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Current Oxford Student Blogs
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28 Aug 2014, 00:05
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Trinity Term: Week Ten |
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As a continuation to my last post, I thought it might be useful to share my opinion on the electives that I took in the Hilary term. MBA’s take three core classes and two core electives in the Hilary term. Macroeconomics: The course content is self explanatory. Topics covered include national accounting, growth, taxes, currency, inflation etc. I’m someone who reads a lot of economics blogs and I consider myself well versed on macro and microeconomics. I found a lot of microeconomic lectures to be quite basic and was thus hesitant about taking this course. However, I decided to take it after receiving strong recommendations from several alumni. The course was at just the right level for me and I learned a lot from it. Even areas that I thought I understood well, my understanding deepened after completing this course. Conversely, if you are someone who does not already understand the basics, you will find this course challenging (which may or may not be a good thing). The professor is excellent and the lectures are quite entertaining. You may not directly apply the concepts learned in this course in your career, but I think that every MBA student should be familiar with the material covered in this course. Note that as part of the upcoming MBA revamp, this course is being merged with Microeconomics (into a new course called Firms & Markets) and hence this elective may not be offered in the future. Highly recommended. Strategy & Innovation: Strategy & Innovation (S&I) focuses on nascent markets, organisational capabilities for innovation, and the strategic management of emerging technologies. As a software engineer who is looking to transition into product management, this course was great. There is a lot of reading and advance prep required for this course (case + required readings) and if you show up to class without any preparation, you will not get much out of it. Additionally there are three assignments and one formal coursework and an exam. After completing this course I gained an understanding of how innovation occurs and why technology companies have adopted some of the policies that they have (open layouts, flat management structures, restrictions on working from home). I did not find every lecture interesting, but the ones that were relevant were invaluable and if you want to work for a technology company post MBA, you should take this course. For a taste of what this course covers, watch Steven Johnson’s TED talk on innovation. Highly recommended. Finance 2 (Audited): I was torn between taking this course and S&I and finally settled on auditing Finance 2 because I knew that it would be hard to do the three S&I assignments and formal coursework and readings without the incentive of being graded. Finance 2 on the other hand only has one exam and hence you don’t really miss out by auditing. An alum recommended the course as an excellent intro to the finance electives that would be available in the Trinity term and I tend to agree with him on this. The lectures on IPO’s, and Private Equity were the most interesting while the lectures on trading, options, and bonds were quite dull (I’m referring here to the topics and not the professor who is excellent). Note that as part of the upcoming MBA revamp, this course is being merged with Finance 1 and hence this elective may not be offered in the future. The week ended with the Digital Marketing exam. This was the only exam that I needed to take this term and hence was quite bearable. After completing the final exam, the tradition at Oxford is to get ‘trashed’. This involves being showered with flour, champagne, shaving cream and other materials by other students. As we walked home, we were congratulated by the local people and students who recognised that we had completed all our examinations. We also attracted many stares from the hordes of curious tourists who seem to have overtaken Oxford now that summer has arrived. And with that the third and final term at Oxford is now complete. I plan to stay back in Oxford for the summer to work on my SCP and get down to job hunting. I will keep this blog updated until Capstone week which will take place during the second week of September.  
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28 Aug 2014, 00:05
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Summer Term: Weeks One and Two |
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As mentioned earlier, I decided to stay back in Oxford to work on a strategic consulting project (SCP). However my team and I decided to take a week off before starting the project so that we could recover from the end of the Trinity term. There is still quite a bit of activity at the business school as the first of the two elective sessions took place during the first two weeks of the summer term (The second session will take place during the last two weeks). Some interesting electives were being offered and I decided to audit a couple of the courses. The electives are taken along with the executive MBA’s and it is an interesting experience. In keeping with the theme of my last two posts, I am including my impressions of the two electives. Private Equity: Private Equity was also offered as an elective during the Trinity term. The course takes place over the first two weeks and the content is identical to the one in the regular term. The only difference is in the assignments, which are slightly less rigorous. Hence if you are interested in learning about Private Equity but are not a quant, taking the course in summer may be worth considering. T Be warned that the professor is quite a critic of the business practices in the PE industry and if you are looking for cheerleading of the industry, you will be disappointed. On the other hand, there is quite a lot to be critical of and even though I have no interest in doing PE, I found the course to be quite informative. The professor is excellent and the guest speakers were quite good. Highly Recommended. Business in Africa: Business in Africa is a summer only elective. I decided to audit the course as I had heard many excellent reviews of the Business in China elective that ran in the Trinity term. This course was not as well received. Though we had an expert on the subject, the course needs more work. The first few lectures were good, but each subsequent lecture declined in quality. Since it is the first year this course is being run, I am hopeful that it will be improved upon. One interesting point in the course was that there were certain moments at which I felt that the knowledge I had acquired in other courses was coming together nicely during this course. For instance, we had a lecture on the private equity industry in Africa and I found the concepts learned in the PE elective to be quite useful. Another lecture involved looking at Walmart’s expansion in Africa, and we used frameworks from the Strategy core course to analyze the case.  
