Congratulations to all GMATClub members who will be enrolling at the UW this fall. I am a 2009 full time student and have been meaning to write a debrief on my first year for some time.
Coming from someone who just finished the first half of the program, I would like to provide some rants and raves about the Foster MBA program.
1. In line with some of the earlier posts, UW is indeed a competitive (in a collaborative sense) school. Our admissions requirements are strict and expect to come in contact with VERY bright people every day. My classmates taught me as much, if not more, than my professors over the past year. We have lawyers, engineers, entrepreneurs, linguists, even doctors in our program.
2. (Core) faculty is top brass. Our strategy professor last quarter visited from INSEAD, marketing professor hails from Kellogg and finace professor in Harvard minted. Even management is taught by staff from Stanford. I have heard that second year is hit and miss, but core classes are filled with superstars: Hill, Boulos, Fong, Turner and Koski just to name a few. Get to know your staff, take them to brunch or dinner whenever possible because these people are connected!
3. Foster on campus recruiting, especially informational interviews begin in October, so be ready to start looking for an internship early on. We are the biggest class on record (117 students) and almost everybody locked in an offer for the summer. 2nd years have landed solid roles with reputable Fortune 500 firms locally and abroad. Microsoft alone took seven students this year.
4. The Balmer building is in the process of being rebuilt and expanded to the N4 parking lot. From what I have gathered, $300M+ is being sunk into the project with state-ot-the-art facilities operational by 2012. Get ready to deal with all the jackhammers and earth-moving equiptment. I heard that you 2010s will be moved to the other side of the building to mitigate some of the construction noise.
5. Get ready to work in teams of six people. Teams are picked in advance and usually consist of one speadsheet guru, a quant jock, a marketing-presenter type, two foreign students and one "oddball." I was always the oddball, but somehow there was always a method to the madness. Some teams work great while others have friction due to whatever reasons. I pray you all get good teams, for ALL three quarters. "Aggressive Type A" teams can really bum out a great quarter unless you are solely focused on getting a 3.8.
6. Grades are on a 2.8-3.8 curve, with the mean around 3.4. Rarely does anybody get above a 3.8 or less than a 2.8, although I have heard of each. Work hard, fulfill team committments, attend class and you will pass. If you want a scholarship for 2010, then I suggest you prepare for some long nights and weekends because the case workload is overbearing for some. Then again, if programming spreadsheets and mastering the theory is your objective, then expect hansome support in your second year. BTW, not all scholarships are announced until THE WEEK BEFORE classes begin. There are several $5K nuggets that get distributed in August/September, so don't be discouraged. I got a scholarship with a 640 GMAT, so surely most of the rest of you will as well.
7. If you aren't studying with teammates or participating in club events, then get ready to socialize. UW is big on holding parties in the MBA lounge and local bars on the Avenue (even downtown). There are TG events every other Friday and pub clubs on Thursday nights.
8. Our school is VERY international, but not quite like the "micro United Nations" experience you'd get at INSEAD or Thunderbird. About 40% of the class comes from Asia, most split 50/50 between China and India. Granted we do have a strong Korean presence too. Don't expect to see any internationals from S. America or Europe, not one.
9. Live CLOSE to campus. People who have to bus in everyday from the Eastside or Lynwood spend 2+ hours commuting everyday. Busses are cheap, but they stop frequently and make sharp turns. Besides, Seattle surface streets are AWFUL and it does drizzle a lot in the fall and winter. I live in Ravenna with my wife and we pay $750/month with parking for a small, but comfortable one bedroom apartment. Comb Craigslist carefully for places within a mile of campus. Seriously, over a mile and you will be forced to ride the bus more days than not.
10. Get ready to study hard, play hard and have the time of your life. I aged a lot last year because I probably slept 4-6 hours a night consistently. There were nights when I would have given $20 for an extra hour's sleep but refused to let down team committments. You will soon find that the team comes before youself in most situations. The first quarter is exceptionally challenging because of the 3-4 hour management component that takes up Fridays. This is also the quarter loaded up with managerial econ, stats, accounting, and strategy. If you can make it throught the first quarter, then you will find that winter and spring allow for Fridays off and not quite as rigorous of a schedule.
11. Stay balanced or you will get sick, depressed, and possibly implode at times. This may sound overly dramatic, but I have witnessed multiple occurences of each of the above. For some reason though, people seem to get sick a lot during the fall quarter, so load up on multivitamins and find a way to stay healthy. We have a WORLD CLASS fitness center -- the IMA -- which offers everything from badmitting to indoor rock climbing. We also have bike trails that run adjacent to the campus and extend all the way around Lake Washington. Whatever gets your endorphines pumped, I suggest you develope a routine and stick to it. The people who seemed to handle the stress the best were all disciplined ex-military.
12. Finally, I suggest everybody who intends to matriculate to start (if you haven't already) reading Forbes, BizWeek, WSJ etc and know what is going on in the business world. The first question out of most prof's at 8am is "what is happening in the world of business today?" I suppose that goes without saying, but make sure you understand the bigger picture.
Welcome week (including Jump Start) was by far one of the most exciting times of the program. There are so many cool things going on at once and you don't officially start classes until nearly October. Whatever you do, don't miss the gambling cruise with free drinks and entertainment.
Best of luck all and let me know if I can be of further assistance.
GMATT
@Praet: Sorry for the late response, I have been busting ass getting by one day at a time.
Nov 20
15 May 2008, 08:27
Here we have 2 candidates turning down thee school in no small part due to the less than stellar welcome wagon. bah! Get with it foster. 
