Wharton Video

Someone pointed me to this video that some Wharton people made. I guess things are different over there in Philly?

Google Video Wharton Link

HBS Leaderless

Well HBS doesn't have a head (http://www.hbs.edu/news/060605_clark.html) and now Harvard lost its top leader (http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/2006/0221_summers.html)

I really admired a lot of the changes that Harvard was trying to institute in the last few years. Hopefully this doesn't effect the changes too much. Also, I wonder how much longer will HBS be leader-less? A school needs a leader with a vision, a leader who will be in there for the long term to inspire people and drive the ideas.

I saw HBS today

I was in Boston today and I visited the HBS campus. All I have to say it WOW! All the other schools (for the most part) just have one building, but Harvard has a whole damn campus, even their own gym! All of the large building are extremely posh and well appointed.

Now I know why Wharton people are always complaining about "stupid undergrads running around". I don't think it is because they don't particularly dislike the undergrads. I just think that Wharton and Harvard are both large, but the HBS campus surpasses the Wharton "campus" in every way possible.

In some ways I really like the more functional MIT Sloan buildings. They are functional and have no pretense, but since the buildings are older they have a nice style to them, for some reason they don't seem sterile...there is warmth in all that concrete.

Frugal or Not?

There was a thread on the BW forum that was debating whether or not to spend freely or to be frugal.

I decided to be frugal. Cheap apartment ($600), no car, cheap food, no crazy vacations. I don't think it really hurt me in any way. I had nice clothes that I have bought over my years of working. You can go either way. I didn't mind being frugal. I missed the college experience and think that living on the cheap is part of the fun.

The Stanford Interview

I had some questions about how my Stanford interview went, so I'll give a bit of an overview about how it went.

I did the interview with a local alumi. He chose to do it at a local steak-house at 4pm since it would be fairly quiet and we wouldn't be disturbed. I suppose ppl think it is a bit unorthodox, but I knew many people that had an interview at a Starbucks or whatnot, and it was loud, smelly, unpleasant, etc. It usually isn't up to you to pick the place, but I would try to steer clear of such noisy places.

The interview started well. We exchanged business cards. He explained when he went to the GSB, what he did before, and what he is doing now. I'll leave out the details because they dont' really matter.

So he had my resume in front of him and asked me to go through my career progress. Remember for this part, don't take up too much time, only hit the important parts, since any wasted time will take away from other other important topics.

After going through the resume he started hitting the harder questions. I do remember answering them, and I must have answered them ok. I'll go over some of the questions I do remember, and I remember the general tone was much harder than any of my other interviews. Here's some questions I remember:

What are you good at?
How did you handle bad feedback from a boss?
What book are you reading and what meaning/lessons do you get out of it? (That one really threw me)
Surprisingly the why mba, etc questions. He only had my resume, no essays, which in someways makes it easier.
Explain a time when one of my leaders was performing poorly.

That's about it. I remember going in, coming out, and various flashes in the middle.

Hotels in PA

Also, I never really stayed at a hotel in Palo Alto, but a couple of friends were recently in town and they stayed at the Marriott near here and it was a wonderful experience. The hotel had really great grounds. Also the bar was near the pool and we just had a wonderful time at at hotel. Maybe when I graduate I'll put my parents up at that hotel, instead of the Cardinal Hotel in downtown, the one with the shared bathrooms. Last time I had friends stay at the old Cardinal they started to lose their hair, because they were so nervous. Nervious because of the bad security, the mouse in the house. I'm surprised they didn't start taking Xanax.

Santa Cruz

I managed to make it down to Santa Cruz. I really love the drive through the mountains betwen Palo Alto and Santa Cruz. It is a twisty, windy, crazy road. Thankfully it doesn't snow in Cali beacuse that road would be horrible. Went down to the beach for a while, hit up a couple of local wineries, then headed to the downtown section to meet up with more people for dinner and drinks. Ended up a great place for drinks, "The Red Room". It is a really great, laid back bar. Comfortable, not trying to be too cool na dthe drinks weren't pricey. I wish Santa Cruz were closer to the action in The Valley because I would love to live there.