Boris Yovchev

Alaska M-Trek 2011: Wilderness Immersion and Unforgettable Journey

Ten MBA1 students, four MBA2 leaders, and ten days that no one will ever forget!

That is the brief description of the Alaska M-Trek I helped lead in August. M-Trek is a fabulous thing - we leave as a group of near strangers, and return as some of the best friends you will ever make.

Words won't do our journey justice, so at this point I will let the camera do the talking.

Go M-Trek!!! Go Ross!!! Go Blue!!! 

 

PS: Photo credit - Clemens Eder, First-year MBA Student, Ross School of Business

Business School Application Season: Ross Edition

Hello Everyone!!

I have recently been receiving a number of outreach emails from people planning to apply to Ross and it reminded me that the new admission cycle is right around the corner. 

For some, it's likely crunch time for tackling the well forgotten - by me anyway - 800 pound gorilla in the room called GMAT. And for others, it's also the time when you start looking at rankings, employment reports, posts on various business school forums, etc. to determine two things; (1) where do I really want to go to school, and (2) what shot do I have at being admitted there.

I remember going through the same process in the summer of 2009, and from the position of now I can clearly see how much unnecessary information exists for people choosing the best school for what they are looking to achieve and experience. 

Reading through the more prominent MBA forums is almost like reading those chat threads following a major sporting event between fierce rivals; each side is trying to prove that their team is the greatest, that they are the best fans, and that a win in that one match makes such proclamations legitimate. 

In reality, it comes down to fit, and after having gone through the process with a number of schools, and having spent a year at Ross, I can say that with certainty.

What I want to do, however, is not offer one more opinion on Ross and other business schools, but rather share with you what I think will give you a realistic shot at joining a top MBA program.

It starts with introspection about what you want to do. And that introspection may very well yield that you don't know what that thing that excites you is yet.

That is perfectly fine!

In fact, more than half the people at Ross on the first day of MBA classes had no idea what they wanted to do what they grow up. That's why an MBA is a great opportunity, because it gives those who know what they want to do the avenues to achieve their goals, and it gives those who are still in the discovery process so much information about the world that it sooner or later allows them to figure it out.

What your introspection should help you with however, is direction. You will have to, after all, tell a compelling story about your desire to come to business school, and the career you inspire to have in the future.

Introspection will give you the ability to stay within the realm of things you think you might like, even if you are not quite sure about the specifics yet, so that you can tell a story that will read sound, realistic, and inspiring to admission officers.

If you can craft a good story once, even if you are not 100% sure that it will prove true in the future, you will be able to do it again once you come to business school, and again after you graduate, if necessary.

So look at your experiences, try to fill any gaps in your story, and show a passion, even if that passion happens to be for change in general.

There is no cookie cutter approach to getting in, so don't use templates, or common language expressions that you have found in example essays.

Just be yourself, because it is you, your experiences, and your true personality that the admission committee will like and want to get to know.

Finally, please do yourselves a favor and visit the programs you like on paper. Choosing a program that is not a great fit with one's personality happens, but it rarely does for those who make an effort to get to know the school and the people who live in it. And if a visit in person is out of the realm of possibility for you, please do reach out to the Student Ambassadors listed on the Ross site. 

It will be easy to spot our passion from telling you the stories of why we believe Ross to be the ideal home for each and every one of us.

Have a Happy Summer, and Go Blue!!

Boris

FanVision MAP: Ross Working For Ross!

Remember that thing called MAP? The program envied by other business schools, and emulated by some, that played a major part in your desire to come to Ross versus other MBA programs?

I remember how excited I was about MAP, but I never could have imagined being able to work for Stephen M. Ross himself as part of my MAP experience. 

As some of you may know, Stephen M. Ross is the real estate developer and entrepreneur who not long ago donated $100 million to the then Michigan Business School. As a result of his generous donation, Michigan renamed the business school after him and built the state of the art facility that we now call home.

Stephen Ross is also the majority owner of the Miami Dolphins of the NFL, and is an avid sports fan. 

