Inside the London MBA

Homestretch

Only two weeks remain in the first year of our MBA. I could tell you how fast it went, but my writing wouldn’t do justice to how amazingly quickly it’s all flown by. This term has been (unexpectedly) hectic, though things have calmed down since MBAT. People are finding time to relax, travel and enjoy London before internships start.

Tonight, I’m off to a networking event with the Young President’s Organization, which promises to be good times. 60 students interested in entrepreneurship and 60 CEOs/entrepreneurs get matched up, broken down into small groups, and sent to various fancy restaurants around London for dinner, before reconvening at a hotel party (after which is possibly the hotel lobby). All I have to do is to figure out what “smart casual” means.

Next weekend is Admits weekend, which, if you’re going, you should be excited for. I had a great time last year and met a lot of people, some of whom became flatmates, groupmates and good friends. Oh, and you’ll learn some about the school too. I’ll be around, so hope to meet some of you there.

VCIC and Competitions

People in business school love abbreviations. As an example, my current core classes are DRA, DEO, MOB and Marketing. I'm sure marketing will be changed to MKT soon, though, as vowels continue to lose favor among the naming experts.

Deciphering VCIC may be a bit more intuitive than the classes mentions above, thanks to the first two letters. It's the Venture Capital Investment Competition - where students across business schools become venture capitalists for a weekend and evaluate investments in new businesses.

My team, MARSH Capital, made it through the first round, where we pitched our make-believe fund and what we lovingly named "the MARSH approach." Balance was the key to our success, as we had collectively worked in technology, finance, law, strategy and marketing. The subsequent round involved spending Thursday through Saturday (straight) poring over business plans, grilling entrepreneurs, fiddling with financial models, creating term sheets and summaries and ultimately presenting to a tough crowd of VCs. It was an amazing, not to mention exhausting, experience that shed some light onto the process of VC investing, and the hurdles entrepreneurs face in securing funding.

In the end, an EMBA team did an amazing job and took home the prize. They'll be representing London Business School at the next round this weekend in New York, so best of luck to them!

No matter what your focus is, there are plenty of competitions that provide invaluable learning experiences and ridiculous opportunities here at London Business School. As a further example, myself and some other MBA '09s are currently managing €100,000 of real money in the finals of a European portfolio management competition, sponsored by Fortis. We gained about €6,000 last month. Seems crazy, I know. But there are competitions for brand management, business plan writing, case studies, social ventures - all the perennial favorites. So whether you get involved for the learning, the glory or the cash prizes (this is London, after all), there's plenty of competition to go around.

Santa Pub Crawl 2007

The fall term might still be in its last gasps, but the partying has already begun. I attended one of the great London Business School traditions this past Saturday - the Santa Pub Crawl. A night of 400+ students dressed in Santa outfits, spreading merriment, bewilderment and various other 'ments around the streets and bars of London. Other than a few traumatized children, a great time was had by all. I somehow managed to come home sans any remnants of my Santa costume (disclaimer: Santa costumes worn over regular clothes), so I can only hope it was given a good home/burial.

But enough talk, I'll let the pictures below do the 'splainin. Preparation for next term's job search begins now, and on top of the clubs, event planning and competitions I'm involved with, time is scarce. Conventional wisdom says I should probably study for my accounting exam too.

Thanks to Mike O. for the pics and for bringing sexy back.

Three Sheets to the Wind

There's nothing quite like 25 knot winds and cold water splashing in your face to feel like you're getting the most out of your business school experience. Such was life this weekend, as some London Business School sailors and wannabe sailors (myself included) headed down to Portsmouth to do some damage in the Sunsail Regatta. Unfortunately, the only damage my boat did was when some of our dishes broke in the choppy seas. Being in the back of the pack did make for some nice pictures, though.

We had two boats in the race, and my crew was (surprise!) a mix of nationalities -- our skipper Dan from Israel, Kristian from Denmark, Rafael from Mexico, Dan from the UK, Jong Sang from Korea, Emil from Bulgaria, Diogo from Portugal and myself from the U.S. While we didn't come first, we had a great time sailing together, we weren't one of the two boats that collided and we only got mixed up with the police once.

 

Thanks to Dan, Jan and Diogo for pictures

Since my last two posts now have been about sailing and wearing suits, I fear I'm in danger of losing my street cred. Upcoming posts may include an inside look at the ballers (basketball) here at London Business School, but will more likely be about the Investment Management Club events and maybe my trip to Barcelona this weekend. Represent.

Suited Up

It's official. I've worn a suit more times since coming to London Business School in August than I did in all of 2006. Suddenly, buying another suit before coming here (effectively doubling my smart business wardrobe) seems like a smart idea. Insider tip: Hugo Boss suits are practically free in Germany when compared to U.S. prices.

I just got home from Bank of America in Canary Wharf, where the Finance Club had organized a trading floor visit and panel presentation. It was a very informative event, capped off with a small networking event with a few London Business School alums and some others. I love networking; the shrimps were delicious.

