10 Advices for Incoming MBA Students USC Marshall Admit Weekend 2009 just came and gone this last weekend; I can't believe it has been a year already! I still remember when I was a bright-eyed, energetic prospective student during Admit Weekend last year meeting and getting to know all of my future friends and colleagues. This past year has been a marathon and I know every one of us has hit the wall at one point or another, but most of us survived to continue on. Now seeing this new class coming in is a bit rejuvenating - I think it made us all realized what we went through and why we all PAID to do this in the first place. MBA - Where Amazing Happens...

I have to say that I was very impressed with our new class of 2011. I met a lot of well-rounded, passionate individuals looking to make some moves in this world and I am definitely looking forward to working with this talented group of students.

My buddy Peter Mums had a panel on 'things I wish I had known prior to attending b school' during Admit Weekend for prospective students so I thought I would throw in my 2 cents on what I have learned over this past year personally or through friends.

1. Start early on career-related activities - look into summer MBA programs (P&G, the Consortium), get your resume & cover letters ready over the summer, get that internship before winter break. It will be a huge load off your back, trust me. Develop a strong relationship with your vertical lead.
   
   
2. Go to all the National Conferences (these are not exclusive, anyone can attend) - National Black, National Society of Hispanic MBAs, Net Impact Conference
   
   
3. If you are in a relationship, set expectations with your partner - This is a difficult stretch of time for most people and relationships. Talk it out, hug it out, tell your partner you'll be gone 'til November, of 2012...
   
   
4. Set up an internal network of trusted friends/colleagues after your first month - You will meet a lot of people quickly and develop a huge network, but setup a small group of people you can trust and count on. Business school is an emotional roller coaster and you will need people to lean on and hear you out when the going gets tough.
   
   
5. Get involved in a leadership position early - It's hard to stand out in a crowd when you are in a room with a bunch of type-As and driven individuals. Find a couple of clubs you are really passionate about and get to know everyone in that club. 2nd years are always looking for active 1st year students to take over and they want to make sure the club is in good hands once they leave.
   
   
6. Take risks - Business school is the best time for you to make mistakes. Do what you normally wouldn't do, work on your weaknesses, be a completely different person. You are paying for it - do what you want to do!
   
   
7. Case competitions - Do as many as you can! My take is that case competitions take you through the mental exercise of thinking about business from all perspectives and you get to see how you compete against top competitions from other schools.
   
   
8. Give back to the community - You will be really busy, but take time to volunteer and give back. As an MBA, you are a leader in your community and a role model for a lot of people. At USC Marshall, we have programs such as Net Impact Service Corps and C4C where we volunteer with many local non-profits and community organizations year after year.
   
   
9. Outlook Calendar is your best friend - Use it wisely to manage your time. Prioritize and don't stretch yourself too thin. Don't make a habit of triple-booking yourself.
   
   
10. Sleep a lot over the summer - You won't sleep much during the school year. Especially if you keep a blog. =P

Speaking of which, the Best of Blogging 2008-2009 results are in and my blog has been selected as #8 by the Clear Admit staff, nominated bloggers, and judges! I am honored by the selection and hope to continue to entertain, educate, and provide insight to the MBA experience and USC Marshall School of Business. Congrats to all the BoB winners - definitely check out all the blogs below:

Top 10 Applicant Blogs
1. TienyChesney - mbaveggie.blogspot.com
2. D.G. - www.managingmagic.com
3. Ahembeea - trystwithmba.wordpress.com
4. MissionMBA - missionmba.wordpress.com
5. Soni - sonismbaadventure.blogspot.com
6. PaloAltoForAwhile - paloaltoforawhile.blogspot.com
7. Choc Heaven - dreamer-choc.blogspot.com
8. Helen - lifelessordinary.typepad.com/my_weblog
9. Samantha - bestmbablogever.blogspot.com
10. OMGParisHilton - omgmbaapps.blogspot.com

Top Ten Student Blogs
1. MaybeMBA - tombaornot.blogspot.com
2. JulyDream - julydream.blogspot.com
3. Paragon2Pieces - paragon2pieces.blogspot.com
4. Hairtwirler - mbajamey.blogspot.com
5. Iday - i4iday.blogspot.com
6. TinyDancer - tinydancermba.blogspot.com
7. CS - www.computersexy.com/blog
8. Andrew - www.andrewmchoi.com
9. Mandy - mandylozano.blogspot.com
10. M@ - speedywithchicken.wordpress.com

Labels: Case Competition, Day in the Life of an MBA, MBA, USC Marshall

  ¶ 12:49 AM 3 Comments Links to this post

  2009 Education Leadership Case Competition Just got back last night after competing in the Education Leadership Case Competition up at Berkeley over the weekend. This year's competition focuses on the DC Public Schools system and the nationally recognized work of Chancellor Michelle Rhee. In just one year, the Chancellor and her staff have taken dramatic steps to reform the DC Public School system. The case focused specifically on the new Human Capital initiative and building recommendations around teacher recruitment and retention strategy for DC Public Schools. It was a subject I knew little about, but definitely learned a ton over the past week.

