Knock Knock

This has been a long long pause in my posting, but that really means that there has been lots and lots going on my end.

First, I am done with two more courses- Finance and Operations - and boy I am relieved. Both the courses were interesting although this was a gruelling term with lots of homework, cases and tests. I almost feel like taking a vacation but the new set of classes next weekend. This time it will be Macroeconomics and Leadership Communications.

Next week, we start our elective selection process for the summer session. The MBA program office recently held a really informative session outlining how to align electives with career objectives. I have seen a couple of interesting courses and definitely would like to sign up. By taking some additional courses this summer, I would be definitely in position to graduate in 2.5 years - by 2008.

In spite of the busy semester, I went to the Haas Alumni Event at the Menlo Circus Club. It was an absolutely wonderful experience. While I found that my networking abilities needed a double shot of espresso to "kick it up a notch", most people I met were incredible. The networking event once again provided me some ideas about my future career and get some first hand information from people in the industry.

Let me finish this posting by saying, Best of Luck to all Round 1 applicants to the EWMBA program. It was about a year back when I was anxiously waiting and I cannot believe how time has really flown by.

A transformation experience

Another round of midterms are over and in a matter of few weeks two more courses will be done. When I was applying last year, most students would say that the MBA is a transformational experience. I quite did not know what to make of it a year back. As I am going through the first year, I do think that one goes through a transformational experience.

As I am going through the marketing classes, I am developing the real problem where I keep looking for "superior perceived value" in almost everything I buy. Every time I am at Target or Safeway, I pick up products and think, which market segment do I belong in, what differentiates this product from a competitor and why am I choosing it. It is turning out to quite a "transformational" experience because now I keep spending more time looking at things in the store. This is not exactly the best outcome, but on a more serious note, I feel that I am looking at seemingly ordinary things with a different set of eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone !!

What am I Learning...

Discussions are a big part of any MBA class. The professors try to get a good discussion going and of course the students follow - there are participation points at hand right!! Interestingly though, a lot of times as I am listening to the comments, a thought goes through my head - This is just common sense.

So why am I sitting in the class and spending my time, if this is all common sense.

The thing is, while a lot of material may look like common sense, I have come to realize that the courses provide a very good framework to think through the problems and apply "common sense" in the right places. Apart from arriving at logical conclusions, the frameworks also provide a good stopping point preventing "analysis paralysis". Nevertheless, I now tremendously appreciate frameworks and models.

In other MBA news, the Israel trip is shaping up gradually. An elective survey was sent out recently and that got me seriously thinking about electives. The problem is that all of them seem interesting but a choice has to be made at some time. The good news is that I still have some time left to make these choices.

10% MBA

Just finished the Finals for MircoEconomics and Organizational Behaviour. Phew!! this was something. I did enjoy both of my professors and enjoyed the classes also. The next two classes will be Accounting and Marketing and they start next weekend. I truly wish there was one full weekend - I am starting to miss my Saturdays. On the other hand, I am done with 4 credits, that's almost 10% of the 42 credits needed for the MBA.


Time to relax.....

Off to Israel

Last year, I was visiting Stanford, and one of the students mentioned about study trips. They were planning trips to a variety of places including one to Israel. I was really excited about this part and even mentioned this is my essay. This year Haas students are organizing study trips (in addition to things like the International Business Development and International Business Seminar that are offered as regular courses). I applied for the Study trip to Israel and I got the notification that I would be going. I am really excited about this. First, this will happen during the Christmas break so I will not have to take too many additional days off for this trip. Second, I have been curious about Israel in general and the fact that we will be meeting with a variety of leaders both in politics and business makes it an exciting choice. More on this in an upcoming post.

This was the high part so far, but between midterms and impending finals, I have been desperately trying to juggle work and school. Social life is more or less gone, but I am enjoying what I am learning - so I keep telling myself, this is all for the greater good. Next week, I plan to attend this workshop on case interviews. Although I am not looking for a job immediately, but I think it will be a useful workshop for later.

Time to go back to work...

Podcast away the writers block

Last year, right about this time, I was sweating bullets. I was truly having a hard time with my essays. A part of the challenge was the process of adequately defining career goals in the essays. Jeremy Dann writes in the Stacy Blackman blog about a similar issue around how to define the learning agenda in the business goals. Although, in general, I had a decent idea about what I wanted to do, I was sorely lacking in the specifics. I did some informational interviews with people in my company and I also actively looked at job postings that appealed to me. The combination of the two helped me get a better handle on specifics. Of late, I have been subscribing to a bunch of podcasts. This is a resource that I did not use myself, but I definitely feel the podcasts may get the little "brain gears" in motion necessary to get over the writers block.

Here is the short list of podcasts:

• Knowledge@ Wharton
• HBS Ideacast
• Business Week - The Welch way
• CEO on the go
• McKinsey on Finance

Happy writing!!

Midterms and Career Tests

Its that time of the year for me when the midterms comes knocking at my door. The Organizational Behavior midterm is next week and the Microeconomics midterm is the week after that. I tried to prepare a bit for the midterm but it seems like most of the work is still left. I have to get back into a study groove and get some of this taken care of.

I had been waiting for a while to take my career assessment tests offered by the Haas career services but after reading Axechick's post I got myself moving. There are three tests geared to measure interests, motivations and abilities. The result is an interesting report that lists the potential matches with different career paths. I plan to print up this very detailed report, go through it, and make an appointment with a career advisor. I also spent some time watching the career management streaming video recordings. Tersely put, they were insightful.

Now, I have to get back to some serious studying for my midterms. Wish me luck !!