In talking with some of my fellow students, it seems as we get exposed to more and more careers, some people are getting more and more confused. Those who had tunnel vision about their path after school are now having doubts, and those who had no idea what they wanted to do, well, they still have no idea what they want to do. Process of elimination seems to among the more popular methods of the undecideds, so I'm sure things will become clearer as the term moves on, as long as the professional clubs here continue to put on great speaker series, panels and company visits. I think I better get used to wearing a suit.

Poppin' Bottles

To the victors go the spoils. Witness below study group D5, winners of the Stream D Business Statistics Case Competition, enjoying a fine bottle of Veuve Clicquot, provided to us by our stats professor in recognition of our victory.

Pictured from left to right are Rishi from the UK, Athena from Greece, Rohan from India, Hamish from the U.S. and Leo from Brazil. Not pictured is Zaza from Georgia.

The case competition occurred on our last day of Statistics, and involved being given about 4 hours to solve a business case and create a presentation based on our results. The winners were chosen based on the quality of the regression model, analysis of the implications of the model, overall good looks of the group and the presentation itself.

We capped off a marathon session of statistics with dinner at a great little Greek restaurant in Camden (organized by our favorite Greek, Athena). The food and drink allowed us to unwind after a long day, and we left 95% confident that we'll be seeing more champagne in our future. 

Mein Deutsch ist schreklich

There were three types of MBA 2009’s on campus today:

• People stressing the diagnostic language test and feverishly cramming verbs, cases and tenses into their heads
• People who were comfortable in their knowledge / lack thereof in their chosen language, but who were now wondering if they should be studying too
• People who were exempt from the language requirement, solely there to make the rest of us feel bad about ourselves

So, in case you couldn’t tell, we had diagnostic language tests today. Prospective students, take note: you will need to be fluent in at least two languages when you graduate from London Business School. More specifically, you’ll need to pass Level 2 (of 3), which I would assume means you’d be able to write an insipid blog entry like this in another language. I say “assume,” because, clearly, I did not pass Level 2 this morning. I did it for diversity's sake, though -- with so many multilingual people here, I had to represent for those of us who are embarrassingly unilingual.

Not surprisingly, there were a large number of students taking the diagnostics because they are picking up (yet) another language for either business or personal reasons. Mandarin is, of course, the hot language this year, leading to this humorous exchange:

Friend 1: We heard you were asking someone how to say "parents" in Chinese, how can you not know that?
Friend 2: That's not true, I know how to say "mom," and "dad," I just don't know how to say them together.
Friend 1: [Deadpan] So you don't know how to say "parents."
Friend 2: I have to go.

Friend 2 did fine, by the way.

Thankfully, to provide a midday break from thinking about grammar, the Investment Management Club held a “Stockpicking 101” session. This was an introduction on how to write a stock pitch – crucial not only to those who seek jobs in equity research, but also those entering the stock pitch competition next month. I'm planning on entering, so anyone with hot stock tips, feel free to send them my way.

Transitioning to Student Life

As one of my flatmates and I discuss the merits of buying reduced price sandwiches at Tesco (soon to be expired food items get incrementally marked down as the day wears on), the reality of being a student again sets in. Sure, the stack of binders on my desk, the looming case study, stats homework, language test and business communications presentation might be better clues, but somehow those seem less visceral than devouring 50p sandwiches in a luxury flat in Fitzrovia. Penny-wise, pound-foolish, as the Brits say. Mom would be so proud.

Seemingly in recognition of our newfound plight, preparation for the all-important "Milk round" (recruiting season) has begun. We’ve started the process of overhauling our CVs a full one week into the term, and London Business School has been kind enough to provide us with personal coaches, who will help us hone our one page wonders for our targeted career path. My study group has also chosen to meet and dissect each other’s CVs, tightening up the language and content based on the advice we received. Results so far have been very encouraging. As the balance of this year’s tuition comes due in a few weeks, it’s programs like these, among many, many others (that I’m sure will be expounded upon here), that will make writing that check a little less painful.

Preparing for the Start of the Term

Alternate title: "The Ongoing Destruction of my Liver." I'm about to head off to the fifth night of the Flathunter's Pub Crawl, a two week long party that is designed to meet flatmates and share advice. Finding a flat and moving in seems to be foremost on everyone's minds right now, although, after a few hours, the next round of drinks seems to work its way to the top of the list.

I am lucky enough to have already found flatmates and a place, however, my mind won't be at ease until I am physically lying in my new bed. Living in a hotel may contribute to my Hollywood-like image, but it is certainly not the most economical way to carry on.

Most other preparation, for me, revolves around getting situated in London and the UK. Trying to look the right way before crossing a street, trying to keep my mouth from being agape when bills come, trying to improve my umbrella unfurling speed, etc.

As someone who has moved around a lot, this currently just feels like another move; the reality of me being in a classroom soon has yet to fully sink in. After meeting many of my new classmates, and tasting a bit of London, however, I am excited to embark on this new journey.