Tag Archives: Orientation

It Finally Begins

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The first week of classes is over, and it is hard to believe that just a year ago I was working on my application to McCombs. The application process had me excited about where an MBA would take my career, but finally being here has me just as excited for the journey as I am for the destination. Getting to this point has been quite the journey.

My path to an MBA began several years before last year’s application season. I applied to McCombs twice before, once directly out of school and then again a year later. Not surprisingly, I was turned down both times. Looking back, the extra years of work experience helped me understand why I needed the degree and also prepared me for an MBA program. I eventually want to start my own business, and working at a start-up for over two years helped me realize the skills I need to be successful. When it came time to apply again, I was better able to articulate my reasons for going back to school. That’s not to say that I skipped spending nights and weekends writing, editing, and rewriting my essays. It is hard to explain your life goals in only a few hundred words! However, I enjoyed the self-reflection that the application requires and found it quite rewarding. Fortunately, this time around I was invited to interview.

Neither my wife nor I had spent much time in Austin, so we drove down the weekend before the interview to get a feel for the city. We liked that it had much of what other large cities in Texas have to offer yet still maintained a community feel. That close-knit attitude carried over during the interview I had with a second year student. Although we had never met before, he spoke with me like we were friends, which I have found is how most people in Austin treat people they do not yet know. I must have said a few good things during the interview, because I received my acceptance a few weeks after that. Both my wife and I felt blessed that we were going to call Austin our home for at least the next two years.

We moved to Austin at the end of June and enjoyed the time getting to explore the city before Orientation began. Although the past two weeks have been incredibly busy, I find myself more and more excited every morning to go to school. The hands-on opportunities and world-class education that McCombs provides were big reasons for my decision to attend. Learning about those opportunities and seeing the quality of education first-hand has blown away my expectations for what I would get out of the Texas MBA. I cannot wait to see what these next two years have in store.

 

“Hi, I’m Shelby!”

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I can’t tell you how many times I’ve introduced myself to classmates, significant others or neighbors over the past few weeks. I also can’t tell you how difficult it is to remember everyone you’ve met! As I continue to learn names, I’ve already discovered that the Texas MBA will be comprised of hanging out with amazing classmates and undertaking a rigorous academic experience!

Orientation has been the perfect setting to get to know as many people as possible. I’ve learned Australian lingo from my roommates and carpark (parking lot), jumper (cardigan or hoody) and runners (sneakers) are now part of my vocabulary. I watched the Mens’ Olympic Gold Medal soccer match and simultaneously celebrated with the Mexicans while consoling the Brazillians. I’ve also met several entrepreneurs that ran magazine companies or sold earthquake preparedness kits. I knew to expect a diverse group of classmates but was still amazed when I actually met them.

Group that helped garden trees..

Outdoor Day at Zilker Park: We braved an early Saturday morning (7:30am!) and heat to soil and mulch trees at Zilker Park. We took a dip in the Barton Springs Pool to cool off at the end of the morning.

Orientation also consisted of sessions called “Academic Intensive.” This term was really just code word for “Classes are starting: ready, set, go!” I immediately had flashbacks to undergraduate classes filled with debits, credits and net present values. My roommate has already experienced multiple dreams about accounting. Fortunately, the professors are fantastic as they explain concepts well, link topics to current issues and keep the class entertaining. My study group has also been a good resource and provides a sense of camaraderie.

I can’t wait for the next two years to unfold. The name game will continue for the next few weeks as the 2nd years return to campus. I’ve jokingly been telling the guys that if I forget their names I’m calling them Kyle. I’m actually a little serious about it as I’ve met at least 4 different Kyles. I’ll confirm after completing the statistics class, but the odds are in my favor, right?

266 New Friends – Build That Network!

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I like meeting new friends… I enjoy the company of a lot of different types of people… overall, I consider myself a pretty friendly guy. Do you believe me? I would believe me, but I’m in business school now and arguments like this one don’t fly around here. In order to be convincing, you need to show some numbers! So just give me a second to ask Mr. Zuckerberg… OK here’s some data:

On July 31, I had 715 Facebook friends. In my 76-month Facebook career (I joined in March 2005), I’ve added approximately 9.4 friends per month. Not bad, all things considered. In fact, that’s about 6 times the average. Last month, however, I’ve added 266 new friends. What can explain this dramatic statistical anomaly?

A month ago, my newest 266 friends and I started our first-year orientation at the McCombs MBA program. That’s 266 new names to learn, 266 new stories to hear, and 266 new friends to make. Not possible, right? Well, maybe not at the office but it IS working at McCombs… and the people here are to thank for that.

This unique situation works because we’re all in the same boat. We’ve quit our jobs, many of us left the familiarity of our friends or family, and now we’re at the University of Texas to make new friends and work towards the future. And that leads me to the second reason our overwhelming situation just seems to work… networking. These people know people and I’m sure they know people I’d like to know. They say 8 of every 10 new jobs stem from a connection through your network. Well, our individual networks just took some heavy steroids so we have some serious net(WORK!)ing to do.

