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I was surprised by the degree of difficulty I have found in getting to my seat in class. In most of my classes there is not much of a walkway behind the swivel chairs. My backpack often wacks people who are already seated. I was also surprised by how much I spent on books and coursepacks.
- Jim Therkalsen, BBA1
We need a more user friendly e-mail system. What we have, does not fit the UMBS vision to prepare us for the next century.
- Chris Ong, MBA1
The lack of congealed salad products at the student lounge. I was really looking forward to a myriad of combinations of lime jello, carrots, marshmallows, and assorted nuts. Let's hope for next year.
- Jesse Petsch, MBA 1
Two marketing pitchess that UMBS uses in attracting prospective students are MAP and Executive Skills Workshops. What I found out, however, is that these things are almost irrelevant to evening students. MAP is out of reach, of course. The timing of the workshops (most in daytime of week days) discourage many evening students.
- Zhenyi Zhao, Evening MBA
My biggest surprise in UMBS has been the amount of effort to get us into networking, the performance of M-Track and the number of activities going on. On the negative side, the cost of the student lounge snack bar.
- Pablo Galiana, MBA1
It's not THAT intense - well not yet.
- Niko Voutsinas, BBA1
What surprised me: I found out that although the Business School has just a few connection spots for laptops to log in the school network (which by itself, is really surprising in one of the top B-schools) , we are forced to buy an Ethernet card to configure our laptop to access the school network from home, because, without the card the consultants on the Lab can't do the configuration.
By the way, I would like to remind all of you that had a chance to visit Focus: HOPE that one of the key points of their excellence is the contact and the feeling of high-tech that all students are exposed to in everyday activities. We should think about it and compare us to other top B-schools. ( BUSINESS WEEK survey is coming! )
- Fabio Fossen, MBA1
Since Michigan has such a great athletic department, I expected there to be an excellent weight room to be available. Boy was I wrong. Both the IM and CCRB weight rooms are pretty sad.
- Rob Kim, MBA1
That this top business school couldn't and didn't have enough coursepacks on hand for MBA1s.
- Simone Thompson, MBA1
I have been most surprised (pleasantly, I might add) about the immediate relevance of the class work to my daily management responsibilities at Kellogg's.
- Jeff Griffin, Evening MBA
What surprises me the most is the enthusiasm and dedication of the OCD staff! They have organized so many programs, workshops and information sessions for the students. They are immensely resourceful!
- Arundathi Krishna, MBA1
The way everything (students, faculty, buildings) is polished to a high sheen. Everything glitters or is edible.
- Ben Robinson, Evening MBA
"The school's 'new' logo - I just can't believe the school would leave out its trademark Block-M, the "brand equity" of the University of Michigan."
- Travis Snell, MBA1
Why should the B-School move to a logo that is being ridiculed b y just about every Michigan grad that I have met this fall during the recruiting season ?
- Narasimhan Krishnan, Evening MBA
The fact that there are so few tools. Tool: (def.) "One who does not care about those around them. One that is so engrossed in his or her studies that he or she cannot smell the roses. In effect they are like an instrument of action instead of a human being."
- Norbert Weldon, MBA1
The people. I am amazed by how people have core values that I share. Although, most of us had different paths and experiences, our core values are very alike (even if they express slightly differently according to one's cultural background). In addition, all of us are here to have some fun and learn. That is a great cocktail !
- Christophe de Carmoy, MBA1
All the free dinners that the Business School provides us!
- Jordan Scharg, BBA1
The social scene. I never imagined that everyone would party so much.
- Jon Kjos, MBA1
That the editors of the MSJ don't ask all their questions at once instead of sending multiple e-mails each week.
- Rishi Moudgil, BBA1
(Editor's note: Apparently Rishi is very easily surprised!)
The diversity of both work experience and culture has surprised me most about UMBS. It's one thing to read about it in the promo materials, but it's another thing completely to talk with people who have been part of the business communities in Thailand, South America, and Germany. Talking with them is like being able to teleport myself around the world without ever physically leaving Ann Arbor.
- Devin LaSalle, MBA1
I was at a recruiting dinner sitting with Erik Beguin when he started singing "hakuna matada" from the Lion King, right there at the table.
- Overheard by Alice Chou, MBA2
While attending the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Tailgate party, Andy Howard (MBA2) was entertaining a few SOSers. He was sitting on a bench eating his breakfast when he suddenly announced, "You guys, I need to stand. I can't drink this beer while I am sitting. I just have to stand because it is not going down right."
- Overheard by Meagan Van Gelder, SOS2
Coors slogan, "Turn it Loose," translated into Spanish as "Suffer From Diarrhea." - Prof. Priester, Marketing
-Overheard by Josh Landau, MBA1
"BBA's are just MBA's with more hair."
- Overheard by Bethany Ansorge, BBA2
Last week, when a visitor to Ryan's Marketing class mentioned that he would also be applying to Kellogg, Tom Lampron was quick to ring out "Safety School"! -
- Overheard by Roger Shugart, MBA2
"I don't know why the saying doesn't go 'Eat your cake and have it too' because that way, even if you ate that cake, you'd still have more!" Natasha Sinel, MBA2
- Overheard by Jeff Prus, MBA2
"If you have too many bodies, get rid of a few..." - uttered by Kerry Richards (MBA1) in Corp. Strategy (Organized Crime Strategy?)
