 2 months until school starts officially, after researching the technicalities I found out that I am eligible to collect unemployment until then. Now this is where my dilemma starts, would it harm my future career in any way at all if I collect unemployment. From what I hear employers do extensive background checks, when one gets to the executive level and unemployment can be considered a red flag. Does anyone else have any experience with this subject? I think of it this way “IT'S MY OWN MONEY” that I will be getting back… but I am a bit worried about future employment options. HELP!!!!!

Given the AXE

2004-07-19T02:14:00.000-04:00

After 2 years of dedicated work and moving up 2 spots within that time period I was given the axe. Four weeks ago my VP started interviewing people and two weeks ago I was given a notice that I will no longer be employed by company XYZ after July 16th 2004. Two months ago at this time I was filling in for two heavy traffic positions, and now I have even lost mine. I was expecting to leave August 22nd and was told that they found the perfect candidate for the position a bit earlier. So the last week has been spent on training someone with 10 more years of experience, and a salary almost the double of mine (NO JOKE), with procedures and reports that I had designed and launched.
This weekend I spent relaxing and watching my favorite movies: Scarface, Wall Street and all Godfather 1, 2 & 3. I will be posting a lot more from now on, so come back soon.

C.M.B.A. examination

2004-07-06T20:05:00.000-04:00

Hey!
Just got an email from someone about a new certification that might be out soon called the CMBA certification. I dont think it will catch much steam anytime soon but just wanted to share it with you guys... leme know what u guys think of the exam

Link to article in Career Journal

Nothing Really

2004-06-30T03:15:00.000-04:00

I have decided to start tacking other issues besides Stats and Accounting. I am meeting up with a friend who has recently take the part 1 of the CFA exam to discuss / establish a strategy to tackle that monster of an exam. The weekend was nice and smooth, I don't know how many more of these weekends I will have since college is getting closer, but I plan to enjoy them to the fullest.

Status Update

2004-06-22T09:01:00.000-04:00

Lets see nothing really has happened in the last couple of days, I traveled a bit over last weekend with a trip to Washington DC, and will be going up to Boston in the upcoming week. I have noticed that everyone around me has decided to either get married or engaged (obviously following in my steps). I have 2 weddings and 2 engagement receptions coming up before September, not to mention the one I attended last weekend. Not that I am cheap, but these functions (Bachelor party / Travel / Hotel / Gifts / Celebrating afterwards) can get a bit expensive. I had figured on leaving my job in the beginning of August but I guess I will be staying here for 2 more weeks …

On a brighter note, my stat studies are done, and I feel like I am up to date with the Standard Deviations and variance schooling. Now onto Accounting and than a bit of Economics.. WHOPIEEE CAN’T WAIT... :)

Less Success Than Meets the Eye

2004-06-14T10:39:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning…. What can I say back to work … the same thing on everyone’s mind .. what are we having for lunch… This weekend was rather eventless. Nothing really went down except I had the chance to go out with friends. This Saturday me and a pair of my college buddies that I still hang out with, went to the old college bars. This time of the year the college students usually go home and the bars are comparatively empty. We decided to go to this indoor outdoor bar/restaurant on Saturday night.
When we were there one thing that we kept talking about is how its soo different now then 3 years ago when we were still in college. I turned 21, 3 years ago and now that time feels like long long ago… I was always the youngest one in my peer group and since I relate to mostly older people, maybe that is the reason I feel older. Well I ran into an old college friend of mine at the bars who is actually pursuing a graduate program in public health. She asked me my motivation behind pursuing an MBA and I started talking about fast tracking / changing careers (well not totally, but somewhat). She pointed towards studies made by someone at Stanford about the diminishing worth of an MBA. I knew that was talking about Jeffrey Pfeffer who wrote (with Christina Fong, who now teaches at the University of Washington) a scholarly paper called "The End of Business Schools? Less Success Than Meets the Eye”. The Article can be found here
I am one who believes in the power of education. My best friend didn’t finish college and went into his family business. If that is what suited him, then that is great. I am different, I like challenging my mind academically. Another point that I thought was really true was that graduate school is also a way to redeem ourselves. All of us were great students in H.S., got into a decently competitive college and than performed worse than we could imagine. Now heading back to college.. its is payback time..