In December of 2009, he proceeded to buy a Canadian company called FanVision (formerly known as Kangaroo TV), which carried a device and a technology that could completely transform the way fans experience live sports inside or near stadiums.

The technology and device offered by the company are very promising, and especially attractive to avid sports fans. The device, also called FanVision (www.fanvision.com), has amazing capabilities. It can run ten video channels, unlimited amounts of data and as much audio as the fan desires. It takes instant replays from three or four different camera angles with only a 2-3 second delay.

There would no more sitting around impatiently waiting for the officials to complete a booth review. And how about the numerous times during a live sporting event when you would give nothing more than to see the replay of an amazing catch, throw, home run, dunk or a goal?

As the user, you have the ability to choose your camera angle. You also see the detailed statistics for the current game, other ongoing games, conference standings and overall team and player statistics. 

And did I mentioned the ability to actually watch another game in parallel? 

The technology is installed at stadiums, and fans can connect to it inside or near the venue. Finally, the technology operates on a wavelength spectrum different from the one used by phones, and so there are no outages, multimedia buffering or exhausting your battery at halftime because you are searching for signal alongside thousands of other spectators.

 

All in all, it sounds like rebirth for the sports fans among us, and only the sky is the limit in terms of content that FanVision could incorporate in the future.

FanVision has outstanding contracts with 12 NFL franchises and two universities (the University of Michigan included), and it has a successful history of serving Formula 1 and NASCAR racing as well as golf tournaments.

The goal of our MAP project?

FanVision is looking to grow and expand its client base across all major leagues in America, but the average fan is mostly unfamiliar with the existence of the FanVision technology.

Our MAP team has been tasked to develop a Go-To-Market and growth model that FanVision can apply to future markets of interest for the company. We will focus on markets of interest that the company currently serves, size the existing opportunity across markets, collect and study key user experience data, and develop a marketing plan that will raise awareness of FanVision’s existence among sports fans in those markets. 

We aim to develop a growth strategy and a market-based model that FanVision can apply to prospective markets in the future.

I love sports, so to be able to interact with the franchises the company serves, and to work with real consumer data, feels extremely rewarding. What's even more exciting is the fact that FanVision still has the feel of a start-up, and our MAP team will have the opportunity to assist the FanVision executive team with setting the foundations of an exciting future for the organization.

Many of you may have had the unique opportunity to work for people like Stephen M. Ross in your current or past professional roles. You may have presented your ideas in front of important audiences. And you may have devised strategies that have transformed the fortunes of entire organizations.

But have you been able to do all of that as part of the core curriculum of an academic program?

Thank you Ross School of Business, and Mr. Stephen M. Ross, for showing us the power of action-based learning.

Go MAP, Go FanVision, Go Ross!!!

Oh, and GO BLUE!!!

Life is a marathon, not a sprint!

Do you remember the day when you started looking at the sites of top business schools and it initially appeared surreal that you would ever be able to get into one of those fine institutions for your MBA degree?

You had a good track record but you browsed through those Businessweek MBA boards only to find bios that read like this:

"25, male, Ivy undergrad, 3.75 GPA, graduated with distinction, 750 on GMAT, worked in PE, and started three companies..."

<<GASP>>

Some of you naturally questioned your chances given the competition.

Well those of you who focused on being the best they can be at what they did at the time know that such backgrounds should not bother your sleep, because schools like Ross do not utilize the cookie cutter approach of selecting students and like variety in the classroom as much as they like to see people with proven capabilities.

Of course you have a shot, regardless of what industry or functional area you thrive in. The important thing is that you really do THRIVE in your environment, and put your heart into everything you do.

The results will come!

But this post is not meant to educate you on what it takes to get into a great MBA program, or to predict your chances of getting into Ross. 

Rather, the point I am trying to make is that if entry to business school seems to you like the steepest hill you will climb in your life, reconsider. 

You will join a top program and then you will realize that there is this thing called recruiting. It doesn't matter which school you choose, you are still going to have to convince your chosen potential employers that you are the brightest diamond from a basket of diamonds.

Suddently, you will look back and realize that scoring well on the GMAT and writing those grueling at the time admission essays wasn't so bad.

