Amanda's Diary
Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm a 1st year MBA student at the University of Tennessee. I began this program as a 27 year old wife, mother, part-time HR consultant, and 5th year PhD student in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with a graduate assistantship. I thought that I was busy, I had no idea what I was about to embark on when I started this program. The following "diary" entries are very cursory overviews of my first semester as an MBA student. Hopefully, they are helpful in further understanding the structure, nature, and demands of the UT MBA program.
Chapter 1: MBA Orientation - July 29
Busy, busy! As we walked into the Foundry, we were immediately put in line to pick up orientation materials, register for classes, pay fees, and, of all things, get our picture taken! But once the chaos of those tasks was completed for all 90 of us, the fun began. Our initial exposure was to the Dean of the MBA program, Dr. Sarah Gardial. She kicked things off with a welcome and overview of what we could expect. The program sounds exciting and the students are from a broad array of industries, positions, and backgrounds. We got to have lunch with the faculty and 2nd year students, it was a great opportunity to pick their brains about what to expect and a quick list of do's and don'ts. We also got to meet our teammates. My teammates' backgrounds include psychology, art history, agribusiness, military operations, and finance - now that's a diverse group. With all of that variety, we should be prepared for anything! Classes start tomorrow. They are throwing us right in...we have communications, finance, operations, and information technology classes in the first 2 days!
Chapter 2: End of 1st Week - August 2
Whoa! We already have 2 extensive assignments due next week! Everything from professional development to operations planning, it's been really interesting to begin to see how all of these fields really impact each other. Due to my psychology background, and severe business naivety, this program is going to challenge me, but I can already see how the integrated perspective taken by the UT MBA program will allow us to get a good grasp of the entire value chain and how each component influences the effectiveness of all the others. However, the stress of balancing a family and dual degree is already starting to weigh on me. This week I've only been able to spend a few hours total with my son and my PhD work is on a temporary hold until time opens up.
Chapter 3: Negotiation Exhaustion - August 16
OK this week was craziness! On top of assignments and regular classes, each team was assigned a position in the supply chain (manufacturer, carrier, distributor). We all were given macro spreadsheets with information regarding our company and required to negotiate contracts with other teams. Talk about a learning experience! After full days of coordinating meetings, developing strategies, and attempting to persuade another company to not only deliver product to our distribution center, but ALSO to pay for the transportation costs (HA!), our team came in 7th place our of 18 teams. We had hopes for a higher position, but after hearing how some of the negotiations went (some companies were really "taken to the cleaners"), we were pretty pleased with our success.
Chapter 4: Customer Relations Management Project - August 30
A brand manager from Procter & Gamble came to present our CRM module project that we work on for the next 4 weeks. We are going to conduct a Marketing Opportunity Analysis, from beginning to end, for a brand with which they are having trouble maintaining market share. The presentation was fascinating! Who knew how much research and footwork was done by companies to figure out to whom they should market, how they should market, and what chances of success may be? In the end, we'll be preparing presentations to deliver to Procter & Gamble. It's exciting to work on a project that has very real implications for a specific product but I can already envision the work this is going to require. We also began Economics this week and are participating in an Econ simulation. We are running a hypothetical manufacturing company in the market of our choice and making production and pricing decisions to compete (or possibly achieve a monopoly) against the other teams. Lots of work, but the simulations are great for really digging in and understanding the issues and decisions that have to be dealt with in the "real world."
Chapter 5: An "Easy" Week - September 13
As far as assignments go, these past couple of weeks have been a little less demanding. However, the CRM project for Procter & Gamble is requiring a lot of time consuming research so we are grateful for the break from other assignments. The break has also given the class some time to socialize and get to know each other outside of the classroom setting. It's amazing how vastly different our backgrounds are. We've got senior managers from manufacturing plants, a number of financial analysis, a few auditors, a number of logisticians, representatives from the army, navy, and marines, a dental consultant, a bankruptcy consultant, and more. The real life examples discussed in class by fellow students have really added to the learning environment and allowed us to get a feel for how all of these different class topics truly affect business.
Chapter 6: CRM Comes to a Close - September 27
Well, the CRM Procter & Gamble "stand and deliver" is today. The intensive, time consuming research of the last four weeks, and neglect of our loved ones, comes to an end today. We're nervous but I can't imagine how we could have done any better work. The most ironic part is that we were required to fill out evaluations on our team members this week. Probably NOT the best week to do that considering how stressful and intense this week has been. I know that our team hit a number of snags in our decision making process and the closer the deadline came, the more conflict arose. But, in the end, I think our end product is excellent - I just hope the professors and Procter & Gamble feel the same.
