Imaginary Engineer - Yale SOM '08

Simulations

2007-04-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest tools I've learned in my short MBA life is how to use simulation models to solve complicated real-world problems. I'm taking two ops electives that use computer simulations to address problems I will probably face this summer and when I graduate next year. Today in Supply Chain Management, we simulated the famous MIT Beer Game online. While this exercise is not completely realistic because no communication was allowed to upstream/downstream partners, it showed how ineffective supply chains can hurt your total costs exponentially. Also, our group is competing in a week long simulation managing a supply chain of an industrial chemical factory/warehouse/distribution network. Coming from a distribution background, I'm interested to learn about the roles of upstream players and how that impacts the entire supply chain. My other elective, Ops Simulation Modeling, is my favorite class because we are learning how to use Extend software to build complicated models to simulate nearly any business. Whether the processes are discrete or continuous, we are learning to use Extend to solve problems such as waiting times in Hospitals, Banks and Courts.

On a side note, I'm also excited to participate in the int'l Littlefield competition hosted by MIT's Ops Club. There are over 60 teams competing from MBA programs all over the world, and hopefully Yale SOM will have a decent finish!

Long Time No Blog

2007-03-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just when you think first semester is busy, second semester is even busier! There was little time to transition from the international experience to new classes, and recruiting for a summer internship was a long emotional process similar to that of applying to business school. A quick recap of what has been going on since the new year:

New Curriculum:
Classes were more interesting this semester compared to those in the first two quarters. I took Employee (HR perspective taught by the Dean), Innovator (fun class to practice thinking in creative ways), Operations Engine (my favorite prof), Managing Sourcing Funds (CFO perspective, with half of the class taught by Fabozzi, who is famous on Wall St among Fixed Income folks) and Negotiations (a fun interactive class with grad students from nearly every professional school). I feel I have developed a more balanced view of solving business problems by learning about issues from different perspectives. The professors and Dean were amazing and I especially liked the guest speakers in Operations. What typically may be a boring subject in most schools was really fun because the professor and guest speakers gave a realistic view of operational challeneges at different companies. They gave memorable stories and the Littlefield competition was so exciting that I'll be competing with a team in the MIT Littlefield competition in April. Next quarter, I'll be taking electives and the last core class, Integrated Leadership Perspective. This class is the culmination of the new curriculum and nearly all the material is brand new. There will be many professors teaching the class and I'm interested in learning about how everything ties together.

Recruiting:
Recruiting was a long process. Coming to Yale SOM, my expectation for a good business school is to open doors and land interview spots. For me, I believe the school should do its best to set students up with 1st round interviews, and after that, it is up to the student to sink or swim on his/her merits. A lot of firms make their decisions based on the quality of the student and his/her background before coming to school. Regardless if I went to Wharton or MIT Sloan, I would be asked the same cases and questions during the interview process because you are competing against all business school students. Hence, I was definitely pleased by the CDO's (career development office) efforts to land me interviews. Some firms had more formalized processes than others, but after several months of mostly phone interviews (I targetted west coast firms), I landed one of my top choices for a summer internship. I will be returning to beautiful San Francisco to work in Operations for a large retailer (think of a large SF-based retailer who has cool khakis).

Last year, I remember meeting someone at the San Francisco Yale admitted students reception who ended up choosing Tuck over SOM because she felt that Tuck would prepare her better for a job in management consulting. Specifically, she felt she would have better chances at getting into Mckinsey by attending Tuck. I don't know all of the statistics, but I feel that if you're a smart candidate, Mckinsey will find you either way. The candidate who is likely to study harder for the cases and has a spotless resume will get hired over the less qualified candidate. Both schools can set you up for an interview, but I'm not sure how one school can prepare a candidate better than another school. Going off published statistics can also be misleading because schools do not publish how many offers were made and how many people initially applied. For example, I think Yale SOM had competitive percentages of offers over applied, but two students both chose to turn down Mck offers for personal reasons.

Social:
There were a couple school wide fundraising events that were fun and successful. The Global Social Enterprise group had a Date Auction at playwright that was very entertaining. Eligible single students were auctioned off like cattle to raise money for the Brazil trip. Some surprising bids were made and I never would've guessed how much money people are willing to spend to just go on a date. The internship fund also had a competition to raise money for students going into non-profits this summer. The folks running the internship fund will also be hosting a talent show when we get back from spring break and I imagine there will be some memorable acts. It might be the same weekend as Admit Weekend in April and I encourage prospectives to stop by to get a taste of some of the personalities at SOM.

Happy New Year/Semester

2007-01-26T06:12:00.000-08:00

A very belated Happy New Year! It has been a month since my last post but it has been a very busy month. After spending a week in Hong Kong to celebrate New Years, the China trip was a blast and I've included below some pics. Superweek was emotionally draining for many of my peers (I'm glad I'm not doing banking) and with new classes and recruiting season kicked off in high gear, this has been a very busy first week of school!

Hong Kong Trip - Before the official school trip to HK/China, a small subset of the students decided to fly into HK a week early to explore the city and get settled into the different time zone. Surprisingly, Hong Kong was warm and I didn't realize how much fun it would be. Lan Kwai Fong was definitely THE place to be during New Years as it was packed with locals, ex-pats and tourists. Among the fun things we experienced include: Victoria's Peak, Stanley Market, hanging out at Starbucks next to the world's largest Buddha, Lan Kwai Fong, random shopping at markets all over Hong Kong, Karaoke (uh... KTV overload??), Dim Sum (mmm pork buns), Macau (I actually walked away up), custom suit tailoring and random people watching. All in all, it was one of my best trips I've taken with lotsa fun memories.

China Trip - Even though this was an "educational" trip, it was fun to learn about China's business environment from different perspectives. Our schedule was very packed as we had company/government presentations in the mornings and afternoons, and Yale alumni events during the evenings. We had some free time on the weekends but because we visited 3 cities in 10 days (HK, Shanghai, Beijing), it felt like we were always on the move and checking in and out of hotels. Coming from an operations background, I really enjoyed visiting the GM plant and seeing the steel being produced at Bao Steel. My favorite presenter was the Senior Vice President of Cummins Engine. He was very articulate and gave a good overview about his vast experience in working in Asia for the past 17 years. It truly is amazing to learn about the explosive 9% GDP growth in China. He was also very generous in hosting us for dinner at the exclusive Cihna Club in Beijing the night before we left. The picture on the left is me standing in a very austere building (MOFCOM - Ministry of Commerce).

I hope to blog more this semester and congrats to all the Round 1 admits, I look forward to meeting everyone at welcome weekend. Also congrats to all the Round 2 prospectives who got an interview invites, Yale SOM is truly an exciting place to be!

25% Done

2006-12-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!!

I'm not sure if its a sign of me getting older, or how busy life gets at school, but time is zooming by a ludicrous speed. My MBA experience is already 25% complete and I feel like we're just getting started. Summer Internship recruiting has kept me busy but I'm looking forward to catch up with all resume drops during winter break. As I apply for these summer jobs, I'm reliving the anxiety I felt last year applying to different MBA programs. Writing cover letters is just like writing application essays and some companies actually ask for GMAT/SAT scores! I am going to be so relieved when I eventually get an offer.

There was an interesting article that quoted some of my classmates talking about the international experience portion of the new curriculum. I'll be heading over to Hong Kong on Wednesday and am trying to figure out how to pack 3 weeks worth of clothes and suits into one suit case and one carry on. For the trip, we got these nifty chinese business cards and learned some basic phrases to get by. For those that will be in Hong Kong this Friday, a small group of 1st year students including me will be hosting a winter break social. This will be a fun opportunity to meet prospective students and I encourage everyone applying to Yale to attend their local winter break social.

Alliances

2006-12-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Last week in our Competitors class, we learned about coopetition and alliances. Coincidently, Carlos Ghosn spoke at SOM on Tuesday, describing the Nissan-Renault alliance. It was an amazing experience to learn about the automobile industry from the CEO's perspective and to see a real example of the material we're learning in class. He spent most of the time answering well prepared questions and overall, I was very impressed by how smoothly everything ran.

The difference between the second part of the new curriculum and the first part is the amount of group work assigned. This week alone, I have the following group assignments: Industry Analysis for the Int'l trip to China, Competitor company analysis, Competitor group assignment, Customer project, State & Society project, and a mentorship meeting. The hardest part isn't completing the assignments, but scheduling a time where everyone can meet. I don't want to sound like a complaining 1st year (ahem JB), but I definitely can't wait till winter break!!

On the recruiting front, I finished my first cover letter and have started bidding for interview spots. Time definitely flies when you're in school, but I hope to land some interviews in January. Fortunately I have a little time because I'm not pursuing ibanking, but I definitely don't want to miss any of the consulting deadlines. One thing I realize is that I'm severely behind on practicing case interviews. Even though I should've been practicing all semester, I hope to do some major catch-up over the next few weeks.

Lastly, I'm SUPER excited about going to Hong Kong and China. I got all my vaccinations from YHS last week and my passport/visa is all good to go. There has been some complaining among the China travelers that our pre-trip work (15-20 slides + 10 pg paper) is excessive compared to groups going to other countries, but at the end of the day I guess it's a good way to learn more about the fastest growing economy in the world. This will be my first new years experience outside the USA, and I expect nothing but ridiculous, crazy fun.

23 Days left till Hong Kong

PS - I have mixed feelings about UCLA upsetting USC, but at least the Rose Bowl will be a classic Big 10/Pac 10 showdown

The Game

2006-11-19T18:32:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we took a road trip up to Boston to watch Yale kick Harvard's butt in "The Game." I don't even remember the final score, but Yale pretty much dominated the entire game. One of the most memorable moments of the day was watching campus security trying to tackle and arrest a nude MIT streaker during the 4th quarter. I've seen many "Big Games" in the bay area, but have never witnessed an actual streaker.

Boston/Cambridge is also a very cool area to visit. I never realized how good new england "clam chowdah" and "chaider (chai + apple cider)" could taste. We also visited HBS and MIT Sloan, and all I can say is that I'm SUPER jealous of HBS. While I think Yale SOM's facilities are nicer than MIT Sloan's, HBS is in a totally different league. Huntsman Hall at Wharton is pretty sweet, but HBS is probably the nicest business school I've ever visited. I hope that the new Yale SOM campus will have that similar "wow" factor when people visit.

On a sadder note, Michigan and Cal lost on Saturday, so the "Go Blue" schools were only 1 for 3. Both schools will still end up decent bowl games, but I really really wanted Cal to go to the Rose Bowl this year.

New Perspective

2006-11-12T12:52:00.001-08:00

Its been a couple weeks since my last blog, but business school life has changed since finals week. While the first perspective gave us the traditional MBA tools, this second perspective is giving us a broader view of management. Instead of taking classes like finance, strategy, marketing, we are taking Investor, Competitor, Customer, State & Society, and Negotiations. The coolest part about the new perspectives, is that we are using new Yale SOM cases. Instead of recycling 10 year old HBS cases, our classes use new and relevant material (cases were written in 2006). Even our Dean helped write one of the cases we used in Customer and sat in class with us when we discussed it. Coming to business school, I never expected to sit in class with the Dean of the school.

Since my last blog, some of the things happening around SOM:
-Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, came and spoke at the Pepsi recruiting event
-participated but did not make the finals in the Lufthansa Case Competition
-Application volume for Yale SOM Round 1 is up nearly 50% with applicant average GMAT up 1 point. Combining this with the deferrals from last year, I can tell the class of 2009 is going to be really bright

Upcoming speakers I'm looking forward to:
-Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan
-Fred Smith, CEO of Fed Ex

3.5 hour countdown

2006-10-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

ONE MORE FINAL LEFT!!

Pros of finals week:
-no crazy homework assignments
-no classes, lots of free time during the day
-discovering new study areas on campus
-after it's done, completely freeeeee of work till Monday
-difference between public school vs private school is that private schools "care" enough to give you free coffee in the morning (it's all about the little things)
-incredible euphoric feeling after actually balancing t-accounts/balance sheets/income statements/cash flow on the first try

Cons of finals week:
-finals
-studying
-self realization that I have ADD and can't study for a long period of time
-with all this free time, can't find time to clean the apt

in 3.5 hours, i'll be FREEEEE (at least till the next round of finals). I'm really excited about hanging out at Bar after the test; SOM is very kind to reward us with free pizza and beer. The party will continue on today in new haven and tomorrow in NYC as a bunch of SOMers celebrate our proficients in the big apple!!

Breaking Down the Silos

2006-10-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

With finals looming next week, a mock interview with my top choice firm on Thursday, an 1,800 word paper due tomorrow (haven't started yet), crew practice tonight, econ case review for tomorrow, and updating my roster for my fantasy football league (I can't believe Arizona choked on MNF), I've decided to pause and enjoy the moment. For someone who has lived in California his whole life, I am amazed at the beautiful fall foliage around campus. Walking around feels like I'm in a scene from Scent of a Woman. Even walking through campus to eat in downtown is a memorable experience because of the gothic architecture and brown/red leaves on the streets. I definitely can't wait till winter comes and I make my first snowball!

