Author Archives: Kurt Mitschke

About Kurt Mitschke

Marketing Specialist, Texas MBA Programs

To Apply Or Not To Apply

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By Debjani Panda, Texas 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

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Texas MBA Student Curtis HamlinBy Curtis Hamlin, Texas 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

 

Learning From Geeks

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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.

Evening And Executive MBA Women’s Forum

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By Amber Lyons, Texas Evening MBA Class of 2013

Saturday, January 26th marked the second annual Texas Evening (TEMBA) and Executive (EMBA) MBA Women’s Forum in Austin, Texas. The event was an all-day affair that drew some of the most talented business women in Austin together. The forum gave prospective students the opportunity to network with other prospects, current students and alumni. The day’s events included: a welcome by the program directors, a keynote from Laura Starks, a presentation by Professor John Daly, an MBA+ Leadership Program overview, an alumni and student panel, and a career management overview. We concluded the day with a networking reception that allowed everyone a relaxing atmosphere to interact. This year I had the pleasure of co-chairing the Women’s Forum with Jocelyn Sexton from the EMBA program.

Student Panel At Texas MBA Women's Forum

Student and Alumni Panel at Texas MBA Women’s Forum

Some of you reading this blog might wonder why it is being posted a month after the event. It is just one example of the challenges and balance required to be a full time employee and full time student. I will not call the program part time, because those of you who have balanced work and the Texas MBA program realize it is quite an amazing feat.

The past three years in the TEMBA program have flown by and it is hard to believe that I now find myself in my final weeks. It feels like only a short time ago I received my acceptance letter and sat in my first class session. Looking around the room I was a bit surprised to realize my fellow women in the class only made up about 15% of the class. Although the women made up only a small percentage of the class, they have become a large voice and hold many of the class leadership positions. Our Graduate Business Council (GBC) president is a woman, as are all of the members of GBC, including me. Also, our McCombs Admissions Committee (MAC) chair is a woman, and so are many of its members. The women of TEMBA 2013 have worked hard, become prominent members of the class, and are some of my best friends in Austin.

It has become clear over the past three years that learning in an MBA class comes in equal parts from the professors and from classmates. I am fortunate to be surrounded by a class that continually challenges each other every day. I became involved in MAC in order to give back to the program, continue to pull in the best students, and help prospective students along the application process. There is value in helping pull the best and brightest students into McCombs, because the quality of the student reflects the quality of the program. I also see value in helping McCombs grow their number of women applicants because if my class is representative of the business world, women have a voice, and even if the women make up a smaller number than men in the working world, women are stepping up in leadership positions and influencing the future. Each year the percentage of women in top MBA programs is growing and I hope that events like the Women’s Forum will help encourage more bright and talented women to continue to apply and realize the impact they can make in an MBA class and in the business world.

Thanks,
Amber

 

Sleep Cycle

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Texas MBA Student Debjani PandaBy Debjani Panda, Texas MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth Class of 2014

Overheard:

“App on my iPhone tells me I am not getting even two hours of deep sleep”. – Sleeping with the iPhone under pillow, when sleeping student

“There’s a lot of travel by road and rail and I am not on the internet most of the time.” – Fulfilling obligations in India, still working on homework cases student

“My 5 year old told me – Mommy why are you nervous about your exams, all you have to do is use your brains” – Son getting better grades than Mommy student

“I really try hard not to get into an argument with my wife on way to church” – Yet another Sunday late to church student

Debjani and her two sons

Debjani and her two sons

When they warned me, it’s going to be tough, I need to manage expectations and have that conversation with my significant other, I didn’t realize it was going to be this hard, where hard is an understatement. We knew that managing a part time MBA from a top 20 school, with a full-time job and a family wouldn’t be easy, but nothing could have prepared me for this. And neither was I prepared for the fun and learning that comes with it. In a nutshell, this MBA redefines the way one thinks and acts – and sleeps. It changes the lens with which one views the world. And as I go along, I am certain of a widening sphere of vision. It’s like the windshield wipers working on a foggy day. And as always, the foggiest mornings give way to the sunniest days.

In the fall of 2012, back to school had a special meaning in our family. Our five year old was eager to go to “big boy’s school” and his eagerness was only surpassed by mine to go to B-school.

The Spiderman on his backpack stared at mine with the McCombs logo. His crayons and school supplies were strewn alongside my highlighters and post-its. While I was registering and getting ready he completed his forms as well. We both got first day jitters and he echoed my feelings when he said “Mommy will they be nice to me?” So while he pranced away to school, with a fluttering heart I wiped that tear and thanked my lucky stars that we were fortunate enough to pursue that wonderful thing we call education.