Back to the Baics

2004-06-07T11:47:00.000-04:00

In undergrad college I use to deal with stress by pumping iron. When I was pushing the weights, there was no other worry, then being able to do 2 more reps. This weekend I joined a local gym.. and went to work out. This was an inspiring experience within itself. I can’t believe that I was not able to lift ½ as much as I used to in college. This got me thinking what if I’m this rusty at everything including studying. I have not done much text studying for a couple of years and this is one of my main concerns going into college. I got a couple of accounting / stat books and will start catching up this week. As for now I am at work… its time to get back to work, and YES I am going to the gym after work…

Typologies

2004-06-03T13:22:00.000-04:00

I read on yogi’s and mark’s blogs about the myers-briggs personality assessment. I figured if Harvard is sending these to their accepted students then there must be something to it, hence I ended up taking on of them online . One thing I noticed that the assessment didn’t have much negative about my ENTJ profile. I thought that I could relate to the evaluation, I am good at leading, but am not an inventor. The first line on the profile caught my eyes.

"I don't care to sit by the window on an airplane. If I can't control it, why look?"

So me and AL Gore have the same type of personalities.. INTERSTING … well this was just based on 73 questions. My X asked a billion questions a day and was still not able to figure me out… well if you want to read about my personality according to the Jung Typology test Click here…

3 months left..

2004-06-02T11:58:00.000-04:00

Today work is finally not as hectic as it has been for the last couple of days. I had taken a couple of days off to enjoy myself but they are over. I am back to work and waiting patiently for these 2 – 3 months to go by. I am figuring that I will be going to Rochester in August to look for apartments. I am also debating over taking my old stuff with me, or just buying new things. Obviously moving costs play a big role in this decision. As an engagement present I was offered by an aunt that she will buy me a laptop, and my grandmother offered to pickup ½ of my 1st semester’s TAB. I declined the offer and now she purposed to buy me new furniture for my new apartment. Again I feel that it would be wrong on my part to go all out with the furniture and am figuring on buying the basics.
I sent in my vaccination and financial aid paperwork 2 weeks ago, called and made sure that everything is good. So that is also taken care of. I did gain 8 lbs in the last month or so, so I will be going to the gym more than I anticipated this summer. Everything else looks like its in place. I am actually looking forward to going to a place like Rochester where the general local population is usually nicer than the one we interact with here in the tri-state area.

New Agenda

1) Get the stats and Accounting skills upto par
2) Loose Weight
3) Start on creating a network
4) More research on CFA Careers
5) Fun

Is the MBA responsible???

2004-05-25T08:48:00.000-04:00

The ceremony went according to plan, all the people that were expected showed up, the atmosphere was nice and light, and the food was amazing. I am officially engaged now (sorry ladies).
While driving to work today, I started thinking about blogger. I have started exploring other blogger sites for raw honest opinions. Since most of the time, people do not reveal their names or have nicks that are anyone’s guess they can honestly talk about their personal area of expertise. Obviously one of the areas I was exploring was “OUTSOURCING”. I found a whole string of blogs (mostly Indian) that were pro outsourcing. Most of them made arguments for free trade etc etc.
One thing that came to my mind is that the American MBA has a lot to do with outsourcing. Correct me if I am wrong but most top schools pride their program attraction of international students. These students come to the states for a better career, life etc etc. Unless you are going to Norte Dame or a highly ethical MBA you will mostly learn how to maximize profits. There you have it the most deadly recipe, people with knowledge of foreign way of life, and a top-notch education.
Being the son of an immigrant, I understand how great it is to have equal opportunity, but does America have the rescores to provide it to the world? Obviously, the answer is NO, at least with us spending these loads of cash on Iraq war. I don’t know the answers all I know is I am steering clear of it …….

