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FROM uwengdori - Current Student: BDC – Portfolio Workshop |
I attended a portfolio workshop hosted by Business Design club today. Competing against thousands of MBA students with the entire world, you need more than your resume and coverletter to express yourself, and that’s where protfolios come in especially if you’re into design consulting. I do have a portfolio, but wasn’t that high quality, and luckily I managed to get some nice feedback that I can use to fix my portfolio. I hope to end my blog post with a photo of Toronto. |
FROM gamalhot: I have learnt…. |
Here is a list of some of the things I have experienced and learnt in life. It is not that I won’t make similar mistakes again in life, but going over this list again and again makes me more self-aware and keeps pushing me forward on the path of self-realization. I would strongly suggest that everyone should take some time out, reflect on your life and come up with a similar list. You will be amazed how much fun it is to walk down your memory lane. I have learnt…..Mother is the greatest gift from God. The only time she smiles when you cry is the day you were born. (Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam) I have learnt…. Having an elder brother and younger sister is priceless in life. You grow up transforming into a leader who has the perfect balance of being competitive, aggressive, gentle and caring. I have learnt….. Best friends don’t always form the best business partners. Friendship cannot substitute professionalism and meritocracy. I have learnt…… If you think your life is useless or you have nothing worthwhile to do, go and spend a day with a person who is about to die. You will realize how many unfulfilled dreams you still have to achieve. I have learnt…… Everyone says that they respect an honest opinion or feedback, but very few can actually digest it. I have learnt….. Mood is like a two-edged sword. It can either propel you with supersonic speed towards your goal or put you in a never ending downward spiral. Usually it’s the latter. I have learnt…… Words are the biggest weapons we possess. They should always be soft and tender. You don’t know when you might have to eat them. I have learnt…..Ignorance is bliss and it is better to under-think than over-think a problem. I have learnt…… Give a person complete authority with no accountability, and he/she will reveal his/her true character. I have learnt….. No one is perfect until you fall in love with them. I have learnt…… Sitting with parents and listening to stories of their struggles has taught me some of the biggest lessons in life that no educational degree has provided me so far. I have learnt…..While mentoring someone always be patient and have a smile on your face. It can do wonders to their confidence. I have learnt…..If you think you are wise and educated, sit with a kid and see for how long you can survive answering his/her questions of curiosity. I have learnt…..Everyone is in a hurry to reach the top of the mountain, but life and happiness is all in the journey. Mountaineers spend years training in pursuit of conquering Everest, but when they reach the top they stay there for hardly 10 minutes. I have learnt…..This world is a temporary abode. There is nothing in here that is worth our tears. I have learnt…..If a baby can sleep peacefully on your shoulder that means you are at peace with yourself. I have learnt…… Life will never give you a test that you are incapable of winning. I have learnt…..Not time, but inner peace and love heals all wounds. Time just helps you to temporarily forget them. I have learnt…..If you yourself cannot be proud of your own achievements, no one will respect you. I have learnt… When someone comes to me and says, “Thanks for your help”, it makes my day. I have learnt…..To let go of bitterness or resentment is tough, but if you can do it, you have won one of the biggest battles of your life. I have learnt…..When you are in love, it shows. If you have to put effort, then it is not worth it. I have learnt….. Sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand. (Andy Rooney) Please let me know if you found this article interesting. If you have any success stories or amazing experiences to share, please do so in comment box below. Thanks!! |
From the video blog of Andiamo - INTERVIEW TIPS FROM CURRENT STANFORD GSB STUDENTS
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Empathy & Need Finding Workshop by Rotman DesignWorks |
On October 30, I had a chance to attend empathy & need finding workshop hosted by Rotman DesignWorks. Empathy is the first gear of the 3 gears of Business Design, which is to understand users and identify needs. https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/EducationCentres/DesignWorks/AboutBD.aspx We talked about applying for financing MBA, which was an interesting topic. Here are the surprising takeaways: 1. Finding negative/positive needs 2. Connecting loans with emotions 3. Find commonalities and difference between people 4. simple framework to understand experience 5. Practicing develop skills 6. Needs help you frame the problem 7. Observation can inspire 1000 thoughts. |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: REVCA Hackathon |
Oct 31-Nov.2, 2014 I had a chance to go to Rotman Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club’s Hackathon event. Initially, I felt very hesitant as I had so much homework and group work to do, but in the end, I decided to go for it with my classmate. you would be surprised how much work can be accomplished in such a short amount of time, and you will wonder why it is called ‘hackathon.’ https://joshatrotman.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/2014-11-02-22-44-23.jpg Congratulations on the winning team! 11:30PM. Scene of the Fleck Atrium where winners were announced. It’s so quiet when no one is here. Unfortunately, I walked away with nothing. I felt tired after statistics homework. What did I learn…well, I realized I’ve been a fool. I need to learn more and wherever you go, there will certainly be someone better than you regardless of your major or work experience. I have so much to learn. While extremely tiring and focus-required, I had such a great learning session. |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Bridgeable – Bridging the Gap Workshop |
