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FROM Mays Admissions Blog: MKTG 489, I just might be in love with you. |
If you are good enough friends with me or if you tend to see me on the daily basis, you will know that this is the time of year where I usually complain about everything. Apart from some College Station motorcycle police trying to bring me down, almost passing out and possibly breaking my pinking toe … I am really excited about my fall schedule. I signed up for Mktg 489 elective very last minute. I was enticed by what it had to offer, an opportunity to participate in an individual fashion case study competition against other schools called the Fashion Scholarship Fund. Actually having the professor go through the syllabus was even more exciting. I can’t believe that I am actually getting graded and getting school credit for something that I would like to do for fun regardless of the class. For example, it is required that I subscribe to Women’s Wear Daily and do reports on current happenings in the fashion business world or other realms that effect it. I already was subscribed, but now that I get a great yearly rate … it just makes it all the merrier. Apparently, we will receive our case in the next 2 weeks and have everything finalized and submitted to NYC by December. The judges will pick 5 winners from all applicants in the participating schools around the nation to win $5,000 scholarships and advance to the second round. My other class I am pretty excited about is the random class I picked to fulfill my international credit – a graduate class on Asian government and politics. It sounded interesting, so I hope I’m not getting too ahead of myself. |
FROM Mays Admissions Blog: I Wanna Be a Millionaire…Again |
Right now I am on my bed with a pile of textbooks sitting next to me. The first week of classes is officially over and I am already behind on my work. The main reason I am behind is because every time I try to read a chapter of Strategic Management, my mind wanders back to my adventures over the summer. My body may be in College Station, but right now my mind is still resting on the beaches of Bali, Indonesia… As our tour van left the airport, I did not know what to expect. I did not do any research online on Bali, so I knew nothing about our new destination. Organized chaos best describes what I saw. The roads were crammed with cars and motorbikes. Motorbikes were zooming past our van and driving around oncoming traffic. Mothers were holding their children with one hand and driving with the other. We even saw a man holding a ladder under his arm while steering his bike. As a tourist, I was amazed by what I saw, but for the locals this was just their daily commute. Indonesia is a predominantly Islamic country, but over 90% of the population of Bali is Hindu. The island is home to many Hindu temples and is nicknamed the “Island of 1000 Temples.” Our group was led by a professional tour guide, so we got to visit a lot of the major attractions. To be honest I have too many stories and pictures of Bali to cram into one blog, but thankfully my friend Wenet made a five minute video that pretty much summed up the entire trip. If you watched the video, you probably noticed the dark colored “frisky” animals at the coffee plantation. At this point you may be asking yourself “why are there dark colored “frisky” animals at the coffee plantation?” These animals are actually Asian Palm Civets and are basically mini-factories. Coffee beans go into the Civets as “input”, are “processed”, and then a few hours later you gather the “output”. The newly transformed coffee beans are then washed, dried, roasted, and brewed. This crazy concoction is called Kopi Luwak and is considered a delicacy. After seeing the Civets at work, I made sure to drink an “unprocessed” cup of hot chocolate. After a long day of sightseeing, two of the other students and I went to a fish spa. Basically, at the spa there are large tanks with many small fish inside called garra rufa, or doctor fish. After paying a small fee, you put your feet inside the tank and the toothless fish nibble at your skin. The fish slowly eat away your dead skin and leave a nice smooth layer. It’s kind of hard to describe the feeling of hundreds of fish biting your feet, but it is actually very nice. Be warned: if you are ticklish, you will laugh the entire time. When the spa is over, your feet will feel as smooth as a baby’s bottom. On our last day in Bali, we stayed on the beach most of the day and took surfing lessons. Our instructor was a local and was a very nice guy. In fact most of the people in Bali are rather hospitable individuals. Sadly, the tourism industry in Bali took a huge hit after the bombings several years ago, but things are starting to look up. I definitely wouldn’t mind returning to the island one day and since the exchange rate is $1 = 9,015 rupiah, it may be one day soon. |
FROM Mays Admissions Blog: Aggie Ring Day: Finally Mine |