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23 Sep 2014, 12:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Summer Term: Weeks One and Two (summer electives) |
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As mentioned earlier, I decided to stay back in Oxford to work on a strategic consulting project (SCP). However my team and I decided to take a week off before starting the project so that we could recover from the end of the Trinity term. There is still quite a bit of activity at the business school as the first of the two elective sessions took place during the first two weeks of the summer term (The second session will take place during the last two weeks). Some interesting electives were being offered and I decided to audit a couple of the courses. The electives are taken along with the executive MBA’s and it is an interesting experience. In keeping with the theme of my last two posts, I am including my impressions of the two electives. Private Equity: Private Equity was also offered as an elective during the Trinity term. The course takes place over the first two weeks and the content is identical to the one in the regular term. The only difference is in the assignments, which are slightly less rigorous. Hence if you are interested in learning about Private Equity but are not a quant, taking the course in summer may be worth considering. T Be warned that the professor is quite a critic of the business practices in the PE industry and if you are looking for cheerleading of the industry, you will be disappointed. On the other hand, there is quite a lot to be critical of and even though I have no interest in doing PE, I found the course to be quite informative. The professor is excellent and the guest speakers were quite good. Highly Recommended. Business in Africa: Business in Africa is a summer only elective. I decided to audit the course as I had heard many excellent reviews of the Business in China elective that ran in the Trinity term. This course was not as well received. Though we had an expert on the subject, the course needs more work. The first few lectures were good, but each subsequent lecture declined in quality. Since it is the first year this course is being run, I am hopeful that it will be improved upon. One interesting point in the course was that there were certain moments at which I felt that the knowledge I had acquired in other courses was coming together nicely during this course. For instance, we had a lecture on the private equity industry in Africa and I found the concepts learned in the PE elective to be quite useful. Another lecture involved looking at Walmart’s expansion in Africa, and we used frameworks from the Strategy core course to analyze the case.
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23 Sep 2014, 12:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Summer Term: Weeks Three to Six (scp, job hunting) |
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It’s been a while since I have posted and I have a lot of ground to make up (The 2014-2015 class kicked off their pre-course this week!). I hope to catch up and wrap up within the next two weeks, so stay tuned. Strategic Consulting Project Got started with the SCP and it looks quite challenging. The project is centred around the multi-channel capabilities of UK based retailers. Multi-channel refers to the multiple ways in which consumers get information and eventually shop for products. Most consumers expect retailers to support this and retailers have been scrambling to respond. Hence we are trying to figure out which retailer is doing it the right way and who needs to catch up. As part of the project, we are frequently attend meetings with Gartner analysts and with experts in the retailing sector and this is quite exhausting and time consuming. There are also tons of academic papers and research reports to digest. We are also relying very heavily on classmates who have retailing experience (great way to get all the dumb questions out of the way). Oxford is home to the Oxford Institute of Retail Management and we are leveraging their expertise as well. One thing that has become clear is that there is going to be little or no time to job hunt. Hence if you think the SCP will afford you a lot of time for job hunting, think again. Nearly every SCP team that I have spoken to has been surprised by the intensity of the project. There is also a presentation and a report of 15,000 words that you will need to submit as part of the SCP evaluation process. This may or may not be separate from what you will submit to the project sponsor and will vary from project to project. Job Hunting I have had a few emails from prospective students asking me about job prospects post MBA. It’s a fair question given that most of us quit stable jobs and come here with the expectation that our careers will get a boost. Well I have to say that I have been disappointed by the small number of employers who visited campus this year. Things started off well during the first term, but then it tapered off during the next two terms. I would have expected the opposite as recruiting generally picks up as you get closer to graduation. Now I have to note that the following observations apply to the middle 80% of the class. If you are in the top 10%, you will have no trouble finding a job and if you are in the bottom 10%, you will struggle no matter what the school does. Also if you are interested in consulting, you don’t have to worry as most of the big names (Mckinsey, BCG, Deloitte, ATK, LEK) will visit the school. SBS is also quite strong in entrepreneurship and in the social sector. But for everyone else, it is quite hard. Apart from Amazon, which recruits at pretty much every business school in Europe, we really have not had any big names visit. What’s disappointing is that most employers will visit Oxford and hire the undergrads but not the MBA’s. Right now we are about four weeks from graduation and I would estimate that around 10% of the class have jobs. To some extent this is due to the diverse class profile. A sizeable percent of the class, especially those from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia want to return to their home countries and look for jobs there. It’s typically the Europeans and the Indians who are looking for jobs in the UK and in Europe right now. The visa issue is also a major problem as many jobs will require that you have work authorization to even apply. This was an issue even with some employers such as Uber, and Wipro who visited the school to recruit. Some of these issues are not the school’s fault but the school is doing precious little to address issues that are within its control. For those looking without the school’s help, having someone inside the company who can refer you is pretty much the only way to get an interview. Hence if you know people who are currently in a company that you would like to work for, I would advise you to start networking with them as soon as possible. If you dont know anyone, you will have to network hard once you get here. I also think it’s wise to apply to the consulting companies who visit the school even if you have no interest in being a consultant. First, you will have a good backup plan if all else fails and second, you will gain some valuable interviewing practice. Consulting companies recruit fairly early and the case interview format that they use is also used by every MBA employer out there and hence, the sooner you prepare for it the better. I will have more thoughts on the jobs situation in future posts.  