November 5, 2014 Hosted by Rotman DesignWorks and Bridgeable (https://bridgeable.com/), a reputable design firm in Toronto, I had a chance to attend their workshop. (At this point, you might have realized that I basically am attending every single Business Design workshops.) As soon as the session started, we were assigned a very overwhelming task, to collaboratively draw a spaceship. Please do not ask why it looks this way … It was interesting to see how everyone differently perceives what they see and how ideas are formed in such a short amount of time. Then, we had a chance to show our idea as a 2 minute skit, which was very fun and entertaining. What I thought at this point is that assuming I’m a typical MBA student, what I can think of is something which others would be able to think of as well. While there wasn’t enough time to make differences (just making excuses now) How can I differentiate myself? https://joshatrotman.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/win_20141104_200709.jpg |
FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: Applying for Cambridge MBA |
I’m well and truly back on the horse. I’m officially applying for the Cambridge MBA. Application process Upside applying this time round is soooo much easier. No GMAT to take, no trying to figure out what my offer is. I done all the hard work last year. Which means I should be able to put together a decent application in a month which also allows me to apply for scholarships. Wow! I’ve got off to a good start by lining up my references and, and my amazing team of essay checkers. I’ve even written first drafts of both my essays. Admittedly the personal statement needs a radical rewrite but at least it’s words on the paper. Insider view There just one bit I’m struggling with and that getting an insiders views of Cambridge MBA. Thankfully, LinkedIn come in handy and someone from my wider network was willing to chat. Even six weeks into the course and he was still chirpy and happy about the experience. His one piece of advice for the application make every word count in the essays. It would be great to get another view or two about reality of studying at Cambridge for the MBA. Anyone know of someone who studied at Cambridge for their MBA who would be willing to talk about their experience? It’s Cambridge One really scary aspect about applying to Judge business school, is that I’m applying for Cambridge. I’ve loved Cambridge ever since I visited it when I was eight. Every so often I suffer from a massive inferiority complex and self doubt. But I have to remind myself, I got an interview from Duke. I’m OK, I’m not going to get laughed at. But I suspect I will have a couple of swings before the application is over. Cambridge Colleges One of the fun things about applying for Cambridge is choosing a college. This is my short list:
Which one college should I choose? |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Term 1 Midterm season |
Here it came again. The midterm season. I already finished strategy midterm yesterday and now I am preparing for my weakest subject: finance. I admire those who are good at finance as I am taking very long time to understand all one by one. I noticed Metallica (Blizzcon2014) and finance go quite well for concentration (believe it or not). |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: In Flanders Field |
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks still bravely singing fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead: Short days ago, We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved: and now we lie In Flanders fields! Take up our quarrel with the foe To you, from failing hands, we throw The torch: be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields |
FROM Reaching the Thirties: The Duke MBA, Best 2014 Business School |
Is a happy day for the Duke MBA. Businessweek‘s full-time MBA ranking was released today, and Fuqua is #1!! Businessweek classifies schools using the following three criteria: how company recruiters rate MBA students in each school (45%), how graduating MBA students rate their own school (45%), and the research performed by the school’s faculty (10%). This is one of … Continue reading → |
FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua): Informational Interview Sample Questions |
Informational interviews are the basic building blocks of career development. It allows you to quickly gain insights from people who have the jobs that you may (or may not) want. During the internship, it is essential to have as many informational interviews with people in the organization as possible. Not only can you learn the culture, but it also allows you to learn how career development happens and also gains you exposure in the company. Informational interviews are also something MBA students do on a routine basis during the program, to learn more about the various career opportunities. Continue reading » |
FROM Reaching the Thirties: Winter is Coming to Duke |
Undoubtedly, Durham is an amazing and beautiful place. Just this morning I took a picture at one of the paths that take you from the parking lot to school. You could see that winter is coming to Duke! Trees have a wide variety of colors including different shades of red, yellow, brown, pink, and green. And Duke … Continue reading → |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Understanding and accepting failures |