- Overheard by Mike Vendura, MBA1
At the Section 1,4,5 TOGA party last Thursday night. Janet Mehlhop (who must have been feeling a little "Randy" that evening) was commenting on my toga (which because of the cold evening air was my down duvet cover) and the size of the knot that was needed to tie it. "What is that big bulge on the side of your leg Mark?"
- Overheard by Mark Eamer, MBA1
"I didn't know their was a shot clock in football" - Karen Cotchett MBA1, Section 1 at the U-M vs. MSU game after hearing a referee call a penalty for a "chop block"
- Overheard by Paul Rakowski, MBA1
Professor Taylor in Brandmaps referred to a cool car as being "sniffy"; - you figure that one out.
- Overheard by Anonymous
"We would love to serve cocktails but your school does not let us do so on campus. What a shame!" The above comment was heard at the Andersen Consulting presentation - made by one of the AC consultants !
- Overheard by Narasimhan Krishnan, Evening MBA
Ali Samikoglu was incredulously explaining that the Goldman Sachs Asset Management interview schedule cleared for 0 points and exclaimed, "The job of JANITOR at Goldman Sachs shouldn't clear for 0!"
- Overheard by Kurt Peterson, MBA2
When people put things in front of my face, I just start sucking on them." Dave Huang, MBA2 trying to remember who gave him a Blowpop.
- Overheard by Pamela J.S. Anderson, MBA2
When discussing the recent troubles of Kmart in a corporate strategy case group, Jeff Prus enlightened us with one of his always-insightful, penetrating comments: "I hate when I go into a store and there are all these scum-bags in there."
Later, he and Manny Valencia were overheard discussing the appearance of our nations new $20 bill:
J.P. "That guy (Jackson) looks like a tool."
Manny: "Yeah, he's a real freak-show"
- Overheard by Andy Herz, MBA2
Editor's note:
Tucker Holland, a 1996 MBA graduate from the University of Michigan Business School, is a self-described ski and snowboard bum. (For those who must take themselves very seriously, he can also be described as a partner in and VP of Strategic Planning for Trak Inc., a winter sports business located in Burlington, Vermont.)
As an alumnus of UMBS (MBA '96) and perhaps more importantly as a former editor at the MSJ (Features '95-'96), I was compelled by reading the recent article by John Madrid, my former classmate. John Madrid's article, "The Best Job for You," propelled me to share a few further observations about picking the best job for you.
I would agree with many of Mr. Madrid's observations about researching the companies for which you think you might like to work. Caveat emptor is the rule one should remember when it comes to picking a company in which you will invest your time and effort and therefore a large piece of your life.
While many of the insights in Mr. Madrid's article are worthy and true, they are also being espoused (albeit with careful customizing to suit their own purposes) by hundreds of corporate recruiting presentations at b-schools across the country.
I might offer some slightly different advice: Do some research, do some evaluating, go with your gut, but sleep well at night. By sleeping well at night, I mean to say, don't believe that this is the last chance you will ever have to make "the right choice" in your career.
By way of example, let me share my career experience (as the most salient data point I've got). When I graduated from the MBA program, for primarily job opportunity, lifestyle and location reasons, I chose to accept a position with a large electric utility company on the promise that great change was in the wind deregulation and I could be one of the architects of that change.
After spending a year on the job, I came to the realization that, despite the company's best intentions, the reality did not measure up to what I had been "promised." Old behaviors were hard to change and the company was not willing to move as quickly and decisively as they had indicated they would.
An outsider might have observed, how could you have expected a stodgy electric utility to move quickly? A fair question. I can only reply that in their efforts to bring talented MBA candidates into their fold, they talked the right talk. (As I mentioned, there were also location and lifestyle considerations that weighed in to my decision to join the organization.)
I believe no matter how laborious an investigation you may initiate of the companies you are most interested in working for, you will not know the full story until you are immersed in their culture and operations on a daily basis.
Moreover, I don't know if everyone can predict at the time of graduation what exactly will make them happy one year, two years or five years hence.
A wise individual in the UMBS administration once commented to me that it is "rarified air" that we live and breathe in during our two years in Ann Arbor. That air, while invigorating and inspiring, is not necessarily what they pump through the ducts at many corporate headquarters.
Perhaps in a better position to evaluate my own core needs and values than I was a year and a half earlier, I began while at the electric utility to look at entrepreneurial opportunities. My 12-month search ultimately lead to my becoming a partner in a sporting goods company last November.
Since joining Trak, it has thus far been a fantastic experience. I am able to apply a much broader facet of my business school experience on a day to day basis. From improving throughput at our factories to working on a relaunch of a brand to evaluating potential acquisitions, these are the issues I now (eagerly) work on each day.
Living in Vermont is not too shabby either. Even the chairman at my former employer (a $4 billion company) doesn't have an office that looks across Lake Champlain at the Adirondacks. (Did I mention that outdoor companies like to locate in places like the Rockies, the Alps, Scandinavia and Vermont?)
(Note: Lest my words encourage anyone to seek an entrepreneurial path without knowing the whole of it, there are many challenges to being part of a small- to medium-sized, privately-held company that I would gladly go through in detail with interested individuals at a later date.)
My point to you is this: I never would have ended up where I am today if it were not for the whole series of events that have taken place throughout my life and most particularly in my making "the wrong choice" in my job selection following b-school. (By the way, despite a rosy situation at present, there is no guarantee that this present position could not turn out to be "the wrong choice.") While a bit grand in their emphasis, as you consider your career path, there is merit in remembering the words of Theodore Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
If that's a bit lofty, then listen to my mom's advice: "Everything works out for the best."
Sleep well.
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