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08 Oct 2014, 16:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Summer Term: Weeks Seven to Ten |
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Job Hunting: Got my first interview of the year and it was such a relief to finally kickoff the job hunt. I’m interested in Product Manager roles and was interviewed by a small company in Cambridge. I cleared the technical phone interview and was invited for an onsite interview. The trip to Cambridge takes close to four hours by bus and I was exhausted when I got there. The interviewers was conducted in a very friendly manner and I felt that it would be a good place to work. Unfortunately I was unable to clear the on-site interview. The behavioural portion of the interview was fine, but there were some technical aspects of the interview that I was a bit rusty on. Furthermore, I was also quite rusty on the case frameworks and has not prepared adequately for this part of the interview and hence was not strong in this area. I will reiterate the advice that I have given in the past – Prepare for case interviews even if you have zero interest in consulting! If I had followed the case framework for the business case that they gave me, my answer would definitely have been stronger. Nevertheless, it was a good learning experience and the feedback that they gave me was very helpful and I now know on which areas I need to improve. Apart from this one interview, the SCP was so demanding that I was not able to devote much time to look for jobs. I will have to restart once I graduate. Strategic Consulting Project: Speaking of the SCP, this ended on a rather disappointing note. After telling us that we were doing well and that we were on the right track, Gartner said that the final report was not upto their expectations. This was after giving us a challenging and cryptic project mandate and then failing to help us at the final stage when we were stuck because most retail executives that we needed to interview were on holiday. They then refused to pay the meagre amount of 1000 pounds for six weeks for work because they were not ‘mesmerized’ by our final report. It’s puzzling why they chose to act in this way, but unfortunately there is little that my team can do apart from warning any MBA’s from working with them. Fortunately our SCP grade will not be affected as the evaluation is on the presentation to the school along with a 15,000 word report and is independent of the company’s opinion. Overall, I still think that the SCP represents the best learning opportunity for MBA’s. Obviously if you are offered an internship at a company that could turn into a job, you should take it. But if you are deciding between the electives and the SCP, if you have a good team you should do the SCP. If there are elective that you really want to attend, you can do as I did and pick an SCP that is based in Oxford and audit the electives. I learned a lot about myself during the SCP. In particular they were areas that I now know that I need to improve on as a teammate and leader and hence I do not regret doing the SCP, although I really wish we had picked Quandoo (another SCP option) rather than Gartner. Capstone: Capstone is a weeklong affair that is one big party and it’s really just a chance to say goodbye to all the friends that you made over the last one year. Capstone week culminates in a (fake) graduation ceremony that is typically held at the Sheldonian Theater. The official graduation ceremony is usually held in April-May of 2015 and it’s done by your college and not by the business school. Furthermore, most SBS grads will return to their home countries once they finish the course and hence the business school arranges a separate ceremony in the middle of September in order to enable everyone to attend and ‘graduate’ together. The commencement was held in the afternoon and in the evening we were invited to a black tie dinner at the University club. It was a fitting end to an amazing year and though everyone is sad that it has come to an end, there was a lot of excitement/anticipation at the thought of what the future holds for all of us.  
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25 Oct 2014, 14:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Post MBA: Week Six Mini Update |
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It’s now been exactly six weeks since the graduation ceremony that was held at the Sheldonian and I think it’s a good time to give a mini update on where things stand. Housing If you are planning to stay back and look for jobs after graduation, your first dilemma will center around your post graduation location i.e Oxford or London. There are pros and cons to either location and you should make the decision based on your situation. My initial impulse was to stick around in Oxford as it would have been much more convenient to move my things to another location in Oxford. Furthermore, I would have been able to use the library and other facilities in the business school. However, I found that it was really difficult to find short term housing in Oxford, and I reluctantly abandoned my plans to stay there. I eventually wound up moving to South London with three of my classmates. London is more expensive than Oxford but it does have a few advantages. Oxford is very different from the outside world and after a year there, you can find yourself in a bubble. Moving to London in some ways feels like moving back into the real world and this can be useful in the job search process. I am also able to attend events and network with product managers in London by attending Meetups and I do not think it would have been as easy if I did not live here. The last reason may seem trivial, but it’s also an opportunity to live in London for a while and experience what the city has to offer. I would say that in terms of numbers, approximately 20 students from my class chose to stay back in Oxford, while around 50 or so moved to London. The London numbers also include those who found work and hence moved there to begin their jobs. Job Hunting In the past six weeks, I have had three job interviews. One did not lead to an offer, while I am still in the interview process and waiting to hear back from the other two. The visa issue is frustrating as there have been three other companies in the UK that wanted to interview me but could not as they would have been unable to sponsor my work visa. I have had pretty good results applying to technology companies in Berlin. This is probably very specific advice to those looking to work at technology companies, but as Berlin is trying to establish itself as a hub for technological entrepreneurship in Europe, there do seem to be some opportunities there. I have been speaking to my Indian classmates who are here looking for jobs and the good news is that many seems to be getting invitations to interview and are hopeful of receiving job offers. The economic climate has improved and things do seem to be better for our class than the batch before us. However, it is also true that a few have left and returned to India as they did not feel that their prospects were good. The standard for most business schools is to report the employment numbers three months after graduation. Hence I think it would be premature to pass judgement until then. I will give a jobs update in mid December and hopefully a clearer picture will emerge.  