As the first years finish up the first 6 weeks of the new curriculum (Orientation to Management), I've started to notice the integration and "breaking down of the silos". In the first few weeks, we learned basic management tools and theories in traditional format (accounting, econ, data). Now, as we discuss cases and problems, we are applying the tools we've learned to address and solve problems. Some concrete examples are:

-In evaluating an econ problem regarding the effects of an auction of public rail, we had to use accounting to measure the present value (PV) of the bid.
-In solving a case in problem framing regarding best strategies of a partnership game, we applied a principle from econ (nash equilibrium) to find best strategies.
-In problem framing, we discussed game theory and used "backward induction" to solve a puzzle, which happens to relate to what we learned about "rolling back" decision trees in Data & Decision

I can't wait to start the Organizational Perspectives part of the new curriculum because it'll be interesting to analyze problems companies face from the different perspectives.

Beautiful Days

2006-10-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of being a student at Yale is getting access to the Yale Golf Club for only $25 per round. This is an amazing golf course and it is really pretty during the fall. It's really peaceful out there and the experience is different from golfing in California because of the leaves changing colors. Surprisingly, the last few days have been warm (in the 70's) and I'm anxiously bracing myself for the temperature dropping anytime soon now.

Yale SOM gossip: Flatpoint did a great job in summarizing the Dean's exciting news. Raising $32.9 million is no joke.

For those interested in seeing the video resume of this "how not to get an i-banking job" Yale undergrad, click here. Click here if you want to read an interesting story on him before attending Yale.

Ok.. that's enough blabber, back to class!

I Heart Art

2006-10-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

I think it's really funny that when you go to Yale's MBA homepage, there's a link to the "I Heart Art" t-shirts. Not only is the story on the front homepage, but it's up there between "A New Curriculum" and "The Hybrid Professional." Professor Swersey is one of my favorite professors at SOM, but I don't know if the story is as newsworthy as the new curriculum. He definitely deserves some recognition for being a great teacher. Instead of giving a dry lecture on Data & Decision Analysis, he uses props and stories to keep the class engaged and actually teaches the material effectively because the stories are so memorable. I can't wait till I can take an operations class from him.

Other than the t-shirts, it was a pretty normal week at school. My life was packed with homework/school/club activities/gym/firm events. The best part of the week was scoring free tickets (thanks operations club) to nextfest held in NYC. It has been over a month since I've visited NYC, and it turned out to a gorgeous day. There were a lot of cool tech exhibits and it was fun seeing all the different robots and research projects.

Lastly, every student received an email from the Dean inviting us to a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday. Apparently there's some good news he wants to share with everyone, but we're going to have to wait till Tuesday to hear about it. I hope it relates to a possible improvement in the business week rankings, but I don't want to speculate anything yet.....

Clubbing

2006-09-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I couldn't get any busier, my outlook calendar this past week was crammed with club activities. In the span of one week:

Crew - learned that it's much harder than it looks
Consulting - I really need to start practicing for case interviews asap
Operations - we've already formed a team for the Lufthansa case competition
Korean - huge turn out for the delicious bar-b-q on Saturday
Sports - need to find a glove for IM softball

Fortunately the color coding in my outlook keeps me organized and helps manage my time so I can keep up with classes, but it'll be interesting to see how I manage to keep up with the pace of business school life now that company presentations begin this week (my resume needs a big makeover soon).

Proficient is sufficient?

2006-09-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if it's a first year thing, or the new curriculum, but the pace of classes accelerated to ludicrous speed in just one week. Even though there aren't any grades, I find myself working harder than I did in undergrad just to keep up with the homeworks/assignments/readings. The good thing about this pace is that I've learned to manage my time significantly better. While I can't party every night now, proper time management will allow me to continue watching my favorite sports (go bears!).

On Friday, the CDO (Career Development Office) sponsored a "Meet the Firms" event where a bunch of companies came by SOM to talk about opportunities for MBA's (internships and full time positions). While I didn't learn anything new at the Consulting booths, I found myself speaking to representatives from the Consumer Packaged Goods and Manufacturing industries and learning more about opportunities available. Some of these companies are bigger than you expect, and it may be easier to find an amazing job in California through these big companies, versus going the consulting career path. Fortunately, I still have time to decide what I want to do, but I probably should make up my mind soon.

BTW, for the international experience, I got my first pick! I will be heading over to China on Jan 3-14. I'm contemplating flying out earlier to possibly spend New Years in China or Hong Kong.

Honeymoon Period Over

2006-09-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

After a fun week of orientation and another week of team building, school has officially started. My classes (Econ, Data & Decision Analysis, Accounting, Problem Framing, Interpersonal Dynamics) aren't too difficult yet, but it has been a challenge to manage my schedule of things to do. Fortunately, Microsoft Outlook has many fancy features to color code my calendar and tasks so I can keep track of which homeworks/recruiting events/readings are due the next day.

Outside of class, we had the SOM Student Club fair and I probably overextended myself by signing up for too many clubs. The clubs that I'm interested in are:

-Sports (I love IM)
-Media & Entertainment (Can we visit ESPN today??)
-Consulting (I definitely need practice in the case study)
-Ski & Snowboard (Vermont, here I come)
-Korean (mmmmm kimchee and bulgogi)
-Operations (possible operations field trip: Casino Ops)
-West Coast (I'm a spoiled California kid at heart)
-Crew (Outside my comfort zone, trying something new)

On Friday, the CDO (Career Development Office) sponsored a career immersion event to give everyone a taste of different industries by having panelists talk about their jobs. The sessions I attended were:

-Session 1: Investment Banking (After learning more about the IB industry, I know I don't want to be an IBanker)
-Session 2: Manufacturing (The only industry of the day that actually talked about work/life balance in a positive way)
-Session 3: Media & Entertainment (I want to be VP of the NBA, such an awesome job!)
-Session 4: Consulting (panelists from all the big firms gave honest feedback in describing life as a consultant)

The Career Immersion day was surprisingly really helpful in learning about industries I'm not familiar with. I never considered a career in Media & Entertainment, but now I may consider applying for internships in that industry.

On Friday night, we learned more about the International Experience coming up in January. We learned about the 8 countries (China, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, England, Costa Rica, Argentina, India) and which focus/perspective (State/Society/Investor..) they would be tied to regarding the new curriculum. China is still my top choice, but the Toyota Plant tour in Japan has me seriously considering Japan as my 2nd choice. The Argentina presentation was engaging and energetic, and I may choose Argentina as my 3rd choice solely based on the professor's enthusiasm for the country. We'll see what happens, but I look forward to visiting any of the 8 countries.

Managing Teams

2006-09-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Just finished my first week of school and I surprisingly learned a lot about myself and working in teams. The first course "Managing Groups & Teams" in the "Orientation to Management" section of the new curriculum was very interesting as we:

-solved a murder mystery
-survived a hurricane
-participated in a biased market trading poker chips (go red squares!!)
-built a lego man in 2 minutes
-commanded a battle tank
-learned a lot about our mentorship team members

I learned the consequences of "group think" and how important structure and processes are to creating an effective team. My mentorship team is awesome and I look forward to working with them throughout the first year. The diversity of my team is just a representative cross section of the diversity in the class of '08. There's an investment banker, operations/engineering guy (me), education background, investigative journalist, military guy, consumer goods guy, and joint forestry/mba student. We worked effectively and acknowledge we still have areas to improve upon.

The social aspect of last week was pretty intense as we ended up drinking nearly every night. Yale SOM rented out a bowling alley one night and everyone showed up. The party at Playwright was fun because drinks were free!! I sense things will slow down next week as classes start getting harder.

Orientation

2006-08-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, business school is so much fun! I've been in New Haven for about a week and a half and I absolutely love it here. My class is extremely diverse (not many bankers/consultants) as I've met people from all industries from all over the world. I think it's impressive that there are 22 countries represented in such a small class size (~ 200). The statistic I remember most is that we have 38% women in our class, which is probably one of the highest of any MBA program in the US. I think it's also pretty cool that not many of my peers took the deferral opportunity. Everyone in the class of 2008 is eager to be here and despite the short term benefit of saving $20,000, people realize the long term rewards for earning the MBA one year earlier.

In case you're wondering, I'm a member of the awesome silver cohort. We're probably the most social cohort because I tend to see more silvers at the bars every night. My favorite bar so far is "Bar" because they brew their own beer and on Thursdays, it's only $1! The atmosphere reminds me of Raleigh's in Berkeley and it's always crowded.

Last week's orientation was fun but also exhausting because I met so many people at once. I've gotten better at introducing myself and giving a quick history of my life in less than 30 seconds. Sometimes, I have to study the facebook at night to remember all the names of people I met earlier.

A few highlights from Orientation:
-barbeque at Lighthouse Point, free beer and beautiful sunset
-Taste of New Haven, eating samples of food from all the local restaurants
-Lunch at the Yale Club, NYC
-Company Visit in NYC
-NYSE Reception on the trading floor
-Alumni panels
-Dean describing the new curriculum in detail and feeling the excitement and energy from faculty

I can tell this will be an amazing 2 years, I want to take advantage of every opportunity available. By the way, after buying nearly all my furniture from Ikea, I've become a pro at building anything. If anyone still needs help building that desk or drawer, I'm your man.

Summer Update 5

2006-08-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Where has the summer gone? It's already August and school is about to start in a couple weeks!! I had a really fun July, including trips to San Diego, San Francisco, and Vegas (DO NOT STAY IN VEGAS FOR 5 DAYS EVER). Also, I'm finally getting to know Southern California better. Because I've been up in the bay area since college, I never really spent much time around LA until now. Who knew the sunset strip in Hollywood is such a hot spot to hang out!

As orientation for Yale gets closer, I'm getting more and more excited about bschool. They released the orientation schedule and I'm definitely looking forward to eating lunch at the Yale Club in NYC and stopping by NYSE. I've never been to Wall Street, but I imagine screaming traders and lotsa money flowing through computer screens. As far as pre-arrival check off items, I've finished most of the things I need to do. I stopped by my high school's district office to pick up my immunization records (not that I hate needles, but I don't feel like standing in line to get unncessary shots during orientation). I also stopped by the Post Office last week to get my passport ready (better to do it now for the int'l trip in January). I've read two of the three req'd books (Buffet and Walton biographies) but I'm struggling to finish Gandhi's autobiography. It's an interesting book but really long.

The weirdest pre-arrival check off item was buying a one-way plane ticket. I did a lot of research and in some situations, it's almost cheaper to use half a roundtrip ticket versus just buying a one-way ticket. I don't know how the pricing in the airline industry works, but that doesn't make intuitive sense. It'd be interesting to read a case study on how airlines set their prices.

Lastly, I found out that I'm eligible for the Hope Tax Credit this year! Because I worked only the first half of 2006, and I'm a student in 2006, I'm eligible for $1500 credit. Credit is better than a deduction cuz this is Uncle Sam just giving me $1500!

13 Days till I move to New Haven
20 Days till Orientation

Summer Update 4

2006-07-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Summer's chugging along and I can really enjoy doing nothing. Part of me is bored and wants to work to stay busy, while the other part of me is perfectly happy being a bum. Over the last couple weeks I've enjoyed doing random things, from going to a gun range to try shooting glocks, to attending a concert at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney (fun intimate venue), to just hanging out at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. This summer is turning out to be as relaxing as I hoped!

On the MBA front, I got my Kroll notification (a few weeks ago) that I passed my background check so that obstacle is clear. I also finished reading Buffett's biography. His life story is very interesting and I think it's cool he's donating so much money to Bill Gates' Foundation. Even though the book was written in the mid-nineties, his character is consistent to that of stories written in current newspaper articles. The part of his biography that I will remember most is how he donates money. Buffett treats his philanthropy like investments, and always looks for long-term benefits versus just handing out money for short-term causes.

I also got my first bill for tuition last week. Even though you see student budget estimates, it doesn't sink in until you actually see the first bill. At the end of two years, I could technically buy a really fancy car instead of going to bschool (where are my priorities)....

35 Days till I move into New Haven
42 Days till Orientation

Laptops Laptops Laptops

2006-06-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

One of the requirements for bschool is buying your own laptop. I don't understand how I "need" a laptop, because I got by perfectly fine with a desktop during my undergrad experience. I prefer desktops because they seem more stable and you can get a big monitor with a normal keyboard and mouse. I find cafe's too distracting to get any real work done, and do most of my work at home. Regardless, since I have to get a laptop, I started doing research. A great online resource for comparing laptops is: http://www.notebookreview.com/.

After checking out all the latest specs on the laptops, I found almost any new laptop these days suits my needs. The only things I would use my laptop for are: chatting on aim/email/internet/MS Office. I don't need fancy graphics or the fastest processor. The school offers some discounted deals on Dell's, but after reading online reviews, I definitely would never buy a Dell. After further research, I narrowed down my laptop search to either a Sony Vaio or IBM thinkpad. Both are great brands with good reputations, and would sufficiently meet my needs.

