Calling all Kellogg Fall'08 applicants

I guess I will start while my memory is fresh. Just landed back home in the bay area. In short, I HAD A BLAST at DAK!

First of all, I can't believe how nice and friendly every GMATClubber I've met have been. We took a group photo of the 6 of us (ghgirl, futuredukemba, terry12, ujjib, TJ, and myself) at the end because we had so much fun hanging out and chatting with each other. I think the friendship and bond between us GMATClub "regulars" is almost (if not equally) as strong as the bond we'll form in b-school.

Alright, DAK is structured a bit differently than DAH, and I like some of the aspects more and some less. I'll try to go through each major part of the program and comment on it:

Friday:

Opening Ceremony:

Fun, energetic, cool! Beth Flye was very welcoming and the "one of you..." speech was very impressive. No stats were quoted for some reason, maybe I just forgot. Definitely more "media intensive" than DAH's opening (which was more laid back)

Section Time:

The intros were fun and got to learn about others. As I mentioned before, it was strange to have someone approach me wanting to learn more about the defense industry.

Sessions:

I'll talk about all three sessions here, 2 were on Friday, 1 on Saturday. terry12 and I skipped the Saturday one because the Housing/Tour of Kellogg didn't really interest us (and we REALLY needed sleep after Friday night ). I did 2 chats with students (talked to about 4-5 students in total, including a JD/MBA and a UC Berkeley alum). Definitely gave me a good sense of what Marketing is, what Special K is about (sounds very fun), and how to survive Chicago winters. Otherwise, the financial aid info wasn't really useful if you've sat through at least 1 or 2 other admit weekend talks...

Professor Roundtables:

the Entrepreneurship talk was sort of dry, though they did highlight the programs that Kellogg has through the Levy Center. Not bad at all. The Management/Strategy professor was very strange... reminded all of us of some TV actor... Didn't like the part where someone asked him to compare Kellogg's management/strategy program with other schools and he pretty much dissed many schools (yet never mentioned H/S/W or even Haas... interesting...)

Overall, the roundtables weren't that useful.

Academics:

Dean Chopra was an ok speaker, and his "4 pillars" speech was good, but remarkably similar to what other school's talk about (Haas talked about similar topics). The Kellogg Student Association VP of Academics was one of the best speakers I've ever seen (along with the MBA Association president at Anderson). We were all VERY impressed by his style, even though the content wasn't anything new.

Mini Classes:

I got a young but very good professor on Advertising Strategy, and that was VERY informative. The corporate finance professor afterwards was good, but a bit dry, and I almost fell asleep due to jet lag and having an exhausting day so far. Good professors, though I have a feeling that the Haas professors might be slightly better at teaching based on what I've seen. Of course, that's a tiny sample, so one cannot really judge based on this.

TG:

TG it self was just a "free drinks" and socialize time, but the KWEST fair was simply IMPRESSIVE. KWEST is definitely one of the biggest pros for going to Kellogg. A fellow Haas vs Kellogg admit were already signing up for the high comfort and low activity trips, ha ha.

Taste of Evanston:

terry12 and I went to the Austin dinner at a restaurant just across from McManus. The group of students there (1st, 2nd, and admits) were impressive and gave us some very good insights on what the program is about and the special events they plan every quarter. We were both very impressed by the caliber of the students there.

Experience Evanston:

Got to chat with Beth Flye for about 1-2 hours at a private party. She is simply an amazing woman who defines the term "Southern Charm and Hospitality". First thing she said to me was, "Follow your heart with your decision." No pressure at all, no selling, just very good advice. She's actually very good friends with the Haas director, Pete Johnson, so we talked about that a bit more. Wonderful, wonderful woman.

Saturday

Career Service:

Not a bad talk, but not the most useful. Pretty much the same thing that most Career Services provide. The free alumni career advisors was very good though.

Career Breakout Lunches:

this was the MOST useful part of the day. I sat in Hi-Tech and Entrepreneurship. Both groups of students from the clubs pretty much convinced me of what I had a hunch about already, that I cannot make a mistake career wise picking Kellogg or Haas. The hi-tech opportunities are very good at Kellogg, especially at the bigger companies. Smaller companies will require a lot more work contacting alums. The entrepreneurship program is growing, and there are some good students going into startups, starting companies, and working in VCs. The club membership is definitely smaller than schools like Haas and Anderson which focuses more on entrepreneurship, but they broke off Entrepreneurship Club from the old Private Equity and Entrepreneurship Club, so it shows that they are putting more effort into that program. What it also taught me is that if the opportunities are equal, I have to go down to the "nitty-gritty" decision factors, ones which normally would not make or break the deal for me by themselves (convenience, weather, SO, cost, contacts, familiarity, etc...)

Dean Jain:

WOW! I was completely stunned and speechless after this wonderous speech. It was amazing how he was so personable and weaved all these amazing anecdotes (including him barely escaping the Phuket Tsunami in 2004 with his family!!!) into what is wonderful about Kellogg. I'm sure that speech alone convinced many people to matriculate!

Student Life Experience:

Very funny and well done. I especially liked how Kellogg values diversity and how everyone accepts everyone without question.

Keynote Speaker:

I don't think this was really necessary, but it was nice to see an older alum come back and still be so passionate about Kellogg.

Club Fair:

Very fun, got to learn about some clubs that I normally would not join (consulting, marketing).

Chicago:

The reception at Soldier Field was a LOT of fun, allowing us to really socialize with fellow admits and other students. It also allowed us GMATClubbers to really chat with each other and compare notes. I will say that 2 people were convinced to go to Kellogg, 3 were not, and 1 undecided. I'll let you all figure out who's who in the next few days, haha!

Experience Chicago at Zella's:

I had a lot of fun doing some final chats with some Haas vs Kellogg admits, many were on the fence, some were sure to go to Kellogg, some for Haas... I'd guess out of 12 or so of us whom I met, roughly 5-6 are going to Kellogg for sure, 3-4 Haas, and 2-4 undecided (completely 50-50). There were a few others who were also considering HBS, Chicago, MIT, and Wharton on top of Haas vs Kellogg, so I don't know where they'll go in the end.

Overall Experience:

Great great weekend. I personally think the student body at Kellogg and Haas are extremely similar in terms of culture, collaboration, sharpness, and friendliness. I made some good friends at both, and I would be very very happy at both. Neither are perfect (unfortunately), but I don't think a "perfect" school exists, just the "best fit". Haas' schedules were alternating between panels/talks and mingle sessions, which kept me awake better, but Haas didn't give enough time in between events to chat with other admits and students. Kellogg had a lot more admit/student interaction time, but some of the events dragged on a bit long and there were too many back-to-back talks.

Speaking to the effectiveness of DAK, I went in with an 80-20 Haas lead, and came out with a roughly 55-45 split. I need to make a few calls to some Haas staff and students on Monday to clarify some questions that came up from DAK, and will see if that split holds. It definitely sucks to not be able to go to both schools (I wish they had a quarterly exchange program or something), but that's life, and we gotta make tough choices. This will probably be the toughest one of them all. I can say that Kellogg did manage to convince most of the people deciding between GSB and Kellogg, Sloan and Kellogg, and Wharton and Kellogg. Those with the most trouble are Haas vs Kellogg and Duke vs Kellogg, probably because of the similar cultures.

Hope this write-up helps future Kellogg applicants. If the current split stays after tomorrow and I end up at Haas (most likely), I will still remain a full supporter of Kellogg and encourage people to apply there too and make the decision themselves. Looking forward to reading others' reactions to DAK II.