MBA Memories

I have had a great time being an MBA Student Blogger for the past two years. With graduation here, I wanted to share some of my favorite MBA memories. There are a lot, but in reality this is only a small sample. In no particular order:

1. First Ever Margaritas at Trudy’s. During orientation, some of the local students took some international students for their first margaritas. For me, it was a preview to sharing cultures and experiences with people from around the world.

2. Cohort One Thanksgiving. During our first year, Cohort One gathered at my house for a thanksgiving celebration. It was so fun to meet everyone’s families and socialize before finals started.

3. The GE Eco-Magination Case Competition. Angie Adams, Praveen Kata, and I represented Marketing Fellows and presented an idea for electric vehicles to Beth Comstock, GE’s CMO. The opportunity to present to someone at that level was incredible… and the icing on the cake was taking first place! Continue reading

To Apply Or Not To Apply

By Debjani PandaTexas MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth Class of 2014

May 16, 2012

“Texas MBA – Deadline approaching” the subject of the email flashed in my inbox. The mail reminded me – 10 more days to go before the final deadline on May 25, 2012.

I had taken the GMAT, filled in and saved my application, gotten my recommendations, and had a strong will to get my MBA degree from McCombs. I had done enough research on the courses, spoke to alumni, and attended information sessions to make sure it fit me. I hovered on the “Apply” button, but fell short just as I had over the last couple of days.

Mentally, I went through the same set of questions over and over again. They came in strongly without any coherent order.

“How will I make time for a time intensive course like this with a full time job?”

“How will my family survive with me being occupied most of the weekends (now I know it’s not just weekends) for two years?”

“How will I pay for my MBA, can I afford it?”

“I already am a manager, do I really need it?”

“Maybe I can give it another year and then go for it with a clearer mind.” Continue reading

Career Management for Working Professionals

Texas MBA Student Curtis HamlinBy Curtis HamlinTexas MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth Class of 2014

Hi everybody, I’m happy to be writing to you all after spending nine days in Southeast Asia for the Global Trip you will be taking your second semester. It was a whirlwind journey between Singapore and Jakarta, and a great learning opportunity for everyone involved. But I digress; the topic of this blog post will be the career management services that McCombs provides to students.

The Career Management team for the Texas MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth program has one goal, and that’s to help the students. We get treated just like full time students when it comes to career management and recently a new Associate Director, Michael Parker, was hired to support the Dallas/Fort Worth program. Living in Fort Worth, Michael will be setting up office hours here and building connections with the recruiting coordinators from local firms. On top of having a dedicated career advisor here in town for our program, we get all the benefits that are available to full time students in Austin.

The services offered by the Career Management office are listed below

  • One-on-one advice, counseling, and planning sessions
  • Career assessments
  • Coaching on interviewing, resume writing, negotiating, and networking skills
  • On-campus recruiting
  • Online career management guide
  • Peer and employer mock interviews
  • Case competition: Annual competition that allows students to demonstrate their case interviewing skills
  • Employer meet and greets: Opportunity for MBAs to meet employers and get comfortable with job fairs and similar situations
  • Executive speaker series: Opportunity for students to learn more about specific companies and opportunities
  • MBA+ projects: A group of 4-6 students work on a well-defined business issue and offer solutions to a specific client
  • Career fairs: Two major MBA career fairs are held in Austin each year and other events are planned throughout the year
  • Various workshops and seminars that cover appropriate career management topics

Of all the services that Career Management offers, I would like to review two, the MBA+ projects and on campus recruiting. First, the MBA+ projects allow working professional MBA students an opportunity to work with companies in the area on short term consulting projects to solve a well defined business problem. Because we don’t have the opportunity to do summer internships like full time students, this affords us the ability to get a similar experience. Second, on campus recruiting, this is important because not all schools offer OCR for their professional MBA programs. This process allows prospective employers to come to campus and interview MBA candidates from both the professional as well as full time programs. Participating in this is particularly important if you’re looking to change careers, which is often the goal of students in the program. Part of OCR is also a series of modules leading up to OCR which review important topics such as an alumni career panel, resume writing, employee mock interviews, and overall review of post MBA career options.

I hope that this has been a good introduction into the offerings of the Career Management team. They are a dedicated team that is always supportive and responsive and part of what makes this program great. I have personally worked with them numerous times and am always amazed at how quickly they get back to me and how no question or problem is too small for them to help with. Even though he has only been working with us for just a few weeks, Michael Parker has already started making connections in the Dallas/Fort Worth market for us. So I hope when you are considering business schools that the aspect of career management is not overlooked, because it can be the difference between getting a great education and leveraging that education to land a rewarding career.