At the end of the day, this environment works because the people are simply incredible. My classmates are really friendly and can get down to business in a way that pushes you to keep working hard. It’s only been a few weeks – busy, busy, weeks – but my 266 new friends and I are starting to get to know each other pretty well. It takes a collaborative atmosphere and a lot of great people for this to work. I think I’ve found both at McCombs.

Hook’em \m/

Texas MBA Orientation – Class of 2013

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MBA Orientation – what a whirlwind!!!

DAY ONE

Ah… the feelings of going back to school. Excitement, anticipation, nerves, and of course the long stares into one’s closet wondering, “What am I going to wear!?” I experienced all of these feelings, including the hope that my closet was stocked with enough business casual outfits to get me through the week, on Monday morning of August 1st. I arrived on campus around noon, met up with a friend I’d met at Boot Camp, toured Gregory Gym (wow – that pool!!), and hung out at the Student Services Building (SSB) with my new classmates. We were treated to a great welcome by our director, Tina Mabley, and then we headed back to business school (GSB) to meet our cohorts, or divided groups of ~65 students I would be sharing my core classes with. First impression: I love my cohort! I loved hearing all of the backgrounds and aspirations of my classmates. I felt proud of my decision to return to McCombs – I was in great company.

That night was the opening banquet at DRK Royal Memorial Stadium. (I went through the same closet experience as before, only this time wondering if I had enough business professional attire.) I was glad to bring my boyfriend so he could see what I would be experiencing through the program. We networked, enjoyed the stadium, and listened to some encouraging speeches. Eric Hirst (Associate Dean) told us to take risks in business school, Erin Mulligan Nelson (McCombs alumn and CMO of Bazaarvoice) spoke of McCombs as a launchpad to change the world and encouraged us to find our purpose and be strategic and open. Then Cindy Benton (Director of Student Services) and the UT undergraduate alum led the “Eyes of Texas.” What a fun evening!

DAY TWO

We spent the morning listening to presentations on the MBA program overview and briefings from faculty members from each business disciplines about their areas of concentration. Personally, I was most excited when Dr. Srinivisan spoke about marketing – she was one of my favorite professors in undergrad – but all of the faculty members were engaging and compelling. They were also quite funny as each professor plugged why their concentration was the best. Next we attended an all-MBA-program lunch at the AT&T Conference Center, complete with a speech from UT’s President Powers. I like that McCombs integrates students in all programs and encourages networking and camaraderie. After lunch we heard from career services and then played an icebreaker game to find our study groups. My group is comprised of five people with different backgrounds, focuses, countries of origin, and interests – a great mix! Then the day ended with another first – homework for Wednesday!

DAY THREE

The schedule said “Executive Challenge” from 7:30am – 7:00pm. The staff didn’t waste any time getting us right into school-mode! My group of nine had to launch a new business, run the company through five quarters, and pitch the business to VC’s at the end of the day. I will say that even though we were a bit confused at first, we got into the swing of things pretty quickly, developed strategies, and ended up doing pretty well. (I hope this is representative of the next two years!) While we didn’t ultimately win, it was still an energizing and exciting challenge.

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Double Rainbow: My Texas MBA Orientation Experience

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Orientation.  What did I think it was going to be?  I figured it would be a lot of sitting in an auditorium talking about future classes and making semi-awkward introductions with new classmates.  Beyond that, I wasn’t really sure.  In the end, yes, it was a healthy dose of all that stuff, but it was also a lot more.  My biggest takeaway is that I was able to meet a lot down to earth people with incredibly impressive personal and professional backgrounds.  And other than having to wear a suit and tie on the first day in 102 degree heat, I thought the week was a success.  If you can believe it, I decided to keep a running diary (not really):

Monday, 8:30 AM: We arrive.  People are anxious to find out their co-horts, study groups, and class schedules (how many 8 AM’s?  When am I done on Thursday?).  We also get our itineraries for the week.  What’s an executive challenge?  How can we spend over two hours on a Myers Briggs – MBTI test?

Monday – 8:38 AM: That’s a good breakfast taco.  I didn’t know you could have breakfast tacos, but that’s a good breakfast taco.

Monday – 11:30 AM: Co-hort introductions: I stand in front of 65 people I’ve never met before and boil my life down to 30 seconds.  My co-hort includes a former wine sommelier, a Navy fighter pilot, somebody who got married 36 hours before the first day of orientation, a JD/MBA student, and a former comptroller from Chile.  We all present our stories to the class, as well as many, many more times throughout the day.  I give my spiel more times than I can remember: I’m from Colorado (not a great skier, sorry), went to the University of Michigan (I am concerned about our football team too), lived in New York City (yes it’s expensive), play basketball and tennis (I used to be able to dunk, I swear), interested in finance but open to other opportunities…

Monday – 6:30 PM: Opening reception and dinner at Darrell K. Royal Stadium in the Red McCombs Zone overlooking the field.  Who else could be our keynote speaker but Red McCombs?   I listen to Red talk about the Vikings, Clear Channel, and the school and I think this is much better than anything I was doing a year ago.