Any Commotions yet?

2004-05-16T13:49:00.000-04:00

It is Sunday, I am feeling the pressure for the engagement ceremony next week. I have decided to take care of the music myself. As a former member of the DJ / Promoter scene, I have called in a favor for the equipment and the DJ. I am mixing the tunes myself and telling the DJ to play premixed CDS (Cool Edit) as I don’t want just anything playing out of the turns crate. This mixing thing is consuming a lot of time since I have not done it for a while, and never really tried it on the computer.
Well that is what I have been spending most of my time on, as for school I have confirmed that my financial aid documentation have been cleared and have mailed in the vaccination information. The only main things left on the to-do list are:

1) Engagement Reception Preparation (1 more week)
2) Career Decision (stay same or change?) (School)
3) Fun???

And the days go on...

2004-05-11T12:20:00.001-04:00

Update: The financial Aid documentation are out of the way, I am sending in my medical records (Vaccination history) in, next week. So the easy stuff is done, now I have to decide my future goals and backup plans. I am set on the research analyst position, as the main concentration. Now I have to decide what my backup plan is going to be.
CFA: After a little research I found out that a friend of mine is actually taking the CFA part 1, on June 4th. I will be borrowing all his study resources after that and maybe have a sit down session with him to see what the CFA is all about. I am figuring that even if I do not end up taking the exam the study material can only help me. Maybe get my mind in study mode again. I did find a rather negative string on BW forum about the CFA and wasting time studying for it. What I found interesting about the string was that all the authors were CFAs themselves. An attempt to keep the all boys club exclusive or actual sound advise? I will post a link as soon as I find the string.

Gmail accounts @ Blogger??

2004-05-06T14:37:00.000-04:00

I was thinking that I should sign up for an email address for this Blog at one of the traditional email sites. I read somewhere in the past couple of days that Gmail was offering beta accounts for Blogger users (1 Gig Accounts). Well I just wasted a good 20 minutes trying to find out how in the world do I create a Gmail account. It seems as if you can only get the account by an invite process. Well someone out there with the power to invite, invite me :).
The only thing on my “TO DO LIST” that seems to be going anywhere is the Fun portion. Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo (May 5th), hence with my plans to have a blast before the engagement (May 22nd), how could I have not gone out. The only bad part of the whole thing was getting up this morning.
One last thing, Does anyone actually read this except myself, and “D” if so some feedback would be helpful. Thanks

Career Objectives

2004-05-05T13:44:00.000-04:00

Research Analyst:
I have been pondering the question “What I want to be” and I think I might have the answer. I am concentrating on a career as a research Analyst at an independent investment advisory firm, with an interest in the Tech, broadcast and telecommunications sectors. I am flirting with this option after researching the backgrounds of several successful Analysts in this field. While conducting my research, one thing that I came across was the designation of CFA. I know that CFA is a very hot these days, but never got around to really understanding what the CFA title commands. If you want to read more about the CFA program TRY HERE . I am going to look more into the situation later on and see if this really fits my career goals. Got to get back to work.. ahhhhhhhhhh

Random thoughts

2004-05-03T14:32:00.000-04:00

I have been reading a couple of Blogs, and what I just realized is that people with the same credentials as me are going to top 5 schools. How in the world did NYU not accept me? Was I playing it too safe when I applied to B-schools? Well the game plan right now is getting my Stats proficiency level up to par, and making sure that I have FUN this summer, before I move to school. Last week I went out 3 times, I have not done that since the college days. Well that was a 1-time thing; I doubt it will be happening again anytime soon. I just got engaged and the official engagement reception is on the 22nd of May, soo there is a always loads of work to do. I have been preoccupied with the reception, and have not been able to do much of anything.
Enough of my personal life, the deadline to decide my post B-school career is arriving fast, JUNE (exactly what I would be doing after graduation). This is starting to worry me. The checklist for the next couple of days is:
1) Engagement Reception Preparation
2) Financial Aid documentation (School)
3) Vaccinations Documentation (School)
4) Career Decision (stay same or change?) (School)
5) Fun???
Work is extremely slow; The VP started interviewing for a new assistant controller at my job, just saw a bunch of resumes. Hopefully I wont get laid off before July, getting that ring really hit me where it hurts.