Today, I participated in the Business Technology Group competition sponsored by Microsoft. With a case released just two days ago, our group was under intense time schedule to complete the analysis on top of quizzes, and assignments along with us. I also had to skip on the semi-formal held by Rotman which I heard was extremely fun. Getting to the point, unfortunately, we couldn’t advance to the finalist round. I was disappointed at first as I thought I had given my best shot. However, after watching the four finalist teams’ presentations, I had accepted that they were better and various observations could be made. 1. Information supported with data The points were delivered with the data that backed them up. 2. Easy to follow along The points were organized in a way that both data and the points were presented in harmony. 3. Clear strategic framework Step-by-step, presentations were clearly presented and could be followed along starting from market synopsis, problem statement, proofs and forecasts. While we all try to play our best game according to the game theory, the first step to improving yourself as a better person is to accept that your method didn’t work, and try to absorb and learn from others and what could have been done different, what could I have done that others could not do. Then such observations should be re-experimented with an improvised method. One of my favorite manga (comics) of all-time is Slamdunk, a story about a teenager going through the self-development and learn more about his potential through basketball. After a basketball game which he accidentally makes a mistake that resulted a loss of the team game, he was devastated. Then, one of his team players, who is a basketball elite, approaches him and says the following in an arrogant, but undeniable way: ” You think too highly of you that your mistakes mattered a lot. However, You did way better than what we all expected. The possibility of you making mistakes was already accounted for.” Speaking in terms of regression to the mean, there could be ups and downs that come into teamwork including possible great work, or a mistake that influences the outcome of a team. but ultimately, it all comes down to trusting each other and playing the best game with the limited amount of resources we all have. Even luck, positiveness, and downsides are parts of the mean average of a team’s total strength. Stay humble. Stay consistent. Stay positive. Continue learning. Never stop experimenting and be grateful for what others teach and do for you. Throughout the presentations by finalists, I was both in a state of discomfort and ambition. Accepting your failure or mistake is a very difficult task, and we sometimes avoid it, pretending it never happened. However, I kept murmuring myself, ‘stay humble. stay modest.’ I was at a place filled with great individuals from various places and I had to face that I must learn from what successful individuals did. It’s just like eating a vegi I hate. I sometimes maybe have wanted to look away, but I must face the outcome, accept, stay strong, and excitedly try to enjoy the learning process. and I can say I’ve learned a lot. |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Finance and Rotman scholars |
Nope. I never learned finance ever in my life until I came to Rotman. This is why I got really frustrated when this term started because I was certain I was reading English and listening to English, but still didn’t understand what it meant. You know how when you are reading the same textbook lines over and over without realizing that you are not really absorbing. After the midterm exam was over, I decided to do something which I haven’t done before: visit a teaching assistant. To be more specific, they are called Rotman scholars, 2nd year Rotman students who are experts in the subject. Of course you might think, “meh I can study on my own.” Believe me. even listening to them for 10minutes clarify so much stuff that you didn’t know before. I was having trouble with hedging and stock cashflows and after scholar session, I was cleared…well at least I have to practice again, but now I understood. There is tons of resources available at Rotman. You just have to approach it first. |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Scotiabank Credit Committee Simulation and Networking Event 2014 |
Today, 1st year Rotman students had a great simulation event hosted by Scotiabank, one of Canada’s best and largest banks. Attended by entire Rotman 1st year students, the goal of an exercise was to come up with a suggestion based on a given scenario. Initially, I was very overwhelmed because I am basically taking my first baby steps with accounting this term, and they were giving us cases, so I thought it was going to be a very difficult and stressful session. On the contrary, the event was, I have to say, very enjoyable. The case did not just involve numbers, but was built based on scenarios and stories that we could read and understand from using five Cs of credit. This reminded me of strategy classes: assessing competitors, suppliers, threats, etc. This allowed non-accountants such as myself to become more engaged and actually participate in decision making process. Moreover, the event was very adequately timed in a way that it’s not too long or short and ran very smoothly without many problems. I don’t intend to sugarcoat anything in my blog, but I really was impressed the amount of support and enthusiasm I received from Scotiabank and the event hosted by Rotman. |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: My blog Percentage of visitors by country |