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22 Nov 2014, 19:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Post MBA: Two Month Update |
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Many of my classmates and I have been receiving queries from MBA aspirants who are interested in applying to SBS. The questions are usually focussed on the career opportunities after graduating from Oxford. This is understandable as many of them plan to take on massive amounts of debt and cannot repay them unless they obtain employment in the UK/EU. It’s very difficult to give a good answer to these questions as it really depends on a range of factors. The individual’s background is a factor, the position that they are attempting to shift into is a factor, the macroeconomic picture (which no one can predict, so please stop asking!) is a factor. I honestly feel that the best way to answer these questions is to look at the careers report of the business school. However, SBS will not update the report of this year’s class until April/May 2015 which is rather late. There is also the issue that the report is an average and does not break down the statistics by nationality, visa status etc. Therefore, I have compiled a small report on the careers situation this year. I have done this by looking at LinkedIn profile updates and by talking to my classmates. I have restricted the report to the Indians in the class, but it’s representative of any nationality that requires visa sponsorship to work in the UK or EU. These numbers are not 100% accurate as I am sure there are a few who have received offers and have not made it public yet.  The sample size was approximately 45 students. I have only considered those who were interested in working in the UK. Some left right after graduating because they wanted to pursue opportunities in India and thus I am not considering them in this report. The 15% that you see in the chart are those who were pessimistic about finding jobs here and then left. Most of those who are employed, are working in the consulting sector. The purpose of this report is to to accurately represent the situation here. Many seem to think that Oxford MBA graduates will have no trouble finding jobs but this is simply not the case. There is a lot of hard work required to find any job, let alone a dream job. I should note that almost everyone who is still here is interviewing with at least one company, hence I expect these numbers to improve in a month’s time. I will update these numbers at that time.  
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10 Jan 2015, 14:00
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Post MBA: Week Six Mini Update |
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It’s now been exactly six weeks since the graduation ceremony that was held at the Sheldonian and I think it’s a good time to give a mini update on where things stand. Housing If you are planning to stay back and look for jobs after graduation, your first dilemma will center around your post graduation location i.e Oxford or London. There are pros and cons to either location and you should make the decision based on your situation. My initial impulse was to stick around in Oxford as it would have been much more convenient to move my things to another location in Oxford. Furthermore, I would have been able to use the library and other facilities in the business school. However, I found that it was really difficult to find short term housing in Oxford, and I reluctantly abandoned my plans to stay there. I eventually wound up moving to South London with three of my classmates. London is more expensive than Oxford but it does have a few advantages. Oxford is very different from the outside world and after a year there, you can find yourself in a bubble. Moving to London in some ways feels like moving back into the real world and this can be useful in the job search process. I am also able to attend events and network with product managers in London by attending Meetups and I do not think it would have been as easy if I did not live here. The last reason may seem trivial, but it’s also an opportunity to live in London for a while and experience what the city has to offer. I would say that in terms of numbers, approximately 20 students from my class chose to stay back in Oxford, while around 50 or so moved to London. The London numbers also include those who found work and hence moved there to begin their jobs. Job Hunting In the past six weeks, I have had three job interviews. One did not lead to an offer, while I am still in the interview process and waiting to hear back from the other two. The visa issue is frustrating as there have been three other companies in the UK that wanted to interview me but could not as they would have been unable to sponsor my work visa. I have had pretty good results applying to technology companies in Berlin. This is probably very specific advice to those looking to work at technology companies, but as Berlin is trying to establish itself as a hub for technological entrepreneurship in Europe, there do seem to be some opportunities there. I have been speaking to my Indian classmates who are here looking for jobs and the good news is that many seems to be getting invitations to interview and are hopeful of receiving job offers. The economic climate has improved and things do seem to be better for our class than the batch before us. However, it is also true that a few have left and returned to India as they did not feel that their prospects were good. The standard for most business schools is to report the employment numbers three months after graduation. Hence I think it would be premature to pass judgement until then. I will give a jobs update in mid December and hopefully a clearer picture will emerge.
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10 Jan 2015, 14:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Post MBA: Two Month Update |
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Many of my classmates and I have been receiving queries from MBA aspirants who are interested in applying to SBS. The questions are usually focussed on the career opportunities after graduating from Oxford. This is understandable as many of them plan to take on massive amounts of debt and cannot repay them unless they obtain employment in the UK/EU. It’s very difficult to give a good answer to these questions as it really depends on a range of factors. The individual’s background is a factor, the position that they are attempting to shift into is a factor, the macroeconomic picture (which no one can predict, so please stop asking!) is a factor. I honestly feel that the best way to answer these questions is to look at the careers report of the business school. However, SBS will not update the report of this year’s class until April/May 2015 which is rather late. There is also the issue that the report is an average and does not break down the statistics by nationality, visa status etc. Therefore, I have compiled a small report on the careers situation this year. I have done this by looking at LinkedIn profile updates and by talking to my classmates. I have restricted the report to the Indians in the class, but it’s representative of any nationality that requires visa sponsorship to work in the UK or EU. These numbers are not 100% accurate as I am sure there are a few who have received offers and have not made it public yet. The sample size was approximately 45 students. I have only considered those who were interested in working in the UK. Some left right after graduating because they wanted to pursue opportunities in India and thus I am not considering them in this report. The 15% that you see in the chart are those who were pessimistic about finding jobs here and then left. Most of those who are employed, are working in the consulting sector. The purpose of this report is to to accurately represent the situation here. Many seem to think that Oxford MBA graduates will have no trouble finding jobs but this is simply not the case. There is a lot of hard work required to find any job, let alone a dream job. I should note that almost everyone who is still here is interviewing with at least one company, hence I expect these numbers to improve in a month’s time. I will update these numbers at that time.