Since then I have come a long way. I recently completed my first term and am very proud of myself. This is the fastest I have lived and accomplished so much under such stressful conditions that my life before the MBA feels like a breeze now.

Accounting, Statistics and Leadership in the first semester gave us the foundation to tackle Corporate Finance and Marketing in our second. Other highlights of the second semester are the International Trip and the MBA+ micro consulting project. As the name suggests, MBA+ is optional, and given the rigors of the course I would have gladly kept it at bay. But I couldn’t after I saw the list of interesting projects lined up with dream companies. I have a wonderful group and bagged the M&A project with McAfee. I just got off a conference call with our coach (yes that’s another bonus, where each team is assigned a coach to guide us throughout the semester). The call was very informative and we got insights into how to discuss scope and deliverables with our client. Then we will meet our contact at MacAfee and complete the eight week project with them.

Though many of us have been managing projects and clients in our full-time careers, something tells me this will be different, not just for the fact that this is an area where we don’t have the experience, but that we will do this project with that hint of MBA in us. Watch this space for updates along the way, and lest I forget – it’s called Sleep Cycle – the app you should be “googling” for right now, if you are in or considering an MBA from McCombs.

A Transparent Reflection

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By Ved Ramakrishnan, Texas MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth Class of 2014

As my first semester came to an end, I got a chance to take a well-deserved break and breathe a sigh of relief after finals. This program, as a lot of my seniors and peers would have put it, is intellectually stimulating and academically intriguing, especially for those disconnected from school lives. The academic intensity, I can say, is a variable and is directly proportional to how long one has been away from school. This is where the outstanding instructors play an immense role in getting you motivated back to wearing your backpacks and burning that midnight oil. It’s not only academics that you pick up along the way, but the motivation and the ability to balance family, work, social and academic life is a skill that gets instilled along the way, one you will never forget in the future.

So how did I get here and what have I learned so far? Long before I started this program, I knew I wanted to learn how other leaders have the ability to facilitate major changes across organizations. Every organization should have a strong foundation built on top of core values, trust, and confidence between their employees and customers. Every leader should be able to motivate his/her employees to work as a productive team to further innovate new products and strategies while maintaining morale and ethical values. Our Leadership and Organizational Behavior course concentrated on these topics while providing various examples of both good and bad leaders, noting their actions and showcasing the decisions they make. This course not only defined who a true leader was and analyzed the characteristics of various leaders, but helped with some self-analysis to evaluate yourself as a leader and see where you stand as one.

You’ve probably discussed the idea of buying a house, and while doing so, you probably considered different cities/neighborhoods as your options. After discussing with your family, and after visiting a few, you probably decided on one that looked good for the money you’d be paying. Did you ever consider finding a pattern of why the rates are different in one neighborhood than the other? Were there factors affecting the price? Could it be the size of the house, school districts, or crime rate that affect the price pattern? If so, would you want to know what the impact on the rates are due to each factor? Wouldn’t this give you the power to decide rationally which factors are important to you that potentially affect your decision? The Statistics course taught us how one could make sense out of all this. It helps one with rational decision making when you have the facts and numbers handy. I don’t own a house yet, but you probably know my potential realtor is not going to be happy with all the questions I will be asking him/her.

A major part of my job as a strategic data analyst is to provide various reports to clients. I’ve never really understood why our accounting department is unhappy with some of the reports we send them. There were always changes requested to re-align the data or group them differently. The Financial accounting course has made me think like one of them, and now I can’t believe we’ve been delivering reports as such and spent the last month changing them around to better suit the client needs. A downside of thinking like an accountant – my car which used to be a prized possession, is now seen as a “depreciating asset” that I will have to write-off in sometime. Again, I couldn’t have asked for a more fun way to learn accounting than how Professor Limberg taught us. He is amazing at what he does and you’d never realize how well someone without prior accounting experience can now review a company’s financial statements and make sense out of it.

With classmates at Navaratri – an Indian festival of music and dance

In addition to the courses, instructors, coordinators and faculty, I consider my classmates to be my greatest assets, and they help make this experience complete. I learn the most from them, and their diverse backgrounds bring the best ideas to the table. Every class is different but I can very easily claim that I have the best classmates ever. I look forward to spending some quality time with each and every one of them and to get to know them a lot better. I can’t believe we’re already a semester down and have only 5 more to go. It has been a roller coaster so far and I hope it doesn’t stop, ‘cos I’m enjoying every minute of it!