Regards,

Curtis Hamlin

 

Sprint to the Finish

I asked several classmates what the topic of my next blog post should be and there was no real consensus. Actually several of them said I should write about the 2nd years leaving and how much we will all miss them. I decided that topic was too sad so instead picked to write about some random events from the past few weeks.

Preview Weekend

I missed Preview Weekend (open house for admitted students) last year and really regretted it as my classmates raved about it all year. And now I see why. Preview was so much fun even as a current student. I was able to connect with many admits and am really excited that several of them are coming to McCombs next year! It was also really cool to show off Austin for the weekend. From Rainey Street to local eateries – it was fun to see people’s reactions to Austin.

Visitors

The past few weekends I had friends in town. I love having visitors because it makes me venture out and do things in Austin that I would otherwise claim to not have the time to do. I run around and ride the bus past the Texas State Capitol all the time but visitors gave me the excuse to go inside and check it out. The Texas State Capitol is the biggest state capitol and is also larger than the US Capitol. Another stop on my tour is Whole Foods. You may be saying to yourself “That’s not an attraction, I’ve been to a Whole Foods.” The flagship Austin store is an attraction. There is a bar and several cafes inside the store and during the winter there is an ice skating rink on the roof. Everyone I’ve taken there has been impressed. These are just a few of the many things to check out here in Austin.

More Food Events

Epicurean Club at Uchiko!

The Epicurean Club took advantage of Restaurant Week in Austin and arranged for a special meal at Uchiko - one of Austin’s most famous restaurants. 30 of us dined in the private room and feasted on a 7 course tasting menu.

The highlights for me were the yellowtail and multi-use corn dessert. I’m also looking forward to another culinary tour this weekend. Austin Eats does food tours in the Downtown and South Congress Area. My college roommate (who coincidently now lives in Austin!) and I snagged a deal on Groupon and are looking forward to sampling our way through Downtown!

Learning From Geeks

This post is courtesy of guest blogger Gloy Srinandphol, a member of the Texas MBA class of 2014.

Halfway into my MBA, I’d say the opportunities and exposure I have received here have far exceeded my expectations and resulted in a positive ROI (I just feel obligated to drop some lame MBA jokes, forgive me). I have met a lot of coolios, weirdos, and hobos, all of which I can learn from in one way or another. Allow me to give you some examples of people I’ve encountered.

Biz Stone

Biz Stone speaks to UT studentsRecently, I attended a talk on campus organized by the Student Endowed Centennial Lectureship. The speaker was Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter. He’s a funny, laid-back guy, and of course, a nerd. He was a shy kid that wanted to be cool so he got his high school to start a lacrosse team so that he could be a captain (#ChildhoodLeadership). He’s smart too – he negotiated with the school to have a no homework policy in exchange for his practice time. He went on and joined college, and yep, predictable – he dropped out. That leads to my favorite question from the audience. A student asked him, “So, when do you suggest me to drop out?” I thought, “Oh my, poor kid.” Anyways, what I learned from Biz is failures are important. We need them to get us going. If you think back to what you have been through in your own life, I’m sure you couldn’t agree more.

Ross Martin

Being a Marketing Fellow provides some perks. I joined the marketing conference held by our beloved practicum class at the AT&T Conference Center last February and BOOM – another great speaker! Ross Martin, the Executive Vice President of Viacom, introduced us to a new trend happening in the realm of marketing right now – capturing the Millennial market. He showed us some of the Viacom productions and marketing efforts, Scratch team for example, that cracked open this market completely. His ability to think outside the box led to co-branding campaigns with SunDrop beverages, among others, and he showed us some marketing pieces that blew our minds away. He preached that putting all your eggs in one basket won’t get you very far, a principal that aligns with what’s taught in several marketing classes at McCombs.

Richard Garriott

Richard Garriott speaks at SXSWMBA students can also get involved with and take advantage of community events here in the wonderful city of Austin. I went to a local forum back in February called SXSW Interactive Preview: Space Exploration with Richard Garriott. He is a space explorer, computer game developer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, traveler, and the list goes on (I had to copy and paste from his profile). It was held by Texas Advanced Computing Center. The event was packed with people from various backgrounds and ages, undergrads to PhD., entrepreneurs to retirees (are they the same?), 20’s to 60’s. Garriott has a great vision that sets the ground for his SpaceX business. He talked about how he thinks the universe will be in the next 10, 20 and 30 years! Folks, be prepared to live on Mars!

None of these speakers I knew or even heard of before I attended their talks, yet I had an enjoyable time and learned so much from them. To current and prospective students, please take advantage of your time here at McCombs, keep your eyes open to things around you, appreciate your surroundings, and be happy!

By the way, this is my first published piece of writing aka another accomplishment since coming to get my MBA. I hope y’all enjoy it.

Hook ‘em.