As I am writing this blog, I’ve noticed that I am typing a lot slower because there is a shiny chunk of gold weighing down one of my fingers. I’ve never worn a ring before, so I am kind of surprised that I’m finding it so hard to take my ring off and put it away. I have gone to a couple of Aggie Ring days before, but last Friday it was finally my turn to wait in line for my little maroon box. This is technically only the beginning of my third year at Texas A&M, but thanks to many dual credit hours and summer school, I got to order my ring a year early. After I ordered my ring, the Association of Former Students gave me a calendar that counted down the days until Ring day. I went ahead and threw it away because 1) counting down the days would only drive me crazy and 2) I already had the countdown going in my head. On Ring day my family and I stepped off of the Aggie Ring Shuttle to see a sea of Aggies eagerly waiting to get their rings. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity (probably about 30 minutes), I was finally the next person in line. When my mother gave me my ring, I tuned out the rest of the world. The ring lady told me to inspect my ring to make sure that my name and class year were correct, but I just stared at the eagle and number twelve right below it. After I got my ring, I took a ton of pictures and ran into a lot of people that I knew. It was amazing how many people were getting their rings or attending a friend’s Ring day. The Aggie Ring is much more than a shiny chunk of metal; it is a symbol that shows that you are part of the Aggie network. From now on, I can proudly wear my ring and let everyone know that I am an Aggie. |
FROM Mays Admissions Blog: And job hunting season begins … |
Like all other seniors, I have started hunting for a job. I’m torn between my desire to live in a fabulous big city and experience everything it has to offer, while having $0 of saving and using every penny of my salary to pay for my ridiculously expensive rent. OR living in Texas for 2 more years and possibly start saving money for graduate school. Of course, my primary objective is to line up job offers first. I have already submitted some applications that have already ended their application deadlines. However, some companies are telling me to wait until Spring semester to apply. That just seems way to late for me, especially since I have already started thinking about what I want to do in the summer. Like many others, I want to travel the world after I graduate. However, I’m not sure if I’m going to enjoy the “sitting around doing nothing” time in between school, my travels and starting my new job. Somehow, my Dad got an idea into my head about interning in Hong Kong. I’m not really sure where to begin looking for a Hong Kong internship. However, it would be such a great opportunity and so much fun to experience the city. So … I have a lot of work and job/internship hunting to do! It will be an interesting process … |
FROM Mays Admissions Blog: The Business Environment: You Can’t Escape It |
During my first couple of semesters in college, I found myself taking classes that I felt would not be useful in my professional career. These were mostly history and science classes, but some of my general business classes were the same way. Last week I was reading my management book in the lobby of a repair shop while I was waiting for my car to be fixed. That is when a scary thought crossed my mind; some of the things I was reading actually applied to my current situation. My car is fifteen years old and has over 198,500 miles on it, but I still love it. My check engine light has been on for seven years, but last week the light started flashing when I drove over 40 mph. I was kind of afraid that my car was going to explode or something, so I needed to find a mechanic. After asking a couple of locals and looking on the internet, one mechanic received higher reviews than anyone else, so of course I had to find out what was so great about him. According to my management book, this mechanic had implemented a differentiation business-level strategy. Differentiators provide services that customers perceive as being different in ways that are important to them. So what was the big difference about this mechanic? As soon as I walked into the shop, I was greeted by one of the friendliest men I have ever met. He quickly took my information and wrote down all of the problems I told him I was having with my car. He then explained some of the possible causes of my car’s problems and gave me a rough price estimate. Being friendly and efficient was only the tip of the iceberg. A large portion of their clientele is students, so their lobby is student friendly. One half of the lobby consisted of leather recliners facing a TV, while the other half was more secluded for studying. They also had free Wi-Fi and soft drinks. Since the shop is kind of far from campus, they even offered to drive me back for class and to drive me home. The only problem with buying from a differentiator is that you have to pay a premium for their special services. Because of the recession, many consumers are looking for cheaper alternatives to meet their needs. Some differentiators are being forced to break away from their strategy to try and regain market share, while others haven’t really been affected. This is because of strong customer loyalty. My car now drives like it is ten years younger, and my new mechanic has a customer for life. |
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