Those of you familiar with the Wharton Program already know that Wharton also has an mba exec west campus based in San Francisco. Each year, the West Coast class gets to come out to Philly for a weekend. Well this past weekend we got to meet our classmates from the West.
The weekend corresponded with the first weekend back for the east coast cohort after finals. I flew in on Wednesday night (classes were Thur thru Saturday), so I could meet up with some of the west coasters that came in on wednesday. All in all, I had a great time. I met lots of great folks. One thing I did notice was that the West Coast class is clearly a lot more tech oriented. I met many folks who worked at startups, a couple of google staffers. Also represented were intel, microsoft, cisco, ibm, oracle, HP. It was all good stuff. Thursday night was a barbecue at the Huntsman Hall patio/roof. This was followed by some evening pleasantries at some of the local establishments. Friday night was dinner in downtown Philly, followed by more pleasantries at some of the downtown establishments. Kudos to the Wharton staff for getting the two cohorts together like this.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Prepping for finals....
So its been awhile....Now I understand all those bloggers who feel guilty about not writing entries as frequently as they would like. Since I last wrote, mid-terms came and went. The grades on my midterms were nothing to write home about, I'm solidly surfing the curve, which means I should end up with a B+ average. We had midterms in accounting and economics. The management course did not have a midterm or final, but we submitted 3 papers during the term, one worth about 40% of the final grade, the infamous FAP (field application project). I am now studying for finals. I have two finals on Saturday. I'm looking forward to getting them over with. Then I'll be heading the the beach the following weekend for labor day and a well deserved rest with the wife and kids. Also I finally broke down and bought a laptop for school. Not sure that I really needed one since I could have used my work computer. But I didn't like the idea of storing MBA work on the laptop from work. Anyhoo, I bought an HP pavillion dv6000 with the Turion 64 bit processor, 2G RAM, 15 inch widescreen. Also bought MS-office 2007 student cheapo version. Office 2007 is really different. Has take me a while to get used to. Also picked up a new phone for work. So I'm feeling the gadget love lately...
I am feeling a little nostalgic. First semester is almost done, that means I'm 1/6 completed the the program. But also, about this time last year, I wondering where I would be studying. I was also in the middle of studying for the GMAT and wrapping up the first drafts of the MBA applications for emory and wharton. My how time flies. Carpe Diem!
I am feeling a little nostalgic. First semester is almost done, that means I'm 1/6 completed the the program. But also, about this time last year, I wondering where I would be studying. I was also in the middle of studying for the GMAT and wrapping up the first drafts of the MBA applications for emory and wharton. My how time flies. Carpe Diem!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Getting in: Resarching Schools and free beer
I recently received an email from one of the admission directors at Wharton inviting me to attend the Wharton recruiting reception that will be held in Atlanta this year. Which reminded me that recruitment season must be starting soon. So in keeping with an earlier promise, I will write about my experience in applying to business schools. All the usual disclaimers apply, this is my experience only, your situation may be different, mileage may vary...blah, blah, blah.
Ok now that we have all the niceties out of the way lets get down to the nitty gritty. Since I probably have more to say on the topic of getting in to an MBA exec program than most of you would care to know, I will break it up in to different subtopics. The first one will be researching schools because I think it the first step in the process. Some of you may already have your heart set on a particular school and know you will get in, so I salute you and advise that the rest of this post may be useless to you unless you want to score some free drinks and fancy shmancy Hors d’œuvres. For the rest of you who are undecided on a school, not sure yet if you want to commit, or just plain confused about the plethora of programs out there, you might find this post helpful.
First and foremost, it helps if you've already gotten the GMAT out of the way. While not all schools require it, some do (Wharton does, but not Chicago, or Kellog for instance, while other schools may allow you to waive it). If you have the GMAT out of the way (remember scores count for up to 5 years, check with schools if you are on the fifth year), the score will help narrow down the choice of schools that you should set your sights on. Plus if you do decide on a school that requires the GMAT, that's one less thing to worry about.
Next step is to send away for brochures/information. Since this is free information and most schools have online request forms, this is a no brainer. You may also be able to get the same information from the school website. When you start to receive them, keep in mind the brochures are slick marketing material intended to present the school in the best light. so don't believe all the fluff that has been written or fall in love with all the pretty pictures. What the brochure is really good for is collecting facts. The important facts in my opinion are the following: Program formats offered (evening, weekend, p/t, modular etc), program length, program start dates, application deadlines, applicant profiles, application requirements (gmat, transcripts, letter of recommendations etc), program location, class size, tuition. There are other good nuggets of secondary information you get when you ask for brochures as well. How responsive is the school, do they share resources with the ft program (ie is the exec mba program an afterthought), is there contact information listed. It might be a good idea once you have a list of schools to start a spreadsheet to collect all the information in one place. You could list the schools in the first column and then all the relevant information that is important to you in the remaining columns. Also note that in the exec mba program format, the admission criteria and process varies from school to school more so than the FT program. While FT programs have a relatively well defined process among schools, there is more flexibility and leeway in exec programs. Keep that in mind when you do your application planning.