TAKE FIVE

Friday, March 29th, 1400: I am sitting in Carpenter in a swarm of executive MBAs and my eyes are Angel Eyes’ eyes, Good, Bad, and Ugly staring at a long, dressed table of cookies and sandwich boxes.  Some kind of reception.  The din of these colonizers chummily eating.  Fed on the stringy, spare fare of full-time MBA orange pith, I want me some of them juicy sandwich boxes.  If trolls tax billy goats for crossing a bridge, then I gets some of them sandwich boxes.  “Just enough to wet my beak.”

Sadly, there’s some executive MBA gargoyle-lady standing post behind me.  She stays there after the execs leave, dutifully guarding the boxes.  What is this nonsense?    Who is this authority figure in my crib?  I’ve come home to find Joe Biden reading my magazines on the john with the door locked and when I knock, he has the chutzpah to tell me to keep it down out there.  Listen lady, how ’bout you take your carpetbagging table and printer out of my room and leave them dang sandwiches on your way out.  My room; my sandwiches, and I sure as @!%* don’t #$%@*&^ roll on Shabbos.

Some things weren’t meant to be.  Don’t worry, McCombs gods, I’ve got something for ya’.  Sans sandwich, come feast on wisdom: it’s B.A. Dan’s guide to being a better student:

1.  Effective name placard use is the key to reading The Source in class.  If ya’ll want more of the Jigga man, you’re going to have to use that base plate, raise the name placard a half-centimeter off the table, and position your mag in the antipodal position to the professor’s roving eyes.  Don’t neglect your breakfast tacos.  I’d like to recommend placing one (unwrapped) taco to each side of the illicit reading stuff, but that symmetry is prone to raise suspicions.  Stack two tacos on one side and a coursepack on the other and you’re good to go – a nice little grotto all prepared to nest your real study material.  Obviously, none of this works if you’re in any but the back row, and even then, you’ll want to draw an imaginary line tangent to the professor’s learned head and your placard to ensure he can’t see over your ramparts.  Watch out for TAs; like free radicals, they tend to pop up in unexpected places, pretending to match you for the third time to your facebook photo.  If you’re caught red-handed, worry not, it’s still a game of chicken.  Few academics will have the gumption to exclaim, “My god, you stooge, am I actually seeing this?!  Reading about Weezy in the middle of lecture?!”  The game is in the eyes; just cold stare your way to freedom.

2. Know and love the classics.  If you have absolutely no idea what’s going on and you find yourself smack dab in the path of professorial inquiry, it’s time to pull those leggies back inside the turtle shell: take notes.  As long you are actively in the act of frantically scribbling down the magma of genius erupting from the slides, you will rarely be called upon.  The key, again, is in the eyes.  Far too many of the hapless unprepared fail to understand that if you don’t know what’s going on, if you haven’t read the case, you have concomitantly forfeited your right to look around the room like a curious baby engrossed in the discovery of his own hands.  That’s it; finito.  Eyes sulky and down.  Eyes loose and dragonflyish are just begging to be called on.  So many times I’ve seen those little roaming hoplites leave the formation and get shot down…and then..it’s just sad..the stuttering attempt at sophistry…we know you didn’t read it, oh, we know.

3. Corollary to number 2, a quick way to never get called on for at least two classes is to over-inject your presence for one class.  Nothing grates a professor’s nerves more than a student who simply can’t get enough of himself.  Read one case inside-out and make sure you have your hand stiff in the air for every other question the prof asks.  When he calls on you, go on for far too long and then bait him to pick up again by pausing, and then, just when the air of his voice charges past the epiglottis, cut in and start talking again like you have a brilliant addendum to your already stayed-past-its-welcome thought.  Ahhh, the fresh-cut smell of too much contribution!

Here’s a picture of a cool hat to soften the bad news that’s the rest of your life.

4. Stop attending class so much.  Rarity = value.  Show up every time and you’re basically showing the professor that you have no price.  You’re like the wife who just keeps staying, year after year,  no matter how many lipstick-stained collars he brings home.  Instead, show up once a month and show up late.  Look past the words.  Profs may say they want a nice guy, but what actually attracts them is a bad boy.  Feet on the table, cabron.

5. Wear Sperries.  I can’t emphasize this enough, bra.  If you take away nothing else from this article, take heed of this: Topsiders make the man.  You can cut the Polo; you can cut your adolescent Prince Harry hair.  Hell, you can even cut the seersucker shorts.  But nobody, I mean nobody, puts Topsiders in the corner.  What’s the world coming to?  It’s like people forgot how hard we all laughed to “I’m on a Boat.”  Read my lips, nation: if you don’t own a pair, you are not an MBA (or my son).  What’s next?  Fluorescent Nike shorts?

Oops.  Roundup weekend.