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17 Jan 2015, 06:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Blog Statistics |
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This blog crossed 2000 views in December and I’m quite pleased about it. It may not have quite matched the readership of other MBA blogs, but given that the MBA program at Oxford is quite small when compared to others, it’s to be expected. I thought it might be interesting to share some numbers on where the readers/views of this blog come from. So without further ado, here they are.  It’s not surprising that the majority of the views come from India and the USA as they are the two largest blocks in the student body. The UK coming in third does surprise me as they are typically an extremely small percentage of the class. There must be a few readers in the current class or alums living in the UK who have contributed to that number. The rest of the numbers are in line with what I would have expected.  
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16 Apr 2015, 14:01
| FROM Whiplasher - Current Student: Post MBA: Seven Month Update |
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It has been a fairly long time since I have posted here, but I definitely did not want to sign off without giving readers a quick update on my personal situation. I had a couple of job leads from Silicon MilkRoundabout that I converted into interviews where I performed quite well. However, in the end, both companies were unable to sponsor me for a visa and I had to return to India in February after working for one of these companies for two months until my visa expired. I definitely would have liked to work in London for awhile, but it is hard for smaller companies to navigate the visa process and you definitely do not get enough time after graduation for the job search as the hiring process pretty much shuts down in December. I have however made the transition in role that I was hoping to get out of the MBA as I found a job as a Product Manager at a rapidly growing technology company in India. I have received a few requests for an update to the career statistics for Indian students (without work authorization) that I posted back in November. The same caveats and limitations that I referenced in that post apply here as well. In addition, as I relied a lot on LinkedIn and since I know many students have not yet updated their LinkedIn profiles, I have tried to verify their job status through other sources. In many cases I was unable to do so and hence I added these to the “Not Sure” category.  These numbers are just a rough indicator. Please do not make a decision on whether to attend Oxford based on them alone. Make sure you contact alums who are in jobs that you aspire to be in and ask them for advice. In addition, the school should be releasing their official career report soon so keep an eye out for that as well. I don’t really have any concrete plans for this blog going forward, so please feel free to leave comments on what I should write about. One thought I had was to maybe interview classmates who found jobs in the UK on their job search strategies. Once I have more work experience, I may also do a post on how the MBA in helping/hurting me in my role as PM.  
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18 Jul 2015, 03:12
| FROM mybjourney - Current Student: Acing the Argument Analysis |
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I have been approached a number of times recently with GMAT aspirants asking for the best strategy to score well in the AWA section. I admit I did not invest much time in this section during my GMAT preparation, which in itself was pretty hurried with. I would read few sample argument essays to get a gist of how the essays should be structured, but that was it. But towards the end of my preparation, it started to worry me that I had ignored the section completely. Was I getting too overconfident? I do not know. I wanted to focus on my weak areas more, but felt it was pertinent to read from the experience of previous test takers as to what a strong argument looks like. Research on net on sample AWA led me to this post on GMATClub. A test taker had shared his strategy a few years back, which has now been popularly known as ‘chineseburned method’, after this username! I found it extremely resourceful and practiced a couple of times during the week before the test. I would also get my write-up reviewed by my friends who had taken the GMAT earlier. Below is a brilliant infographic of the same, for easy reference. Take a print out and stick it on your desk for quick recap when you are taking a break from your prep!  Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the template / chineseburned, nor have been asked by anyone to endorse the same. I found it extremely helpful during my preparation and want to share with others.  
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18 Jul 2015, 03:12
| FROM mybjourney - Current Student: 100 days |
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That is exactly the number of days before the orientation for MBA class of 2016 begins at Oxford. Hell yeah! It’s all been happening so fast I’m sure these 100 days are also going to fly past in a jiffy. Before I know I’ll be walking through the gates of the hallowed institution with a dazed look and nervous footsteps, towards what shall be my abode for the next year and a brand for the rest of my life. Where I’ll step in with the fire to learn and from where I’ll walk out empowered to take on the bigger challenges. Sounds like kindergarten all over again, ain’t it? Melodrama aside, my plan for the next 100 days is to practically do nothing, and yet, there’s quite a lot to do still. I’ve moved back to my hometown, all my 4 years of stuff from Bangalore packed in boxes and stashed aside. Soon after I arrived, we drove to Kashmir, to our ancestral place and farmhouse. In the coming weeks I’ll be going through the mails and newsletters from SBS and also get started on documents needed for visa application. In the meantime, I also need to submit Financial Declaration to the school, only after which will they send across the CAS. CAS is needed to apply for student visa, I shall be writing in detail about visa application soon. Every single person I’ve interacted with lately has been telling me about how I’m never getting this free time ever again in life and how I should make the most of it – by basically relaxing. Speaking with current and former students I gather that there is not much to fret over the course work, which will be manageable in the campus and that I need not worry about that before the term begins. However the school has put up a list of recommended readings and a couple of mandatory pre-arrival formalities to be completed, which I shall need to go through. Top on the list is working on my CV and researching on what a good cover letter looks like. School’s career centre is also conducting a series of Webinars over the coming weeks to give an introduction into various career options and job application advice. I am looking forward to these sessions since currently I’m in a dilemma about my career progression ( I want to stay in the industry but that’s that ). But more than everything else, I am looking forward to spending my time with family and catching up on novels and movies, after so long. I think this is going to be my longest time spent at home since 2007 when I moved to my undergrad hostel. So here I am, sitting over this view from my patio, soaking in the lull before the storm!   
