Re: Is this common at your school?
[#permalink]
28 Mar 2008, 18:53
My experience is somehow different, although I sometimes see some others who react in that way. One of the great components in that respect of the 1st year at HBS is that you hang out A LOT with your section. Since every section is balanced in its composition, you are automatically hanging out with a multicultural crowd.
I have a few friends who tend to hang out mostly with whom they know, i.e., people from the same country or region. Some of them knew each other before school, some become closer through their partners who tend to hang together, etc. In my experience, though, this is not so much imposed as chosen by every individual. I have not experienced any situation in which someone would be unwelcome to a particular crowd if that person is willing to spend the time and effort that building a friendship or similar relationship demands. To clarify: if you sit by your phone expecting to get invites from every single group to every event while contributing nothing, little will happen. If, however, you make the effort to try and participate in some general activities and build rapport it is easy to get in the loop and participate in any events. For eg.: if you send an e-mail to a random group of people from your section inviting them to dinner, drinks, or an event it is likely that several will accept regardless of any other factor.
Furthermore there are activities which tend to diversify compositions such as:
- Sports clubs / activities: some, such as soccer, tend to resonate stronger with, for eg., internationals, but even so it is not particularly restricted to any subgroup. Section dodgeball, flag football, squash, cornhole, skiing are all enjoyed by diverse crowds.
- Professional interest clubs and conferences: from entrepreneurship to social enterprise through finance, all clubs are likely to be diverse and foster integration.
- Treks: I had the chance to organize and lead a trek and must say that people tended to hang with each other based on interests (the guys who liked to go out every night vs. the "I'll better go to sleep and enjoy tomorrow's activities" crowd) rather than international lines.
There are, of course, other activities who tend to cluster people along ethnic or geographic interests. For eg., while there are some non-Africans in the African business club, the majority of the members of such club are Africans.
Conclusion: in my experience, cliques do exist but will not constitute a barrier to interaction as long as you don't want them to be so.
L.