The case was sent out to us last Friday, 2/13. We initially thought it would be a short 5-10 page case that our team could easily read over and start brainstorming. That was definitely not the case (pun intended). Trying to read a 34 page case on a Friday afternoon was a fruitless effort so after about 10 pages, we called it a day. We spent the next couple of days brainstorming and putting together ideas and throwing around concepts until we finally found one that stuck. Took a flight up to Berkeley on Thursday and worked for another 2 days straight. We barely got a total of 5 hours of sleep on Thursday and Friday night. It was intense...



On Saturday, we woke up around 7am to do a final run of the presentation and started heading over to Haas. The teams were randomly selected to present based on the number drawn out of a hat and had 15 minutes to complete their presentation along with a 10 minute Q&A. We watched as each team was selected to present anxiously waiting our turn. Running on about 2 hours of sleep, caffeine, and adrenaline, we were finally selected around 3pm to present our case. I felt we did pretty well covering a variety of recommendations including a teacher support system for retention, two distinct pipelines for recruiting, and even a 'teacher kibbutz' for a nice shared teacher experience in DC.

We didn't end up winning the case competition, but being one of 10 teams selected for this along with Berkeley, Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, NYU, Stanford, and Yale, did make for a fun competition and learning experience. It was exciting to see and meet so many MBAs who were passionate about education reform and taking their business skills to change the world. Too bad we were so exhausted after the whole ordeal, we ended up grabbing a quick bite to eat at Berkeley's famous Top Dog Hot Dogs and went to bed at 8pm. Haven't slept so well in a long time...


USC Marshall 2009 Education Leadership Case Competition Team
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For those of you interested in a career in education as an MBA, there are many options out there including Education Pioneers, Broad Residency, Teach for America, as well as a number of charter schools and public school systems. Let me know if you have any questions.

Labels: Case Competition, Education, USC Marshall

  ¶ 12:44 AM 2 Comments Links to this post

  Preview: Summer Internship and 2009 For those of you thinking about getting an MBA, business school is really whatever you want it to be. There are amazing amount of opportunities for you to do whatever you want and the doors are wide open. Today, I took some time to figure out my plan for next year and it is going to be pretty intense given that I have 6 courses on top of these extracurricular activities. But it's going to be fun, I can't wait...

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February - April: Net Impact Service Corps - I secured a project with a literacy organization for Net Impact Service Corps and just need to finalize the contract. Basically, Net Impact's Service Corps program provides an opportunity for MBA students to use their business skills to help their community.

The goal of this marketing project is to “provide a comprehensive and sustainable marketing plan to target individual donors focusing specifically at the business women segment. The marketing plan will derive $100,000 funding in one year and will increase incrementally each year thereafter. The marketing plan will also connect the target audience with the non-profit's message and build community awareness for adult literacy issues in Greater Los Angeles.”

This project will be a great opportunity for us to put our marketing skills to the test. Segment, target, position, repeat. 3Cs, 4Ps, RDB, value propositions, etc., etc.

February 20-21: 2009 Haas Education Leadership Case Competition - Today, my team from USC Marshall was selected to participate in the 2009 Haas Education Leadership Case Competition along with some of the top schools in the country. This year's competition focuses on the DC Public Schools system and the nationally recognized work of Chancellor Michelle Rhee. In just one year, the Chancellor and her staff have taken dramatic steps to reform the DC Public School system. Their efforts have generated significant media coverage, including articles in Fast Company, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Education Week, and interviews on the Merrow Report, the Newshour with Jim Lehrer and The Charlie Rose Show.



March 29: Pier to Pier 5K Charity Run/Walk - Pier to Pier (P2P) is an annual 5K charity fun run/walk created and organized by USC Marshall’s Challenge for Charity (C4C) MBA student organization. All proceeds from the race benefit C4C charities such as Special Olympics and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

We will be working to promote the race and recruiting volunteers and corporate sponspors. It will be a fun way to stay active (not many opportunities in business school) and hang out with Special Olympic Athletes during the race.

Summer: GE Healthcare - I was given an offer for this summer internship at the end of GE's Pre-Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (PrECLP), which was basically a one week pre-MBA summer program for students entering their first year of business school.