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22 Jul 2015, 02:01
| FROM mybjourney - Current Student: Accommodation, Tickets: Check |
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My lovely brother booked the flight tickets for this jobless broke girl. God bless elder siblings! I’ll be landing to Heathrow in early September with my parents and we shall spend a couple of weeks at my brother’s place, before I head off for Oxford on September 20th (oritentation starts on 21st). The entire family will be together after over a year and we are quite excited. If my brother’s work schedule permits him some days off, we will make a short trip too. Cannot wait! Signed my accommodation contract and sent it across to the college accommodation today. Rewley Abbey Court, with a distance of just about 200 mts from Saïd is going to be my abode for the next one year.  One upside of getting admitted early on in the admissions cycle is that you have ample options to choose from to secure college and accommodation. With GTC ( Green Templeton College ) being my first choice and a safe one for MBA students, there were enough on-site and off-campus accommodation options available. I wanted to stay as close to the school as possible, so that its easier to reach the school quickly in case I am running late. A long sleepy walk / ride to the school in sub zero temperatures during school is the last thing I want to worry about. And with the few extra minutes that I would save, I can always make use in grabbing some soon-to-be-a-rare-luxury sleep.  The downside being that this is off the college premises, again limiting interaction with non-MBA scholars. Also that I didn’t have option for an ensuite room in shared flats at RAC. Having lived in an undergraduate hostel with 20 girls in my corridor with only a handful of washrooms to share with, I am prepared to live with anything! I’ll be sharing a 2 BHK flat with a batchmate from India. We both are in touch over messages and she seems really nice. We both are excited and have been discussing on what all we will need to buy once we are there, mainly kitchen and utility items. The accommodation includes cooker and refrigerator, but would need to set up rest of the kitchen. The accommodation license has an elaborate instruction list on what is allowed and what is not in the flat. I will go through it in detail soon, specially for the electric and electronic items. Regardless, a couple of will be pertinent to carry. For those interested, there is a video of the 2BHK RAC flat on YouTube by Nick, the accommodation manager. This was immensely helpful for me before putting forth my application for accommodation with my preferred choice. So with arrangements for accommodation and travel made, I need to get started on my Visa application asap!  
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01 Aug 2015, 01:01
| FROM mybjourney - Current Student: Tier 4 Student Visa (from India) |
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Back to hometown after a short trip to New Delhi for my visa appointment. Whoever tells you that the toughest part gets over once you get an admit is SO wrong! Either that or he never needed to apply for visa. The application is a bit of a task in itself. For UK Visa application in India, unlike visa app for USA, on the day of your appointment you submit at the application centre what you feel is your best prepared application and then can only wait for weeks in dreaded anticipation before you hear from embassy about their decision. Almost like an encore of your B school application! For the benefit for first timers, I’m outlining the process to be followed to apply for Tier 4 Student (General) Visa (Make sure to diligently go through the detailed guidelines laid out here on GOV.UK and here on Oxford’s site)
If you want your documents to be sent back to your home in lieu of personal pick up, you can request for courier after paying certain amount (flatly refused for my state, why VFS why???) Once your token number is called out, you move to the allotted counter and submit your documents. The staff will go through the bundle and ask you a couple of questions to confirm your identity. Make sure you submit all documents in original to be on the safer side (recently heard of a friend whose visa got rejected because she submitted a notarised copy of her degree certificate?!!). You are then proceeded for the biometric test and a short video interview. My interview was warm and friendly. The interviewer asked me a few questions about my background and reason behind pursuing MBA and choosing Oxford as my preferred place of study. I assume the interview is done to ascertain your identity and that you are fit to study in the UK with regards to your command over English and study plans. Barring a tiny moment of panic where the staff pointed out to me that I should’ve carried a No Objection Letter from my parents since I was showing funds from a joint account, the process was extremely smooth for me. It had not occurred to me – and I had read the guidelines multiple times – that I would need an authorisation from my parents if I was a joint holder. The staff was quite helpful though and suggested that I manage to get the letter after my video interview in half an hour’s time. The following 30 minutes were the biggest adventure for me during my uneventful unemployed pre-MBA life. Sprinting around the market on call with parents who were at our farmhouse in a remote countryside, with both parties searching for a nearby internet cafe and finally managing to make it back just in time before they shut the doors – it was quite an experience! I have subscribed to SMS alerts on the status of my visa application. Last checked my phone for the 87th time, there’s been no update apart from “Your visa application xxxxxxx was forwarded to UKVI”. The next one better be “Your visa is issued, please come over to collect your passport and we are more than happy to enclose a ticket to Platform 9 3/4 for you!”  