Then I ran across the Sony Vaio S series (older generation to the current SZ models). The Sony Vaio S series used to be the top laptops in Fall 2005, but after the new SZ models came out earlier this year, prices for S series laptops dropped. I think the S and SZ are comparable (SZ has built-in camera/microphone which I don't need), and with current prices, the S series is a tremendous value. What used to cost $2500 last Fall now costs around $1500 online. What really sold me on the S660P/B model, was its sleek design (you have to see how the monitor curves around the hinge), size (around 4 lbs and slim to fit in my backpack), and price ($1399). Even though I really liked some IBM thinkpad laptops, I fell in love with this Sony Vaio S660 because of it's sleek design. Because they were last year's model, they stopped manufacturing this particular laptop. After froogling my way around the internet, I found one website that still has some in its inventory: www.costcentral.com. Most websites and ebay are out of stock, but costcentral still has over 100 in inventory. I would recommend this laptop for anyone interested in a laptop with cool style/size (specs are sufficient too).

Summer Update 3

2006-06-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm a summer bum, it's been quite a busy week. I fully recovered from Lasik surgery and can see 20/20. The only side effect is that I see halos around lights at night time, but this should go away soon. I totally recommend anyone with bad eyes to get a consultation, because it is sooo worth it. I'll post the details of the entire process later when I have nothing to write about.

I also found my amazing dream apartment in New Haven during my east coast trip. It has everything I want: location (4th house on Mansfield, about 170 yards from SOM), garage (covered garage spot), bottom floor (cooler during summers), clean (suprisingly very clean, including bathroom and kitchen), amenities (free washer/dryer downstairs). I looked at apartments in the east rock area as well as downtown, but I realized (after bloody ankles and sore feet) that location is super important. Even though the Yale shuttle goes through all the neighborhoods, I wouldn't want to wait for it during the cold winter months. I'm so excited to move to New Haven, August seems so far away.

Our first homework assignment is to read the following books during the summer: (i) Sam Walton’s autobiography Made in America; (ii) Roger Lowenstein’s biography of Warren Buffett, Buffett; (iii) Gandhi’s autobiography An Autobiography; The Story of My Experiments with Truth. I haven't picked up the books yet, but this assignment is way more interesting than reading Chaucer.

Lastly, I'd like to congratulate Desther for a beautiful wedding and wish you two both a lifetime of good health and happiness.

Summer Update 2

2006-06-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Time is starting to slow down and every day seems to be the same. I've officially joined the World Cup Soccer bandwagon and woke up at 6 AM yesterday (early for a summer bum) to watch Korea win its first match. It's amazing France tied Switzerland, because as of right now, Korea is in sole position of 1st place in that group. As for USA... I'm just disappointed we got blown out by the Czech. A 1-0 loss would be respectable, but losing by 3 points is just embarrassing. I love how "experts" try to analyze every little detail for why we lost, but we just aren't that good. Italy looks like another tough match up on Saturday, and I have a feeling USA will not advance to the next round this year. This Father's Day weekend looks to be a memorable sports weekend as the NBA finals (Miami made it interesting by winning last night), World Cup (Ronaldinho is unbeevable), and US Open (Tiger is back, Phil is going for 3rd major in a row) air on HDTV.

Friday will also be a big day in my life as I am scheduled to get Lasik eye surgery. I'm really not that scared because the guy has done over 30,000 lasik surgeries and hasn't messed up. My eyes are healthy and I can't wait to get rid of my glasses forever. The only drawback is that I can't go swimming/surfing for 2 months (as a precautionary measure to protect my eyes). I guess that means I'll be hitting up more golf courses this summer.

Man life as a summer bum is awesome.

Summer Update 1

2006-06-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally back home with my parents in Southern California. It's been nearly a week and I haven't fully unpacked yet (i'm on ueber lazy bum mode). Laundry took 3 days and my room is still a mess. Other than that, it's been an awesome first week. I've missed my mom's cooking and all the comforts of living at home. I also forgot how hot it is down here. It's been a long time since I've spent a summer at home, and I've converted to all shorts/reefs attire. The only time I put on a pair of socks was to go golfing on Saturday.

Rolling over my 401(k) isn't as easy as I thought. Apparently my current plan thinks I'm still employed so I have to wait at least 30 days for them to confirm my termination status to let me rollover my funds. Even though I won't be dipping into my 401(k) funds until next year (lower tax bracket) to help pay off tuition, it sucks that I have to wait for my money.

Health Insurance... I'm still trying to figure out if I get one month extra coverage after termination... Otherwise I'm uninsured until my school health plan starts in August!

My grandparents are also visiting this week to look at retirement homes in the area to settle down. After spending the last couple days driving them around all the "Leisure Worlds" in Laguna Beach and Seal Beach, I realize old people are really funny. They don't give a crap about how they look or what they say. No one dares to correct their "political incorrectness" and its just hilarious to see my grandfather cuss at everything.

Checklist Update
-I wasn't able to finish all the bay area items, but I hope to come back once during the summer
-Flying out to Yale/NY June 20-23 to find my amazing apartment (still hunting)
-I have a lot of items in my So Cal checklist to do, and only ~10 weeks left to do them!!

1 more day left

2006-05-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

The deadline to accept the $$ for deferring is tomorrow, and I've decided to just go ahead and matriculate this year. I reread my "Why MBA", "Why Now" essay's and I am definitely ready to go to bschool this fall. I'm curious to know how many students end up deferring tomorrow...

One more day left in May

One more day of work

One more day of Bay Area

One more day until my So Cal summer starts!

Defer?

2006-05-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

To defer or not to defer got more interesting last week. Apparently, Yale is still looking for 30 students to defer, and offered a little money to entice people to defer to next year. While money really shouldn't play into my decision, it really is hard to ignore. Plus, I'm having difficulty saying good bye to San Francisco, and I would definitely enjoy staying here another year.. I'm not sure how I'd improve my Wharton app over the next few months, but part of me wants to give Wharton one more shot tooo.. I'm in a fortunate situation, yet I don't know what I want to do................

Powe hires agent for NBA draft

2006-05-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

To all Cal fans:

It's official. Leon Powe will be leaving Cal for the NBA. As much as I didn't want to believe him, my inside source was right, and Cal is probably going to go to the NIT next March. While this sucks for Cal, I completely respect Powe's decision and hope he does well at the next level. He was a McDonald's All-American, and already proved to everyone how much of a beast he is by averaging 20/10 for the season!

On the flip side, it seems USC talent pool exodus in football paves the way for Cal to ride into the Rose Bowl finally. With Marshawn Lynch as a potential pre-season Heisman candidate (seriously?), Cal has the weapons to be the top team in the Pac-10.

Can't wait till next year's season.

DWL

2006-05-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'll be heading off to Yale this fall. At least some closure!

Dear Brownoski,

The Admissions Committee has completed its reevaluation of your application. I regret that the Admissions Committee is unable to offer you a position in the Wharton MBA Class of 2008.

We appreciate the time and energy you put into your application and interview. As you may be aware, the Wharton MBA program receives as many as 7,000 applications annually. We are left with the unpleasant task of denying admission to many accomplished individuals who would, no doubt, succeed academically at the School and contribute to Wharton's standard of excellence.

The Admissions Office will keep your application on file for two years. If you plan to reapply during this period and would like feedback on your application, kindly contact our office at 01 (215) 898-6183 beginning the week of July 17, 2006 to schedule a feedback session. Sessions are conducted by telephone; appointments fill up quickly and are offered on a first come, first served basis.

For instructions on the reapplication process, please follow the procedures that will be included in next year's application (available online in August 2006). All reapplications will be reviewed within the context of the overall applicant pool at that time.

Thank you again for your interest in Wharton. I wish you success in your personal and professional endeavors.

Monterey!

2006-05-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a spectacular day to visit Monterey. The weather was perfect and it surprisingly wasn't that crowded. We started off with a yummy meal at Bubba Gump where I successfully answered all of the Forrest Gump trivia, yet didn't win anything (it happens). Next we spent most of the afternoon looking at all of the exhibits in Monterey Aquarium. I love seeing sharks, but my photography skills aren't that good as most my pictures turned out blurry. It was interesting to see all the jelly fish, sea otters, sting rays, weird looking fish, and other marine animals. Afterwards, we drove along the scenic 17 mile drive through mansions and Pebble Beach. I don't know if I was impressed more by the golf course or the 4 story mansion/castle (these homes were HUUUGEE). To top off the day, we ate at my favorite south bay restaurant: Palace BBQ. Nothing beats the feeling of eating long ribs until you can't stand up.

Penguins in California?

You can't see my ball because I got a hole-in-one on the 17th hole @ Pebble Beach

Days Left for Wharton Decision: 3
Days Left of work: 11

Rollover

2006-05-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Apparently there is a way to rollover my company's 401(k) to a Fidelity Rollover IRA with no tax consequences. I'm just starting to do the research, but this sounds like a good plan because I really need to diversify my retirement plan (big portion is in my company's stock) and my current 401(k) has limited options. As I was looking around Fidelity's website, I found that college tuition is considered a "withdrawal hardship." This means that MBA students like us can withdraw money from our 401(k) and not pay the huge penalties (just regular income tax). I think this is amazing because I just found a new $$ source to help pay the bills over the next two years!

PS - I'm not a finance/accounting guy, so if anyone has any good suggestions on the best way to do this (minimal fees), please post a comment.

Napa, TV, and Deferred Enrollment

2006-05-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Napa Update:

Sunday was a beautiful day for the Napa trip with Marina and Foobar. The sun was shining, skies were clear, and it wasn't too hot. After stopping by the visitor's bureau, we found a fantastic deal where we could wine taste at 6 different wineries for $10. Each winery had a distinct feel, and it was interesting to see the differences between a big commercial winery versus a small mom and pop shop. My favorite part of the trip was snacking on crackers with different spreads and cheeses (nothing beats the duck pate, but the walnut cheese is up there). I will definitely not forget the koi fish that loved to drink the white wine.

TV Update:
Craigslist is too awesome. I listed my TV for $500 thinking I wouldn't be able to sell it for a few weeks. Within a few hours, I got over 5 responses and it was sold on Saturday (last thing I watched was the Suns/Lakers Game 7 massacre). The bad news is that I will have to live without my TV and favorite shows for the rest of May (what happened on West Wing?). Interestingly enough, I started playing Starcraft again (it's been like 5 years) and I haven't forgotten a single hot key.

Deferred Enrollment (Yale SOM):

I guess there are too many students for Yale SOM '08. They intended a total class size of 180 (3 cohorts) but ~223 have already accepted offers from Round 1 and 2 (yikes for Round 3 folks). They specifically mentioned that they want to keep the class with 3 cohorts, so the question becomes, does anyone want to defer enrollment?

Historically, we have only granted deferrals in cases where unforeseen circumstances prevented an admitted applicant from matriculating. However, due to the overwhelmingly positive response to SOM's new curriculum plans, we have experienced an unprecedented 50% increase in our yield year-to-year. Therefore, we are able to relax our deferral policy for the Class of 2008 to some degree. If you are interested in deferring your enrollment, please contact the Admissions Office at xxxxx@yale.edu as soon as possible.

To defer or not to defer, that is the question.

Pros:
-Can reapply to Wharton if I don't get in off the waitlist (improve essays)
-Save up $$$
-Not be the first class with the new curriculum and let the bugs/kinks get worked out
-Possibly take more time off and travel extensively
-Enjoy California one more year
-Cal Football is going to have a breakout year, I can get season tix to watch it all!

Cons:
-Miss sharing some fabulous experiences with the class of 2008
-One year less of post-MBA salary
-Possible different chemistry in class of 2009 vs 2008
-I already gave my termination notice to my employer, what would I do for an entire year?
-Already sold most of my big furniture

16 Working Days left!!

Cinco de Mayo

2006-05-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is similar to St. Patrick's day in that both are great reasons to go drinking. It's interesting to see the similar struggle Hispanics are facing today that the Irish experienced a few generations ago. I remember reading a random footnote in my American History textbooks about the "No Irish need apply" signs. For me, national security is very important, but there should be some compromise between securing our borders (north and south) and having some sort of guest worker program. I believe we should put up a huge fence, but leave room for doors that will allow non-terrorists to come in. I also believe everyone should get a chance to become an American citizen over time as long as he/she contributes to society and pays taxes. While this may be a controversial topic today, I hope it will become just another random footnote in future American History textbooks.

Now time for some tequilla shots!

UPDATE - Girls at "La Barca" in Pac Heights are GORGEOUS!

PS - Congrats to Michelle Wie for making the cut in the men's tour!

Part 4: East Coast Impressions

2006-05-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

I don't love the East Coast (yet), but I definitely can see myself having a good time there over the next couple years.

