Thank you all for making this event successful.
Here is the chat transcript:
Question: another aspect of the current visa issues, what problems internationals facing in terms of internships and job opportunities? how many companies and roles and offers have decreased in percentage terms from previous year?Answer: I would agree that there are many employers that do not recruit internationals, but still as international students you have ample opportunitites for internships. Problems for internationals are that internationals get access to only a portion of jobs posted on campus. I don’t have numbers, and in tech some things even became better: now Amazon hires internationals who did not intern there. If you get a return offer, then you are hired
Question: Does that mean if I intern at Amazon, they won’t hire me for full time?Answer: If you did not get a return offer, then you have to wait 6mo post graduation to have a chance to get hired by Amazon.
Question: could you guys discuss about finance roles post UNC?Answer: Finance recruitments are great at UNC. Close to 25 of my batchmates went for an internship in Investment Banking. There are many roles in Corp Fin and Investment Management too..
Question: How is consulting and finance recruiting for internationals?Answer: Consulting opportunities are the same for internationals as they are for domestic. Barring a few all the major firms recruit internationals
Question: In the latest employment report, 2nd years seem to recruit heavily in the South (40%). Do you guys find it hard to recruit for NYC or SF coming from UNC?Answer: typically companies that come on campus recruit for the offices in South such as Atlanta, Chartlotte and DC. But if you are looking for a particualr location, you can always network with people from that office
Question: What are the most popular tech recruiters at UNC?Answer: tech: Amazon & Dell hire the most. I will add to the list: customer success manager and finance leadership roles too. Most popular roles in Amazon would be Sr. PM, Pathways and RLDP. Dell hires for product Manager, marketing and product marketing manager roles
Question: Apart from Net Impact, are there any other clubs or campus events where the students can do some sort of pro-bono consulting?Answer: you can do Startup Consulting starting the spring semester of the 1st year. Adding to the list of possible pro bono consulting opportunities: STAR project is one possible opportunity, plus you can consult the other departments in the university and help them improve their operations.
Question: Can you guys talk a little bit about your experience with your Study Teams and case competitions you guys participated? Did you find those experiences helpful ?Answer: All team interactions are very helpful. The school teaches us to get and give feedback, so you are able to discover yourself more by interacting with other people. study groups are usually diverse: male/female, white/black/asian, arts/engineering/business.
Question: What difficulties do you think Internationals have faced since Trump came to picture?Answer: I personal see no difference in pre and post Trump era. even if there was a change it was very small
Question: how good the program is for operation consulting in energy sector?Answer: operation consulting in energy sector... that’s a very niche career
Question: Do international students get one shot or two shot at the H1B Lottery? I heard that we can apply once immediately after getting a jobAnswer: you an get 2 lotteries if you fulfill credit requirements by the 3rd mod of 2nd year and you have an offer on hand. This is a bit complicated. Here are the steps: 1) Get an offer from the internship employer 2) Complete the 63 credits before march 3) Ask the employer to file your VISA application as a potential employee. Many people do this.
Question: How receptive if UNC to applicants from family business background and is TOEFL reqd?Answer: There are many people in our batch who are from family business background. TOEFL is not required if you can give a document that says that your undergrad was in English medium
Question: Lets say a student gets a job in the Big 4. Then even if he doesn’t wins the lottery, how good are the chances that he will be sent to a different onsite location and apply again next year?Answer: there is no need to reapply for H1B. If the company can send you to another location for 1 year, then they can apply for an L visa for you
Question: Do people get placed for Human Capital Consulting? What are the typical companies for that domain and most popular companies for this?Answer: Most of the consulting companies recruit you as a generalist and then place you on different projects. You can always state your prefence
Question: How good are the chances that these consulting firms send those employees ( who dont win H1B lottery) to places such as Europe so that they don’t have to return to their home country?