I will be based out of Waukesha, Wisconsin working at the GE Healthcare headquarter. It's going to be an amazing opportunity and I am looking forward to potentially working with the ecomagination initiatives within healthcare and healthcare in emerging markets. GE Healthcare is really focusing on developing new green products and setting up “Green Hospitals” to help newly constructed hospitals hit energy and conservation targets. Also, the global innovation/in-country localization approach in emerging markets is helping to tailor breakthrough technology to meet the specific needs of rural populations in BRIC and developing countries.

Here is a cute ad about the rural China healthcare initiative:

Labels: Case Competition, Challenge for Charity, GE, Net Impact, PrECLP, USC Marshall

  ¶ 2:22 PM 3 Comments Links to this post

  Firefox Issues Happy Thanksgiving!

Can anyone help me figure out why my template format for my blog doesn't seem to work on Firefox? It works fine on Internet Explorer. I appreciate any advice or feedback.

By the way, our Net Impact team was recognized on the USC Marshall home page for being one of the finalists in the Green Economy Case Competition! Click here

Labels: Case Competition, Firefox, Net Impact, USC Marshall

  ¶ 11:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Green Economy Case Competition Finalists!

19 teams ended up participating in the Philadelphia Green Economy Case Competition. By early Friday evening we didn't think we were one of the teams selected to present so we started heading over to the bar and, lo and behold, around 10:30pm we received the following email:

RE: Net Impact Case Competition Finalists

Congratulations! You have been selected as a finalist for the Net Impact Case Competition.

Please report to JMHH Room 365 tomorrow at 10:45am to present. Please have your powerpoint slides on a thumb drive or accessible on the internet.

We look forward to hearing from you tomorrow!

<-->

At this point we were super excited and after a celebratory drink, the team headed back to the hotel to work on the presentation. We stayed up until 3:30am practicing and finishing our slides.

Basically, we proposed the idea of issuing triple bottom line bonds, through an organization called Philly Green Fund. The bond market is targeted at individuals who want to invest small amounts of money, as a form of charity, in businesses that impact the Philadelphia community. Tax incentives similar to those used in municipal bonds will be provided to investors. This will allow triple bottom line businesses to pay lower interest on their loans. Here's our business model in a nutshell:



We showed up at around 10:45am and signed up to present first before Pennsylvania (Wharton), Michigan (Ross), UCSD School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and Yale. I felt our team did an amazing job and represented the USC Marshall School of Business really well. It was a strong group of finalists as the other teams had great ideas as well. One of the teams presented an idea to incorporate VC investments with triple bottom line businesses and another talked about using credit card rewards to fund triple bottom line businesses.

We didn't end up winning the case competition, but we did put the Marshall School of Business on the map and put the spotlight on our initiatives in social responsibility and sustainability. The Marshall School of Business recently announced the establishment of the Society and Business Lab (SBL), a ground-breaking program designed to encourage corporate engagement and social responsibility while educating students and preparing them for future leadership roles.

Also, the Marshall Net Impact chapter is one of the bigger organizations on campus and one of the best chapters on the West Coast. I feel that the students here at Marshall are committed to using the power of business to create a better world and we are doing our best to link Marshall with social responsibility.

Labels: Case Competition, Net Impact, Triple Bottom Line Businesses

  ¶ 12:32 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Green Economy Case Competition Cont. Gillette Cassette? Just finished another midterm today for my Marketing Management course and the case was on the blank cassette industry. Made me all nostalgic; who uses cassettes anymore? Oh wait, I still have a cassette player in my car...

A couple more days before the Net Impact conference and two more days before we have to submit our Philadelphia Green Economy Case Competition write-up. Our team has really come together and I feel like we have a great plan going into this competition! Too bad I can't talk about it, but here's a preview of what we got so far -->

Labels: Case Competition, Green, Net Impact

  ¶ 8:54 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Net Impact Case Competition I am getting excited about the Net Impact North America Conference coming up in less than two weeks. For the last week or two, I have been having second thoughts about how I got into this whole MBA thing to begin with. Sure, it was fun in the beginning, but the main reason I came back to school was to find a meaningful career transaction and so far I have been disappointed. The last couple of days, I have been going through some soul searching and research and found solace in other career options besides the usual marketing and finance routes. Going to the Mark Albion seminar definitely helped me realize there are others out there facing the same decision between money vs. meaning. Going to the Net Impact Conference will definitely open my eyes to many other options!

We have also put together a team at USC Marshall to compete in the Philadelphia Green Economy Case Competition. Basically, over the last four decades, Philadelphia has lost over 400,000 manufacturing jobs and we are trying to help Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) find innovative and sustainable methods of providing capital and support for TBL businesses that could be implemented in Philadelphia within the following year. It's tough trying to do this while maintaining this rigorous school schedule of case studies, group projects, and midterms. But nobody said business school was easy...

Labels: Case Competition, Day in the Life of an MBA, Mark Albion, Net Impact

  ¶ 11:24 PM 2 Comments Links to this post