Thursday – 8:30 AM: Executive Challenge: each co-hort participates in the Executive Challenge.  My study group teams up with another group to create the prestigious LBJ Ventures.  We’re leading a company that has to decide what products to invest in, where to spend a finite amount of money and how to allocate man hours and define the positions (Ian L. made a powerful CEO).

The fun, and challenging, part of the game is that your success depends to a certain degree on the strategies of your competitors, as well as unforeseen crises like a women’s group protest and an earthquake.  And to top it all off, we have 30 minutes to present in front of the entire class, while three “venture capitalists” (AKA judges) decide whether to give us funding.  A lot of stress, but a fun way to get to know your study group.

Thursday – 1:25 PM: “Let’s shift our focus to large and small business, that’s our only shot”

Thursday – 6:30 PM: Presentation Awards: we don’t finish first, but end up positioning ourselves as a “low-cost, late entry” computer maker.  Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Friday – 1:15 PM: McCombs Outdoor Adventure: rafting, and by rafting I mean slowly floating down the Colorado River splashing fellow students.

Saturday – 8:30 AM: I decide to do Habitat for Humanity, organized by MBA 2011 and fellow blogger Dirk Hallen, as a fitting, extremely hot culmination to Orientation week.  This is my first experience with Habitat for Humanity, as well as my first true encounter with Texas’ summer heat.  I played a lot of hot summer baseball growing up in Denver, but even that didn’t prepare me for six hours in 102 degree weather with 85% humidity.  This is no joke.

Our class spent the day working on four houses, doing everything from roofing to landscaping to, in my case, blocking (under the inspiring tutelage of Adam G, MBA 2012.)  Highlights include working the powersaw, sweating profusely, getting to know my classmates, sweating profusely, and sweating profusely.  Overall, over 50 Texas MBAs gave up their Saturday after a long and action-packed orientation week.

Extra Bonus: But wait, there’s more…  The Salt Lick, which is now the greatest BBQ I’ve ever had.  The co-hort games, which is a great icebreaker when you see people face plant after dizzy bat.  Venturing to Sixth Street for some after-hours bonding with my classmates.

Co-Hort 2

After the first week of orientation, I wasn’t surprised to realize that everybody is really welcoming, friendly, and smart.  Everybody has an interesting background and perspective.  So far, so good…

And so my McCombs experience begins…

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After those endless nights writing and re-writing application essays, polishing resumes, practicing interview questions sitting with friends at Starbucks, I was finally accepted to McCombs. Whew! And then breaking the news to my family and friends, later to my boss, resignation, a new life as a student was about to begin. I moved to Austin lock, stock and barrel, only three days before orientation.

Every fairy tale starts ‘on one fine day in the month of’ August, but for the two hundred and sixty one odd first year MBA students who joined the throngs of the Red McCombs School of Business, August 2010 was all about waiting for temperatures to get lower than a hundred Fahrenheit.  McCombs is located at a convenient intersection of Speedway and 21st street and is very easily accessible by the UT shuttle. When I stepped into the shuttle in the morning sweating in my business suit, I wondered whether I was in the wrong place. For here, in the midst of students in informal clothes, I was doing my best to look as student-like as someone who quit her job only a week ago and had not been in school for a long time could be. My fears were put to rest when I got off at Speedway. In front of McCombs, everybody was dressed like me, trying to look relaxed while a thousand storms raged within and waiting with bated breath for the twenty-one month roller-coaster they call ‘Texas MBA’!

The Texas program’s orientation is a steep learning curve designed to help students adapt to new environments as early as possible. In the very first week, we learned about the various facilities that we had access to in McCombs, dined with Red McCombs himself, teamed with classmates to participate in a strategy game and were assigned to study groups and cohorts. A word here about cohorts: Our entire batch is divided into four groups called cohorts. Students in a cohort take classes together, win wars (read cohort games!) and bond together. That is not to say that we don’t network with our fellow students outside the cohort. Within a cohort, we are grouped into study teams of five members. A team submits group assignments together. The Texas program uses a very scientific method to allocate persons based on their cultural and professional backgrounds into a cohort. Thus, in my cohort, I am privileged to have an extra-ordinary group of smart individuals who are collaborative and friendly.

From the second week of orientation classes started in earnest. It is challenging, refreshing and exciting to go back to books after all these years. As I look forward to the days to come, I leave with the one defining object of my new life.  In May last year, I made a trip to UT on a Sunday afternoon. I stood in front of McCombs, as an outsider, waiting for the gates to open to me one day. A little more than a year later, I owned my very own Texas MBA 2012 t-shirt. And I know that I belong.

Alea iacta est (the die has been cast)

Texas MBA Class of 2012