First of all, thank you for all the interest in pursuing graduate studies in MBA as well as the Rotman School of Management. I have received a lot of feedback, questions and positive comments, and that gives me a motivation to continue recording my days, advice, and thoughts that can hopefully be passed down to the next generation of MBA students in the world as a whole. Past three months have taught me, and reassured me with certainty that MBA education brings significant benefits to everyone, whether hoping to understand more about how organization works as a whole, wants to learn how to assess your business position in industries, and also meet next generations of global leaders who will all become a part of, ultimately, making the world a greater place to live for everyone. It’s Friday night, and this is a perfect time to run some stats summary on my blog visitors by country. While I won’t get into details, I was surprised to see blog visits also come from many other various countries other than Canada and the USA. Considering how Rotman brings competitive advantage and benefits to international MBA students, this makes sense (I won’t try to run hypothesis test on this. I was at school for more than 12 hours straight). My point is, it’s happy to see that many people are visiting my blog, and I hope that the contents I bring hopefully can benefit you. |
FROM The Oxford Comma: Post MBA: Two Month Update |
Many of my classmates and I have been receiving queries from MBA aspirants who are interested in applying to SBS. The questions are usually focussed on the career opportunities after graduating from Oxford. This is understandable as many of them plan to take on massive amounts of debt and cannot repay them unless they obtain employment in the UK/EU. It’s very difficult to give a good answer to these questions as it really depends on a range of factors. The individual’s background is a factor, the position that they are attempting to shift into is a factor, the macroeconomic picture (which no one can predict, so please stop asking!) is a factor. I honestly feel that the best way to answer these questions is to look at the careers report of the business school. However, SBS will not update the report of this year’s class until April/May 2015 which is rather late. There is also the issue that the report is an average and does not break down the statistics by nationality, visa status etc. Therefore, I have compiled a small report on the careers situation this year. I have done this by looking at LinkedIn profile updates and by talking to my classmates. I have restricted the report to the Indians in the class, but it’s representative of any nationality that requires visa sponsorship to work in the UK or EU. These numbers are not 100% accurate as I am sure there are a few who have received offers and have not made it public yet. The sample size was approximately 45 students. I have only considered those who were interested in working in the UK. Some left right after graduating because they wanted to pursue opportunities in India and thus I am not considering them in this report. The 15% that you see in the chart are those who were pessimistic about finding jobs here and then left. Most of those who are employed, are working in the consulting sector. The purpose of this report is to to accurately represent the situation here. Many seem to think that Oxford MBA graduates will have no trouble finding jobs but this is simply not the case. There is a lot of hard work required to find any job, let alone a dream job. I should note that almost everyone who is still here is interviewing with at least one company, hence I expect these numbers to improve in a month’s time. I will update these numbers at that time. |
FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua): Advice to First Year MBAs: Get Functional Experience |
One thing I did not know when recruiting for the MBA summer internship was the following: just how important prior experience in the function that you're recruiting for was. For example, I recruited for marketing and the one thing I didn't have was strong functional experience in marketing prior to the MBA. What I did do was leverage the opportunities in the first year of the MBA to help build that functional skill set in marketing. Continue reading » |
FROM uwengdori - Current Student: Night at Rotman |
Continue pushing. Continue trying. Continue learning. |
FROM Defying Gravity - The MBA Journey: Apologies for the delay |
Eeek! I'm super embarrassed by how long it's been since I've updated this blog. Well, that should tell you how busy life has been. There are only a few days left in my first semester at HBS. In fact, my first final is in just 12 days. I'll try to recap the last few months, but there's way to much to fit in one post, so I'll just give you some general impressions. Classes have been both more and less stressful than I imagined. Because 50% of our grade is based on participation and cold calls are a common occurrence, it's virtually impossible to slack in class. The Case Method brings an unparalled sense of energy. Debates amongst peers are commonplace and encouraged, and reflective of the real world. (Although, I must admit, there are times where I wouldn't mind a lecture or two in finance). But anyway, I spend hours reading cases each night, followed by a one-hour meeting with my discussion group every morning. All in the hopes that I will be called on to contribute one hopefully-somewhat brilliant comment in class. However, other elements of class are pretty low-key. For example, the midterm for one of my classes was un-graded, and we had a group project for another class. Besides classes, I'm also currently in the midst of corporate recruiting for summer internships. Over 200 companies are interviewing on campus in January, and many more have submitted job postings. It's a bit overwhelming, but also pretty exciting. I've also joined several clubs, including the Social Enterprise Club, where I've been able to meet a bunch of other do-gooders All-in-all, I'm having a really great start to my MBA experience. |
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