Well, eventually you will get the job you want, and there will be something else that you will want to achieve that will appear more difficult than getting into business school and getting a good job combined.

So in the grand scheme of things, we always see that next step we need to make, or the next obstacle that we need to overcome, as the biggest one in our lives.

But reality is that life is wired differently and if we get phased out about every next event sitting in front of us, we would forget to live our lives the way they are meant to be lived - a.k.a. enjoying every moment for what it is and enjoying it with the people that we like.

So whether you are looking to apply to business school, or you are now in but looking for a job, try to enjoy the process and retain what life has to teach you.

Congratulations to those of you who made it into business school, and good luck to those who are still looking to apply or hoping to hear back with good news. 

Remember, it is not the MBA that makes you successful, it is you putting your heart in anything you do that will take you places.

Give it your best, have no regrets, and know that what might seem a tall order this early in your professional careers is just a part of the marathon called life. 

Go Blue!!!

Christmas Reflection: How to be successful at Ross

As Christmas flew by a few days ago, I realized how quickly my time in Ann Arbor has flown, too. My relocation from Chicago seems so distant, yet, so recent, and so do the numerous Ross events I enjoyed so much throughout the summer.

The first chapter of the experience called Ross MBA for the Class of 2012 has officially ended with the conclusion of the two Fall quarters at Ross, and naturally it’s time for reflection during the seemingly quiet and peaceful holiday season. 

Throughout the business school application process, and especially after receiving admission, prospective students build expectations about what the two years in business school would be like. And that is quite normal, given the personal and professional stories that abundantly float around in the virtual space about MBA life.

I had expectations, too, and they were reinforced by my visits of school grounds and conversations with current and past students of the respective programs I applied to. I came in thinking that I knew exactly what it was like to be an MBA student at a great program.

I did and I didn’t.

My expectations for the academic and learning environment – an environment that pushes you to your limits and challenges you to think differently – were met. However, regardless of how many stories you hear about the enriching experience outside the classroom, you can never really appreciate it until you arrive.

I often find myself looking around the classroom (or around one of Ann Arbor’s finest bars during a happy hour) and seeing the kind of people whom one should just be happy to meet once in their lifetime. Instead, I am becoming a part of a network – both personal and professional – in which those bright and ambitious individuals are the standard, not the exception.

From a former consultant to a broker or a banker on Wall Street, from a successful entrepreneur to a former professional athlete, and from a professional chef to a artistic performer and a chief editor – those are the kind of people with whom you sit in class, but also go out for a drink.

Those are also the people who partake in what is one of the best tailgates you could ever imagine (I lived in Wisconsin for a while, so I would know what a good tailgate means) – and that tailgate, The Bus, is an affair that repeats itself before and after every home game the Michigan football team plays at the Big House.

So it is quite easy for a first year MBA student to get overwhelmed by everything pushed their way.

Naturally, there are a number of advices incoming students hear that they fail to record onto their hard drives, and those are the things I would like to focus on for the remainder of the entry.

It has to do with being successful at Ross, and possibly at any other top business school.

It is now December, and most networking for internships is over. Yes, it has only been a few short months since we started, and many of us came from a non-business background, but the expectation is that you can quickly pick up the things that will help you in whatever it is that you want to do, and then convince recruiters that you would be a valuable addition to…well at first their closed list interview schedule.

So, even though there are vast resources that will help you if at some later point in time you decided to change your mind about the industry and functional area you would like to work in, you should have at least a hypothesis about what it is that you want to do, so you can successfully position yourself with recruiters of that industry early on.

Ross imposes a "ban" for recruiters to speak to students for a period of time (this year the ban was lifted on October 10), but after that’s gone, companies can access any student’s profile off the internal resume system, and calling you at interesting hours to inquire about your interest with a particular industry, company or firm becomes fair game.

