Ross Ambassador Blog

MAP in D.C.

Thought some reflections on MAP might be in order.  I'd say I have somewhat of a less traditional project, since
a) we're working for a non-profit
b) there are only four people on my team
c) all four are women, which certainly not the norm in business school.

We spent the week of March 19th in Washington D.C. to meet the sponsor and gather information.  Though we did conduct no fewer than 17 1-hour interviews in 5 days, our sponsor was kind enough to encourage us to see the city and to give us the time to do so.  The weather was beautiful - I had been to DC before, but largely in the summer, which was hotter than I care to describe - and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom (see picture below of me nearly bumping into a tree), which was even better than advertised.  The best thing about the weather was that it gave us the chance to get a sense of the neighborhoods just by walking around.  My favorite was probably the cobblestone streets and campus of Georgetown, but it was nice to get a better sense of the city overall.

The team interplay has also been interesting.  I think the most valuable thing I've learned in business school so far is how to work effectively with, and learn from, people who think differently than I do.  My team has very different backgrounds (PR/Communication, financial consulting, political fundraising, and...me....I guess nonprofit/investment research?  weird slash...) and often different skills as well, and though it sounds cheesy, we really are better together than we would ever be apart.  Hopefully we'll continue to be better together, since we need to produce a final presentation in just over two weeks!  I'll be sure to give you some final reflections on MAP after the fact.

Hope you admits are planning on attending GBR next weekend - though I'm not generally a fan of large-scale social events (hmm, can you say that and still be someone people want to hang out with?), I thought GBR was a blast and, more importantly, a really great way to get a taste of the Ross culture.  Hope to see you there!

Photo Credits: Kate Casolaro - thanks!

Sweep!

Another big win for Michigan over Ohio State, this time in basketball - let me briefly recap how I got there...

I was in Chicago Friday and Saturday at a sell weekend for a potential consulting internship.  There's no overestimating how nice it is to be on the flip side of the recruiting process, to have companies pursuing you instead of vice versa.  But even nicer was to find that my potential summer coworkers (three from Ross and a handful each from Kellogg and Booth) were wonderful company - smart, motivated, and excited to be in the position they were in.  I'm looking forward to getting to know them, and the consulting industry as a whole, better.

So the sell "weekend" was actually only Friday and Saturday morning, but Chicago is home for me, so I was also keen to see some friends while I was in town.  Once brunch ended around noon, I asked a friend to come down and meet me at the hotel (in large part to see the great room!).  We took a nice walk around the city, had lunch, then I headed back to the airport for what was supposed to be a 4:45 flight, getting me back to DTW around 7:15, in plenty of time for the 9PM basketball game.  When we still hadn't boarded at 5:00, I was starting to get nervous.  The gate agents did not seem to care that this was the biggest basketball game at Michigan in over a decade!

Somehow though, luck was smiling on me (or maybe Michigan) - though we didn't leave until nearly 5:30, we somehow still landed just after 7PM EST.  A clock error in my favor, I guess.  So I headed back to a friend's apartment in Ann Arbor, where I had left my ticket and my maize t-shirt (gotta participate in the MAIZE RAGE!!) in preparation for this very scenario, and headed over to the game, arriving just in time for the national anthem. I was up at the top of the arena, but as you can tell from the picture below, there's no bad seat at Crisler Arena.

And the place was rocking!  I'll admit that my only in-person Michigan basketball experiences are from this year, but it was definitely the loudest I've ever seen Crisler.  And we got the win to go with - tough year for OSU, but I don't think I'll shed any tears for them  :)

Thoughts on the Interview Experience

As you can tell from the other posts, we’re right in the thick of interview season right now.  As someone who essentially looked for a new job/career for most of 2006-2010 (in fact, this was the largest factor in my decision to apply to business school), I often find myself in the position of providing perspective on the recruiting process here at Ross (and I assume at other schools as well).

I certainly understand that recruiting can be frustrating.  We don’t always get the closed lists, second rounds, or even contacts that we want and it’s disappointing each time you find yourself, once again, back to square one.  I am one of the many who are still waiting for that first offer. But I find the process itself overwhelmingly positive, and I think most people who seriously interacted with the job market in 2008 and 2009 would too.

Think about the traditional job search, particularly for those of us not in really hierarchical careers.  You need to figure out the options available to you, identify target companies or organizations, find contacts and get them to talk to you, and finally, apply for jobs.  If you’ve done this well enough, your resume gets pulled from the giant pile of other resumes also submitted for the position, and you go and have a great interview.  Then, more likely than not, you never hear anything ever again!

