Party Party - HAN style

The Haas Alumni Network (HAN) is hosting a lot of welcome parties. In the Bay Area, there are parties scheduled for Berkeley and Mountain View in upcoming months to host new students and to allow alumni to get together.

Across the world, events have already taken place in Hong Kong, Brazil, Peru, Vietnam, United Kingdom, and more.

I recently attended an event in Sonoma, California, hosted by the HAN North Bay Chapter at the home of chapter Treasurer, Debra Eagle. Debra is a wine industry veteran and as the group tried various wines, she talked about the flavors that the wine contained as well as the process for making each one.

Here is a pic of the group enjoying wine and snacks.
It's nice to know that there are so many Haas alumni all over the world and that we have an opportunity to connect with one another not just in business, but in other interests too.

Staying Relevant

Been a while since I posted-- if not for Anlei's post with me as a sidebar picture, I've been a bit AWOL. Needless to say, I'm enjoying my Summer-- even if any time that formerly went to school just gets replaced by work-work-work.

Gotta keep present and relevant though..

On a lighter but related note, I was playing basketball with young kids from church (some half my age-- ouch), and was told: "You have an old-fashioned hair cut." Ah, to be irrelevant to the tomorrow's market of youngsters. Well, that was about four weeks back. Earlier this week, I went and got a haircut and told the barber to just give me a more updated cut (w/o dying my hair blonde please-- those days of college-- er.. undergrad-- are way behind me). Presto! Back in the fold of kid cool-- or not. All they did was make it really short (new definition for fro-yo?). Oh well...

On a more serious note, in comparison, it's key for us to stay relevant in business. It's one of the reasons I decided to go back to business school over a year ago. As part of the Admissions Committee (who are continuing to actively plan for the new class, orientation, and other related activities), I'm often asked what is the ROI for returning to b-school? While there may be hard numbers that can quantitatively be estimated based on pre- vs. post-graduation salaries and so on, I tell people honestly that they get what they put into it.

If it's all about dollars and cents, b-school does not auto-magically turn you into a money machine. But, with brains, talent and plain ol' hard work, the value you get from your new connections, and opened doors can be priceless. At the very least, your eyes are opened to possibility and you have the keys to decide how you proceed.

Hopefully, Haas stays relevant to our global economic marketplace. I know our classmates, the Haas faculty and administration, and the new students joining us are all a part of keeping it there.

Enjoy!
- Tim

Evening/Weekend MBA: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly....

So there's been a lot of discussion on the blog lately about evening vs weekend and congrats/advice for the newly admitted Class of 2012 (I guess that officially makes me a third year - woohoo!). So I thought I'd add to it with my own 2 cents worth about life as EWMBA student.

The Good
Today is Thursday, and it is 1.52pm and I'm sitting in the Long Library on campus in a big, comfy arm chair updating this blog and I'm overlooking the fern garden in the Haas courtyard and the blue skies outside. I'm back on campus for Berkeley-Columbia classes and today at lunchtime Dean Edley from the Boalt Law School spoke on the transition for the Obama Administration (of which he was a member of the transition team), which was fascinating. I have to say, this is the first time I've stepped foot inside the Long Library, and having a break to just take it all in is pretty rare. Life on campus is very exciting! Its nice to be part of football games, speaker series', Dinner with the Dean, club events and all other kinds of goings-on on campus. The plus side of being on EWMBA student is that we still have an income at the same as enjoying some of the aspects of student life.

The other thing that I've been really impressed with is the calibre of the professors. Especially this semester, I've had three fabulous professors who are very knowledgeable, engaging, intellectual, understanding, flexible, fascinating and downright great people.

Classmates - now that I'm in third year (I can say that!), I feel like I have some strong ties with some really incredible people. Now that I've known my fellow classmates for a couple of years, I feel like I've really got to know them - what a fabulous bunch! I know I feel comfortable that if I ever needed anything, I could call on them, and that they would do the same with me.

The Bad
Div mentioned the parking in Berkeley. Its not as bad as he made out - I know most Evening students (especially the second/third years) all have a parking strategy. I know personally I found myself running into class at 6.02pm having struggled with the parking gods once again. But there are three or four (or even more) parking lots near Haas, and I never had an occasion when I couldn't get parking in any of these lots - the bad aspect of the parking just depends on how close you want to get to Haas. Several of my classmates had carpool groups (which were also very effective study-group, class comparison and networking opportunities) and others took BART and were kindly shuttled to/from Haas by classmates. Its really not that bad, don't let the parking situation turn you off evening classes (you do get a student parking permit).