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30 Aug 2015, 23:54
| FROM Yudanashi - Current Student: Why Oxford MBA is the best class of MBA’s Globally |
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After I was accepted to Oxford I had an amazing opportunity to visit and meet a few fellow admitted students. We sat through a mock lecture, toured the business school and all of Oxford (including the spot where Catholics were burned at the stake for betraying the King), and had lunch in a Great Hall of Balliol college, one of the oldest colleges in all of Oxford. I’d like to spend today’s post telling you more about my class and the amazing people in it. During my weekend trip I met a handful of my future classmates, but most exciting was that after I accepted my spot at Oxford, I was looped into a facebook group of fellow students. And over the past 5-6 months we have connected, collaborated, and connected with each other that makes me excited about the next year. As I said last week, the diversity of Oxford is one of the main reasons I am excited about my next 12 months. Most people seem confused when I tell them that there is only a small contingent of British MBA students and part of that is because the Master’s programs in the UK are 1. Cheaper, and 2. Usually all UK citizens need to boost their career should an OxBridge degree not be enough. Therefore I want to provide a few stats about my fellow classmates and a handful of amazing stories to excite you about my class. On average, my classmates will be 2 years older than I am (not anything new for me). Our class is 32% female which, while low for US top programs, actually is on par for international programs. We have 56 nationalities and an average of 5.5 years work experience. Additionally, we have only 2.5% LGBT representation (which I hope overtime will increase for Oxford). What makes us truly unique from US programs is our international diversity. In the US there is ~40% non-US population, and that includes US citizens who happen to be working overseas. My class is only 20% from the US. That means 80% of my class comes from another country. The impact this is going to have on my global mindset is amazing! Here is a graph of our geographic diversity:  What’s more important than our geographic & gender diversity is the quality of students we have attending this year. We have an Indian male with 10 yrs experience working in energy development, a Filipino-American female who managed global marketing campaigns for Warner Brothers, robotics engineers from Sydney, an Indian female who built her family fashion business coming to school to grow it globally, and a Mormon Angel investment banker from Utah. Beyond the traditional Finance/Consulting careers that typically drive MBA students, we have international journalists, former military vets from all over the globe, lawyers from South America who have never worn a winter coat, nonprofit managers from Idaho, a Canadian researching the impact of social entrepreneurship, World Economic Forum leaders who are working on solving global water shortages, and a fellow DC student working with Madeleine Albright on international development. I am 100% confident that our class will out-perform any and all US schools on the global market because at our core is an international, global focus on providing lasting, social and environmental impact on the world in which we live. I also know that starting next month, anytime I want to visit another country I’ll have someone who can host me for a weekend. After All, this is my classmate’s global map.  I am extremely excited about the diverse perspectives my classmates will bring and look forward to the discussions, and arguments we get in due to our cultural and geographic biases that other US students may be missing out on. |
30 Aug 2015, 23:54
| FROM Yudanashi - Current Student: Why Choosing Oxford Was The Hardest Choice I’ve Made |
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I have spent a lot of time on this blog talking in generalities about Oxford, this week’s post is more personal as I just took off from my home in DC for the last time for at least a year. My decision to pull the trigger and go to Oxford was extremely difficult. More than the standard loss of home, community, friends and job (which have been immense and at times painful), my choice to go to Oxford is one of the hardest choices I have yet made because it represents a personal choice to close a door on a truly unique opportunity that may never come around again. For those who don’t know my background, I have spent the past 6 years of my career in politics and technology, and in April, just after attending admitted students weekend at Oxford, I received a message from a great friend of mine, Matt. Matt’s message asked if I’d be interested in talking about tech to a guy looking at running for US Senate in Maryland. Always on the lookout for clients I said absolutely and began my research. As I read about Chrys Kefalas and his background I became enthralled. A Millennial like myself who started his own internet-sports company that rivaled ESPN when he was just in High School, he sold it to pay for law school in Baltimore while working at his family’s restaurant. Following school he worked for the Republican Governor of Maryland (Bob Ehrlich) working to reform the broken criminal justice system. After his time with the Governor he worked at the Department of Justice for 7 years eventually becoming speech-writer to the Attorney General on Criminal Justice & Civil Rights issues. While at DOJ he took personal time to come out as gay and call for marriage equality in Maryland just after Prop 8 had passed, limiting marriage in California. He was the highest Republican in the state to do so and he continued to fight for equality until Question 6 passed in 2012. As a Gay Republican myself I was inspired and set time aside to work for Chrys to help get his digital campaign set-up. I spent time with Chrys and his partner and late one night after a charity event I asked Chrys the candid question “Why?” He knew what I meant and proceeded to tell me that he was running to give kids on the street of Baltimore a chance at a life better than dealing drugs for $8,000 a year until they are either locked up or killed by 26. He told me he was running because previous leaders had failed his home, and that this could only be fixed at the federal level. I had been waiting for a candidate like Chrys, someone who is consistently conservative and who has the presence to demand change for the citizens of his state who are living without hope and without opportunity. I sat there listening to his candid answer to my personal question and knew in my heart that I wanted to work for him. To those who have watched the West Wing, I was Josh Lyman having discovered Jeb Bartlett up in Nassau; and with my deposit for Oxford due in a week, I had to find Sam Seaborn and make a decision.  