Food:
-New Haven is similar to Berkeley, in that a seemingly ghetto community has some of the best food around. I love the ultra-thin slices of pizza, and can't wait to eat the buttery Yankee Doodle burgers every day. The only negatives to New Haven are no good mexican joints and only one Korean restaurant. I guess that means I'll have to train over to NYC to eat some good Korean BBQ.
-New York City has it all. Even though I only spent 21 hours in NYC, I ended up eating 5 meals. Some of the highlights were: 2 hour dinner in some Italian Restaurant that charged $4 extra for blush sauce (marinara + creamy alfredo), Catching brunch with wheresmydessert at Popover Cafe, Lunch at 11 Madison where I sat in the table next to the stairs where Sarah Jessica Parker slipped in Season 1 of Sex in the City.
-Boston has good food and reminds me a lot of San Francisco. Both are near the water and have good clam "chowdah." I only wish they served it in a sourdough bread bowl.
-Philadelphia also has good food, but I was unimpressed with the authentic philly cheesesteak sandwich. I think Hoagies in Berkeley has the best cheesesteak sandwiches period.

Transportation:
-Boston has the best subway system, very intuitive and easy to use because it is color based (red line from South Station to Kendall Sq)
-New York's subway is very confusing (Weekend schedules are different with express routes that aren't posted that bypass stops). Also, the subways are wayyy too crowded and extremely loud. San Francisco's BART is 10x better because it is quieter and carpeted.
-Philly's SEPTA is sufficient, easy to get from UPENN to/from airport. Had a very "Amtrak" feel to the experience.
-I thought trains were sooo "Europe" but I guess people commute via trains all over the East Coast. Amtrak was pretty comfortable and the schedules were on time and easy to follow.
-NYC Taxi cabs are nothing like the movies. I wanted a smelly, rude taxi cab driver but instead I got a quiet, spacious taxi/mini-van.
-The bus ride from New York to Boston was really cheap and went by quickly (time flies when you're reading a good book). It wasn't very crowded so I was very comfortable and it's very easy to connect from the bus terminals to subways in both cities.
-I really missed having my car :p

People
-New Haven has a very "Berkeley" vibe. People seemed very diverse and friendly. The downtown area was humming with hotties and the campus is gorgeous. There is a hint of the "elite Ivy" aura, but most people were down to earth.
-New York City is filled with impatient people. The walk pace is like a sprint. There's a lot of energy in the air as people seem to have really busy lives.
-Boston seems like a college town. Everyone on the subway looked like a student and people were smiling despite rainy weather. I love hearing "bawston" accents and want to watch Goodwill Hunting again.
-Philly seems like a more relaxed New York. It's not as crowded, but there's still a busy downtown area and lots of busy people. I didn't spend too much time walking around the town, but everyone seemed cool.

Lifestyle
-Weird watching sports at midnight. I'm used to watching baseball game start at 7:15 pacific time, not 10:15 eastern time.
-Everything is older, including apartments. I'm going to miss the sterile California-style housing and probably move into an old, small bathroomed apt.
-Going to start playing indoor sports
-become a Yankees fan?!?!?!

Countdown till I'm free: 21 working days left

MIT Sloan update

2006-04-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, been a busy blog posting day for me. I just got an email from MIT:

Dear Brownoski,

The Admissions Committee of the MIT Sloan MBA Program has considered your application and has regretfully concluded that we cannot offer you a place in the incoming class.

As you no doubt realize, the MIT Sloan School is comparatively small, with approximately 324 MBA students entering each year. While our size offers advantages to both our students and faculty, it also creates an extremely difficult selection process––this year, well over 2,900 candidates will compete for the 324 places in the class. I think it is no exaggeration to say that the majority of our applicants would be good students for our program. Since we have so few spaces to offer, the problem is not only choosing academically and professionally qualified applicants, but also choosing the very strongest candidates from a field of extraordinarily talented individuals.

We realize this news comes as a disappointment. I do hope, however, that you will accept our best wishes for your success.

I'm glad I got to visit Sloan, this rejection helps put closure and I still think highly of Sloan's program. Surprisingly, I am not that upset and expect a similar letter from Wharton soon.

Part 3: Wharton Visit

2006-04-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

Some Pictures:
Huntsman Hall
Beautiful Walkway
Case Competition
Typical Classroom
Study Room

Overall Wharton Impressions:

The Good:
-Facilities: Huntsman Hall is "unbeevable." The study rooms have these flat screen monitors you can hook your laptop to, and you can use a stylus to write on that screen to input data
-"Wharton" brand
-Access to Wharton alumni network (bigger in business world than Yale or MIT)
-Huge faculty, wide array of electives to choose from
-Feeder school to many awesome companies, recruiting may be slightly easier
-Wharton is the crown jewel at UPENN, unlike Sloan at MIT
-Philly is warmer than Boston
-Campus Gym is huge, and right next to Huntsman

The Bad:
-Ginormous class size (not as close knit as Yale or MIT)
-Not super diverse (significant banking/consulting subsets)
-Culture of many students seem to be solely $$ driven
-grade non-disclosure in jeopardy

Part 2: MIT Sloan Visit

2006-04-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Some Pictures:

MIT's Money Shot
Inside the Dome
View of Charles River/Boston from Sloan
Building E52
Main Auditorium

MIT Sloan Overall Impressions

The Good:
-Small class size similar to Yale
-Demanding coursework (great education)
-Big Grad Student population (outnumbers undergrad)
-Boston area has lots of schools near by
-Easy to take classes at HBS (2 stops down the red line)
-Great entrepreneurial resources (smart peers to collaborate with)
-Awesome Supply Chain / Logistics resources (my intended concentration)
-Great alumni network, especially in engineering/consulting/VC

The Bad:
-marketing class?
-too "quant", students refer to buildings by number (E53) and not by name
-Research seems to be the top priority at MIT
-not as diverse as Yale in terms of backgrounds
-Competitive grading, harder to stick out when recruiting
-Costs of living in Boston is similar to SF, much higher than New Haven
-Classroom discussions at MIT are not as interactive/energetic as that of Yale (both studied materials from case studies but the Yale students were more engaged)

Yale SOM Dean Speech on new Curriculum

2006-04-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome Weekend speech is available online at: Dean's Speech

Part 1: Yale SOM Welcome Weekend

2006-04-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, SOMers definitely know how to have fun! After flying in on Thursday Night, we started our evening at "Bar" on College/Crown. The place was packed with cuties, and the beer and pizza were really good ($1 beers after 10:00). Afterwards, I headed over to a house party on Mansfield St hosted by a first year. The second person I met was flatpoint and he did a great job selling Yale. I met people with interesting backgrounds and got a nice sample of the diversity of Yale SOM students.

Skull and Bones Society
Chinese President Hu protestors
One of Yale's Singing Groups
Yale SOM at Night
Yale SOM (very small school)

My Overall Impressions of Yale:

The Good:
-Very small class size (180 students), get to know everyone
-Great Faculty:Student Ratio (60 faculty for 180 students)
-CDO (career develop office), big full time staff for small class size provides a great personal resource to find my dream job
-VERY diverse. I visited MIT and Wharton, and Yale had the least percentage of "traditional" MBA's (aka consulting/banking). Of the 160 Welcome Weekend Attendees, there was a chef, Senator's press secretary, Entrepreneur, Certified professional Negotiator (Navy), diverse industries represented...
-faculty extremely accessible, attributed to small class size
-"Yale" brand
-Close to NY, only $14 by train (1.5 hrs)
-Int'l Trip in Jan: China, Brazil, Africa, England?
-Every Friday no class, focus on recruiting/interviewing
-Pass/Fail makes classes truly team oriented
-Easy to take any Yale class (ie: corporate tax class in Law school)

The Bad:
-Housing options. I checked out all areas: Grad Ghetto, Mansfield, Downtown, high rises, and I didn't find a single place I liked. I'm not very picky but I just want a place with a decent bathroom.
-Weak West Coast recruiting
-untested new curriculum changes

*more details about NY, MIT Sloan, and Wharton to come soon

New Cell Phone

2006-04-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

My cell phone history starts in 2000 when I got a bulky Nokia phone and a Cellular One contract. 2 years later in 2002, Cellular One got bought out by ATT Wireless, so I upgraded to one of the smaller Nokia phones. 2 years later in 2004, a new Nokia phone came out with this cool qwerty keyboard feature, so I upgraded. I love Nokia phones and thought I would never switch brands.

Then I decided to call customer service to switch over to the nation-wide plan. Up till now, I've been on a local California plan and never needed to make phone calls out of state. Unfortunately, with the Cingular takeover, my phone's ATTWS SIM card will not work with the new Cingular network (something about 16 bit vs 32 bit). In order to switch over to the Cingular nation-wide plan, the customer rep told me I would need to get a new cell phone! I didn't want to buy a new cell phone but because I've been such a loyal customer for 6 years, they offered to give me this really cool Samsung D307 phone for free:

I'm really excited because this phone has two swivel modes, the regular swivel to talk, and the other swivel mode to type messages (I'm a text message fiend). I can't wait to test out the quality when I tour the East Coast (can you hear me now).

Public Transportation

2006-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Transportation needs in my 6 days on the East Coast:

-4 Shuttle rides to/from airports/hotels
-1 bus ride from NY -> Boston
-2 Amtrak legs (NH->NY, BOS->PVD), 1 SEPTA train in Philly
-Airports I'll be going through: OAK, LAS, BDL, PVD, PHL
-3 subway trips on the Red Line in Boston
-3 subway adventures in NY
-LOTS OF WALKING

I am definitely going to miss my car, I've been so spoiled in California that I don't know what it's like to use public transportation.

Misc:
-Yale Dean addressing new curriculum
-New professors coming to SOM
-Yale SOM Applicatation Volume up 11%
-After reading my blog, China's President decides to visit Yale at the same time
-I submitted my Clear Admit BoB vote (let's just say Bay Area Sweep)
-I got an amazing haircut at Six Weeks in the heart of the Castro

East Coast Trip

2006-04-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

In planning my east coast trip, I had to consider the following constraints:

-avoid red-eyes at all possible costs
-Need to be at Yale on April 21-22
-Visit buddy @ Columbia over the weekend
-Need to visit Wharton and MIT during a weekday
-I have 2 free Southwest rapid rewards tix (doing one leg flights are free)
-Southwest doesn't fly into JFK or LGA (only Long Island)
-Southwest does fly into Bradley and Philadelphia..
-I can only take a vacation from 4/20 -> 4/26, and I need a full day at home to do errands

After listing all of my alternatives in Excel, I chose the following cheapest option:

Thursday, April 20
-Fly all day from OAK -> BDL (layover in Vegas gives me 1 hr to hit the airport bars and possible $0.25 slots)
-check out the night scene in New Haven (exciting..)

Friday, April 21
-Welcome weekend festivities

Saturday, April 22
-look at apts in the afternoon, take the train over to NYC for dinner
-check out NYC on a Saturday Night (EXCITING!!)

Sunday, April 23
-be a tourist in NYC until afternoon
-take 4-hr bus to Boston late afternoon
-check out Boston on a Sunday Night (exciting..)

Monday, April 24
-Tour MIT
-sit in on class
-Stop by ADCOM to say "hullo, I really like you"
-fly to Philadelphia late afternoon (cheap and quick rapid rewards point)
-check out Philadelphia night life (exciting..)

Tuesday, April 25
-Tour Wharton
-Grab lunch with current student
-Stop by ADCOM to say "hullo, I really like you"
-Fly home Tuesday Night (zzzzzzzzz.....)

Wednesday, April 25
-Finish my errands, get ready to submit my Yale deposit $$

I'm definitely excited to visit all three schools. If by some miracle I get off one of the waitlists, I figure it would be good to get a taste of student life before forking over my deposit. As of right now, my ranked preferences are:

1) Sloan (top resources for Operations/Supply Chain Management)
2) Wharton (amazing brand with tons of electives to choose from)
3) Yale (amazing people, potentially amazing experience with new curriculum)

Who knows, maybe my east coast trip will change some of my perspectives, but I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to share with everyone.

MIT non-update

2006-04-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

As with Wharton, R2 d-day passed for Sloan and I am still on the waitlist. After checking out the b-week forums, it looks like some people got in off the waitlist from R1 (congrats to those folks). I'm just gonna continue waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting....

Apprentice 6

2006-04-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Today I accomplished another item on my checklist - to audition to be the next "Apprentice." Overall it was a fun experience and I'm glad I took pictures. Unfortunately, the only North California casting call was held in Sacramento at the Channel 3 TV studio. I thought it was lame that people from the Bay Area had to drive all the way out to Sacramento, but I guess it's better than driving to LA.

The plan on the website instructed applicants to arrive at 9 AM to receive wrist-bands. Only those with wrist-bands would be allowed to interview. Here's how the line looked at 8 AM.
10 AM - After waiting 2 hours, I'm excited because I finally get a wrist-band, which will guarantee me an interview.
1 PM - it starts raining while we are standing in line. This is Donald's first test to see who is truly committed as people in the line start leaving.
2 PM - it starts pouring as if a waterfall decided to drench everyone outside. More people leave, and those remaining start getting impatient and soaked.
3:30 PM - I finally approach the entrance to the building. As I'm let in, there's another HUGE LINE!!!
3:45 PM - After sweet talking the custodian, I'm allowed to walk into the Channel 3 news room and take a picture from the anchor desk. The room was pretty big and I was just excited to finally be sitting down! (yes I'm wearing my fav brown suit with my A-Game on)

4:15 PM - My group is standing right outside the interview room. We can hear shouting and angry voices.