Right now I'm breathing a sigh of relief after having just completed a mid-term exam in Financial Statement Analysis, and procrastinating about completing an Entrepreneurship marketing plan (that's why I'm in the Library for the first time!). Plus I also completed the Financial Statement Modeling final Quiz this week. As well its been a very busy time for me at work, and we've had family staying with us. There are times when there are just so many deadlines (they all seem to come at once!), and I feel like all I do is eat, sleep, work and study.

Some of my fellow bloggers have mentioned barbecues, summer fun and other social activities. That is one of the bad aspects - sometimes 'having a life' is what everyone else does, and to EWMBA'ers its a distant foggy memory. I know several people from my cohort are feeling pretty burnt out right now, and a few of us talked about the possibility of finishing our MBA a semester early. Many of us are trying to push through the pain and overload next semester for the prospect of getting our lives back 6 months earlier. Mmmm.... just the prospect of free time again.....

The Ugly
Sometimes life just gets ugly. Like the last few weeks when I had what felt like ten assignments due, huge deadlines at work plus the rest of life caving in on me - of course, I get infected with every single germ that ever decided to swarm around this place. I feel like I've had a flu of some kind every other month since I started at Haas. I'm looking forward to boosting my immune system again once I finish.

Div mentioned Saturday students who fly in from other places, and the ugly prospect of giving up every Saturday for the foreseeable future (I can't see very far into the future!). I'm about to join that group, even if its only a semester of Saturday's I'm looking at giving up, but its a daunting prospect. Today I took a 6am flight to get to Haas, and I'm really feeling it right now. I wonder how I'll feel by 7.30pm when my next class finishes....

Right, well on that note, I'd better start thinking about my marketing research before this comfy arm chair sucks me right in....

Welcome Class of 2012 - Round 2 Admits

A couple of weeks back, a number of current Haas students eagerly volunteered to welcome Round 2 New Admits. Here we are filling the Bank of America Forum. I remember going to my own reception so long ago - meeting staff members, current students, other new admits and their partners and spouses. Exciting and thrilling times - some have put down their deposit and responded to the welcome letter. Others are still deciding. This year, each new admit was assigned to a student volunteer who sent a welcome email and followed up with a phone call (good work EWMBAA Admissions Committee and volunteers!). Some lucky folks got to link up with the person who had contacted them and ask questions up close and personal.
Here's a pic of Tim, my fellow blogger, and me getting ready to mingle til we tingle.

Once a Haas student, there is no turning back. You're Haas for life!

Evening vs Weekend and the Life-Saver: Shuttle

Every year, the EWMBA Association arranges for student ambassadors from the 2nd/3rd years’ at Haas to connect with the incoming first year before the start of the term. This effort is completely run by the student body (driven by the EWMBA association’s Admissions Committee with the support of the Haas Admissions Office). As a volunteer for this effort I’ve had the pleasure of welcoming a few incoming students from the class of 2012. I must say the level of energy and excitement I’ve found is very Haas-like :-)

During our conversations I’ve been asked a lot of questions and I’d like to use this space to address the two most common queries I’ve come across. The disclaimer here is these reflect my opinion as an Evening Cohort student and may not address all viewpoints.

Evening or Weekend, what did I prefer and why?

a) I travel minimally for my day job and as such expected less disruptions to the evening schedule. In fact, the couple of times I had to travel, I made a video-tape request for the classes I missed and it worked out fine. If you are commuting from a non-drivable distance (some of the weekend folks in the class of 2011 flew in from SoCal, Seattle, and so on...) then weekend is probably the way to go. Incidentally, I did have at least one person in my cohort who commuted from Sacramento.

b) I am in the South Bay and the shuttle to Berkeley was very convenient. The bus left at 415pm and my employer was fine with this schedule. Note that the weekend cohorts do not have a shuttle to Berkeley. On the plus side, almost 50% of the weekend classes were held in Santa Clara (if you live in the South Bay or the Peninsula). (More on the shuttle later)

c) Taking classes in the evening allowed me to the luxury of an "occasional" weekend to myself! The thought that almost all Saturdays (and likely Sundays due to assignments/projects) would be booked for foreseeable future was daunting for me!