Now, contrast this with the Ross process.  A large portion of the top 100 companies to work for come to campus to find you, jobs are posted in an organized and single-location job database, recruiters know you by name, you have plenty of chances to network within companies, your (first round) interviews are scheduled at Ross (don’t underestimate the benefit of interviewing somewhere you already feel comfortable!), most of the interviewers are genuinely interested in getting to know you, and you get decisions and often very helpful feedback within 48 hours (some within just a few hours).

Even if you’re looking off campus, the prospect of an MBA plus the Michigan alumni network (largest living!) opens up all kinds of doors for you and the Office of Career Development is ready and willing to take advantage of their networks and help you strategize.

Much easier, right?  As far as I’m concerned, this unparalleled access and directed practice is a primary benefit of business school.  Wherever you go next year, be sure to take a step back, enjoy what you can, and take advantage of what you have.

Interview Story # 1

I'm still right in the middle of interviews, so we'll have to get to the overall report later, but I thought I'd share a nice moment from last week and some quick impressions with you.

The story starts in the waiting room shortly before an interview with one of the large consulting firms.  On one hand, business school does a very good job preparing you for interviews.  By the time January comes around, you've practiced entering a small room with a stranger and talking about your background so often that it's almost second nature.  On the other hand, it's of course a bit different when you know it's about to count.

So the waiting room can be an odd place - you're prepared, but nervous.  You've spent tons of time preparing with your classmates and even though you're often interviewing for the same spot, you feel invested in their success.  Confusing!  Add that to trying to memorize your resume one last time and mentally prepare for a great handshake and good, but not creepy, eye contact, and people can understandably be a little wary.

That's why it was reassuring to see the Ross culture shine through last week.  While we were in the waiting room, a friend of mine realized she didn't have any blank paper, a necessity for any interview that involves a case.  I really wish you all could have seen everyone tripping over themselves to try to help!  Just about everyone pulled out some extra paper for her and many people even offered their pre-prepared note sheet, explaining how to use the shapes that were there.  Suffice it to say, she was well taken care of, and I felt very high on Ross heading into my interview. 

Whether you're in the middle of interviews or applications, hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the new year!

Beat Ohio!

Cheering with your classmates, group-singing Journey or Eminem during timeouts, rocking out to the drumline...football really is one of the best extracurricular activities at Ross.  Even for someone who has been watching Michigan games her whole life and had been to the Big House a handful of times, nothing compares to sitting in the student section.  This time, some of my classmates were nice enough to sell me their tickets since they'd be gone over the Thanksgiving break, and I was able to have my whole family join in the fun.  Sharing Michigan's first victory over Ohio State since 2003 with my mom (undergrad class of '76) and my brother (undergrad class of '07), and over 100,000 other thrilled Wolverines, I really felt like a part of the maize and blue.

Reminds me of why I chose Ross in the first place, which I hope will be helpful to you when admissions start coming in soon!  As soon as I was admitted, Michigan's community became obvious.  Within six weeks of being admitted, I had been to two happy hours organized by my future classmates, been congratulated by the alum who interviewed me, met with an '05 alum to discuss non-traditional MBA careers, and been to an official admissions event.  Although I was just as excited about the academic programs and career prospects of the other schools I was admitted to, this was a notable difference.  Michigan's alumni network (the largest living alumni network in the world!) and student community made my decision much easier.  And the atmosphere in the Big House post-win made it top of mind once again.

Go blue!

Club Stuff

The best thing about business school so far (well, besides meeting hundreds of great people!) has been the clubs.  It's great to be able to get some real world experience while in school, and, since I don't have a lot of private sector experience, to figure out what I might like in a job.  I'll tell you a little bit about two of 'em.

I have a meeting in about half an hour with my Community Consulting Club group.  We are 5 MBA1s consulting with the Plymouth Historical Museum (Plymouth is a town in Michigan about 20 miles east of Ann Arbor) on improving their tracking and management of cash flows as well as taking a look at the human capital/organizational structure.  In our meeting today, we'll take a look at the roles and responsibilities the organization provided us and discuss strategies for interviewing the board and employees to get more information.  It's nice to beable to use my skills on the human capital side, but perhaps even better to be able to watch the finance guys go to work.  Great way to learn new skills outside of class!

I'm also part of the NPM Board Fellows Program, which is allowing me to serve as a non-voting member of the board of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation.  I'm still scoping my project for them (in fact, we have a training next week that should help with this), but I'm pretty sure I'll be working on creating a user-friendly dashboard with metrics that will allow Board members to evaluate the use of funds and funded programs at a glance.

More on these later, I'm sure!