Ross Ambassador Blog

And that's all folks!

Wow!  I cannot believe how quickly the time flew by!  The year wrapped up quickly.   I cannot believe it.

To give you an idea of some of the end of the year activities, I will give a brief summary.

- We had a wrap-up party and knowledge transfer with the new Peer Counselors for the Office of Career Development.  The knowledge transfer session was very useful for the incoming counselors.  We met according to function and were able to share ideas.  They were able to ask us any questions about the job as well as hints and tricks.  The party was lots of fun to see the current staff of OCD.  The staff gave out awards to the current counselors for different contributions throughout the year!  It was lots of fun to see what other students thought of the other peer counselors.  Here is a link to some pictures from the event.

- The end of bschool would not be completely without a ten hour bar crawl around Ann Arbor!  It was tons of fun!  As all good bar crawls do, this one ended at Rick's American Cafe!  I was on it, then worked out and was able to hop back on! 

- Each section had a day dedicated to events specifically for the section.  Our section rented out this small hall near Main St. within Ann Arbor.  Earlier in the day, the section also headed to the zoo!  We had dinner and then they handed out the superlatives award.  I was the luck winner of "Most Likely to Donate a Wing to Ross in 2032!"  I am not sure if that means that people think I have a lot of school pride or if they think I will make a lot of money, but either way, I think I will take it!  After the awards, we headed out on a "Scavenger Bar Crawl." My section is very motivated by "winning" and so we needed a purpose on our bar crawling.  My team did a great job checking items off the list.  The crawl ended up back at the hall for an intimate party with 80 of my closest friends.  Here are a few last pictures of section 6!

Ira and Jake

Section 6 getting its party on...!

Mike, Patrick and Andy

- One of the other great events was a parent reception at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.  It was a great chance for my parents to meet some of the other MBA parents.  My dad found the reception to be particularly invigorating.  He loved all of the energy and excitement you could feel in the attendants.  It was also fun for me to put together which students belonged to which parents!  Here is a picture of me with mom outside of the art museum.

After school, I will be around the Detroit area and have football tickets for next year!  I start work at Boston Consulting Group on July 11th in their Detroit office, which is in Troy, MI.  The pieces of my life are starting to fit together.  I can hardly believe it!  On to the next part of my life!

As always, go blue!

Wow...

Wow, I cannot believe how time flies.  I wrap up classes in a month and will have completed my MBA!  It's crazy!  I think the rest of the MBAs are in shock with me as well. 

Part of the problem for me is that this winter was crazy weird here!  We had practically snow!  I also can't believe it has been about 65-70 all this week (and into the weekend with St. Patrick's Day!)  Ann Arbor felt like a Friday or Saturday on a Wednesday purely because of the amazing weather. 

Winter A wrapped up with a bang.  Every club tries to squeeze in its last event, so we had tons of events in February including MBgAy, Follies, Wine Club, section events, going away parties for people graduating early, and of course the usual events like birthday parties and valentine's day!  It is great seeing everyone in large groups, but I am looking forward to the small groups that seem to happen in March and April.

My classes in Winter A were a real mixed bag.  I loved one and was not a huge fan of the other.  My Winter B classes are looking to be enjoyed more consistently!  I am a MAP coach, which has proved to be a lot of fun so far.  I have two teams with very different personalities!  I am excited to see how their projects turn out. 

I have really not been great with taking pictures recently!  Ugh!  But here are a few from the latest Section 6 Supper Club (Mac 'n' Cheese themed)!  Delicious

 

As always, go blue!

 

 

Recruiting Season is Officially Back Upon Us!

Welcome back to the new year, first years!  What a rough awakening, I think it has been!  The internship recruiting season is officially upon us!  Some of the interview lists have started coming out and I think it has been a pleasant surprise for some!  Perhaps, not quite as pleasant for some!

The OCD peer counselors have been hard at work getting students ready for their interviews through a variety of individual and group counseling appointments.  One of the best ways of practice seem to be these small group  behavioral mock interview.  We put together groups of about four MBA1 students with one counselor.  The counselor facilitates the groups, but most of the insights come from the other students.  Each student gives feedback to the student answering questions.  It gives all of the students to overhear other answers and see how someone else would answer it. 

The peer counselors also give a variety of individual appointments like mock interviews, resume and cover letter reviews, and even just general counseling.  The counselors are available for all the different functional and industry areas to provide advice about their personal recruiting processes and how they navigated the "system."

On a less stressful note, I am super excited that the Winter Classic for the NHL might be coming to the Big House!  How fun will that be!  It may conflict with a potential bowl game, but hey, Red Wings vs. Toronto would be pretty amazing!

As always, go blue!

Officially, Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays everyone!  I hope you aren't too busy with applications over the holiday.  The first years SHOULD be busy with interview preparation and picking their MAP project.  The second years are actually very relaxed over the break!  I am doing all sorts of exciting projects over break like learning the whole Thriller dance, teaching my mother to use a digital camera and reading through some books which have been stacked up. 