d) Scheduling group meetings/projects with my classmates became a bit easier due to availability of weekends. Again, this depends on the schedule of your team-mates but in hindsight, this worked out fine for me.

e) Some of the evening CORE classes have sections over the weekend. (Sat or Sun, depending on the GSI/Instructor). Gave me time to actually review the class material before I showed up for the section. For the weekend folks, some of the sections were held after class on Sat or Sunday. I didn't want to have back to back classes.

f) Weekend classes are scheduled such that they finish earlier than the weekday cohorts pretty much all quarters/semesters and you get a longer break at the end of the year.

g) A lot of conferences, guest speakers and networking events happen during weekdays. I missed a few of these due to conflicts with my academic schedule.

h) Weekend classes IMHO were more conducive to networking even with the cohort. For instance an after class happy hour or some such... For my evening class, by the time we took the shuttle back it was almost 1045pm and people were usually beat (except for right after the exams :-) )

Is the Shuttle helpful?

I live/work in the South Bay and took the South Bay shuttle to Berkeley during the first year.

IMO, it was a lifesaver. I had to drive a few times outside of my class schedule as well and if you’ve commuted to Berkeley during peak hrs you’d know that the car ride was a huge pain (especially if you couldn't carpool during commute, since 880N is a bottleneck). Here are some highlights:

a) The bus is decent sized/air-conditioned and there are enough seats. (Btw, the 2nd/3rd years only show up a few weeks after the first years' due to the late start of elective courses)

b) The shuttle is a great opportunity to sleep, get work done, or network.

c) The internet access on the shuttle is up most days. (There were occasional technical issues but they got resolved pretty quickly) So if you'd like to connect to work, that works out as well.

d) Parking in Berkeley is a huge problem, so from that perspective too, the shuttle alleviates the pain.

e) We even had a few (unofficial) happy hours and a couple of baby-showers on the shuttle.

f) I fell behind on my readings more than a few times and shuttle was the best time to catch up before the class. And people would usually discuss cases and that was pretty helpful.

There are some cons as well. I missed out on a few after class networking opportunities. Also, the shuttle reaches Berkeley typically around 530pm, so you could potentially have another 30 min each way if you carpool (again, assuming parking goes smoothly)

Hopefully these provide additional data points for those of you still deliberating on E vs W and Shuttle vs No-Shuttle...


Div

Doesn't feel like summer...yet

And Weather’s only part of it.

After the helter-skelter life in the past two semesters I was almost apprehensive about a quiet summer. Turns out I had no reason to be so. Work has kicked up a notch and our 3-month old has become more demanding :-) However, I’ve been able to catch up with my classmates with 3-4 events (Birthdays, Happy Hours, and so on) in the last few weeks. The annual end of the year party just finished with a Bar-Be-Que in the South Bay as well. And, the 2nd year evening cohorts are have a Sailing-Wine-Mixer two weeks from now (feisty Catamaran with Wine and chit chat).

In the midst of all this I am enrolled into a 1 unit Summer Course - Financial Statement Modeling (along with our fellow bloggers Anlei and Deanne). Can’t believe that I’m almost done with it. Next week’s the finals and then truly no classes until Fall. (And finally a complete weekend to myself).

Congratulations to all the new admits! As Tim said, enjoy your summer and things will become really hot in the fall. If you have any questions do not hesitate to get in touch with the student ambassador who reached out to you.

I started my top “n” list of experiences in the first year but in the hustle bustle of the past month I’ve not been able to complete it. Will post it soon.

Grillin' & Chillin'

There's nothing like a BBQ to indicate that summer is really here. The EWMBA Association (EWMBAA) sponsored a BBQ at Coyote Point in San Mateo last week. That means that students from the EWMBAA Social Committee organized the event location, volunteers, food, etc.

It was sunny weather with a strong breeze.
There were the usual hot dogs and hamburgers and lots of refreshing beverages for all to enjoy. It was a great way for families to spend some time together, for the kids to play on the huge play structure, and for fellow students to catch up.

To start off the event, the class of 2010 held a soccer match, part of the South Bay vs. San Francisco Battle that has been ongoing between students - sometimes its poker, sometimes its flag football, but today, it was soccer. Amy, our EWMBAA secretary, was out there representing the ladies and she really kicked some butt, even knocking down one of the guys! Go Amy!!

Thanks for organizing EWMBAA Social Committee! A fun time was had by all.