The next step is to attend as many receptions as you care to go to. There are two ways to approach this. If you are planning on applying this year...stick to the schools that you will realistically think about applying to. Otherwise, if you attend too many of these, you may just suffer from information overload. On the other hand, if you are still a year or two away from applying (like me a few years back), Sign up for as many of these as you can. Some schools do these at the school itself, while others use hotel reception rooms. The nice part of these receptions is the free beer / wine and the Hors d’œuvres. It will also be good networking practice for all you shy types that don't get out to many cocktail parties. After a few of these, you will attain some skill in the art of the talking to people you don't know and getting information from them. But lets be real, you are not really there for the food and the wine, you are there to figure out if you want to attend. In addition to paying attention to the slide presentation and its content. Pay attention to who attends from the school other than the admission director(s)? Alumni? Professors? Deans or Program Director? What kind of candidates attend? Is the presentation well organized? It may also help to attend more than one reception for the same school if you still have some time before applying. I heard one story about a guy that has gone to a recruitment reception for five years running without yet applying. I guess he likes the food! Perhaps the most useful part of the evening (or morning) will the be opportunity to talk to somebody from the school administration, alumni, current students, or other prospective applicants. My advice is to network like crazy. Get good at your 10 second intro, the handshake and collecting business cards. This network will come in handy down the road as you start to have specific questions. If you meet somebody from the administration, it might be helpful to follow up with an email the next business day so they remember you. Keep in touch frequently by making inquiries (when are applications due, when can I do an interview, can you review my profile, what are my chances etc.). Alumni and current students will be a great resource starting from the application period all the way through the end of the program. Again, get business cards, follow up in the next day or two with an email or phone call so they remember you. Try to get a dialog going with these people so you can gauge yourself for fit at the school. Fellow applicants will be useful to network with during the application process. It also helps to gauge yourself against their profile and get a rough estimate of "fit". Could you see these people as your future classmates? Funny story about my Wharton reception is that I arrived a little early, there was a couple of groups of people already chatting when I arrived. I approached one group of two guys chatting. Lo and behold, when I started the program, these same two guys happened to be not only in my class, but incredibly enough also in my study group. True story that. If you are curious, I ended up attending about 7 different receptions (some of them twice, but in different years).
Perhaps the most important part of the school research is attending the school itself. My experience has been that when you schedule your interview, the school allows you to also attend a class, and probably eat lunch with current students. By attending the school, you get a feel for all the little details like where do you need to park, whats the best way to get to the school etc, and the important ones, like, what is the class schedule, what is the teaching environment like, how do students interact during class, do students look bored, what is the energy/excitement level in the class. One of the things I kept track of was how comfortable I felt in the classroom environment. In one class I attended, the professor happened to be discussing something about my industry and despite my inhibitions, I got myself involved in the discussion. I couldn't help myself, the energy in the classroom was exhilarating and I felt the need to chime in. One other note. If you are married like me and need to get the spousal buy-in to attend the program, the information receptions and classes are the perfect vehicle. Since I was shelling out the tuition from my own pocket and had to explain to my wife and kids why I would not see them every other weekend for the next two years, I took my family to Philadelphia during spring break to visit the school so they could see with their own eyes where I would be attending classes. This went a very long way to easing some of their concerns.
So there you have it. If you are planning to attend for entry next year, now is a good time to start your research and attend some cocktail receptions while you are at it. You may want to start your research with school websites. Wharton has some good websites with some good information on the MBA exec program. Check
them out below.
Wharton MBA exec home
Wharton EMBA blog
Wharton Student 2 student message board(mostly ft applicants, but you will find good nuggets on the WEMBA program if you search right)
2007-2008 admission eventss (receptions)
Howard Kaufold's Wharton presentation
for prospective EMBA applicants ( I highly recommend this one)
Ok now that we have all the niceties out of the way lets get down to the nitty gritty. Since I probably have more to say on the topic of getting in to an MBA exec program than most of you would care to know, I will break it up in to different subtopics. The first one will be researching schools because I think it the first step in the process. Some of you may already have your heart set on a particular school and know you will get in, so I salute you and advise that the rest of this post may be useless to you unless you want to score some free drinks and fancy shmancy Hors d’œuvres. For the rest of you who are undecided on a school, not sure yet if you want to commit, or just plain confused about the plethora of programs out there, you might find this post helpful.
First and foremost, it helps if you've already gotten the GMAT out of the way. While not all schools require it, some do (Wharton does, but not Chicago, or Kellog for instance, while other schools may allow you to waive it). If you have the GMAT out of the way (remember scores count for up to 5 years, check with schools if you are on the fifth year), the score will help narrow down the choice of schools that you should set your sights on. Plus if you do decide on a school that requires the GMAT, that's one less thing to worry about.
Next step is to send away for brochures/information. Since this is free information and most schools have online request forms, this is a no brainer. You may also be able to get the same information from the school website. When you start to receive them, keep in mind the brochures are slick marketing material intended to present the school in the best light. so don't believe all the fluff that has been written or fall in love with all the pretty pictures. What the brochure is really good for is collecting facts. The important facts in my opinion are the following: Program formats offered (evening, weekend, p/t, modular etc), program length, program start dates, application deadlines, applicant profiles, application requirements (gmat, transcripts, letter of recommendations etc), program location, class size, tuition. There are other good nuggets of secondary information you get when you ask for brochures as well. How responsive is the school, do they share resources with the ft program (ie is the exec mba program an afterthought), is there contact information listed. It might be a good idea once you have a list of schools to start a spreadsheet to collect all the information in one place. You could list the schools in the first column and then all the relevant information that is important to you in the remaining columns. Also note that in the exec mba program format, the admission criteria and process varies from school to school more so than the FT program. While FT programs have a relatively well defined process among schools, there is more flexibility and leeway in exec programs. Keep that in mind when you do your application planning.