The next morning I went to two campaign events with Chrys and then booked the next flight to Seattle where I spent 30 hours confiding in two of my best friends and confidants. Over the course of the next 3 days I weighed my dream candidate with the magic of Oxford and when time came for a decision I made one of the most difficult choices I have ever made, and picked Oxford. In doing so I gave up a chance to manage a Senate campaign that has the potential to change the Republican party. I gave up my dream candidate knowing that I might never get this chance again. As I take-off from DC having spent the last 4 months helping with Chrys’ race I can’t help but hear a creeping voice in the back of my head telling me I made the wrong decision. This is one of the moments that later in life I may come to regret. I plan on doing all that I can for Chrys during school breaks and in the few weeks between graduation and the election, but only time will tell if I made the right decision or not. If you have a moment, are a US Citizen, and have a minute to research and donate to Chrys’ campaign I urge you to do so. He truly does represent the future of the republican party and a candidate who can inspire those around him. Join me next week as I share my goals and plans for the next 12 months of my life getting an Oxford MBA. |
06 Sep 2015, 18:02
| FROM Yudanashi - Current Student: A New Adventure |
 Tomorrow morning I hop on a flight to the UK and officially begin the next step in my journey. I’ve spent months getting ready. From pre-class assignments & readings, to packing up my entire life into just 3 bags. As I get finish my preparations I am struck with the question I’ve been asked a lot as I have gone through this process. “What do you want to do with your degree.” As I look at all the options I have following my MBA I am at first struck with choice paralysis. I could continue in consulting but at a higher level, learning a lot about new industries as I go along. I could dive into finance and help a VC fund invest in start-ups that could change the world. I can focus on marketing and help companies use the power of their brand to improve the lives of their customers. I could shift more into tech and work as a product manager developing a tool to make someone’s live just a little bit easier. As I look at my options and even how I describe them to others, there is a common thread. I want my work to have a positive impact on others. And in talking with almost a third of my class, this seems to be a reason why most of us picked Oxford. The school’s focus on Social Entrepreneurship is a key driver of our choice for Oxford; this holds true even for those of us who don’t want to be entrepreneurs ourselves. While I love marketing and will likely end up down that path, if a role opened up in consulting for non-profits, or running finance for a charitable trust, or a product manager role for an AirBnB for homeless youth who have been failed by the foster-care system, I would probably take it in a heart-beat. Why? Because I care more about having a positive impact on the world than on fulfilling a specific job function. To some, this may appear that I lack focus and to an extent they are right. I am open to any function that I am qualified for. However, what they miss is that my industry is very focused. It isn’t Healthcare or Energy; Manufacturing or High Tech. My industry is Social Impact. I hope that over the course of my Oxford MBA I can find the perfect function within that industry to enable me to have a positive impact on the world around me. To that aim, my goals for the year, my MBA resolutions, my OKR’s (to borrow a term from my time at Google) are as follows:
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14 Sep 2015, 03:02
| FROM Yudanashi - Current Student: My first week in Oxford – and how I got here. |
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In the past week I have had an amazing time at Oxford. I have met a few dozen classmates, enjoyed a dozen pubs and restaurants, and gone exploring, but lets start with the flight. On Monday morning I said goodbye to my Mum and boarded a flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to JFK. I spent that flight reading a book called “Watching the English” all about the different cultural norms and rules which create English culture (Thanks Cara for the suggestion). When I landed at Heathrow I checked into the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse and settled in for my 5-hour layover. I ate some dinner, got my hair trimmed up, and chatted with a handful of staff and my fellow passengers. Next I boarded business class and for the next 7-hours had a wonderful international flight complete with Dinner, & Breakfast, some sleep and a chance to chat up a cute flight attendant (whom I have a date with next week). All of this service came free-of-charge as I put down my Oxford MBA deposit onto a new credit-card that offered me 75k miles if I hit a certain spend threshold; the business class ticket was only 60k miles. I highly recommend this strategy in the future. After landing came immigration/customs. There is a student-line which goes very quickly or, with business class you get a priority lane as well (yet another reason). Make sure you have your admit letter and visa in-hand as your process will take a bit longer than just the usual questions you are asked. I highly recommend filing for your Visa immediately after getting your CAS number in July. You don’t want to save it till the last minute as the NYC office has messed up dates on visas multiple times this year resulting in another 3-4 weeks to get it resolved. After getting through the airport and up to Oxford I checked into my flat and started unpacking. I am 90% moved-in at this point and for a college dorm room things are pretty solid. I share a kitchen/common room with 9 other people who have yet to move in, but I have my own bathroom and shower (a luxury here at Oxford). I live on a little street with some great restaurants and not too far away from a nice run at the University Parks. This first week has been filled with jet lag and a lot of administrative work, but at the end of the day everything is awesome and I still can’t believe I’m here. Really I’m just waiting for the other show to drop and I think that’s around the corner with class-work. See you all next week, the day before our program officially begins! |
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