So to sum up, within the first month and a half, an incoming student has to have done the following things:

1. Decided what kind of internship they (think they) want to recruit for 
2. Built a resume to fit the above decision 
3. Met with Office of Career Development and second year MBA students working for the office at least a handful of times to polish the resume 
4. Considered a career plan B, and created an alternative resume to fit that alternative (many people know exactly what they want to do and drive hard at it, so often times, and depending on the demand for the positions they recruit for, they would naturally omit this step) 
5. Conducted informational interviews with either second year students or alumnus of the business school who work(ed) in the industry the student holds high regard for in order to learn more about the specifics of the job 
6. Figured out the academic side of Ross (whatever that means to you) 
7. Found ways in which to get involved at Ross given that the school is mostly run by students, and recruiters value leadership, especially one that helps Ross get better 
8. Found a right balance between academics, recruiting, networking and social experiences (do NOT forget about the latter as it will be pretty sad if you leave Ross with a great job and nothing more)

To that, I would also add housing, bills, culture adjustment (especially for international students), job searching and settling in for partners, purchasing academic and living materials, software packages and equipment, and any number of other items that will vary depending on the individual situation of the student.

And just when you think you’ve settled in, won the initial battles and figured things out, recruiting season hits.

For some it’s more hectic than for others. For example, recruiting to be the next great thing that happened to the marketing department of a professional sports franchise or a sports media corporation will be very different from recruiting to be a consultant or an investment banker.

With entertainment, media and sports, the student will have to spend time on the phone, connecting with people from the sports industry, and maybe traveling to different cities to get face time with people possessing decision making power. While the student is in Ann Arbor, however, they will have more free time than most MBA peers.

In the latter examples, the student will not leave Ann Arbor the entire Fall term because all major consulting firms and banks will be at Ross weekly and they will want to know everything there is to know about you.

In reality, once Fall B starts in November, you should expect to spend most of your free time between and after classes on connecting with the companies you have liked.

This is where being efficient in managing your time really counts. There are only 24 hours in the day, and you will crash if you opt to deprive yourself from sleep.

The answer is to prioritize, and while you are at it you should forget about the 100 things you set out to do back in August when you did not have a great understanding for what it took to be successful at business school.

Figure out what really matters to you, and charge hard at it.

Last but certainly not least, I would highly recommend you leverage the knowledge and experience of the MBA class before you. Those people were exactly where you were a year ago, and they made the same mistakes you are likely to make if you do not connect with them.

Do not forget that you are at Ross, and no one will ever say no. They may say, “let’s pick a different time than the one you are proposing” based on their availability, but at the end of the day we want everyone to succeed, because that translates into success for our business school.

So find the people who can provide you with help and ask for it.

Once the two Fall terms end, students have 2-3 weeks to prepare for interviews. At this point recruiters have given you breathing room, and students should have a pretty good feeling about the companies they will get closed listed by.

This is the time to realistically evaluate your position and create contingency plans if things are not going as well as you hoped.

Of course, if you did not make many closed list interview schedules, there is a bidding system that will allow you to get interviews with 1-2 of the companies many people are pursuing as well as a number of others you maybe did not consider carefully before, but be realistic about your chances with those companies.

A number of mid-sized and smaller companies post jobs at Ross in the spring, and they already know they will get quality talent, so they are typically not among the companies that made trips to Ann Arbor, so you engage with them with a clean slate. With such companies, networking is often not as important, and strong resume and cover letter go a long way.

Being flexible is the key here, but if you know or find out what you wanted to do early enough and gave it your best, you would be given enough opportunities to succeed.

There are many people who do an internship they thought they would like only to discover that they would love nothing else but to go into a different industry. So long as you have the drive, Ross will offer the resources to help you succeed.

Recruiting for internships, especially with the high demand industries such as marketing, consulting and financial services, is often different due to the more limited number of internships a firm would offer compared to full-time offers.

Think about consulting firms. They want to hire enough people over the summer in order to both evaluate people's qualities and aid projects for which there is shortage of resources, but they do not want to hire too many people and have them sit around the office all summer.

The firms go for quality of experience, not quantity of hires. And that also makes perfect business sense, because most summer interns make the same money graduates and full-time hires do. 