The next step is to attend as many receptions as you care to go to. There are two ways to approach this. If you are planning on applying this year...stick to the schools that you will realistically think about applying to. Otherwise, if you attend too many of these, you may just suffer from information overload. On the other hand, if you are still a year or two away from applying (like me a few years back), Sign up for as many of these as you can. Some schools do these at the school itself, while others use hotel reception rooms. The nice part of these receptions is the free beer / wine and the Hors d’œuvres. It will also be good networking practice for all you shy types that don't get out to many cocktail parties. After a few of these, you will attain some skill in the art of the talking to people you don't know and getting information from them. But lets be real, you are not really there for the food and the wine, you are there to figure out if you want to attend. In addition to paying attention to the slide presentation and its content. Pay attention to who attends from the school other than the admission director(s)? Alumni? Professors? Deans or Program Director? What kind of candidates attend? Is the presentation well organized? It may also help to attend more than one reception for the same school if you still have some time before applying. I heard one story about a guy that has gone to a recruitment reception for five years running without yet applying. I guess he likes the food! Perhaps the most useful part of the evening (or morning) will the be opportunity to talk to somebody from the school administration, alumni, current students, or other prospective applicants. My advice is to network like crazy. Get good at your 10 second intro, the handshake and collecting business cards. This network will come in handy down the road as you start to have specific questions. If you meet somebody from the administration, it might be helpful to follow up with an email the next business day so they remember you. Keep in touch frequently by making inquiries (when are applications due, when can I do an interview, can you review my profile, what are my chances etc.). Alumni and current students will be a great resource starting from the application period all the way through the end of the program. Again, get business cards, follow up in the next day or two with an email or phone call so they remember you. Try to get a dialog going with these people so you can gauge yourself for fit at the school. Fellow applicants will be useful to network with during the application process. It also helps to gauge yourself against their profile and get a rough estimate of "fit". Could you see these people as your future classmates? Funny story about my Wharton reception is that I arrived a little early, there was a couple of groups of people already chatting when I arrived. I approached one group of two guys chatting. Lo and behold, when I started the program, these same two guys happened to be not only in my class, but incredibly enough also in my study group. True story that. If you are curious, I ended up attending about 7 different receptions (some of them twice, but in different years).
Perhaps the most important part of the school research is attending the school itself. My experience has been that when you schedule your interview, the school allows you to also attend a class, and probably eat lunch with current students. By attending the school, you get a feel for all the little details like where do you need to park, whats the best way to get to the school etc, and the important ones, like, what is the class schedule, what is the teaching environment like, how do students interact during class, do students look bored, what is the energy/excitement level in the class. One of the things I kept track of was how comfortable I felt in the classroom environment. In one class I attended, the professor happened to be discussing something about my industry and despite my inhibitions, I got myself involved in the discussion. I couldn't help myself, the energy in the classroom was exhilarating and I felt the need to chime in. One other note. If you are married like me and need to get the spousal buy-in to attend the program, the information receptions and classes are the perfect vehicle. Since I was shelling out the tuition from my own pocket and had to explain to my wife and kids why I would not see them every other weekend for the next two years, I took my family to Philadelphia during spring break to visit the school so they could see with their own eyes where I would be attending classes. This went a very long way to easing some of their concerns.
So there you have it. If you are planning to attend for entry next year, now is a good time to start your research and attend some cocktail receptions while you are at it. You may want to start your research with school websites. Wharton has some good websites with some good information on the MBA exec program. Check
them out below.
Wharton MBA exec home
Wharton EMBA blog
Wharton Student 2 student message board(mostly ft applicants, but you will find good nuggets on the WEMBA program if you search right)
2007-2008 admission eventss (receptions)
Howard Kaufold's Wharton presentation
for prospective EMBA applicants ( I highly recommend this one)
Monday, July 2, 2007
Degrees aren't worth anything_
While I'm stuyding for MGEC, I thought I would break away from the regularly scheduled programming (procrastination?) to talk about the general state of education in the world.
Every now and again, I come across something very powerful. Something that moves you. Some people feel this with music, a work of art, a theory. I recently came across this something in the form of a video from a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference. You may have heard of TED before if you are a Bono (U2's lead singer, duh) fan. Bono won a TED award a few years ago.
Anyhoo, I came across this video by a fellow named Ken Robinson who discusses how the current education system is having a negative impact on children's creativity. I had never heard of Ken Robinson until I saw this video. Apart from the fact that he is very funny and entertaining, he has some very powerful things to say about the education system. I was moved by the arguments he makes because I have similar thoughts about the education system, thoughts I have nurtured ever since my daughter started her own educational journey in pre-school. Looking back at my own education and reflecting on my daughter's, its clear that schools do not necessarily serve the interest of the individual, but instead serve the interest of an industrial society. In school, the student is constantly evaluated and graded -- mistakes are penalized. Doing things by the book is rewarded. By the time we are done with school, this behavior has been internalized, and most of us go on to become worker bees in the labor pool. However, where I think the education system gets the answer wrong (pun clearly intended), is that in the process of stigmatizing mistakes, it teaches students not to make any. To paraphrase Sir Ken Robinson, if we are not prepared to make mistakes, we will never come up with anything original. To me this is a profound conclusion, proven over and over again throughout history. The education system needs to figure this out. The problems we will face in the coming years (overpopulation, extinction, poverty, global warming, war and conflict) will require imagination and creativity more than knowledge. Consider that some of these problems will exceed the scope of our knowledge. Our hope rests on creativity. Yet are we killing that with our education system? The most vivid contemporary example of the lack of creativity in addressing societal issues is the infamous "failure of imagination" conclusion used to describe the intelligence community's failure to prevent the 911 attack. I had previously heard the "failure of imagination" phrase to describe the Apollo 1 fire in the HBO special "From the Earth to the Moon".
So what does this have to do with the Wharton MBA program? Well for one thing, it supports the notion that an MBA degree does not necessarily equal success in business. Perhaps creativity is more important. Gates, Dell, Ellison, Jobs and the likes would probably vouch for that. But the other point I wanted to illustrate is "academic inflation" that Sir Robinson alludes to in his discourse. Eventually, Maybe there will be a time and place where degrees aren't worth anything.
What a paradox when you consider how much this MBA is costing me!