4:20 PM - My 10 minute 12-person group interview starts. We spend 5 minutes introducing ourselves by 1)Name 2)Age 3)Location 4)Occupation 5)One sentence to set yourself apart. The last 5 minutes was a mock boardroom where the interviewer asks "Are we safer today than we were before 9/11?" Everyone in the group starts arguing with each other and then it's over quickly.

In retrospect:
Behind the interviewer was a 4 foot stack of applications. After seeing all those applications, I now understand the scope of what the MBA Admissions Offices go through. This is why it can take weeks just for your app to go complete. I'm pretty sure I won't get a call-back because I didn't really stick out much. My sentence was pretty boring but I threw in the MBA angle because most of the people in the group worked in the Real Estate industry with minimal college experience.

The mock boardroom was pretty dumb because no one made a coherent argument. Before I could gather my thoughts and think about my answer, people were shouting ridiculous non-related topics just to stand out. Someone said, "It's all Bush's fault, he's an idiot." Another chimed, "No, he's a liar." My favorite line was when someone said, "Look at the border, there is no security at all" and then another person immediately replied, "No, you're wrong, terrorists can go through the border." ... huh? ... I tried to calm some of the emotions and the one line I could squeeze in the debate was "Look here guys, the topic is whether or not we are more secure than we were before 9/11. Certain aspects of life are more secure, like airport security. Before 9/11, anyone could walk up to the passenger terminal and carry bombs in their shoes. At least now, we have more rigid security procedures at airports. Other aspects of life have the same pre-9/11 security levels. For example, port security hasn't changed much. We inspect the same ~5% of incoming cargo now like we did before 9/11. Bottom line, we are more secure in some areas and have the same security levels in other areas." My tactic of relying on facts and sticking to the question didn't work because people just ignored my points and talked about how stupid Bush is. Very lame way to interview.

As an Industrial Engineer who continually strives to improve processes, the day could've been a lot more efficient. After receiving the wrist bands, we really didn't need to stand outside in the rain all day. Simply by looking at the unique sequence number on each wrist band, the producers could've easily scheduled each 10 minute time slot to 12 unique wrist bands numbers. That way, everyone could go grab lunch and come back at a specific time without waiting in that huge line.

Also, a 5 min boardroom isn't an effective way to do the first filter. Instead, they should take all the applicants (plus few undercover producers) to a big park and tell them to socialize with each other for 3 hours. At the end, people should rate the top 18 people they think should be on the "Apprentice." The producers can figure out the call-backs by ranking those individuals who are the most popular choices. I think this is more effective because the process would also do valuable market research for the producers. I noticed everyone in line was a HUGE Apprentice fan and part of the key 18-35 demographic with no kids and lots of disposable income. Also, everyone was very sociable/Type A personality and we all got to know each other very well in the hours we spent waiting in line. If I met one of the final Apprentice candidates today, I feel I'd know him/her better than the producers after multiple interviews. The idea of having a long 3 hour social interaction is influenced by the book I'm reading, "Blink." In it, the author describes how Pepsi will always win the Coke/Pepsi challenge because people prefer Pepsi's sweeter taste in sips. But when analyzing soda drinking behavior over an entire can, Coke wins out. Similarly, audiences might prefer one candidate over another given a long 3 hour interaction versus a quick 10 minute interview... I'm tired, forgive me if I'm just rambling on and on as this post never ends.........

Email from Yale's Dean

2006-03-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

The following is an excerpt from Dean Podolny summarizing the new curriculum:

1. Orientation to Management

The first six weeks consist of a series of courses designed to develop the basic skills and language of management. This first segment will also provide structured opportunities through class work and other exercises for the exploration of your career goals and aspirations.

2. Organizational Perspectives

This twelve-week segment is made up of eight interdisciplinary courses organized around key organizational roles that a manager must engage in order to achieve success. Instead of being taught Finance, Marketing, Economics and other management subjects in discrete, unconnected classes, you will learn about the functional management disciplines in a series of multidisciplinary team-taught courses that will allow you to develop a coherent, integrated view of management practice. This segment also includes a two-week international experience scheduled in January.

3. Integrative Leadership Perspective

The final six weeks of the year will bring together the material you have learned in a series of cases focused around managerial challenges in organizations scaled from a small entrepreneurial start-up to a large corporation or social sector organization.

My first thought with Yale SOM's changes was "wow, sounds really cool!" Then I read the line about the 2-week international scheduled trip in January and I thought "man, cool just got cooler!" Then my quantitative brain starting calculating the weeks and 6 + 12 + 6 = 24. I'm not sure if the 2 week trip is part of the 12 weeks, but assuming it's not, 2 + 1 (spring break) + 1 (Thanksgiving) + 4 (Christmas break) = 8. 24 + 8 = 32... Does this mean that my summer break is 52 - 32 = 20 weeks long?!?! I must be missing school weeks somewhere, I wonder how everything will add up.

Snow is Melting

2006-03-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

Rain in Northern California Friday and Saturday. Avalanche Warnings close Hwy 88 until 23:00 on Sat Night. All roads re-open with chain control on Sunday. Partly cloudy skies forecasted. Ingredients for another amazing snow day in Tahoe?

Surprisingly the conditions on Sunday were good, but not great. As seen by the picture I took on the ridgeline between the back and frontside of Kirkwood, much of the new snow quickly melted because it was unusually warm (high at 48 degrees). There was no snow on any of the trees and the overall snow base seemed noticeably lower than that of last time (you can see little tree tops and rocks jutting out).

With the snow melting, I guess Spring is here, which means Baseball season is just around the corner. My basketball picks were completely wrong, so I am looking forward to moving on to baseball. I've gone to many Giants games since they opened Pac Bell Park, but have never experienced the game from McCovey Cove. Hopefully I'll get a chance to sit back and experience a game in a rented Kayak just beyond right field (I doubt there'll be any more splash HR's with a non-roided Barry Bonds)

Yale SF Reception

2006-03-23T23:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the Yale SOM San Francisco reception for admitted students. About 15 students and 1 ADCOM member showed up, and I am truly impressed by my future classmates. Everyone had interesting backgrounds, and I don't think I met a single boring person. The good news is Cal will be well represented next year because by my count, there will be at least 6 other fellow alum. In fact, I recognized another Cal math major.. what are the odds?

The topics ranged from the new dean/curriculum to welcome weekend plans. Evidently, Yale SOM's new dean is changing the curriculum in favor of a more multi-disciplinary approach. The most visible impact will be a smaller class size (180 total planned students divided into 3 classes of 60). I asked the ADCOM member if this was just a one time exception, but it seems 180 will be the new target class size in the near-term (at least until the new buildings are complete). The smaller class size will naturally lead to a more competitive student body (especially as application volume rises), but I wonder how many future CEO's Yale would unfortunately lose because of this decision. For me, I'm just thrilled I got accepted in Round 1.

If this cross-section of 15 students represents the class of 2008, I can't wait to go to school in August. I'm already practicing my "GO BULLDOGS" chant and am looking forward to painting my face blue for the Harvard-Yale football game.

Online Traffic School

2006-03-22T03:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Brownoski,

This email is to notify you that you did NOT pass our traffic school exam. You scored 65% on your exam taken on 03/22/2006. You need 80% or higher to pass. Please review the course material and retake the exam.

Sincerely,
Coordinated Court Services, Inc.

This is an automated message generated to inform you of your status
Please ignore this message if your status has changed

Coordinated Court Services, Inc. is a non profit organization founded to assist the courts and DMV to improve the safety of driving

15 minutes and 5 atempts later

Dear Brownoski,

Congratulations! You have completed and passed our traffic school final exam. You scored 85% on your exam taken on 03/22/2006. Your certificate will be sent directly to the court. You are NOT required to do anything. A confirmation via email will be sent to you when your certificate is sent out to the court.

If only I could retake the GMATS with the same questions until I got an 800..

The funniest parts about Traffic 101's test were the ridiculous non-traffic questions that make you skim the materials and retake the test. For those looking to save some time, the answers are: the author is 5'8", loves basketball, lives in CA, likes Sourdough bread, loves carrots, drinks 8 glasses of water/day, 5 is his lucky number.

I must have good kharma because I was barely eligible for traffic school this ticket (20 months since my last ticket). Alas, I need to drive more carefully over the next 18 months which means I'll be taking my time driving from CA to New Haven this summer.

Tourist in San Francisco

2006-03-19T21:12:00.000-08:00

With 10.5 weeks left in San Francisco, I felt an urge to be a tourist on this gorgeous weekend. I accomplished my goal of eating clam chowder from a sourdough bread bowl and pot stickers from U-Lee in Nob Hill (the plate is normal size, the pot stickers are HUGE). I had a blast and will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Wharton Non-Update..

2006-03-16T06:12:00.000-08:00

The Admissions Committee has completed its secondary review of your application and would like to offer you the option to continue on the waitlist. You will be notified of any changes in your status by the end of Round 3. If you wish to withdraw your application from consideration, please send an e-mail to XXX@XXXX.edu with the subject header "Waitlist Remove."

In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application. Thank you for continuing to observe this policy.

After sipping a few cocktails and staying up all night on the S2S Chat with Pupstar78, ArmyAli (stay safe over there), Masoisa (thanks for opening a spot in MIT), and a few others, my R2 Wharton Status got updated to: Waitlist for R3. Congrats to everyone in the chat who made it, and I wish all the best to those who got the unfortunate ding. This puts an interesting spin on my Wharton App because now I'll have to put my Yale deposit down in April because the next R3 status update is all the way in May..

Oh MIT, where are you?

March Madness Picks are in

2006-03-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

Finally my March Madness Picks are complete. What was my methodology? Did I create a complicated algorithm based on statistics that would make Mr. RPI jealous? Well, not really. I completely went with my gut and picked schools that I remember doing well in last year's tournament. I figure tournament experience trumps all statistics. Some noteables:

-West Virginia making it to the Elite 8 (I love the name Pittsnogle)
-Pitt making it to the Elight 8
-UCLA making it to the Final 4
-Illinois beating UCONN
-Boston College over Villanova
-Duke beats Ohio St in the Finals to win it all

As usual, I'll probably get half my picks wrong and Jessica Simpson will beat me again this year, but it's fun to root for the underdogs during March.

BTW - Why does Cal ALWAYS get hosed in location. We got killed by Pitt in Pittsburgh one year, then by Oklahoma in Oklahoma the next year, why do we have to play Texas in Texas this year? Seriously - HOSED. At least Richard Midgley will have fun beating NC State again to finish off his career at Cal.

Happy Pi Day

2006-03-14T01:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Pi Day everyone! In order to celebrate one of the most famous irrational numbers on 3/14 at 1:59 AM, I decided to post a nerdy math blog. What does pi have to do with the MBA application process? Well both are irrational and never seem to have an end. I started my Wharton App in August '05 when they posted the essay questions online (first school to do so). Because I hate procrastinating, I finished my app well before the October deadline, yet it is 3/14 and I still don't have a decision. I may hear some update when R2 decisions are released this Thursday, but this process is wayyy too long. I can't imagine applying to a job and waiting over 6 months to hear back.

For those with too much free time and nothing to do like me, here is one way to calculate pi:

Probably a more practical way of celebrating Pi Day is just eating a good pie or pineapple. I haven't decided what to do yet, but something tells me that I'll probably figure out the 1,000th digit of Pi before I hear back from Wharton or MIT.

On a more random note celebrating nerdy math, here's an interesting proof I found on the internet a few years back:

I think the next geeky holiday is Mole Day on 6/02 at 10:23 AM. I hate chemistry, but I'm sure there's a fun way to celebrate that day.

MIT Called..

2006-03-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

As I was driving on the freeway, I get a call from a 617 area code. I thought it was a friend from San Diego (619) but it turns out it was from MIT! My heart stops and I almost get into an accident as the person introduces herself from MIT. She mentioned I was near the top of the waitlist and was wondering if I was still interested in Sloan. With an emphatic "ABSOLUTELY" I eagerly awaited any response. As it turns out, there's room in the Round 2 pool to re-review Round 1 Waitlist candidates, and she said I will likely hear a decision by April 3rd. Still not an admit, but with Wharton Round 2 decisions coming out next Thursday, my anxiety just jumped up 1000 percent.

BTW - Happy B-Day Marina!

Mavens, Connectors, and Salesman

2006-03-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

Inspired by IWMI to read Freakonomics and Marina who is reading The World is Flat, I decided to stop by Barnes and Noble and pick up the business book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Surprisingly I find myself with a lot of free time these days, so reading is a nice way to take a break from watching tivo and compulsively checking my email.

I just finished the chapter on Mavens, Connectors, and Salesman, and this book is really fun. It's interesting to hear his theory on how ideas/fads/information are started by Mavens (who are experts in one area) who tell Connectors (who have tons of acquaintances) who tell Salesman (the ones who convince people on the fence to give the fad a try) the Mavens' original message. In the real world, I'm not sure if I fit into any of these categories because I'm definitely not a Maven (no trend-setter here), not a Connector (don't have 100 friends on friendster), and definitely not a Salesman.