Firms rarely make mistakes when they hire interns, so you can bank on seeing the majority of people returning to their summer employer.

At the same time, many companies also have 100 – 200% more slots to fill in terms of full-time hires, so the opportunity will arise again at the start of your second year, if you did not get your dream job after the first year. Again, it is important that whatever you choose to do over the summer, you work hard and choose quality of experience so you would be better positioned for full-time recruiting.

Having said all that, after you narrow down the list of industries, companies and positions you want to apply to, you should verify the hiring numbers from previous years. Some companies tend to hire summer interns but not retain all as full-time hires. So, be prepared to perform during your summer, but also keep an open mind about other opportunities in case things do not work out for you.

The above information is not too different from what you will hear from the Career of Office Development and current students upon arrival, but reading about it early will hopefully make you self-reflect early so you can be more successful during your time at business school.

The most important thing to remember is that your investment is too great for you not to take advantage of all the great things an institution like Ross has to offer.

Explore the endless opportunities that will be available at the tip of your hands, work hard, and have a lot of fun, because those are two years you will remember and want to relive forever.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and best of luck!

Go Blue!!!

 

 

Fall in Ann Arbor

Yes, I know I am a few months late with this post, but I could not pass on the opportunity to stress the beauty of Ann Arbor during Fall.

It is wonderful to have such surrounding environment during the heat of recruiting season. And speaking of recruiting, please watch for another blog entry within the next few days that will give hints to incoming students about what the most important aspects of the process are.

Until then, enjoy the gorgeous autumn looks of Ann Arbor. 

Go Blue!!!

Welcome to my Ross blog, and Go Blue!!!

You know, I was waiting for one of those moments of inspiration to begin this blog, but I have so much to talk about that I should not wait until January to start writing.

Before I begin, I would like to invite all interested prospective students to contact me, or one of the remaining Student Ambassadors, with any questions related to the Ross MBA experience. You can reach me at byovchev@umich.edu.

For this first entry, I am going to focus on some of the months leading up to the start of the program.

I attended a Q&A session with prospective students yesterday, and was quickly reminded of how seamlessly time has flown since I clicked that ‘SUBMIT’ button on January 3 (I think...).

I don’t know how many people can say this, but when I received “The Call” from Ross, I was taking a nap. I recall that because I was unable to untie my tongue during the chat, and poor Andrea Chomistek from Admissions probably thought she had dialed the wrong number.

To this day, I keep pinching myself every now and then to confirm that I am not actually dreaming.

And as it turns out, I am, but this is not one of those dreams where your alarm clock wakes you up to the realization that it was all a part of your imagination. This dream is real, and it’s called Ross MBA.

After “The Call” it was time for “The Decision”.

Unfortunately, Lebron James had already patented that title, plus ESPN showed no interest in announcing to the world where I would be taking my talents, so I settled with tormenting my sister by calling her every 10 minutes.

To be completely honest, I did not know which program I was going to attend at that particular point in time, as I had three other attractive admission decisions that will remain anonymous at this time. I just felt lucky to have been well liked by four excellent programs.

I initially thought my decision would be difficult, but it only took a few Ross events around Chicago, and a visit of Ross during Go Blue Rendezvous to put that one in the bag. And since we are speaking of social events, I must give a big shout to all Chicago folks who made this one of the best summers I have ever had.

Weekly happy hours, visiting Second City shows, doing a weekend BBQ at a classmate’s house on Lake Geneva, sampling some of the best brunch, lunch, dinner and ethnic menus the Windy City had to offer; those are just some highlights that should give you an idea about the type of experience I had and the lasting connections I created.

The rest of my summer was filled with travel, and my goal was to generate enough embarrassing stories to tell my peers. I thought I had succeeded, but apparently everyone had a similar agenda, so my hostel experiences shall remain untold for now. My backpacking journey started in Bulgaria, passed through Italy and Spain and concluded in the Netherlands and Denmark.

A word of wisdom to European backpackers planning to wear Michigan gear; be prepared to hear “Go Blue” at least once a day and to engage in long conversations about Michigan Football.

So… Go Blue...and see you soon!!!