So to part, I will write down these quotes that came to me while I wrote this entry.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”. Albert Einstein
"We don't need no education". Pink Floyd
Imagine all the people... living for today John Lennon
What I'm I watching:Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity
Every now and again, I come across something very powerful. Something that moves you. Some people feel this with music, a work of art, a theory. I recently came across this something in the form of a video from a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference. You may have heard of TED before if you are a Bono (U2's lead singer, duh) fan. Bono won a TED award a few years ago.
Anyhoo, I came across this video by a fellow named Ken Robinson who discusses how the current education system is having a negative impact on children's creativity. I had never heard of Ken Robinson until I saw this video. Apart from the fact that he is very funny and entertaining, he has some very powerful things to say about the education system. I was moved by the arguments he makes because I have similar thoughts about the education system, thoughts I have nurtured ever since my daughter started her own educational journey in pre-school. Looking back at my own education and reflecting on my daughter's, its clear that schools do not necessarily serve the interest of the individual, but instead serve the interest of an industrial society. In school, the student is constantly evaluated and graded -- mistakes are penalized. Doing things by the book is rewarded. By the time we are done with school, this behavior has been internalized, and most of us go on to become worker bees in the labor pool. However, where I think the education system gets the answer wrong (pun clearly intended), is that in the process of stigmatizing mistakes, it teaches students not to make any. To paraphrase Sir Ken Robinson, if we are not prepared to make mistakes, we will never come up with anything original. To me this is a profound conclusion, proven over and over again throughout history. The education system needs to figure this out. The problems we will face in the coming years (overpopulation, extinction, poverty, global warming, war and conflict) will require imagination and creativity more than knowledge. Consider that some of these problems will exceed the scope of our knowledge. Our hope rests on creativity. Yet are we killing that with our education system? The most vivid contemporary example of the lack of creativity in addressing societal issues is the infamous "failure of imagination" conclusion used to describe the intelligence community's failure to prevent the 911 attack. I had previously heard the "failure of imagination" phrase to describe the Apollo 1 fire in the HBO special "From the Earth to the Moon".
So what does this have to do with the Wharton MBA program? Well for one thing, it supports the notion that an MBA degree does not necessarily equal success in business. Perhaps creativity is more important. Gates, Dell, Ellison, Jobs and the likes would probably vouch for that. But the other point I wanted to illustrate is "academic inflation" that Sir Robinson alludes to in his discourse. Eventually, Maybe there will be a time and place where degrees aren't worth anything.
What a paradox when you consider how much this MBA is costing me!
So to part, I will write down these quotes that came to me while I wrote this entry.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”. Albert Einstein
"We don't need no education". Pink Floyd
Imagine all the people... living for today John Lennon
What I'm I watching:Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity
Monday, June 25, 2007
first midterm and paper out of the way....
I've been loath to add a blog entry lately. The reality is, I just have not had time. During, my typical day I was getting up a little early to do some reading or homework (I work better in the morning). Then it was off to the office for some mayhem. Get home, have dinner with my family, play with my kids, put my kids to sleep. Talk to my wife. Then maybe read for a little bit if I didn't doze off to sleep first. The reason? We had our first mid-term and a management paper due this past weekend. The midterm was accounting, and the paper was for the management class. I think I did alright in both. But then again...we will see. A tip for those who are planning to attend next year. Try to get ahead in accounting...if you can do all the reading and the text book problems before you arrive on campus, you should be in great shape going in. And fight like hell to stay ahead. If you are really keen, you should also be able to hash out a rough draft on the management paper before school starts.
Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about school. To be honest, I feel energized when I get back from classes. When I am not in class I feel like I'm living this parallel life that moves a little faster than the rest of my life. The net effect is that I feel the personal growth that is happening. One of my favorite things about the weekends I am in schools is the conversations that I have with my fellow classmates. The variety and experience of the people in the class is refreshing. On the other hand, I sometimes wonder if its just a reflection of the monotony that can occur naturally in a career where you work in the same industry, same products, at only 2 different companies for the last 10+ years. Yeah. Thats probably it. All kidding aside, I enjoy meeting the different folks I get to see every two weeks.
What I'm reading. Cases, cases, and more cases...not much in terms of joy reading for fun lately. Although, I did get the latest Wired Magazine today in the mail. will dig in to that soon.
What I'm playing: Mario Party 8 for the Nintendo Wii (Awesome console by the way). Need to unwind somehow. Plus it gets me daughter points with my 8 year old.
Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about school. To be honest, I feel energized when I get back from classes. When I am not in class I feel like I'm living this parallel life that moves a little faster than the rest of my life. The net effect is that I feel the personal growth that is happening. One of my favorite things about the weekends I am in schools is the conversations that I have with my fellow classmates. The variety and experience of the people in the class is refreshing. On the other hand, I sometimes wonder if its just a reflection of the monotony that can occur naturally in a career where you work in the same industry, same products, at only 2 different companies for the last 10+ years. Yeah. Thats probably it. All kidding aside, I enjoy meeting the different folks I get to see every two weeks.
What I'm reading. Cases, cases, and more cases...not much in terms of joy reading for fun lately. Although, I did get the latest Wired Magazine today in the mail. will dig in to that soon.
What I'm playing: Mario Party 8 for the Nintendo Wii (Awesome console by the way). Need to unwind somehow. Plus it gets me daughter points with my 8 year old.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Wall Street Journal Saga....
I wanted to take a little break from the bschool discussion to talk about another business topic that has caught my interest recently. Namely, the Wall Street Journal soap opera that is playing out. The main story line is that in early May, it became publicly known that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. was offering $60 a share for the WSJ's parent, Dow Jones Co. This was a significant premium, greater than 60%, over the stock price up to that point. The initial response from the controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, was rebuff. There was no interest in selling the company. However, since then, it appears that the discussion has heated up a bit, and the acquisition may happen yet. There are numerous subplots to liven things up a bit as well.
