Imagine it for just a second: You get an email congratulating you on your admission, you have made it! Happines pumps in your blood and you go trough the roof as happy as a kid. You phone every person who knows you are applying, you are picturing the rest of your life as a lawyer… and then… in 20 min you get an email with a correction and an apology and another one the next day. It could happen to you! Actually, it happened at Berkeley Law School. Given that the worst part of the application process is the ‘waiting game’, this would have had me going to the ER with a heart attack.

After realizing what had happened, [Edward] Tom [director of admissions at the University of California, Berkeley, law school] sent out an apology e-mail to the applicant pool within 20 minutes. He sent another letter of apology the next day.

“I deeply regret any confusion or disappointment this error may have caused,” Tom said. “I know that many law school applicants are particularly anxious while awaiting the arrival of decision letters, and I regret that this incident may have added to that tension.”

Apparently, Berkely is going to fix the system and a new popup message will appear right after sending the email:

Yes! Yes! This is a true screenshot, you have to believe me on this one

PS: 90 anxious applicants were smart enough to send, once they overcame their anger, “notes to him offering their understanding and accepting his apology”. Good move! I am sure you have scored and extra point in the application process.

It is true, the Googleplex is exactly as depicted in the TIME Googleplex Photo Gallery. It is funny how I get used to daily life. I work at Google and all those perks become normal things, nothing to be amazed of. However these are quite exceptional conditions.

Oh! And people do work, it is not all about cafeterias, pool and swimming. But of course that does not sell magazines. And not everyone has a scooter, only people who commute a lot from building to building. Most of us just walk to our meetings.

The picture with the Spanish title is from esloquehay.com

BizDeansTalk: GMAT applications on the up

Interesting evolution from 2002 to 2005. I had no idea so many people took the GMAT. Thinking about it: How many business students are in the World? How many engage in a MBA program per year?

Never underestimate the power of infaltion and compound interest! I found an oline tool (How Much Is That? | EH.Net) to get today (2004) values of historical prices. According to different valuation techniques. They calculate also pounds. For example, 1 USD the year I was born…

	$3.12	using the Consumer Price Index
	$2.55	using the GDP deflator
	$2.94	using the unskilled wage
	$3.97	using the GDP per capita
	$5.78	using the relative share of GDP

This post might sound whiny (specially if you live in the US East Coast and snow buried your car two weeks ago), but I did not choose Silicon Valley as a place to live expecting to scrap ice off the car windshield. Part of the responsibility is mine, I wake up really early and head to work around 5h30 or 6h30 if I am being lazy. At that time of the day it is really cold. Freezing!

But I had to scrap ice twice this week. Come on, it is unacceptable!

This is San Francisco Bay Area’s sunniest spot! I know it is just Feb 21st, but I want spring and I want it now!

Afterthought: In a year, living in London (6ºC max, 4ºC min today), what will I think of this post? Maybe: “Here is that cold all day long”? Or a more American “I miss my car”?

If I ever buy a Mac laptop (very popular both at Silicon Valley and at London Business School) this collection of Mac Freeware might come in handy.

Embajador en el Infierno: Mileurista: ¿En que parte del proceso te engañaron?

Desde luego la quejumbrosa e incluso victimista actitud de este “colectivo” si algo demuestra es que no andan demasiado preparados para la vida en general. Y me inclino a pensar que esta es la raíz del problema. […]

The mileurista (a young person earning around 1000 Eur/month in Spain and who believes to deserve more) is a term with growing popularity in my native country. Everyone likes to complain on how difficult things are! I agree they are not easy. But in my humble opinion, they have never been easy. Luckily, some people start encouraging these self-labelled victims to look upon themselves to discover the biggest area of improvement. Quoting Henry Ford:

“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” Henry Ford

I love the speaker series, where VIP visit a BSchool to speak. No matter what they talk about, there are always relevant lessons to grasp. That is why on Friday I drove from Stanford to Berkeley to attend to Mr. Rato’s conference. It was worth the 90min drive. He gave a very interesting speech on the state of the World economy. It was better than reading the economist cover-to-cover.

The questions were also challenging, asking his views on the situation of Latin America and redistribution within countries. At the end, he tended to get into cheerleader mode: “The World economy is doing better than ever”, “economy in Latin America is at its best in 20 years”, etc… He did not get into specifics, only a real view from the top. Some of my friends at Berkeley were dissapointed by his approach. But at the end of the day Mr Rato is a politician, so he will not get into detailed discussions as if he were a professor.

Unfortunately, he did not get into, in my opinion, the most enjoyable part of the speaker series, when they reflect on their personal strategies for success. Tipically this includes everything from their motivations, habits, tactics or approaches to life. The only interesting lessons I could extract were: As a politican, always speak softly and deliver your agenda of the day as soon as possible. He actually replied to Mr.Tim Robins from the USA Dept. of Treasury right at the begining of the speach. Afterwards, most of the press stoped paying attention.

Funny details: He is from Asturian descent, and he really looks like that. After the speech, the Haas dean gave him a gift. Being Mr.Rato a Haas MBA 74, he deserved a school sleeveless pullover. Mr Rato quickly posed for a nice photo with the vest, as if he was a soccer player.

Not-so-funny details: I had lunch with my PhD friends Carles, Mario and Cristina at Berkely and wander for a while. After the 90min drive back, my car died on the parking lot. I hope it can be easily fixed on Monday.