OUTSOURCING!

2004-04-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

Today I will talk a little about the new age epidemic, outsourcing; and I will be summing up my work background. I guess I am writing this weblog to motivate myself. I am thinking of writing an article about the importance of a clear mind / game plan before entering your program, be it Harvard or Howard. I am going through a yearly audit at work, and the auditors are turning each leaf trying to find something. Thank goodness, it will be over by the end of the week. Maybe on Saturday I’ll throw something together for the MBA Advice Blog. For now some thoughts on my Past Present Future:

Original Plan: I switched into accounting because all the offers I was getting after losing my position as a Migration consultant, were of a junior programmer status. The plan was to get some accounting / Finance exposure, get an MBA, and get back into IT consulting as a project manager (WOW FOOL PROOF HUH!). I was planning on working at either IBM or Accenture (what’s going to happen after the Atlanta project finishes?) for a couple of years, and then starting my own firm. Well last couple of months have been a shocker. Although the market has picked up dramatically and there were some 308,000 jobs added to the economy in April ’04, I am very cautious about going back towards IT.
Outsourcing is bound to happen; America has a surplus in the service area (Export > Import) and if we say that we do not want our work going to India or china, tomorrow Italy or Spain will stop buying services from us.
I still believe there are some jobs that cannot be outsourced at any cost, which company will want their security being run out of India? Security, support, and management positions are always going to stay in America. But will getting back into the IT world be throwing myself into cut through competition, where the risks (getting laid off) is far greater than the rewards (compensation). I could get into security management, but my resume will be compared to a Unix guru with 10 years of experience who is going from 250K to a 100K. In such a situation what are my realistic chances? The chances of a salary increase? The chances of a promotion? Is there a real future for me in this field.

Backup Plan: Although I would hate to admit it, but the situation at hand, does not permit me to rejoin the IT world. I am currently working as an Assistant Controller and am dissatisfied with the job. The good thing that I have gotten out of the last two years is basics about how a business runs. What gets on the balance sheet and why something is put on an income statement. Now I do not greatly enjoy accounting, but I am thinking on the lines of banking, Equity research, I-Banking, M&A or something along those lines. Another option would be getting back in consulting, but going from IT into general. I understand that I am not going to HBS or Wharton and getting into those professions will be hard. Now what are the realistic chances of this happening?
I have given myself a deadline of deciding by mid July. I will start to network, in the chosen field, before actually going to college.

The Acceptances

2004-04-27T17:26:00.000-04:00

Since I started my Blog rather late in the process, today I will discuss the colleges I applied to and how I arrived at my final decision.

NYU (Stern): I worked day and night, got my essays ready, and applied in R1. I got an email back mid Feb that I was not accepted. I guess that could also be a good thing since I live 30 minutes from NYC, now I get to go and explore new corners of the east cost. I plan on calling the admissions department in mid August to check what was lacking in my application. I am not bitter toward NYU, I understand that Stern has high standards and maybe I was not the perfect fit.

U of Rochester (Simon): This is the college, where I will be spending the next 2 years. A private school with about 200 FT MBA students divided in large groups (co-hearts) and sub divided into groups of 5 students. I had my interview with Simon in January with Rebekah (a lovely lady) at the Simon NYC weekend (a big recruiting event). This was the first time the new Dean Mark Zupman was in NYC, so there was a big Alumni turnout. The Alumnus I talked to had nothing but praise for the program, which was very encouraging.
When I got accepted to the program I received a call from Dean Zupman himself congratulating me on my acceptance. I also received a decent financial package from the college. I went to the accepted student welcoming weekend at Rochester and this is when I realized that Rochester would be perfect. The cost of living is low in Rochester. The only downside to the place was, Rochester is not a party city. THIS IS AN UPSIDE FOR ME. I mailed in my security deposit check in mid May and now I will be officially joining Simon in FALL of this year.