I think Rupert Murdoch is very shrewd in making a play for WSJ. Clearly he recognizes the brand value of the premier name in business reporting, especially when considered in the context of the Fox Business Channel that is going to launch sometime this year. The WSJ Brand would bring instant credibility to Fox's business channel. Fox's competition in the market for business news tv channel is CNBC. Having the WSJ as a crown jewel behind the Fox Business Channel has got to be making CNBC ad sales VPs nervous.
Murdoch's timing on the deal is impeccable. Newspaper stocks are in the doldrums, and Dow Jones and Co. in particular is at multiyear lows. Even if the deal does not work out, he's already made a bit of a splash for his Fox Business Channel. Most of the Dow Jones shareholders have to be loving this offer. The question is, will there be another offer in the works or do they take this one? And that is where some of the subplots come in.
Yesterday, there was an AP release that indicated that a Dow Jones union representing workers was reaching out to potential investors seeking alternatives to Murdoch's bid. The unions motivations of course, are driven by fears of Murdoch meddling with the current structure of the company and potentially restructuring (read layoffs). Some of the investors that were named were Ron Burkle and Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway. I don't know Burkle, but I thought the Buffet angle was curious. Buffet already owns a couple of newspapers, the Buffalo News (outright ownership), and the Washington Post (I think about 20% ownership), through Berkshire. Berkshire also owns one of the major wire services used by newspapers, Business Wire. So clearly, Buffet likes the newspaper business. However, he has also recognized the deteriorating economics of the newspaper business as more and more readers move to the Internet for their news. I doubt Buffet will make a bid for the WSJ. He likes to buy stocks cheap, and a 60% premium on a stock he could have had a month ago is not cheap. It is also not Buffet's style to compete for a property. I think Buffet likes to buy stuff nobody else is buying, with long term prospects for stability and profitability. I don't think either of those things can be said about the WSJ. Lastly, the value that WSJ would bring to Berkshire's media portfolio does not come close to what it could do to Murdochs' portfolio. Clearly there is more in it for Murdoch than there is for Buffet on a comparative basis. Nonetheless, it does bring up the question about what other alternative bidders may step up. Anybody remember GE's Jack Welch looking to get into the newspaper business not to long ago. Wait a minute, wasn't Jack Welch the CEO of GE, which owns NBC, which owns CNBC? hmmmmmm.
There are a few other subplots as well that are interesting. Apparently the buyout bid has gotten mixed reactions from the Bancroft family, who are the controlling shareholders. On a plane ride I was reading a great article about the infighting between the "younger" faction who wants to take the money and run, and the "older" faction who wants to hold on to their dividends. The article appeared in...you guessed it...the Wall Street Journal.
To add to the family bickering, an influential ex-board member and the ex-chairman of Dow Jones, have publicly come out against the deal.
There was also an alleged crime associated with the buyout from News Corp. Apparently, there was a couple in Hong Kong, who may have been aware of the pending offer, and traded on the information. They made a lot of money, on the order of a few million dollars. They are being investigated.
I think this might be another nail in the coffin for the newspaper business who are being attacked from all sides (thank you Craig's list, Monster.com and others). It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
What I'm reading: Dow Jones Confirms Receipt of Unsolicited Acquisition Proposal
What I watched: Pirates of the Caribbean
P.S. I finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend. (Was that Keith Richards making a cameo?) While I found it entertaining to watch, don't ask me what it was about. There were too many plot twists for me to follow. Or maybe my brain was just mush from bootcamp. I would rate it a 7 out of 1o.
I think Rupert Murdoch is very shrewd in making a play for WSJ. Clearly he recognizes the brand value of the premier name in business reporting, especially when considered in the context of the Fox Business Channel that is going to launch sometime this year. The WSJ Brand would bring instant credibility to Fox's business channel. Fox's competition in the market for business news tv channel is CNBC. Having the WSJ as a crown jewel behind the Fox Business Channel has got to be making CNBC ad sales VPs nervous.
Murdoch's timing on the deal is impeccable. Newspaper stocks are in the doldrums, and Dow Jones and Co. in particular is at multiyear lows. Even if the deal does not work out, he's already made a bit of a splash for his Fox Business Channel. Most of the Dow Jones shareholders have to be loving this offer. The question is, will there be another offer in the works or do they take this one? And that is where some of the subplots come in.
Yesterday, there was an AP release that indicated that a Dow Jones union representing workers was reaching out to potential investors seeking alternatives to Murdoch's bid. The unions motivations of course, are driven by fears of Murdoch meddling with the current structure of the company and potentially restructuring (read layoffs). Some of the investors that were named were Ron Burkle and Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway. I don't know Burkle, but I thought the Buffet angle was curious. Buffet already owns a couple of newspapers, the Buffalo News (outright ownership), and the Washington Post (I think about 20% ownership), through Berkshire. Berkshire also owns one of the major wire services used by newspapers, Business Wire. So clearly, Buffet likes the newspaper business. However, he has also recognized the deteriorating economics of the newspaper business as more and more readers move to the Internet for their news. I doubt Buffet will make a bid for the WSJ. He likes to buy stocks cheap, and a 60% premium on a stock he could have had a month ago is not cheap. It is also not Buffet's style to compete for a property. I think Buffet likes to buy stuff nobody else is buying, with long term prospects for stability and profitability. I don't think either of those things can be said about the WSJ. Lastly, the value that WSJ would bring to Berkshire's media portfolio does not come close to what it could do to Murdochs' portfolio. Clearly there is more in it for Murdoch than there is for Buffet on a comparative basis. Nonetheless, it does bring up the question about what other alternative bidders may step up. Anybody remember GE's Jack Welch looking to get into the newspaper business not to long ago. Wait a minute, wasn't Jack Welch the CEO of GE, which owns NBC, which owns CNBC? hmmmmmm.
