How are my Class of 2010 buddies doing?

Question

Hey y'all,

OMG! It's been quite a "half semester" so far. One week left before our Fall A finals. I can't believe 7 weeks have passed (10 if you include orientation and pre-term). I wanted to start a thread just to see how my GMATClub buds are doing at their respective schools. Doesn't have to be long, and hopefully we can keep each other updated here once in a while.

As you may have noticed, my posting volume has dropped tremendously, to the point where I only skim through forums every few weeks and only track the Berkeley Ambassador threads every day. Life has been crazy busy, but I'm loving every single day. Not one day do I regret going to b-school, as everything I'm learning in class has relevance (especially these days, with the financial meltdown), every workshop/club meeting I go to has some contribution to personal and professional improvement, and every person I meet is friendly and genuinely wants to help you whenever you need help.

I'm sure this is similar in all the other great schools out there, but it's definitely a HUGE difference from undergrad or even engineering grad school! People will come help you move with their SUV/pickup trucks if you post on the class google groups. You can form a dancing club or even a club that has no reason to exist just by talking to a few people. The professors, famous speakers, and other lectures are all very useful for every day life. And you'll always be able to find people who have similar interests as you to do things together (even in a small class of 240 per year).

Currently, I'm involved with the Haas Student Blogs, Berkeley Business Plan Competition, >play Digital Media Conference, and doing some lunch and class escorts for prospective students. I think the only thing I'll add to that will be the Haas Student Ambassadors or the VP of Admissions, IF I can get it. The competition is fierce and there are tons of very well qualified people. After that, I don't think I'll have any more bandwidth to do leadership in much else. I'm casually signed up to be in 10 other clubs/groups, but those are just for email list purposes.

Career wise, I'm glad to know that almost ANYONE who wants a job with a startup will get one, and the process for us does not start until April or May. So I'll be watching my friends getting job offers one by one in March before I even start interviewing, haha. But it definitely confirmed my choice of Haas because of how easy it is to get in touch with startups in the area.

Ok, gotta go read my OB case and practice my final speech class capstone speech. Hope to hear some updates from others like river, futuredukemba, ghgirl, ujjib, terry12, nervous, and others (sorry, I'm having a senior moment here and can't recall any more names)...

kwam · Answer

It's crazy in here...

I decided to take 4 courses + LEAD and I'm participating in 4 groups, so things are very busy. I've been already studying and making assignments till late, preparing for the Case Study is really taking time, and Recruiting has already started here.

Oh, and it's getting cold...

Will give more details this weekend, now I need to upload an Accounting Assignment, prepare for Mocktail tomorrow, finish reading a case and a book Chapter for a Competitive Strategy class, and sleep a little bit if I can...

kryzak · Answer

yeah, it's getting cold here too. Today it was 70 degrees in the morning. I had to bring a jacket!

Glad to hear you're doing well, kwam. It's been a while.

togafoot · Answer

Getting cold here too. Today it is 82(F) or 28(C) depending on your preference of unit.

Hectic, but managing the workload quite comfortably now. It was always a question of being organised and getting my groups to become organised. The earlier days were more tough because of some strong personalities, fortunately i've had experience dealing with people like that before in my work. Now all of my groups are very efficient. Group meetings last between 1 to 3 hours at most and the work is completed. 
 I have the weekend completley free, so I usually front-load with my spare time. This allows me to stay ahead of the game and allows me to complete any individual homework quickly, thus giving me more flexibility in my scheduling.

I've been voted on to the student board which represents the MBA students. A bit more reponsibility, but worth it I think.
Recruiting already started here as well. Asia seems more robust job wise, almost all the companies have said they are cutting back in recruiting, but less so in Asia because it is still growing. However, maybe 60% of the roles require different capabilities with an Asian language, some require fluency, others require working knowledge, particularly the client facing roles. So far, the investment management roles in China are not requiring Mandarin speakers yet because the income streams are from educated Chinese who can speak English, but this is expected to change as the non-English speakers become wealthier.