However, in the online MBA world, I hope that this blog serves like a Maven for the MBA application process. By posting my experiences on this blog and Clearadmit's Wiki, Connectors like Hella, MBA League, Businessweek, and S2S will help communicate my experiences to anyone interested. The Salesman are the Admissions Consultants who can use this information to help their clients improve their MBA candidacy by drawing upon Maven experiences.

So much powder

2006-03-05T21:54:00.000-08:00

Lots of rain in the Bay Area translates to heavy powder in Tahoe. Throw in a clear Saturday, and you have ingredients for, not the perfect storm but the perfect ski day with fresh, clean, virgin powder. After scouring the weather reports on Thursday and Friday (in between reading blogs and businessweek forums), I knew Saturday would be one of the best Tahoe days of the season. Instead of going to the Cal/USC final home game, I opted to tear up Northstar with my freshly waxed skis. The best part of the trip was discovering a new favorite run. If you take a right off the Lookout Mountain chair lift and ski down the border by the picnic bench, you'll find the deepest powder in Tahoe. At one point, I skied past a tiny little tree whose branch caught my right knee and I found myself tumbling and landing in waist-deep powder. As I lay in the snow, I thought this is what it must feel like to lie on a million pillows.

I hope the ski conditions in Vermont are similar to that of Tahoe because I don't know if I can survive two consecutive powderless winters. With only 12.5 weeks left in the Bay Area, it seems like I won't have enough time to complete my Bay Area checklist. Ah wells, I guess I'll need to start a new checklist for So Cal. Any ideas?

Columbia Ding

2006-03-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

Status Description
After a careful review of our Wait List, the Admissions Committee regrets to inform you that we will not be able to offer you admission.
It was extremely difficult to make this decision. As you are aware, we have an extraordinarily competitive applicant pool and therefore must disappoint many fine candidates. Please be advised that if you wish to be reconsidered for the Columbia MBA program, you may reapply by using the reapplication checklist available through our website at http://www.gsb.columbia.edu/mba/admissions/reapply.html.

We do appreciate your interest in Columbia Business School and wish you success in your future endeavors.

I'm glad Columbia didn't wait until the summer to tell me I'm dinged. I don't regret not sending any information to the waitlist manager because I'm not that passionate about Columbia. Columbia is a great school, but I think I'll be pretty happy at Yale. If applications are up and schools won't be going off their waitlists, I hope Wharton and MIT can offer the same courtesy by giving me my ding before April so I can start looking for a place to live in New Haven.

Chuck Norris

2006-02-26T01:57:00.000-08:00

I used to watch Conan O'Brien religiously because I love his humor. He used to have a "Chuck Norris" lever where at any time during his show, he could pull the lever and a clip from "Walker Texas Ranger" would pop on the screen and show Chuck Norris kicking butt. From a friend, I found this hilarious website that lists random Chuck Norris Facts. Everyone has their favorite Chuck Norris Fact, but my favorite one (because I'm a math dork), is "Chuck Norris can divide by zero."

Now if only I can call Chuck to do something about my waitlists...

Welcome Weekends

2006-02-22T01:21:00.000-08:00

I think the hardest part about being waitlisted is the fact that I am not invited to each school's Welcome Weekend. Because I would be torn between Columbia and Yale, the Welcome Weekend experience would play a significant role in helping me decide which business school is best for me. Besides seeing the actual school environment, I would meet potential classmates and get a true feel of how happy I would be at that school.

Because of all the recent MIT and Columbia updates, I nearly forgot that I am still theoretically in contention at Wharton. Similar to the MIT Waitlist Chat on Accepted.com, there's an archived chat for Wharton Waitlisted folks. After seeing application stats like 4% jump at Yale and 30% jump at Haas, I fear this is the wrong year to be on any waitlist because so many more people are applying for the same number of seats (after two consecutive down years). Don't get me wrong, I'm still thrilled to have the opportunity to go to Yale, but I wish I could attended each school's Welcome Weekend to get an honest feel on what school is best for me.

Columbia Status Update - WAITLISTED

2006-02-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

DUDE, I GOT ANOTHER WAITLIST, this time from Columbia.

The Admissions Committee has reviewed your application and has recommended that your name be place on the waitlist for the September 2006 class.
The Admissions Committee was impressed with the strength of your candidacy and would like to encourage you to remain an active candidate as long as possible. We suggest that you contact the waitlist manager provided below to confirm your willingness to remain active in the admissions process. Your waitlist manager will then assist you with the waitlist process and facilitate any further communication with the Admissions Committee. We would also appreciate it if you would inform us if you cannot remain on the waitlist.

Columbia waitlisted me when I applied for undergrad, and now she's still undecided. Maybe it's my GPA? Maybe it was my interview? Who knows, but this is dang frustrating.

Drunk Stanfurd Tree

2006-02-16T23:45:00.000-08:00

When I went to the Cal/Stanfurd basketball game, I knew something was different with the tree because of the way it was dancing and taunting the student section. I've been to many Cal/Stanfurd games in basketball and football over the past 7 years, and had never seen the tree mock Cal the way it did last week. It turns out the student inside the tree was drunk! I have nothing against getting drunk during sport events, but man, I wish I was there to see the tree get arrested. It would be hilarious to see a mug shot of the tree from the front and side profile. The article brought back memories from when I was a student at Cal and found out how Oski drinks (because of his enormous head, Oski needs to drink with a plastic funnel that goes through his right eye).

All in all, this is kharma for the Stanfurd band. After crazy antics like dressing up like the KKK or a pregnant nun at Notre Dame, they deserve to get in trouble for something.

By the way, with a 75-66 win over Arizona, Cal is tied for 1st place in the PAC-10 with UCLA. THIS IS OUR YEAR!! I don't remember a time when we beat both Arizona and Stanford back to back.

I'm Bored

2006-02-15T01:06:00.000-08:00

All is quiet on the MBA front. I haven't heard anything from Columbia (14 days since interview), which tells me I'm probably gonna get a big fat ding. Looking back, I don't think I did a good job of answering the "why Columbia" question in the essays/interview because my generic response centered on how cool New York is versus any meaningful information about the school itself. I won't hear anything from the waitlist schools until much later, so the only thing MBA related coming up is the Yale SOM Admit Reception in SF on Thurs, March 23. I'm actually looking forward to meeting future classmates and hopefully I'll meet a carpool buddy to drive with me across country in August.

The biggest story in the news cycle this week is Dick Cheney accidentally shooting someone on a hunting trip. It seems the news media is actually focusing more on "how" the information was released versus the actual shooting itself. For me, I don't really care whether the information was released Saturday night or Sunday morning, or even if Cheney should've held a press conference himself. I wish we'd actually focus on the shooting act specifically. What's done is done, and fortunately no one died; but this is a great opportunity for Dick Cheney and the news media to focus on gun safety and what measures everyone can take to prevent this from happening again in the future. Similar to how the Bush daughter had to do community service for underage drinking, Cheney should do some community work to educate gun safety and we should move on to more important issues.

Supplemental Information for MIT Sloan Waitlist

2006-02-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

I ran a google search for "MIT Sloan Waitlist" and my blog was the first hit! Maybe because I had a previous post with the exact phrase, but I'm surprised there aren't that many resources available for those on the waitlist. Accepted.com has an archived chat transcript with MIT ADCOM members from Feb 2005 that had some good information. The key message I got from that chat is MIT is looking for candidates to show continued interest, but not to go too crazy with the phone calls. Jon McLaughlin, Assistant Director of MBA Admissions said:

For us, we encourage a limited number of updates if they are significant and relevant. The types of information we have found useful (in no particular, with no order) are usually a short letter of continued interest, a recommendation that sheds new light (hard to do), an update on a significant career or personal event relevant to us (i.e. a promotion, deepened extra curricular) and any insights from a visit or conversation. There is judgment involved here, and too much is definitely too much. I get flooded with emails that don't contain a lot of information.

I want to address weaknesses in my application (i.e. undergrad GPA, extra-curriculars) but I have nothing new to add because I already addressed my weaknesses in my optional essay in the original application. Contrary to my friend who got into Stanford GSB last year off the waitlist by networking to find an influential alumni to write an amazing rec, I don't know any influential Sloan alumni nor do I have my friend's networking skills to find one. I have nothing significant to update, but I want to do everything I can to improve my position on the waitlist. I've decided that the only thing I'll do is to write a new letter to the admissions director.

I've already written a rough draft of my letter and so far it's pretty concise - down to one page. I basically wrote a little paragraph on why I love Sloan and the rest of my letter was designed to show my personality and how I get passionate about work and life. Sloan's interview was behavioral and probed into past experiences to learn about a candidate, so I included a short story of an important work experience that I hope will show ADCOM something new and how hungry I am to get in off the waitlist.

The last part of my letter is controversial and I'm not sure if I should include it. Several of my friends who have proofread my first draft suggested I take it out, but another suggested I expand on it. I summarized my business school application status by mentioning my Yale admit and Wharton waitlist. I didn't want to sound like I was "bragging" about Yale, but it seems Sloan may be interested to know what my backup options are. Most people agree that Sloan, especially for my industry, is ranked higher than Yale, but ADCOM should psychologically feel better knowing that they were able to recruit someone over Yale. I'm not sure there's any value added for mentioning the Wharton waitlist, but had I been accepted to both schools, I would have definitely chosen Sloan. I'm still undecided about mentioning and updating my business school status in this letter, but at least I get another shot at trying to convince ADCOM why I'm a good candidate.

Cal over Stanfurd

2006-02-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight Cal is in sole possession of 2nd place in the Pac-10 after a solid win over Stanfurd. I got to complete my 3rd item on my checklist and am very excited about March Madness prospects. I really believe Cal can make it to the Sweet 16 this year! This will be our best shot in many years to go deep into the tournament because Richard Midgley will be graduating and Leon Powe will be leaving for the NBA (inside source).

During one of the time outs, the Stanfurd Tree was dancing around in front of the Cal student section like a stupid green bobble head doll. Fortunately, Oski (and his new blue shirt with a Kapono head band) came out and knocked it down where it belongs. Supposedly Stanfurd kids are smart, but there was a dumb kid in that tree that learned to never taunt the Cal student section (Welcome to the HAAS of PAIN).

Some people ask why I never finished my Stanfurd business school application. Many agree that Stanfurd is one of the three elite business schools (Harvard, Stanfurd, Wharton). For me, even if I were accepted, I probably wouldn't go because I don't like the Stanfurd environment. The campus and students are way too clean and polished. Palo Alto is not really a college town and does not have much personality. It's probably easier finding a sweet job coming out of Stanfurd than Yale because recruiters know how competitive Stanfurd is to get in, but I believe Berkeley, Boston, and/or New Haven offer more diverse environments that provide a richer MBA experience. I have the rest of my life to live in a quiet, sterile boring community, why waste two valuable years?

Yosemite

2006-02-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going to create a checklist of "Things to do in the Bay Area before I leave." Last weekend, I got to accomplish one of the top items on my list: visiting Yosemite. Even during winter months, the weather was gorgeous and there was some breathtaking scenery. The picture above is my best attempt to be Ansel Adams with my Canon SD400. From this point, I captured Half Dome in the center, and the face of El Capitan on the left. If you look closely on the right side, there's a waterfall that lines up with one of the near trees. The lush valley on the bottom contrasts the snow covered tops. I wanted to include a lot of blue sky so I have a place for my icons when I set this picture as my desktop wallpaper.

This picture is meaningful to me because it represents a quick snapshot of where I am in my life. The face of El Capitan shows the difficult MBA journey ahead. Half Dome, which is dead center and far away, represents my ultimate personal and professional goals. While earning my MBA is important, I hope I don't ever lose focus on the big picture and what really is important to me.

Columbia Interview complete

2006-02-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

This morning, I drove to Marin County to interview with a Columbia alumni. The questions I was asked were:

1) Walk me through your resume.
2) Where do you want to be/what do you want to do? (why mba?)
3) Why Columbia?
4) Columbia is known as a finance business school, why does someone with your background want to attend Columbia? (interviewer had finance background)
5) What kind of leader are you?
6) What makes you different?
7) Any questions for the interviewer?

Overall it was a standard interview and I wasn't thrown off guard too much by any of the questions. The interviewer was very friendly as it was very conversational and it seemed like he was genuinely interested in my story. I had a little trouble making a convincing argument why I wanted to attend Columbia over any other school because I am still slightly leaning toward Yale. We'll see what happens from here, and how much weight ADCOM puts on the interview, but I need to start writing my "I Love MIT" letter.

MIT Sloan - Waitlist

2006-01-30T23:15:00.000-08:00

AHHH another waitlist...........

What are the next steps for waiting list candidates?
We encourage waiting list applicants to keep us updated on their situation and intentions, but please wait until at least February 10, 2006, to submit updates or inquiries, as we are busy processing Round Two applications. You are welcome to submit via hardcopy only any additional information you feel will be helpful to us. Please understand that due to the high volume of correspondence, we are limited in our ability to answer individual questions. Please refer to this page which will be updated as needed.