There are a few other subplots as well that are interesting. Apparently the buyout bid has gotten mixed reactions from the Bancroft family, who are the controlling shareholders. On a plane ride I was reading a great article about the infighting between the "younger" faction who wants to take the money and run, and the "older" faction who wants to hold on to their dividends. The article appeared in...you guessed it...the Wall Street Journal.
To add to the family bickering, an influential ex-board member and the ex-chairman of Dow Jones, have publicly come out against the deal.
There was also an alleged crime associated with the buyout from News Corp. Apparently, there was a couple in Hong Kong, who may have been aware of the pending offer, and traded on the information. They made a lot of money, on the order of a few million dollars. They are being investigated.
I think this might be another nail in the coffin for the newspaper business who are being attacked from all sides (thank you Craig's list, Monster.com and others). It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
What I'm reading: Dow Jones Confirms Receipt of Unsolicited Acquisition Proposal
What I watched: Pirates of the Caribbean
P.S. I finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend. (Was that Keith Richards making a cameo?) While I found it entertaining to watch, don't ask me what it was about. There were too many plot twists for me to follow. Or maybe my brain was just mush from bootcamp. I would rate it a 7 out of 1o.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Wharton Bootcamp - week in review
Bootcamp in philly officially ended today. All the students I spoke to felt very happy with the way things went. I can say that for me personally the first week definitely met my expectations. There is a lot to say so I will discuss each topic in turn.
Courses:
The first semester consists of 3 courses. Financial Accounting, Managerial Economics, and Management of people. Some of the accounting and finance types chose to waive the accounting course. Those that waived accounting take a business law course this semester and get to take an additional elective later on. I am happy with the courses. Econ and accounting are fairly quantitative, while the management of people course focuses more on the softskills. Overall, the courses are very well organized. The bulkpacks provided by Wharton are well done. In a typical day, classes started at 7:30am with an optional math camp by prof John Siler. Math camp was usually followed by another course lasting from 9:00 to 12:00pm. At noon we broke for lunch for an hour. Classes reconvened at 1:00pm and lasted through till 4:00pm in the afternoon. During some evenings there are additional classes or review sessions. On one evening there was a session to discuss group dynamics. Another evening, there was a session to review econ. Note that for econ, accounting and management, the classes are divided into two sections. The math camp is optional and I was not planning to attend. But my wharton buddy had advised that I attend at least one of the classes to get a taste of the Jack Siler's performance. I ended up going to every session. The man is a wharton classic. These session ended at 9:00 or 9:30 depending on the day. Jack covered some high school math like exponents, factorials, polynomial and exponential functions and then moved into some college calculus with derivatives, double derivatives, and partial derivatives. Towards the end he covered counting theory and some probability. Accounting was accounting. The first week was spent understanding the basics of financial statements like the balance sheet, income statements, and statement of cash flows. I got the impression that as we move further into the course, we will cover each of these statements in more detail. The management of people course is interesting. There is a lot of reading to do in this course and then the material is discussed in class. The interesting thing is that we are graded on participation, so a large majority of the class is compelled to chime in. Talking to some folks, there are mixed feelings about this approach. Some people felt the comments are somewhat forced at times. People expressing comments to get their 2 cents worth. There is some debate however, that not all the comments are conducive to the discussion. Professor McDuffie, however, does do a good job though of bouncing the "beach ball" around to keep the conversation flowing. There is a major project to do for this course. The FAP or field applications project which is worth a good bit. This project is completed in study teams. The course also uses the case method to apply some of the theory that is taught. Microeconomics is a treat. Not necessarily the course, but the professor. David Crawford is an interesting guy. If take his course, you'll know what I mean. He covers a lot of material and he moves fast. The first week alone, we covered the basics of demand and supply curves, market equilibrium, the mechanics of supply and demand curves, production analysis, currency and international trade effects on supply and demand. This course has the potential to challenge those that have not done math in a while. My challenge will be a little different. I follow the math with no problems, but its the context and content that is new. Still, I am enjoying the course so far.
Professors
Overall, I am impressed with the professors. They are all very well organized, prompt and enthusiastic about the material they cover.
We have three courses and five professors this semester. Professor Siler runs the math camp during the first week. As indicated previously, the man is entertaining to watch. Don't get me wrong though, he knows his stuff. Its just that his teaching method is very unique for the material he covers. His approach is good however. I think a lot of the non-math folks appreciate the simplification and context he provides to otherwise mundane math topics. Professor McDuffie teaches the management class. The man is a true professional. He is a very approachable likable guy who enjoys what he does and brings that enthusiasm to the classroom. He is able to draw the class into discussions and motivates students to express their opinions in a relaxed atmosphere. Accounting is covered by Prof. Bishop Lane. She knows the material like the back of her hand. Clearly she must have taught the course a number of times. Yet she brought a great deal of energy to the class every day. She is a very approachable person outside the classroom environment as well. This is true for all the professors I met. Prof. David Crawford is a hoot. Prof. Crawford teaches the econ class. A tall, older, burly man with a forceful voice, he definitely brings a presence to the classroom. He has a gift of using very expressive and colorful language without coming off as offensive. The funniest part however, is trying to determine what his tshirt will say on a given day. On the first day, he wore one that said ...well...I won't ruin it for him. I'm sure its part of his gimmick. Lastly, but certainly not least, there is Prof. Kuriloff. Prof Kuriloff does not teach a particular course per se. But he advises on working in effective groups. In particular study groups. He was the one guy that threw me off during the week at bootcamp. I don't mean this in a negative way. What I mean to say is that I did not expect Wharton lend emphasis to group dynamics in such a formal manner. Prof Kuriloff clearly knows his stuff when it comes to working in teams. The whole study team thing was one I was leery of coming into this program. However, what I found is that the activities and guidance that Kuriloff provides, sets the tone for effective team work. The most notable factor about Kuriloff is that he has a very human touch. He cares about people and uses his expertise to make sure that the teams will be successful. He also is a safety net that students can turn to if the team thing starts to derail.