Working with the PRC people in the class has been interesting. Quite a few are saying, that China is in fact becoming less tolerant of Western Business culture because of China's self-perceived strength and growth. Therefore they are expecting Westerners to understand Chinese culture more and are less tolerant of cultural mistakes when compared to the past.

We've had quite a few excellent case studies where the responses from Western/Asia answers have been completley different, more so the cases focused on China. For example, cold calling is unacceptable in China, and some people have fired employees for doing this when trying to develop business in China. Whereas in the West it is perfectly acceptable and seen from a business is business perspective. Relationship building is more important in China, and a cold call can destroy any potential relationship. End result is losing a lot of business lost due to word of mouth through lack of respect by cold calling. We've had one live case, where the accepted recommendation was to move an employee from the frontline to something less damaging because he was using Western business development practises (business card retrieval in a networking event and then an unsolicited e-mail promoting the company to the new contact i.e. a cold call) and lost the company a potential client..(The employee was USA educated in this case)

Exams coming up soon, and balancing family life is still the key issue. 2 kids to look after.. It has actually helped me with my time management no late mornings for me, no procrastination, work is finished as soon as I get it. Although, I have been less social than other classmates due to family commitments, I've generally only skipped the social events but stayed in with the network events.

bherronp · Answer

Finals are this week for FallA. I've got stats today. Not too worried about that. Finance is looming though. Even though I killed the midterm I am still concerned. Looking forward to having a day or two "off" after finals.

BTW Ross is invading SF for West Coast Forum the 23-25th. What's your availability bay area crew?

BTW Ross is invading SF for West Coast Forum the 23-25th. What's your availability bay area crew?

kryzak · Answer

West Coast Forum? I'm around on the 23rd during the day, but will be out of town for a wedding from the evening on.

branson · Answer

I don't actually have time to read what you guys wrote above

, but I wanted to say hi everybody and sorry I havent written anything since I am here. Honestly, there just was no time. Tuck rigorous? Uhm, that's an affirmative. They're not kidding around here. But I love it, and I am learning so much. Am somewhat anxious about the crisis, but I think/hope that the CDO and the Tuck name will carry us through this. Go Green!

kryzak · Answer

hey branson! good seeing you here again and glad you're having a blast there. We miss you here.

one more final to go... one more... :shock:

togafoot · Answer

My mid-terms are next week

. I;m supposed to be revising now... Must... not.. procrastinate..... :oops:

kwam · Answer

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I had 2 midterms today, one of them was EXTREMELY hard. I'm going out tonight, even though I'm not a big football fan I will go out to drink some beers and watch Monday Night Football.

It's been pretty hectic here.

kryzak · Answer

my INSANE week is finally over. This week is busy, but anything is better than last week... 3 applications, 1 case competition, 1 conference (in DC), and school work to boot.

And all this at the *start* of a new semester...

kwam · Answer

The essays started again:

What makes you suited for the role to which you applied?
(90 words max)
From the research you have done on our industry, how does our firm fit in with your career aspirations?
(90 words max)
Describe a recent development in the industry. What implications might this development have for our firm or the division to which you have applied?
(90 words max)

I know, easier than the Bschools, but sill

kryzak · Answer

I feel ya! I had to write three 500-word essays and get TWO recommendations for some of my applications... sigh... But it is a lot easier as you're no longer obsessed with word smithing.

agold · Answer

Letters of recommendation? Wow...

I take it these are truly rare?

kryzak · Answer

well, some fellowships require a letter, but most don't, so don't worry too much about it.

togafoot · Answer

Another exam this week. Accounting this time...

kryzak · Answer

just finished 3 back to back, accounting, finance, and marketing... finally some time to relax!

togafoot · Answer

Another 4 exams in 4 weeks. Accounting exam is today.
On another note, the school has hired someone to specifically link the MBA school and the technology school together in terms of getting the research produced by the professors into a marketable business plan. There is an incubator in the school so that people can set up companies during the bootstrapping phase and this new hire is there to be the main contact for angel investors, VC's and any other potential investor. It's a good move and expands the scope of the MBA options.

I'm currently looking at 2 new patented technologies and my own business idea and trying to scope if they are feasible for the market.

How are my Class of 2010 buddies doing?

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