Please send letters to:

XXXX

Please do not send any correspondence to individual admissions committee members

I'm surprised at getting ANOTHER waitlist. I was ready for any sort of decision today. I'm a little bummed but I'm taking this as a great opportunity to show MIT how hungry I am to go there. Unlike Wharton, it seems MIT accepts additional materials for waitlist candidates so I get to write another deep soul searching essay on why I'd be a great fit at MIT.

Going back to my previous Adcom or Girlfriend post, MIT is the girl in class that plays hard to get. Sure Yale is sitting right next to you and is hot, smart, and loyal; but there's this part of you that can't stop thinking about MIT every waking moment. Most likely you'll end up content with Yale, but deep down, you wonder what could've been with MIT..

Columbia Interview..

2006-01-29T23:03:00.000-08:00

When I got accepted to Yale in December, I had already applied to 6 schools (Wharton, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Haas, USC). I knew Yale was one of my top choices, so I immediately sent emails to Columbia, Haas, and USC to withdraw my application because I pictured myself in New Haven in August. All three schools did not give my application fees back, but I still gave them notice that I was planning on going to Yale.

Fast forward to the end of January, and I get responses from those three schools. I have interview invites to USC and Columbia, and a flat rejection from Haas. I'm pretty sure I won't be attending USC if I were offered admissions, but the Columbia interview invite made me wonder about the possibility of living in New York. Even though ranking systems are flawed and fluctuate year to year, many different b-school rankings have Columbia and Yale at relatively similar positions. Also, New York is 10x better than New Haven as a place to live, so all else being equal, Columbia has an edge on location. It couldn't hurt to interview, but I'm still leaning toward Yale right now. My Haas rejection gave me good perspective on how it feels to get rejected. Maybe it'll soften the blow if I don't get into Wharton or MIT, but I am so thankful that at least Yale wants me. It sure feels good to know I'll be going back to school this fall.

For those interested, I just got back from Tahoe and my weekend was amazing! It snowed on Saturday (bad omen for MIT decision in 14 hours) but cleared on Sunday (good omen?). Today, the powder was soft and dry, and I felt like I was skiing on pillows. For those that have been to Kirkwood, all the lifts were open and I got to do "The Wall".

I also had much better luck gambling in South Lake Tahoe vs Vegas; I'm definitely going to miss Tahoe Trips!

40% Chance

2006-01-25T01:24:00.000-08:00

As of right now, there's a 40% chance for snow this weekend in Lake Tahoe. I'm dying to hit the slopes the weekend between playoffs and Superbowl, but I learned my lesson 3 years ago to never drive in inclement weather (had a memorable spin out on I-80). The 40% chance also translates to 60% chance for good weather. I realized this is exactly the same odds for me getting into Sloan (read on b-week forums that 60% of MIT interviewees get accepted). Hopefully, the good weather this weekend will be a sign that I'll get the accepted phone call on Monday, Jan 30.

BTW, the winter Olympics are coming up in a few weeks, but I haven't really seen any advertisements/promotions. I'm a bigger fan of winter Olympics than summer Olympics, and I'm surprised that there is no hype in the media. This is the one time where stoners and curlers can earn gold medals. This is also the year where Michelle Kwan will finally get a gold medal (i love you)!

MIT Sloan Interview

2006-01-19T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today I finally completed my last interview with an ADCOM member from MIT. Overall, it went okay, but I feel 30 minutes is not enough time to really get to know someone. The website from Clear Admit really helped me prepare for the interview because MIT is a little different from other schools. The interviewer only asks a few questions, but really probes your responses and keeps asking things like "how did it make you feel", "why did you do that", "how did the other employees react". He specifically instructed me to not use examples I used in my essays so it is definitely good to have some extra stories/examples prepared for the interview. The questions I was asked:

-Any updates to your application?
-Why did you choose your undergrad major?
-What's a personal goal you've set for yourself in the past 1-2 years?
-Describe a time when you've confronted an obstacle.
-Why MIT?
-Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
-Do you have any questions for me?

Now the waiting game begins. I should hear back from MIT by Jan 30 but regardless of the decision, I'm satisfied that I put forth my best effort.

Vegas owns me

2006-01-17T00:46:00.000-08:00

I flew out to Vegas over MLK weekend to celebrate my buddy's bday and going away party. As with most Vegas trips, this was truly memorable because a) I ate my first escargot (sp?) and b) experienced my worst blackjack beat ever.

I'm sure those who've played blackjack have experienced this before, but this one stung because I had bet a large sum of money. I was dealt 5,6 (11) and the dealer showed a very weak 5. I barely had enough money to cover the double down but this is one of those situations all gamblers dream about. After doubling down (essentially going all in) I was dealt a 9 which gave me a solid 20. The dealer flipped over a 7 which gave him a 12. The next card he flipped over was a 3 which gave him 15. At this point, my 20 against his 15 is awesome because I have a 92% chance of winning/not losing. Also, keep in mind a 10/face hadn't shown up in ages. However, the one card that I didn't want to see (6) showed up and his 21 beat my 20 and I lost my gambling money. For those who count cards, the count was already at +11 (the reason why I bet soo much money) and it just happened to be one of those weird streaks where very few face cards come out after many hands.

After the shock of what happened wore off, I realized how truly excited I am about going to Yale (maybe Sloan or Wharton) because I wasn't really that sad. In the big picture, part of me knew I was going to lose the money I set aside to gamble and I had such a fun experience going out and drinking to the point of having one long constant buzz for 2 days. Hopefully if I get into MIT, I can meet members of the infamous crew from Bringing Down the House so they can share their secrets on how to actually win in Vegas.

Anyone else experience a bad beat in Vegas?

MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship

2006-01-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it but my MIT Sloan interview is next week. December seemed to crawl by but January is zooming! As I'm doing research on MIT, I'm finding that Entrepreneurship seems big there. I don't know of any other school that has a competition like the MIT 50k. As I read the case studies of past winners, Entrepreneurship seems like a very exciting career path for after business school. I never really considered it before but there is something alluring about being your own boss. Because I have ADD, I quickly changed my focus from researching MIT interviews to possible ideas to submit to the competition. Even if I don't get into MIT, I may end up pursuing Entrepreneurship at Yale or Wharton (slim slim possibility of latter). It seems regardless of what school I end up going to, if I have a good idea and the passion for it, I can be successful (although certain alumni networks may make it easier).

If I were accepted at MIT, my entry to this competition would look something like this: a tivo-like radio device for one's car. I enjoy driving my sexy Audi and listening to the radio, but I hate commercials and I hate waiting for the traffic report. If there was a tivo-like device which constantly records radio signals based on user preferences, I would buy it with no hesitation. Imagine clicking on a traffic button and you can rewind and hear the latest traffic clip on your whim. Or if you love a certain Coldplay song that just came out, you can listen to it over and over and over again. After fast forwarding through the commercials, you can listen to your favorite talk show or morning show as you drive an alternate route because you found out there was a big accident. Lastly, if you're stuck in your car during a big sport moment, you can relive the excitement over and over with such a device. I missed the Duke/Virginia Tech game this year but if I had such a device in my car, I could've listened to the play by play of that amazing shot Duke made from half court at the buzzer to win. With memory cards so tiny and cheap, and sound files are smaller than video, it seems like Tivo can make the device easily. I hope someone from Tivo is reading this so I can buy one really soon!

Insurance Rates by Zip Code

2006-01-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

As I'm sitting around waiting for business school, I ran across an interesting article on sfgate.com. Basically, there is a debate among lawmakers, consumer groups, and insurance companies about what factors insurance companies should use when determining their rates. The part that really caught my eye was whether insurance companies should use zip codes as a factor to calculate rates.

Obviously, if you live in a poorer area of Oakland, there is statistically more crime than a rich area in Marin County like Tiburon. Therefore, insurance companies charge higher premiums in Oakland than Tiburon based on the risk of crime. I'm no actuary, but it seems that it costs more (insurance rates) to drive if you live in a poor zip code, versus if you live in a rich zip code. I may be oversimplifying the issue, but this just seems wrong. I understand insurance companies are businesses that need to make money to survive, but they do have a social responsibility to not exploit the poor. I'm not suggesting insurance companies should lead the way in redistributing wealth by overcharging the rich and giving discounts to the poor, but I believe they should give slightly better treatment to safe drivers in poor zip codes over safe drivers in rich zip codes.

My limited understanding of the insurance business is that they make money by taking out their "overhead" costs from the big pool of money they accumulate from charging premiums to every customer. Regardless if 10 poor customers pay $10 more or 1 rich customer pays $100 more, the insurance company still makes the same money from "overhead" costs. I believe if zip codes are used as a factor to determine insurance rates, the responsible thing to do is to charge the 1 rich customer $100 more so 10 poor customers can save $10 each (assuming all other factors besides zip codes are constant). This should apply to every insurance company so rich customers can not defect to cheaper alternatives. The insurance businesses make the same profit and the size of the pot of money to draw from to pay off claims remains the same. This post may sound really naive, but I do believe insurance companies can still make big profits while being socially responsible.

I'm a Lame Duck

2006-01-07T02:22:00.000-08:00

After getting into business school, it's becoming increasingly difficult to maintain focus at work. How can I concentrate when I know I'll be gone in a few months. My co-workers and managers know I'll be leaving (bad mistake to open my big fat mouth so early) so it just feels really awkward to continue working. This makes me wonder what lame duck politicians do when they are not re-elected. In those final weeks before they end office, they might as well just go on vacation because it's pointless for them to make decisions that would represent a constituency that didn't vote for them. Similarly, I wish I could take one big fat happy vacation (7 months) before school starts........ too bad I need to save more money and my lease on my apt doesn't end till May...............

The best part of being a lame duck - leaving work early. I would feel guilty, but there's nothing my manager can do. He wants to make sure I leave the company on good terms (the company definitely wants me to return) so he can't fire me. Part of me feels guilty for taking advantage of my situation, but after working my butt off for the past 4 years, nothing beats chugging beer at Harry's in Pac Heights on a Thursday.

Wharton Waitlist Instructions

2006-01-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

According to my waitlist email:

• In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application.

I wonder if the waitlist process is a hidden test to see if candidates REALLY want to go to a particular school. It's kind of like when some people say "let's not exchange presents this Christmas " but get mad when you don't get them a present after they break their own rule and buy you a present. Similarly, I wonder if Wharton is testing to see if waitlist candidates will go out of their way to write them a letter saying "puhleeze let me in, I love Wharton to death, etc etc." I usually follow directions, but I wonder if it would help if I wrote one of those corny letters (business schools want to attract people that have a certain drive and are willing to go beyond the norm). The realistic side of me says Wharton ADCOM is way too busy to read additional materials, but if I wrote such a letter, would it hurt?

I talked with someone who got into Stanford Business School off the waitlist, but he wasn't any help. He said he received similar instructions, but he found an influential alumni through his network to vouch for his passion to go to Stanford. He doesn't know if he would've gotten in anyways, but having an alumni speak on your behalf sure does help.

Unfortunately, I do not have that kind of network, nor do I feel comfortable asking a friend of a friend of a friend to say good things about me when that person doesn't even know me. Also, I don't think I could even write that corny letter because it'd probably sound fake (I really would be happy attending Yale). However, I do want to show Wharton that I have that drive/hunger to succeed in business but I guess they already have that information in my essays. Alas, I'll do nothing and sit around dreaming of New Haven (Bschool is only 32 weeks away!!!)

How to get the Rainman Suite in Vegas

2005-12-29T18:18:00.000-08:00

Priceline.com is awesome. On Dec 24th, we were able to reserve a room at the 5 Star Venetian for $100 ($120 with tax) for one night, Dec 26th. After we get to Vegas, we decide not to check in until after a little gambling and dinner. I assumed that it wouldn't be that busy because we were able to reserve the room on such notice. Before we know it, it's already 11:30 PM and we needed to check in. The line was surprisingly long at that late hour, and apparently, they're sold out of rooms! Fortunately we had a reservation, so they had to upgrade us. Because we were only staying one night, and the only room available was on the 35th floor, we got the rainman suite for $100!! When I describe this suite, it had an amazing view of the strip and was 5 times the size of my apartment. Not only did it have a luxurious bathroom (2 showerheads) but it came with a GYM and Sauna. For every regular dude out there, you don't have to be a whale to get the rainman suite; you just need to get a little luck (sold out night) and check in late.

Merry Xmas

2005-12-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

2005 went by so quickly, I can't believe it's Christmas already. It sure is nice to be back in southern california, today I went golfing in shorts. Bay area weather is alright, but nothing can beat golfing in shorts in December. How am I going to adjust to New England weather next year..

Last night, my brother showed me Priceline.com. This website is ridiculously awesome. He searched for 5 star hotel in Vegas, and we got the Venetian for $100 ($120 w/ tax) for Dec 26th. This is an incredible deal; you literally set your price limit at $100 and they booked the Venetian for one night (last minute). Venetian, like Bellagio, is one of the best hotels on the strip and rooms usually go for at least $200. I believe in Kharma and something bad has to happen soon because after I got into Yale, everything is going my way!