U.S.C (Marshall): I had my interview with U.S.C in N.Y.C; I read somewhere that around the range of 80% of the students interviewed, are accepted to the program. Hence, when I got the interview call I was happy about the situation. I thought to myself “even I can’t mess this one up”. Well the interviewer was originally from NJ and a nice lady. Although she was a bit conceited about USC, as I recall her, telling me “Well we are USC”. I am thinking well I want to go to NYU.
USC is a good school, the only reason I did not end up going there was because I did not receive any scholarships from them. I also did not want to live in LA, I have had an exhaustive social life for the past few years, and now I want to get on track by really concentrating on my future. The cost of living is also very high in LA. NYU was my premier choice but I gave USC preference over Maryland because it was a private school and I had had enough of public Universities.

Maryland (Smith): After Simon (Rochester) I think admissions people at Maryland were the nicest of the bunch. I was treated with respect (unlike Georgetown), and the students actually seemed like they were happy with the program. I took the tour with the ViBe program and everything worked out very well. The only bad thing is, this is again a state university, and the state of Maryland is not doing that well last I herd. I had concerns about the funding being cut for Maryland U as a whole and then that having an effect of Smith?

GEORGETOWN (McDonough): YUCK! Is the only word that comes to mind when I think of my experience with this prestigious university. I went for an early interview in the beginning of November, where a student interviewed me. Now I do not know why these colleges do this but I am against student interviewing. Right of the back I was told that she was having a “hectic” day. The decision was about 3 weeks late, I was put on hold for half an hour once, and the admissions department was cold. I had gotten 2 acceptances before I got the rejection letter and laughed when I got the email. I emailed back inquiring about the reason and have not herd from them so far (4 months running). This was the worst $125 I have ever spent.

Rice (Jones): I had a pleasant experience with Rice U. as well. Everything went according to plan. I applied got a phone interview call within 2 days; the interview was this nice international student from Africa. I am against student interviews, how can a student substitute someone from the admissions committee with years of experience? It also feels as if I am not worth the attention of an admissions committee member.
I chose to apply to rice as my second Tier school, although I have never been there, I hear the place is nice and when I was applying (December weather in NJ) going to Houston made a lot of sense. I was offered a decent package from Rice nothing ravishing. Rice is somewhat my type of a school, the program is rather small, and everyone I talked to said that you would get more than enough attention from the faculty and staff members. I would definitely recommend the college.

Rutgers: This is a great University; the admission process was rather painless. I was not required to go to any interviews. I went to an open house and met Ms Rita Gallen (Dean of Admissions) on the New Brunswick campus. Ms Gallen was very helpful and I am very thankful for all the guidance that she gave me. I applied to the college in December of 2003 and got my acceptance letter mid Feb ’04. I was rather disappointed, as the letter did not accompany any scholarship letters.
Although I did not go to Rutgers B-school myself, I am a strong supporter of the college and believe that the only other local college that is able to compete with Rutgers B-School is Fordham (great alumni network). Rutgers is better than Seaton Hall, NJIT, Fairleigh Dickinson, Drexel, and most other non-recognized programs available in NJ, NYC, or PA. (Obviously, schools like Columbia, Wharton, and NYU do not fall in this mix).

GMAT

2004-04-26T21:39:00.000-04:00

I took a class at PR, and studied for about 3 weeks and got a 720 on the GMATS.

History

2004-04-26T21:18:00.001-04:00

I graduated from College May ’01 with a degree in Computer Science. I had landed great internships and was on my way to the top of the world. After graduating I landed a job with a small consulting firm and started on my “destined route”. After a year of working at 2 major assignments the company lost most of its clients and I was out of a job.
After looking around for a while, I wanted to switch careers and looked for help towards a CPA friend of mine. My friend suggested brushing up on my accounting skills and getting in that field. In January of 2003 I landed a cost accountant position at a manufacturing plant and am currently working as an assistant controller.