Food
Excellent. The food is catered in the SCC dining room. All I can say is that it rocks. The wharton folks do take care of us when it comes to the culinary needs of mba students. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were provided everyday during the week. The food itself was very well done. Great menus and presentation. The catering staff is unbelievably prompt and attentive. In addition to the three meals, there is a small coffee area outside the program offices, close to the classrooms that is stacked with coffee obviously, but also other beverages such as tea, water, sodas, juice etc. This area is refilled constantly throughout the day, so there is never a shortage of beverages to keep you hydrated and caffeinated. There were a couple of very nice touches as well. I had written about the nice dinner on Sunday night. On Wednesday night, there was a barbecue in the courtyard of the SCC. This was a nice touch as it also provided an opportunity to schmooze and mingle with other classmates, the administration, and even the profs who came out It is not uncommon to see the professors in the dining rooms during mealtimes.
Facilities
If you have never been to Penn before, the location of the school is in the part of town known as University City. This is about a 5-10 minute cab ride from downtown philly. The locale has the typical vibrant feel of a large campus.
As previously mentioned, my lodging facilities were at the Inn on the Penn. This was true of most of the long distance commuters. Everybody else, including the DC, NJ, and NY crowd, stayed at the SCC. The Inn at the Penn is nice. However, I personally did not spend a lot of time there other than going to the room at night to sleep. I am not sure about the quality of the SCC, but I did not hear any complaints about them from any of my peers. Most of the time was spent at Huntsman hall or the SCC. Quite a few evenings were spent at the SCC bar on the 5th floor. Since it was all WEMBA students, the bar had a cozy touch to it.
The campus itself is very nice. Locust walk is very picturesque. Huntsman hall, where we spend most of our time, is a very nice, modern facility. All the classes are in the same building and generally on the same floor, although we did have to go to the lower floor on occasion. No big deal. Both the SCC and the Inn on the Penn are only a minute or two away from Huntsman hall. Since I commute, I do not know about the parking facilities. I do recall that they have parking on-campus for about $25/day.
Logistics and Administration
Each class is assigned a class manager that is part of the administration. Ours is Diane. She is basically a project manager that makes sure everything is running smoothly and everybody is where they are supposed to be. Diane kicks butt. She was extremely responsive to a couple of request that I had made. Overall communication between the class and the admin office is handled via communiques. Each student has a folder to check at various times during the day to get any updates or announcements.
I cannot say enough nice things about the staff. Clearly, they are very proud of the program and they do their utmost to keep the program top notch. At all times, I felt the classes and organization of school events was well organized. I did not ever get the impression that anybody was "winging it".
Howard Kaufold has done a good job building the team.
Study Teams
As I previously mentioned, this was the one area I was leery of coming into the program. Study teams are pre-arranged by the time you arrive on campus. Each student is provided a handbook which contains the names of the members of his or her study team. I was impressed by Wharton's emphasis on building a group dynamic and scheduling team building activities that helped foster and accelerate team bonding. By the end of the week, I felt I understood each of the members of my team better both on a personal level and professional level. I think, that as a team, we were able to establish a level of trust with on another that will help us start working together efficiently.
Thats all for now. Off to do some homework.
Courses:
The first semester consists of 3 courses. Financial Accounting, Managerial Economics, and Management of people. Some of the accounting and finance types chose to waive the accounting course. Those that waived accounting take a business law course this semester and get to take an additional elective later on. I am happy with the courses. Econ and accounting are fairly quantitative, while the management of people course focuses more on the softskills. Overall, the courses are very well organized. The bulkpacks provided by Wharton are well done. In a typical day, classes started at 7:30am with an optional math camp by prof John Siler. Math camp was usually followed by another course lasting from 9:00 to 12:00pm. At noon we broke for lunch for an hour. Classes reconvened at 1:00pm and lasted through till 4:00pm in the afternoon. During some evenings there are additional classes or review sessions. On one evening there was a session to discuss group dynamics. Another evening, there was a session to review econ. Note that for econ, accounting and management, the classes are divided into two sections. The math camp is optional and I was not planning to attend. But my wharton buddy had advised that I attend at least one of the classes to get a taste of the Jack Siler's performance. I ended up going to every session. The man is a wharton classic. These session ended at 9:00 or 9:30 depending on the day. Jack covered some high school math like exponents, factorials, polynomial and exponential functions and then moved into some college calculus with derivatives, double derivatives, and partial derivatives. Towards the end he covered counting theory and some probability. Accounting was accounting. The first week was spent understanding the basics of financial statements like the balance sheet, income statements, and statement of cash flows. I got the impression that as we move further into the course, we will cover each of these statements in more detail. The management of people course is interesting. There is a lot of reading to do in this course and then the material is discussed in class. The interesting thing is that we are graded on participation, so a large majority of the class is compelled to chime in. Talking to some folks, there are mixed feelings about this approach. Some people felt the comments are somewhat forced at times. People expressing comments to get their 2 cents worth. There is some debate however, that not all the comments are conducive to the discussion. Professor McDuffie, however, does do a good job though of bouncing the "beach ball" around to keep the conversation flowing. There is a major project to do for this course. The FAP or field applications project which is worth a good bit. This project is completed in study teams. The course also uses the case method to apply some of the theory that is taught. Microeconomics is a treat. Not necessarily the course, but the professor. David Crawford is an interesting guy. If take his course, you'll know what I mean. He covers a lot of material and he moves fast. The first week alone, we covered the basics of demand and supply curves, market equilibrium, the mechanics of supply and demand curves, production analysis, currency and international trade effects on supply and demand. This course has the potential to challenge those that have not done math in a while. My challenge will be a little different. I follow the math with no problems, but its the context and content that is new. Still, I am enjoying the course so far.