Wharton Waitlist

2005-12-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

AHHHHH, Dec 22 was supposed to be a day of decisions from Wharton, how did I get waitlisted? The description says my app will be reviewed again alongside Round 2 candidates. I just hope that if I get off the waitlist and decide I want to go to Wharton, I haven't submitted my $$$ deposit for Yale yet.. My spirits aren't too crushed because Yale is definitely an awesome choice. The wait continues...

28 Hour Countdown

2005-12-21T01:53:00.000-08:00

In 28 hours, I'll know if I got into Wharton or not. Getting into Yale definitely makes the wait easier, but as Thursday nears, I'm getting more and more nervous. Part of me wants to get rejected because it'll make my decision to go to Yale very easy. I love how Yale fosters a truly team oriented environment by not giving out grades (P/NP). Even though Wharton has a big name in the business community, there's something to be said about having that Yale diploma written in Latin hanging on your wall. At this point I've narrowed down my MBA potential schools to the final 3: Yale, MIT, and Wharton. I'm still jittery over getting into Yale, reality still hasn't sunk in yet. Looks like I'll be leaving California for a couple years, and I look forward to driving across country!

Caller ID: 203 - Yale wants me

2005-12-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

Holla! I can't believe I'm in!!! I loved the Yale campus/students. I'm completely speechless, I got the wonderful news 2 minutes ago. This is one of those life changing moments, when I know I'll be attending business school next year! I'm supposed to get a follow up email and an informational packet in January, but I still can't believe it. This is Yale. Wow, what am I going to do for the next few months? Should I quit my job and travel? This is all amazing!

MIT Sloan Non-Teaser

2005-12-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

Just when I completely gave up on MIT (see earlier post) I got the interview email! I can't believe ADCOM's working on Sunday morning, but I guess there's still slots availabe for the west coast hub interviews. My choices are: Jan 16-17 (Santa Monica, Palo Alto), Jan 18-19 (San Francisco), Jan 19-20 (Seattle). The good/bad part of this late interview is that it is right before final round 1 decisons come out (Jan 30) so the interview will probably be fresh in ADCOM's mind when they make the final decisions. I read somewhere that 30% of the candidates get interviewed and 60% of those candidates get admitted. Looks like it's slightly better than a coin flip but there are still 40% that get the rejection email.

Hooah, at least I made the first cut!

ADCOM or Girlfriend?

2005-12-18T01:28:00.000-08:00

Similarities:
-rejection can crush your heart instantly
-if accepted, wants commitment
-experiences can change your life forever
-some are interested in how much money you make
-you bare inner soul that regular friends may not see
-can be high maintenance (3 recs, 5 essays, GMAT)
-may make you wonder if something better is out there
-coming off the waitlist is like settling for someone
-persistence sometimes pays off (repplicants?)
-makes you stare at your phone waiting

Differences:
-ADCOM not monogamous
-don't have to worry about meeting ADCOM's parents
-$200 fee?

This is the week

2005-12-18T01:06:00.000-08:00

Dec 22 is the day when all Wharton Round 1 decisions are released. Half the people interviewed get in, the other half gets rejected.. Yale may release some decisions this week too, but I don't mind waiting till January as long as I get in :). I have completely slacked on my Stanford and UCLA essays, and part of me thinks that I'll never finish the apps. I find it interesting that prospective Med School students apply to millions of schools, but most prospective MBA's only apply to a handful of schools.

At this point, I'm pretty sure I got dinged from MIT without an interview. It looks like they sent out the San Francisco hub interviews and I still haven't heard anything from them. I never had the opportunity to visit the Sloan campus, but MIT was definitely one of my top choices because it has a strong supply chain/operations program. It sucks but maybe I'll hear good news this coming week from Wharton or Yale.... fingers crossed ......

It seems Columbia hasn't even started to process my app yet (January) and I'm still waiting to hear about potential interviews from Haas and Marshall. In the beginning of this MBA application process, I thought I was going to only apply to California schools because I want to eventually settle here. However after talking with my Wharton interviewer and visiting the Yale campus, I wouldn't mind going to the east coast for 2 years. It'd be a paradigm shift and I can actually experience 4 distinct seasons in the year. It'd be tough making new friends but school is probably the best way to make a new network.

Bay Bridge Traffic

2005-12-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

I HATE TRAFFIC. When I lived in Orange County, driving through the "the orange crush" where the 5, 22, and 57 intersect drove me crazy and don't even get me started on the 405. Moving to the bay area, I assumed that there would be less traffic than LA/OC because there are more public transportation alternatives (BART, AC Transit, Muni, etc); but it took me over an hour to cross the bay bridge (less than 5 mile stretch) on Saturday night. As I waited, I counted how many lanes feed the bridge. Going west bound, there are 5 total lanes. The toll plaza has 20 total lanes. Naturally, the optimal ratio would be every 4 lanes in the toll plaza feed 1 lane on the bridge. However, when you look at how the lanes merge, the planners were totally smoking crack. The 880N -> 80W interchange feeds the far right section of 3 toll lanes. These 3 lanes ultimately feed the far right lane on the bay bridge. The 580W -> 80W feeds the left side of the bridge and you can choose the 10 left toll lanes, including fast trak lane #5. The 80W (from Berkeley) feeds the next 7 lanes, including fast trak lane #11. If you take fast trak lane #11, there is only one merge (from the right) and you automatically become the center lane on the bridge. Depending on how aggressively people merge after the lights, the 7 lanes from 80 feed lanes #3 and #4 on the bridge. The 10 left toll lanes from 580 feed lanes #1 and #2. In summary, the 10 lanes from 580 feed 2 lanes (5:1), the 7 lanes from 80 feed 2 lanes (7:2), and the 3 lanes from 880 feed 1 lane (3:1). Also, as was the case on Saturday night, if one of the lanes on the bay bridge is obstructed, overall utilization dropped 20% because 1/5 of the flow has to merge to another lane. Depending on which lane this occurs (in my case, center lane), utilization from 80W got screwed because the 7:2 ratio evolved to 7:1, thus an hour struggle to cross the bay bridge from 80W.

I can complain all day about traffic, but whining won't help. As I sat through the grueling ordeal, I thought of ways to help alleviate the situation. Obviously to improve flow you have to reduce the number of cars on the bridge, and the only way to do that is to convince people to carpool. A unique carshare programming seems successful, where individuals who want to go to SF but don't have a car wait around at the BART station, and a driver who has room in his car that wants to use a carpool lane picks up the individuals from BART to drive them across the bridge. Reading testimonials from craigslist, this idea is brilliant! All parties have motivation to carpool and it is a win/win situation. City planners should adopt this carshare program and formalize it. Instead of wasting millions of dollars on empty buses with crappy schedules, they should spend the money organizing an official carshare program. The city can displace some bus drivers and their salaries to work at BART stations and set them up with a computer and a phone. Using the internet, they can help coordinate live ad-hoc scheduling needs so a commuter can know if he can get a ride with carshare. If it was free and faster, I would drive to BART and hitch a carshare ride to downtown SF versus sitting in traffic and paying bridge toll. People can call ahead or go on the internet to plan a specific route (crossing the bridge) and local government can even help promote this by giving a dedicated lane to carshare (beyond fast trak). For me, if I could get a free ride to downtown SF in 15 minutes vs 40 min, I'd leave my car at home.

Competition is good right?

2005-12-08T01:29:00.000-08:00

According to the business week article business schools are experiencing more applicants this year than previous years. My business brain wants to believe competition is good because thats how new ideas and products flourish in the free market. My selfish entitlement-culture brain wants to believe that competition is bad because I'll have a statistically worse chance of getting into business school. At this point, it doesn't really matter because I've already submitted my Round 1 applications to the 6 schools I really want to go to. I don't even know if I'll ever get around to applying to Stanfurd, and UCLA seems like a better school academically than USC, but USC has such a powerful alumni network in California that is better for long term relationships and opportunities.

Reading the businessweek online forums actually make me less stressed about the application process. It's comforting to know people are in the same situation as me. It's already the 2nd week in December, and I haven't heard from MIT, Columbia, Berkeley, or USC. It's good to learn that MIT hasn't interviewed anyone on the west coast, and Berkeley doesn't do interviews until a "super saturday" in January. I hope to hear good news from Yale but who knows, the admissions process seems kind of random and half of those who get interviewed are rejected. The only definitive deadline coming up is the final Wharton Decision on December 22. This is the same day Cal plays in the Vegas Bowl so I hope to cover both spreads!

MIT Sloan Teaser

2005-12-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

I check my email today and I see an email from MIT Sloan MBA Admissions. My heart skips a beat and I think I either got rejected or invited to an interview. It turns out to be just an informational email that says they got my app ready for review. For a school with a repuation of smart engineers, I'm surprised it took them a little over a month to get my app ready for review (Yale was immediate and Wharton sent out interview invites within 3 weeks). It could be a good sign that maybe they're inefficient because they have a small comitteee that thoroughly reviews each app, but I don't want to read too much into this. After surfing around the businessweek forum, it looks like others are in the same boat and I haven't seen anyone mention they got a SF hub interview yet, so in the words of Jim Carey in dumb and dumber "So, I still have a chance."

Stanfurd Essay's are tough

2005-12-01T00:39:00.000-08:00

I am totally clueless how to write the two Stanfurd essays. I literally count how many times the cursor blinks in MS Word (56/min) and compare that to how many time an aim window blinks (25/min). I tried writing first drafts in August/September but because I had no idea what to do, I focused on the other schools and decided to apply Round 2 (maybe 3). You would think I'd be pretty focused by now because I wrote so many essays for other schools, but these broad topics are really really tough.

Topic 1: What matters to you, and why?
My family and friends matter most to me, but I don't know how personal this essay should be. Also, I'm still focusing on getting into business school, and have so many other experiences I want to write about that doesn't really relate to this topic. I've written good stories for other schools on topics like leadership or teamwork, but they don't relate to why my family matters so much to me. If I include them, it'll look like I'm cutting and pasting from other college essays and not answering the question; If I leave them out, I'd be missing a lot of good stories to help ADCOM see personal attributes........ ack ....

Topic 2: How do you plan to achieve your learning objectives at Stanford? How do you see your career developing?
This question is a little easier, similar to the Why MBA, Why Now questions of other schools. However, it's still difficult because part of me doesn't want to go to Stanford. I really am partial to Berkeley, and think Haas would offer such a richer experience. The only reason why I'd even consider Stanford is their brand and name recognition. I wasn't particularly impressed with the campus/students and I fear I will sound fake when writing this essay... BLAAAAH

I hope I get into Wharton so I don't even have to finish the Stanford app

Go Trojans

2005-11-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

Is it wrong that one of my top choices for business schools is USC, partially because of their unbelievable football team? I love football, specifically college football, and I would love to be a student at one of the top football programs in the country... (I think I would look pretty ridiculous if I said that during an interview).

USC's strength, besides Matt Leinhart and Reggie Bush, also lies in its amazing alumni network across Southern California. Seeing how I want to eventually settle in Southern California, a USC MBA may actually open more doors than a Yale or Wharton MBA (I may be delusional but I don't see a big east coast MBA presence in California).

Assuming the planets and stars are lined up and I get into one of the east coast schools plus USC, it'll be a very difficult decision to make...........

Wharton Interview

2005-11-23T01:21:00.000-08:00

Today I finally had my Wharton interview. After getting no responses from 4 alumni in SF, I finally was able to schedule one before Thanksgiving. I'm so glad I chose to do an alumni interview over on-campus because I lucked out and had an interviewer who was also a Boy Scout and also graduated from Berkeley (Cal crushed Stanfurd in the big game last Sat, go bears!). Because we had things in common, the interview started on a positive tone and went very smoothly. The questions were very similar to the Yale interview (why did you choose your school/major? describe chronologically your career path. why an MBA? why Wharton? why now? what would you do if you got rejected? describe professional/personal qualities/achievements...) and there were no hard questions like describe your 3 worst qualities. Another advantage to an alumni interview is you are not necessarily confined to the time constraints as you would be if you had to reserve a specific time slot on-campus. I was fortunate to have a long interview (a little over an hour) that let me get across my main points that I wanted to express. I felt the Yale interview (on campus) was too short and I didn't articulate everything that I intended for the interviewer to learn. The good part is at this point, my application is complete and now the only thing for me to do is wait for a decision. I know I put forth my best effort, so I won't be too crushed if I get rejected everywhere. I'm still nervous because similar to Yale, half of the candidates that get interviewed get rejected. Ahwells, time to flip a coin!

#Hello World#

2005-11-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Internet surfers and welcome to my brand spanking new blog. After reading other MBA blogs found at http://mbaleague.blogspot.com/, I decided to start my own blog to chronicle the business school application process and perhaps digress at times to other topics. I would be thrilled if I got into any of the schools I'm applying to, and will share the ups and downs I'll feel over the next few months. If you don't like what I post, start your own blog!