Monday
Up at 5am. Work in Finance, prepare DEO. Class of DEO, with powerful insights on the process of needs discovery. And a presentation by a guy from Everyday Lives, an ethnographic market researcher, very powerful stuff to discover how people live. Presentation by Expedia. Lunch. Discuss a business plan with my friend FS. Work in computer lab. Arrange to take care of most group work for this week with Ms GF, so as to allow others to focus on their job hunt. Meeting for the Venture Capital competition. VC presentation, great team, but lots of doubts about outcome. Online groceries delivered. Dinner. Sleep at around 10pm.
Tuesday
Up at 5am. Shower and breakfast. Prepare Finance and MOB classes. Conference call with Spain. Finance class on options. Lunch. Work in projects. Talk with a MBA 2008 classmate about Google. MOB class, not remarkable. Talk with a MBA 2007 about Google. Back home. Work for a couple extra hours. Dinner and to sleep around 10pm.
Wednesday
Wake up at 5am.
Find out our team was not selected for VCIC. That is not cool, although there were few chances. Truth to be told there were other 26 teams and only 8 spots, and in a 6min presentations many things can happen. Our team was very good and balanced, with two entrepreneurs, one xGoogler, one IDEO designer, one Go-champion, one McK consultant, one banker, one World-banker and a bunch of World travelers (all this stuff packaged in only 5 people!)
However, the more I learn about the lack of transparency of the whole process, the less I like it. To start with, we have no idea which teams were selected for the competition. No transparent information. And the way of communicating the results was less than elegant. Sources indicate that the selection strongly favored 2nd years teams, which was strange given the predominance of 1st years (and there is not that a strong difference in VC knowledge from 1st to 2nd years). The whole experience leaves me a truly bad aftertaste about the process.
During the day, work in projects and prepare marketing class. Marketing class (What an interesting case: How to market the Sims online!). Quick sandwich lunch. Talk with Michael, Suruchi and others in the Sainsbury Lounge. Nap in the lounge. Work in projects for hours. Conference of the entrepreneurship club about the realities of getting and giving VC funding. Back home, dinner and off to bed, around 10pm.
Thursday
Wake up at 5am. Got distracted playing with Powerpoint templates, which ended up being pretty sleek and elegant (I am a geek, and a design geek as well!). Outside, everything is snow covered, beautiful!. Walk carefully on melt snow and ice to school. Went through an interesting Decision and Risk Analysis tutorial working with Ms.LH for six hours (extenuating). Had sandwich lunch and realized I have no clue of what is happening in the “romance division” / gossiping of the MBA, as news reach me with several months of delay. Work with Ms.GF on Finance and Discovering Entrepreneurial Opportunities. Exhausted. Go home, have dinner, read 3 books freshly delivered by www.amazon.co.uk , to bed at 11pm.
Friday
Wake up at 5am. Shower quickly and work in projects. At 11:45 we have a meeting at school. On the way to school, I take the picture of the two snow men still standing in the street. The meeting is with our DJ in residence. Did I say DJ? Actually, it is our E in residence. E as in Entrepreneur. We have the luxury to consult with a (remarkably) successful entrepreneur regarding our Discovering Entrepreneurial Opportunities Projects. The meeting starts late (other groups before us taking too long) so we have study group time to catch up, check how are we all doing. In the meeting, we talk about backpacks, and our clients {John, Johnathan, Alexander, John 2.0, Johnathan 7.0 and more}. We also run over our scheduled time. After the meeting, went to the swimming pool and got my weekly sports dose. I’d prefer my sport dose to be biweekly, but I simply have no time now. Afterwards, lunch and talk with the Entrepreneurs in the Stream, Mr.JR and Mr.FS. After lunch, a delicious talk with the king of marketing and cosmetics, Don DA.
All day long, I keep bumping into people who have the freshest news about who is getting a job and who is not. Some people look tired and satisfied, beaming after getting their dream summer job. Others are exhausted and frustrated and preparing new plans for the summer. Myself, I have not been involved in the IB-Consulting milkround (still I have been getting second hand stress all these weeks).
Now I am in the computer lab, working in finance (options case) for a couple of hours. Tonight I will go to a birthday celebration, and check how people are doing!
Summary of the week
Long, intense, happy about my performance and results. Though frustrated with the whole VCIC process. Great DEO class. Happy to talk with a bunch of diverse people from school. I am going to enjoy my WE (if I ever finish the finance assignment) .
You too, dear reader, have a great WE!
February 9th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I’m really sorry you were not selected for the VCIC :(. You had a great team!
And you sure had a very intense week, full of activities, meetings… The “How to market the Sims online” class seemed specially interesting ;). I don’t know how you can manage to do so many things!!
Good luck with next week!
February 9th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
acheca,
The secret is, in part, to do things with “A Little Help from My Friends”.
For example, your boyfriend took the lead in the VCIC competition, and having people to share the leading responsibilities helps a lot!
February 11th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Just my 2 cents: well, people 45+ do carry backpacks a lot (at least here, in Russia)
February 16th, 2007 at 7:59 am
[…] Similarly, the student population is facing a spectrum of concerns and reactions. Between a calculator malfunction in corporate finance and an up-in-the-air phone interview, it sounds like Jacek had a trying week at ESADE, whereas Chicago student Le Voyageur seems to be adjusting well to the very different semester schedule in Jerusalem and FM checks in to report that he’s had a great few weeks at LBS in terms of both classes and recruiting. A post by Paxti covering a week in the life of a London MBA student demonstrates the range of one person’s experience, while LL’s account (and photo documentation) of the Wharton Follies show earlier this month and John Galt’s comments on a different sort of folly demonstrate the potential disparity of the experiences of students at the same program. […]
February 18th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Hi Patxi,
I am an applicant to the MBA program and am in the process of exploring the program.
I come from an IT Services background.
Would you pls tell me what the VCIC is about? ANy links that contain information on it?
Also, what role do you play in your study group? What reponsibilities does your role entail?
What about other memebers of your group?
Thanks a ton for the help!
February 18th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Hi Patxi,
I am a potential applicant from India to the MBA program and am in the process of learning about the program. I am particulary lacking in kowledge of how study groups operate. Would you pls explain to me how yours does? What role do you play in it?
Thanks for the information.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Hi countingcrows,
Normally I am very nice with people asking questions, both in real life and online.
However,
.a. If you want info on the VCIC, have you Googled it? It comes as the 1st search result!
.b. If you need an answer to London Business School application question 3*, be upfront about it! I do not support deceiving approaches.
Good luck with the application,
Patxi
* Question 3 Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your study group, and how do you intend to contribute to it?
February 19th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
[…] NOT OK: Leave a comment on my blog, without a proper signature or introduction, without telling explicitly that you need help, with plenty of typos and asking questions that can be googled or are directly a verbatim copy of the application questions. […]