Admitted to Kellogg Class of 2011 Thread

I was a Finance undergrad and will definitely take Turbo. However, I am thinking about trying to waive Finance I and take Finance II by itself. It really wouldn't be that hard to study Finance over the summer and give my self a refresher for the exam.

Also, I know there are several classes I'm going to need to do some studying for this summer so I can be way ahead for Fall semester (Micro, Stat). I need to make a 4.0 in the fall for IB recruiting in January. It would certainly alleviate any doubts about my UG GPA.

I wouldn't worry too much about not having any finance in your background. I asked this same question to a bunch of MMMs during DAK and the general consensus was that even without a finance class in your past, you will be fine taking Turbo and that you are better off having more chance to take elective later on.

That's good to hear. Any ideas what I should do in the meantime to get ready?

I may try and look at the syllabus' for some of the classes I think will be really tough and buy the text book on Amazon. Study it every now and again.

One cool thing about Kellogg is that you can take 3, 4, or 5 classes in a quarter and you don't have to pay less. You need 24.5 credits to graduate (so 4 per quarter), but can take more electives if you want or have the time. I would probably try and take an extra class in the Spring quarter to prepare for my internship, and then an extra class before I graduate just to get my money's worth. Also, I believe you can take one or two classes Pass/Fail.

I am taking 5 courses (as of now) in the spring, and of course I have the option to drop one if it isnt to interesting or I dont think it will really be as applicable to what I want to do as I thought. If I redo recruiting in the fall because I either dont get an offer or dont like the company, well then I might only take 3 so I dont have to worry about not getting as much out of a class while I am recruiting heavily.

Fin 1 and Fin 2 vs taking turbo...from what I know, the math in Turbo isnt the hard part its the volume of work and the pace its presented. Honestly if you have an engineering degree you wont find finance's math difficult, but learning the terms and how it all applies is more challenging. No matter how great you are with math, you still have to get the concepts. I think it depends on what you want to do. If you dont want to be a banker then I dont see the value in Turbo.

Personally, I would take Marketing in the fall if you arent doing finance for a job...for a few reasons. 1) Marketing actually has a much higher workload, so taking in the fall vs winter recruiting season is good. You have to prep lots for classes, participation counts more so missing classes hurts more, and the assignments take a lot longer to complete. 2) DECS and Accounting help you with Fin 1, there is definitely some overlap in concepts that make it easier to pick up the fin stuff after you have already been exposed to things. Fin relies on existing knowledge of these but its not the case the other way. 3) Usually there are two great marketing professors in the fall and can get in without bidding but in the winter you may have to bid hundreds of points to get the star professor. I say take Grayson, doesnt have the name that Hennessey has but he uses more international cases, focuses on quant more, and he is an awesome guy. Was definitely my favorite class and professor so far...which is impressive since I dont want to go into marketing.

River.. Thanks for the awesome post.

Just wanted to clarify:

1. You're saying that people going into banking should take turbo fin and not fin 1 and fin 2? What about taking turbo fin versus waiving fin 1 and taking fin 2?

2. Based on what you said taking Marketing in the fall sounds like a good idea. Is it not possible to take turbo fin/fin 2 and marketing in the fall? Or is it just not a good idea to take Marketing if you are recruiting for finance?

Thanks River.

Can we waive out of accounting or the decision science (stats) by just passing the test? I did hear during DAK that some core courses also require us to have taken a similar course earlier. Do either of the above courses have that requirement?

Accounting is tougher to waive out they have specific requirements. You can test out of DECS though. There should be stuff online about waiving out well before you guys show up. I should have waived out of the first DECS class since it was not that hard and easily could have with just a little refresher.

I'm definitely going to waive out of DECS if at all possible. Want to get to the good stuff more quickly.

Even for consulting? Or what about if we're hoping to make the fantasy stretch to aim for PE/VC?

If you have a finance background it wont be bad but I hear its a pretty ball buster course...very heavy workload. Almost all MMM's do it though. Its not impossible, just gonna keep you busy.

River, thanks a lot. It's great to have a community academic advisor on Gclub.

Just a quick clarification: Did you mean we have to test out of both accounting and DECS or just 1 out of the 2?

Thanks river.

I am hoping to waive ACCT and DECS 433, and then take Turbo, DECS 434, Business Strategy, and either Turbo ACCT 434 or Microeconomics. Since I want to do IB, and was a finance major in UG and took several accounting courses, I'm hoping to get to the advanced stuff pretty quickly.

I just tried to join the Facebook Kellogg MBA Class of 2011. Do you have to be for sure going to be in the group? There's a good chance I'll be there in the fall, but I am not totally sure yet. Still waiting on financial aid/scholarships/other schools.

Hey, I was looking at the Kellogg current student housing survey the other day and now I can't find where I saw it. Any help? It was an Excel file.

I think there are a lot of students in multiple school groups, so I think it's okay. Etiquette seems to be that if you withdraw from a school, you also withdraw from the facebook group.