I just reviewed the list of projects for the new set of MAP project!  They are pretty fantastic!

- 53 domestic corporate companies

- 11 domestic non-profits

- 6 projects with entrepreneurial start-ups

- 32 projects with international projects with corporations

- 7 projects with international nonprofits

- 9 projects with international entrepreneurial start-ups

The list of companies is unbelievable!  They include the likes of Paypal, Amazon, JP Morgan, American Express, Smart Wind in Israel, Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, Fiat Chrysler with the team being spread all over the globe, Intel in India, Eli Lilly Europe, and the Ballet Chicago.  So really quite a broad choice to pick from!  I will say that I am sure that none of them will be as good as mine last year!  =)

I hope everyone has a nice holiday!  If you are thinking about applying to Ross Round 2, I recommend that you take advantage of the coffee chats that may be happening somewhere near you!

Section 6 Supper Club with Sous Chef Shu's Sushi (try saying that 3x fast!)

Wine Club Formal at the Ann Arbor Art Center

Seattle Girls' Reunion at the Girls Holiday Party!

As always, go blue!

Happy (almost) Holidays!

Good luck to everyone wrapping up their Round 1 interviews! 

On campus, we just experienced our first snow fall last week!  We have about a week left in classes and then finals! 

The first year students recruiting on-campus are really starting to practice for interviews, which start quickly once we come back on campus.  The first batch of resumes for on-campus recruiting are due to companies this Thursday.  The application system is quite lengthy.  To give you an idea of the process:

First Thursday at 11:59 PM - Submit your resume, cover letter and apply to the company's career site as well if they require it

One week later on Friday at 12:01 AM - Find out what closed lists you made!  When you make the closed list, you have a reserved interview slot with the company that will only "cost" you 50 points out of the 1,000 you receive at the beginning of the recruiting season

Saturday through Tuesday - Bid for any job listings that you did not receive a closed list interview slot for.  For these, you can bid up to 950 points from your allowance at the beginning of the year.  Once your points are used up, you do not receive any more.  Students come up with all sorts of bidding strategies depending on everyone's individual situations. 

Thursday (now two weeks after you initally applied): Find out what lists you made!  Find out what time slot you are going to interview! 

The next week (now 2.5-3.2 weeks from you applied): Knock it out of the park and rock the interview!  =)

I taking four classes right now.  They are so much fun!  Here's a little summary:

- Accounting 618 which is a class regarding investor relations with Professor Miller.  We are basically analyzing how the markets react to financial communication.

- Strategy 584, which is a class about business practices in Asia with Professor Lim.  It covers everything and everywhere within Asia.

- LHC 517, which basically lets me know which legal agreements to avoid!

- MO 603, Navigating Change with the famous Professor Kim Cameron and learning about his management strategy of accentuate the positive (considered by the Harvard Business Review a top 20 idea in 2004)

Some pictures that I don't believe I have posted yet...!

Section 6 Supper Club

A night out in Ann Arbor!

As always, go blue!

This Is Michigan

Welcome (again) to the Ross Ambassador Blog! 

This is a spot where we will try to answer your questions, provide a little insight into your first (or second) year at business school and increase awareness of the many programs that make Ross special. 

I am your stereotypical career switcher (officially)!  I signed my offer last week and I have my "sell" weekend starting tomorrow at noon.  Not much selling required.  It is going to be a little weird since the sell weekend is in my old hometown, Birmingham, MI.  They are taking us around Birmingham, Royal Oak and the Detroit Red Wings game!

I think there are going to be a flurry of offers given out to my MBA2 classmates soon.  I can't wait to have more good news to celebrate!  It is exciting when you hear about someone getting an offer or accepts.  I like that Ross students seem to get so excited for our classmates' successes and achievements.

Here are some pictures from the latest wine club (some things never seem to change)!  If you can't tell, the party was a Prohibition Flapper Wine Club party!

My MAP teammate, Toby, and his wife, Rachel

As always, Go Blue!

The Job Search Almost Wrap Up!

I am writing this blog post from a hotel in New York City as I get ready for bed for my last second round interview with a consulting firm's IT strategy practice.  It is hard to believe this is the last set of interviews for at least a little while. 

So just some official background on the job search that changed from last year.  Last year, it was corporate finance anywhere, but ideally in Detroit, Seattle, New York or Boston.  My boyfriend in March was unsure if he would move to Michigan or just move wherever I ended up.  It was a tricky decision.  I ended up in Seattle at Amazon.  He DID end up moving to Michigan to end our 3.5 years of long distance at the end of June.  He is working on the aerodynamics of the Corvette Race Car at Pratt and Miller Engineering.    