Answer: This would be a good question for representatives from those firms It totally depends on the firm
Question: What is the average amount of hours students spend on extra-curriculars and what is the level of involvement of students in Energy, Soccer, and Adventure clubs?Answer: That depends from individual to individual are your priorities. Taking out time in the initial 2 mods might be difficult but you can certainly take part in some of the activities
Question: How is the study pressure? Do you guys enjoy it?Answer: First year is hard and it should be. You have core classes and recruiting to take care of. After that things become a bit light. First year is meant to be exhausting. But if you quickly decide and prioritize recruiting options you will be in a good position by Novemeber. folks play soccer 2 times a week, I believe.
Question: I also realized that one should (if not must) have a car to commute. How do you find your commute to the school and availability of affordable housing? (specifically I heard that rent went up considerably in the last 3-5 years)
Answer: There are plenty of living options. If you chose to live on campus, then the school is at a 5 min walking distance. If you are on campus housing don;t worry about commute to school or to the Franklin Street. As far as I know, then rents have increased by $30 per year for the past 2 years.. having a car is mandatory in any American city smaller thatn Boston, NY, SF, and such =). But if you are away - you kind of need a car.
Question: Can we Cross register for courses outside the bschool? I am looking for classes related to Sustainability and Education .
Answer: You definitely can, but tat will be in second year. In the 1st and 2nd mod you will have a set core curriculum and recruiting kicks in to. you’ll get credits for those classes. You get credits
for taking classes at other department just like you get credits for taking classes at B-School. I know a person who takes squash as a class =) but those credits won’t count into graduation )).
Question: What % of the students convert their internships into Full Time ?Answer: it depends on company. Dell converted >90% of interns and Amazon converted ~50%. McKinsey converted 100%.
Question: If there is one piece of advice that you would give to a candidate interviewing, then what would it be?Answer: Interviewing Advice - Show your personality and connect the dots between past experience, why UNC or B School and the why your short or long term goal. As I said, make sure you have thorough answers for why MBA, why Kenan Flalger, how does the MBA tie in with your career goals. Also do not hesitate to bring experiences from outside work place.
Question: Your favorite course and professors respectively? and why ?Answrr: My Fav classes - Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation, Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, Pricing, Entrepreneurial Finance. I enjoyed all data analytics classes: Business Statistics and Analytics (Merserau), Data Analytics and Decision Making (Staats), and Marketing Analytics and Big Data (Jindal) - all of them were very hands-on experiences and I used the skills during my internship. Stephen Arbogast, Adam Merserau, Shawn Munday, and the Pricing Prof are awesome at engaging a class. Markus Saba took the Global Healthcare class and I sat on it this past MOD. His experiences are amazing. Hes traveled to almost every country and has only worked in Healthcare. So it was a very informative class
Question: What are the different ways in which students can approach networking? Can you give some specifics in terms of names of the networking eventsAnswer: School arranges for Networking forum with a host of employers. Apart from that the companies come on campus and are glad to stay back and network. You can use the Alumni directory also to find people in your desired companies. Networking: companies host presentations on campus, there are also professional networking events in the Triangle Area, but I’d say mostly it’s driven by the students themselves: going to Linkedin and reaching out to people.
Question: How KFBS perceives students from non business / non engineering background regarding the pre-term courses? Or does it send all (most) students for those courses?Answer: The pre courses are totally optional. all backgrounds are good backgrounds as it’s always interesting to hear point of view of a person with completely different way of thinking from yours ).
Question: wat is the average score for an indian applicant to get an admitAnswer: I dont think we have any such data. However there is a big range of sores. 680 – 780
Question: What are the fit qualities that ADComs r looking for? Which quality is valued thee most out of leadership, team skills, analytical skillls, etc.?Answer: Leadership and Collaboration (Team Work) are super valuable at UNC.. However, you must show your inclination to the UNC Core Values during an interview question focusing on fit. There is not a single quality that i can point out. These are all important to succeed at the B-School and in your career. They follow a holistic approach. You might not have analytical skills at all but then you must be better than average in another area