Stanford Life

Wharton Video

2006-03-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-01-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Great Day

2006-01-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy the weather and beauty at Stanford. I couldn't be happier with it. The summers are great, I miss the Fall on the East coast, but we do havea few trees that true color, and you can't beat the Winter or Spring. I'm not sure if I would be as happy and motivated if I were in a cold climate.

Looks like most R2 deadlines have come and gone. Good luck to everyone

The Stanford Essays

2006-01-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Many people have had problems with Stanford's essays. The "What matters to me, and why" is clearly a killer. In reality it really isn't that hard. I think that only 1/3 or maybe less of my class has really really good stories for this. The rest just show a nice progression of their life, and some interesting things that happened, and can weave them together well. The Montauk book had some interesting examples, but don't try to emulate them, there are only two, and the Ad Com can tell.

As for as Essay B, just resuse your why mba, why now, why X essay.

There is an additional info essay given, up to 10 pages. I've known some people to throw in some good extra information about themselves in it, but do so at your own risk. You don't want to bore the readers.

Also, I came upon a couple of interesting blogs:

http://harvarddream.blogspot.com/ (Harvard 1st Year)
http://www.mbafan.blogspot.com/ (Applicant)

http://medadvice.blogspot.com/ (Interesting [and weird] Medical Advice)

Another question

2006-01-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

How much work experience do you think is a must?

My reply:

If you are a truly gifted genius then 0 years is popular at Harvard and Stanford. These schools, and now maybe Wharton are trying to complete with the top law schools in snatching students. A genius comes out of MIT or whatnot, and says, HBS and Stanford Bschools don't want me for another 5 years, but their law schools want me NOW, and that will put me on a much faster track for earning the big money.

If you are not a genius, like me, and many others, then 4-10 years is a good range. What matters more is the experiences you've had during that time.

I also found this interesting blog with GMAT advice and other non-sequitor MBA advice:
http://killthegmat.blogspot.com/

Questions I received

2006-01-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

The GSB summer institute looks as a good option to me. Have you heard about it since you have been in stanford? It is not precisely cheap, so it is a decision I must consider very well before taking it. It costs 8500$ for four intensive weeks of classes and includes tuition, room, meals, books and other course materials, and weekend excursions. Of course it will never compare to an actual MBA in stanford (that could come later hehehe) but I am not sure if it is actually worth spending most of my savings in it. Anyway, there is also the fact that my application must be accepted... I know some of the teachers are the same as in the MBA so if you have heard any comment from them or any past pupils I will highly appreciate hearing about them.
Another of my concerns is about Stanford's summer life. Are there other students in the university around summer?

My reply:

I don't think that program will be useful, but I don't know much about it.

Stanford loves to make money off of students, espically people already working, since their companies will easily pay amounts of money that are hard for working people to pay. Also, if you are going for an engineering MS/PhD they usually make you pay for the first two years of the MS, then after they give fellowship money. Though participating in this program may open doors later and show your true interest in pursing an MBA.

Downtown Palo Alto (4 min from Stanford) has lots of people and things to do all year round).

How I got into Stanford

2005-12-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

I really not sure how I got into Stanford. I went to a public school, a very good one, and did well. I worked for around 3.5 years, then took the GMAT. Oh, the GMAT. You evil bastard of test. You're not that hard, but top bschools expect near-perfect scores. Another day I'll write a rant about how the GMAT/SAT, etc people are monopolistic bastards and we should change the system. But now I'll give you some tips for the GMAT, because I started my GMAT jounrey well armed with info from friends and anonymous people on the web.

How I studied:

I studied for approximately 2 months. Every morning I would wake up and do something GMAT related. Somedays it was looking at index cards that I made or bought off the web, others it was doing problems out of one book or another. I think I bought everything available from bookstores, to website, to ebay related to the GMAT, and next I'll review some things.

The GMAT official Guide: Live it, learn it, love it. I did all the problems in this book. I got advice to build up stamina, and this really helped. I was also sure to carefully note what types of problems I got wrong. Also, I hear you young fellas have a new OG (no, not offical gansta) that came out that is mucho better than the book I had to deal with.

Barron's:
I took the LSAT once upon a time and I really liked the Barron's book. Friends told me that Barron's has the reputation for delivering questions that are harder than normal and will get you prepared for the questions you really need help in (the hard ones).

Regular Kaplan book/Priceton Review: Flip through them in book store if nothing else is working. Maybe these can help you, they certainly didn't help me

Kaplan GMAT 800.
Well I didn't get an 800, but I did manage a decent 720. This book was good for me in the fact that there aren't that many hard-hard problems floating around and this book contains plenty of new ones.

GMAT Rescue http://www.gmatrescue.com
This site offers great material, but you do have to pay for it, though I think the minimal cost is worth it. They were more math focused than verbal, but did have some good sentence correction and AWA material. On the math side, they were fantastic. They offered greats tips and insights that I didn't see in any other book.

Free Software/Princeton Review Software:
You need this. These scores gave me the confidence to walk into the test center and do well on the test.

GMAT Club http://www.gmatclub.com/
This is a helpful place to go ask questions, etc. They also have material, tests, etc that you can pay for. I did buy access to theirs tests and so did some friends. We were a little disappointed with the quality of the materials and the technical glitches we experienced.

Welcome Friends

2005-12-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hi. As my friends reading this know, my name is not Cliff Clavin, but because of concerns I'll just use this name.

So why am I blogging? Because everyone is doing it! So I can stay in touch with friends. Because I received great deal of information/support from bloggers back when I was applying to schools.

A little about me.

I'm currently a 2nd year MBA student at the beautiful Stanford GSB. In my previous life I worked in marketing in New York. I went to school in Cali nearby in Berkeley.

One day I decided I wanted change careers and I thought an MBA was a great way to do so. It was a tough time, but I finally made it to Stanford and I couldn't be happier. Right now I'm finishing up my last bit of school and I have a job at a VC firm that I interned at last summer waiting for me.

I'll drop my email address for this blog here if any one wants to ask questions, etc:

Ciao.