This caused a realignment of interests and for me, to reexamine what I wanted to do after school.  Detroit began the high priority and I started to rethink my interest in consulting.  When I got back to school, I started playing catch-up for all the consulting case interviews and did the refresh on the corporate finance interviewing skills.  I did a lot of OCD case interviews with wonderful peer counselors!

It must have worked, since I do currently have an offer from a consulting company within the Detroit area that I am very excited about!  I spent today canceling some other very appealing opportunities.  That is one of the hardest things to do.  I have spent the last (almost) year developing relationships with some of these company representatives.  It is hard to tell them that you have picked something over them.

So, brace yourself for the final decision.  Either way, after this interview tomorrow, I will be a happy camper.  The boyfriend and family are thrilled that I will be staying in Detroit.  It is nice to know that at least that is decided!  I have been so fortunate to be in this position!

I have been absolutely horrible about taking pictures recently of classmates, but here is a picture of me, two of my section mates, Erica and Leah, and my boyfriend!

The theme was the Deep South complete with biscuits, fried chicken, mac and cheese and my boyfriend's delicious jambalaya!

My favorite little mascot recently has been my mother's dog, Hattie!  Even Hattie says Go Blue!

As always, go blue!

Fall in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor is always so beautiful in the fall. 

You know it's fall in Ann Arbor when:

1. People start talking about going to the Dexter Cider Mill!

2.  Michigan Football!  Here are some pictures from our first night game against Notre Dame!

After the big win!

Here is a little video from after our second to last touchdown!

 

3.  It is suddenly hard to park in Ann Arbor!

4.  Time for the MBA Wine Club Country Club Casual Party!  Here is a picture from last year's party!

5.  And again it's time for Michigan football!

As always, go blue!

Welcome Back, Everyone!

Hi everyone! 

I hope all the incoming students had a nice restful summer.  Get ready; the fun is about to start!  Some things I wish I had known at the beginning of the school year/some of the things that worked out really well for me as you start off the new year!

- The first semester will be the hardest.  The half semesters are so quick that it is really easy to fall behind.  Don't get seduced by football Saturdays completely!  I was amazed at how quickly things moved.

- Sort of piggy backing off the first bullet, don't fall behind on the OCD deadlines.  Pay attention to their emails.  They tend to have a lot of information, but it can be a little difficult to find at times.  Most importantly, learn when the blackout date is lifted and when resumes are supposed to be completed.  The resumes tend to be due just as the semester picks up with classes.  It can cause a double whammy! 

- Don't have a "fear of missing out."  At the same time, being present and involved early on can pay good dividends when looking for teammates for job prep and class projects.

- Figure out how you learn best.  I found that my study habits and what was most effective definitely changed from undergrad.  Some of the skills I picked up from working made me a much more effective learner!  I tried to take advantage of those learned lessons!

Good luck to all the prospectives out there!  The fall must also feel so busy!  There is always so much going on!  I am sure it is going to hit full throttle pretty soon as well!  Feel free to reach out to any of the ambassadors.  We are always ready to help.

Now for the personal update:

As it seems like everyone is getting back from M-Treks, I went on a little M-Trek of my own: my sister's wedding in Peru to her Ross graduate, Carlos Carranza (Class of 2010).  There were seven Ross graduates and another five Michigan alums at the wedding. As they say, Michigan DOES have the largest alumni base of any university!

My sister (U of M School of Music, 2010), her husband, (Ross, 2010) and his four fellow Ross Alums!

The internship wrapped up well!  I had a great time especially getting to know Ross classmates that I had not known previously!  It was a great opportunity to get some concentrated doses of those friendships that will continue once we get back to school!

Evening boat cruise with some Ross friends!

Whale watching with my section-mate, Mike Marino

As always, go blue!

Summer Wrap Up

Hello, everyone! 

Welcome, MBA1s.  Everyone must be getting super excited.  I remember this week from last year; I was taking my pre-Accounting waiver course.  A few things I would recommend as you get this party started:

1.  As soon as you arrive in Ann Arbor, get your internet set up.  You will want to beat the undergrad rush.  This also includes cell phones (if needed) and bank accounts. 

2.  Get your "household" set-up.  I would recommend the few stores from my last blog post. 

3.  Check out the communication waiver.  It will be worth the few hours to spend on it.  You do get a second shot on this before your second year, but it is great to get this out of the way.  A number of my fellow MBA2s are bemoaning this very waiver this weerkend while planning your M-Treks and working at their internships.  They were wishing they had tried this the year before! 

4.  Start thinking about/working on your resume.  Completely unglamorous, but you have to start sometime!

And the prospectives, start getting excited!  It's the beginning of the long haul!  If you have any questions, feel free to reach out of the MBA Ambassadors.  Make sure your resume looks fantastic.  (As you will notice, the resume is a key piece throughout the ENTIRE business school process).  

As always, go blue!