Professors
Overall, I am impressed with the professors. They are all very well organized, prompt and enthusiastic about the material they cover.
We have three courses and five professors this semester. Professor Siler runs the math camp during the first week. As indicated previously, the man is entertaining to watch. Don't get me wrong though, he knows his stuff. Its just that his teaching method is very unique for the material he covers. His approach is good however. I think a lot of the non-math folks appreciate the simplification and context he provides to otherwise mundane math topics. Professor McDuffie teaches the management class. The man is a true professional. He is a very approachable likable guy who enjoys what he does and brings that enthusiasm to the classroom. He is able to draw the class into discussions and motivates students to express their opinions in a relaxed atmosphere. Accounting is covered by Prof. Bishop Lane. She knows the material like the back of her hand. Clearly she must have taught the course a number of times. Yet she brought a great deal of energy to the class every day. She is a very approachable person outside the classroom environment as well. This is true for all the professors I met. Prof. David Crawford is a hoot. Prof. Crawford teaches the econ class. A tall, older, burly man with a forceful voice, he definitely brings a presence to the classroom. He has a gift of using very expressive and colorful language without coming off as offensive. The funniest part however, is trying to determine what his tshirt will say on a given day. On the first day, he wore one that said ...well...I won't ruin it for him. I'm sure its part of his gimmick. Lastly, but certainly not least, there is Prof. Kuriloff. Prof Kuriloff does not teach a particular course per se. But he advises on working in effective groups. In particular study groups. He was the one guy that threw me off during the week at bootcamp. I don't mean this in a negative way. What I mean to say is that I did not expect Wharton lend emphasis to group dynamics in such a formal manner. Prof Kuriloff clearly knows his stuff when it comes to working in teams. The whole study team thing was one I was leery of coming into this program. However, what I found is that the activities and guidance that Kuriloff provides, sets the tone for effective team work. The most notable factor about Kuriloff is that he has a very human touch. He cares about people and uses his expertise to make sure that the teams will be successful. He also is a safety net that students can turn to if the team thing starts to derail.
Food
Excellent. The food is catered in the SCC dining room. All I can say is that it rocks. The wharton folks do take care of us when it comes to the culinary needs of mba students. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were provided everyday during the week. The food itself was very well done. Great menus and presentation. The catering staff is unbelievably prompt and attentive. In addition to the three meals, there is a small coffee area outside the program offices, close to the classrooms that is stacked with coffee obviously, but also other beverages such as tea, water, sodas, juice etc. This area is refilled constantly throughout the day, so there is never a shortage of beverages to keep you hydrated and caffeinated. There were a couple of very nice touches as well. I had written about the nice dinner on Sunday night. On Wednesday night, there was a barbecue in the courtyard of the SCC. This was a nice touch as it also provided an opportunity to schmooze and mingle with other classmates, the administration, and even the profs who came out It is not uncommon to see the professors in the dining rooms during mealtimes.
Facilities
If you have never been to Penn before, the location of the school is in the part of town known as University City. This is about a 5-10 minute cab ride from downtown philly. The locale has the typical vibrant feel of a large campus.
As previously mentioned, my lodging facilities were at the Inn on the Penn. This was true of most of the long distance commuters. Everybody else, including the DC, NJ, and NY crowd, stayed at the SCC. The Inn at the Penn is nice. However, I personally did not spend a lot of time there other than going to the room at night to sleep. I am not sure about the quality of the SCC, but I did not hear any complaints about them from any of my peers. Most of the time was spent at Huntsman hall or the SCC. Quite a few evenings were spent at the SCC bar on the 5th floor. Since it was all WEMBA students, the bar had a cozy touch to it.
The campus itself is very nice. Locust walk is very picturesque. Huntsman hall, where we spend most of our time, is a very nice, modern facility. All the classes are in the same building and generally on the same floor, although we did have to go to the lower floor on occasion. No big deal. Both the SCC and the Inn on the Penn are only a minute or two away from Huntsman hall. Since I commute, I do not know about the parking facilities. I do recall that they have parking on-campus for about $25/day.
Logistics and Administration
Each class is assigned a class manager that is part of the administration. Ours is Diane. She is basically a project manager that makes sure everything is running smoothly and everybody is where they are supposed to be. Diane kicks butt. She was extremely responsive to a couple of request that I had made. Overall communication between the class and the admin office is handled via communiques. Each student has a folder to check at various times during the day to get any updates or announcements.
I cannot say enough nice things about the staff. Clearly, they are very proud of the program and they do their utmost to keep the program top notch. At all times, I felt the classes and organization of school events was well organized. I did not ever get the impression that anybody was "winging it".
Howard Kaufold has done a good job building the team.
Study Teams
As I previously mentioned, this was the one area I was leery of coming into the program. Study teams are pre-arranged by the time you arrive on campus. Each student is provided a handbook which contains the names of the members of his or her study team. I was impressed by Wharton's emphasis on building a group dynamic and scheduling team building activities that helped foster and accelerate team bonding. By the end of the week, I felt I understood each of the members of my team better both on a personal level and professional level. I think, that as a team, we were able to establish a level of trust with on another that will help us start working together efficiently.
Thats all for now. Off to do some homework.
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