Sunday, November 23, 2003
Let me just say this: the McCombs School of Business at University of Texas- Austin is AWESOME!!! I LOVED it there. It's so much more mellow and collaborative than many other schools. During the Explore McCombs recruiting event, one of the top professors, Prof. Doggett, did a case study review with the attendees. He is a great professor. It's been a long time since I felt so engaged.
And something unexpected happened, as well. I actually LEARNED this weekend. I learned that to serve your customers well, you have to develop a produthathat remedies their pain. I learned that excellent students do not necessary make excellent business executives. I realized that I really have A LOT to learn. It was a somewhat humbling experience.
All of the current students I met were very passionate about their school and about their career choice. You don't always see passionate people in life, let alone in business schools. It was refreshing to hear from people who were trying to do what they loved.
So UT has suddenly hurdled itself from a distant second to a near tie with Stanford. I have VERY different reasons for liking both schools, but honestly, I think I could be happy in either place.
Oh and my interview - didn't go as well as I had hoped. I didn't have the opportunity to gather my thoughts before the interview, so I completely blew the critical first question, the why MBA why now question. I was ALL over the place. I think the main ideas were there, but I was completely incoherent. Oh well, what can you do? I hope it doesn't keep me out.
(My advice - prepare before your interview. There are a couple of questions that are almost guaranteed from what I heard - "Why MBA, Why Now, Why Here?", Career Aspirations, Strengths/Weaknesses, etc. Oh and spend some time assessing how you work in groups. (I still don't know how to determine this last one and what I should say, by the way!)).
And something unexpected happened, as well. I actually LEARNED this weekend. I learned that to serve your customers well, you have to develop a produthathat remedies their pain. I learned that excellent students do not necessary make excellent business executives. I realized that I really have A LOT to learn. It was a somewhat humbling experience.
All of the current students I met were very passionate about their school and about their career choice. You don't always see passionate people in life, let alone in business schools. It was refreshing to hear from people who were trying to do what they loved.
So UT has suddenly hurdled itself from a distant second to a near tie with Stanford. I have VERY different reasons for liking both schools, but honestly, I think I could be happy in either place.
Oh and my interview - didn't go as well as I had hoped. I didn't have the opportunity to gather my thoughts before the interview, so I completely blew the critical first question, the why MBA why now question. I was ALL over the place. I think the main ideas were there, but I was completely incoherent. Oh well, what can you do? I hope it doesn't keep me out.
(My advice - prepare before your interview. There are a couple of questions that are almost guaranteed from what I heard - "Why MBA, Why Now, Why Here?", Career Aspirations, Strengths/Weaknesses, etc. Oh and spend some time assessing how you work in groups. (I still don't know how to determine this last one and what I should say, by the way!)).
