Calling All Fall 2012 Consortium Applicants!

Haaa! Excellent advice...

haha,..thought about this,..but i've never lost a job and as a matter of pride don't want to start now. Also,..i'm not even sure how i can go about getting laid off,...there are atleast a couple of people here who are low performers (or non performers) and they're outlasting everyone. Doing poor work apparently isn't conspicious enough to get laid off.

A buddy of mine did this to his advantage. His employer payed for his law school and if he were to quit on his own accord, he'd have to pay back all the tuition they fronted for him. They were going through rounds of lay-offs, and he already had another job lined up that he wanted to take. He spoke with one of the partners and encouraged him to let him off the hook before they get rid of other people. Sure enough, he was included in the next round of cuts.

No hit to your pride there - if anything, he did others a favor that didn't have something to fall back on.

Unfortunately, I work for a company in which the people familiar w/ me,..(my manager, director, and EVP), aren't calling the shots, and as far as I know they're in the dark as much as we are. Its not a transparent process at all....even EVPs and Directors are getting axed so its a tightly controlled process. Law firms are much smaller so you actually get to know equity partners who hold a lot of sway and make those decisions.

If layoffs are happening, then volunteer. Honestly a layoff is different from getting fired. Layoff just means there is no more job here for you. Fired means there's a job but we just don't want you to do it. If you were gonna leave soon anyways, the severance might pay you beyond the time you were planning to work anyways. Plus you can collect unemployment til school starts. I wish my company was doing layoffs. I'd put myself on the chopping block immediately.

You're probably right,..however there is still some stigma attached to layoffs. In many industries its generally the low performers,..or "dead weight" that are laid off first. Thats probably been less true since 2008, but still.

Kelley's weekend (KEW) was so much fun and refreshing. Everything I learn about Kelley only reinforces the fact that I, personally, couldn't have chosen a better school for my goals and my fit. When I arrived at KEW, I felt like I was on life support at work. I was exhausted, overwhelmed by a project, and praying daily that I would keep my word to work until my exit date of 5/11. Then I went to KEW, and I realized that I only had 4 more weeks left, and I could finish strong. The weekend focused me not on the here and now stresses of work, but on my dreams, my future, and the roadmap that Kelley could help me chart to get there. Then I came back to work to find out that the stress-filled project was cancelled. I felt like I had been given all the holidays at one time! And finally, I only have 2 weeks and 1 day left. I can finally work on the dreaded turnover documentation. The good news is that I only have 11 work days left!

Mooze, your job sounds like mine! They've been doing layoffs and firings at all levels including Directors and EVPs as well. Unfortunately, none of us had any notice, it was just a bunch of people let go in the morning one day. By that time I had already given notice. Darn it! Could have used that severence! But I have a feeling they wouldn't have laid me off because even in the midst of the layoffs, firings, etc., I've been asked if I will reconsider my decision to leave the company. So I shared with them that I'll be getting my MBA. Most everyone is happy for me even if they wish I would stay.

Everyone book their OP flights already? What kind of prices did you get?

my email from the travel agency says:


I dont know what this "Service Charge" is all about.

i could have booked the flight for $443.60 on Kayak myself so im crossing my fingers that $143 gets charged to my card on file, not $173

I know some of us were awaiting news on Education Pioneers, which I'm happy to see is now listed on the exhibit hall map.

Here's an alphabetical listing of the companies attending OP2012. Might be a bit easier for some to look through vs. the exhibit hall map. Also attached an excel book of this if anyone wants to use it as the start of a personal worksheet.

Booth Company
103 3M
307 Abbott
348 American Express
102 Bank of America
133 Barclays
233 Boston Scientific
227 Cargill
245 Centene
232 CFA
315 Choctaw Nation
131 Citi
337 Cognizant
248 Colgate-Palmolive
110 ConAgra
135 Credit Suisse
305 DaVita
229 Deloitte
319 Delta
333 Deutsche Bank
136 Diageo
119 Dow Chemical
116 Dr Pepper Snapple
106 Eaton
329 Ecolab
132 Education Pioneers
313 Edward Jones
139 Ely Lilly
247 Emerson
334 Exxon Mobil
327 Federal Reserve NY
303 Genentech
203 General Mills
249 HP
317 IBM
207 Johnson & Johnson
343 Kimberly-Clark
123 Kraft Foods
321 Land O Lakes
120 Liberty Mutual
127 Mattel
117 Medtronic
239 MillerCoors
338 Nestle
128 New York Life
124 NextEra Energy
242 Nissan
341 Peabody Energy
223 Pepsi
332 PhD Project
130 PNC
230 PPG
331 PricewaterhouseCoopers
339 Procter & Gamble
344 REDF
238 Reynolds
234 SC Johnson
126 Sears
325 Special Interest Group
241 Starbucks
217 SuperValu
115 Target
221 Toyota
326 US Bank
244 Wellpoint
309 Whirlpool
335 Whitewave

I may be the only one who noticed this or perceives it to be a major drag but, OP will be during the NBA Finals... I hope the interviewers, presenters, and panelists don't mind me watching the games on my iphone, I'll try not to be too obvious.

Yes i agree,..not only nba finals but also the Euro2012...which is worse cause those games will be on during the daytime.

Anyone doing either of the MBA Jumpstart events?

@Cheetarah, will you be in Chicago for Jumpstart? I just booked my flight.

I won't have moved by then, but yeah I'll be in Chicago for Jumpstart. There goes my Grecian vacation for my bday.

Anyone know the schedule/agenda for SPARC?