Chapter 7: The Internship Search vs Strategy Assignments - October 4
OK, we're required to get an internship for next summer. I knew that but I had no idea how quickly we'd have to dive in to try to find one. We've already had two career fairs on campus and a number of company presentations. The advice from the 2nd years is to get to work on the search now because it can take months to get the internship in place. We also had a "job search" seminar by Don Asher a couple of weeks ago who told us to send our at least 100 cover letters and resumes, each customized to the company and desired position. So, I'm trying desperately to find time to work on developing my resume, getting a lot of resumes out, and attending career fairs and company presentations. Now, this is difficult enough to do with the typical weekly class/assignment load BUT our Strategy classes have begun! They are absolutely fascinating and the case studies used are really useful. However...the case analyses are kicking my tail. If nothing else, I will be an excellent time manager by the time I graduate!!
Chapter 8: Fall Break is Over - October 18
Maybe "break" is too strong a word to use. I didn't actually have a break. I spent my day off taking comprehensive exams for my PhD program which is an immense load off of my mind. Now, the PhD program goes back on hold for at least a few weeks. The rest of the weekend was spent with my team working on the 3 assignments that were due as soon as we returned to school. On a positive note, the weather was fantastic (a common occurrence during the Fall in East Tennessee). My husband and I spent an all too short but very necessary afternoon at the park with our toddler. Once I had some quality family time under my belt, it was back to the grindstone as we begin 5 straight days of an Operations module and finish up the 6 week Economics simulation. The Operations module coincides with the end of the Accounting module and the beginning of the Finance module. Finance, my most dreaded area, begins on Monday.
Chapter 9: Finally, a Comfort Zone - November 8
Our Economics final was a take home over the weekend; it was really difficult but a relief to hand in. This week the Human Resources module begins and I cannot be happier. My Industrial/Organizational Psychology background is finally benefiting me by putting me in front of the pack for once. I finally feel like I'm able to make significant contributions to my team assignments and relax a little. Finance isn't too bad; Dr. Ehrhardt is great at explaining the concepts in non-numerical terms with a minimal amount of Finance jargon. If I could only figure out this stupid Financial calculator!! It's incomprehensible to me that I can run advanced statistical packages and a multitude of software packages but I can't seem to get my calculator to produce a simple Net Present Value!
My target city for an internship is Des Moines, IA (yes, I know that sounds bizarre to most people but much of my family is there) so I'm flying there this weekend to attend a professional meeting and interviews with potential internship employers. Out of 30 resumes and letters sent and follow-up calls made, I managed to convince 3 companies to talk to me despite their inability to forecast internship needs this early in the game. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the interviews will go well...AND that my toddler son will behave on the airplane (he's coming along to visit his grandparents).
Chapter 10: Another Stand & Deliver Crossed Off the To-Do List - November 22
We just finished presenting the culmination of our work in the Operations module. How did it go? I am really not sure - but at this moment, I do not care. I've spent a total of 4 hours with my family this week and all I want to do right now is pick up my son from daycare and spend the evening watching Elmo.
However, I did want to make sure that I wrote about a guest speaker we had this week. Indra Nooyi, the CFO and President of PepsiCo (and recently named 4th most powerful woman in American business), came to UT to talk about her experience with Pepsi and working in a global economy. Her insight was fascinating and there would not have been enough time in the world for us to ask all of the questions we had for her. It turns out she plays the electric guitar, so the MBA program purchased a Pepsi guitar for her BUT best of all, one of our Operations professors, Dr. Srinivasan, played his electric guitar and gave a brief concert singing a song that he wrote for her to the tune of Black Sabbath's/Ozzie Osbourne's Iron Man. It was hysterical!
Chapter 11: That's All Folks (at least for fall semester) - December 3
I believe this will be my last entry for this year for a number of reasons. The most pressing of which is the fact that upon return from Thanksgiving Break (this past weekend) our faculty decided to load up on assignments. So, given the brief 10 days that I have to do 3 Finance assignments, 4 Statistics/Operations assignments, 1 HR assignment, 1 HR Stand & Deliver, and a truckload of reading (not to mention Christmas shopping!), I'm closing the semester out with this entry. I spent a long weekend in Orlando with family for Thanksgiving and it just made me want to spend more time with family so I cannot wait until classes end on December 12. Then I'm going to study for my last component of Comprehensive exams for my PhD program, take them on December 19, and high tail it out of Knoxville with my husband and son to Illinois and Iowa for an extended holiday visit. They say that if you can make it to Christmas, the MBA program is all downhill from there - I don't know if I believe that, but I'm praying it's true. Am I tired? Absolutely. Am I regretful? Absolutely not. I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short time but I am so ready for a vacation!
Chapter 12: I'm B-a-a-a-ck! - January 31
It took me a few weeks to get my bearings. After a long, well not long enough, winter break the semester kicked into full-gear immediately. Some faculty/facilities scheduling conflicts has thrown what was a perfectly doable calendar into an inundation of assignments and classes. But, it looks like we are coming out of a crunch period and the work/class load seems to be leveling out a bit (Thank goodness!!). Amidst classes and assignments, students are scrambling to find internships. Of the companies who are openly looking for interns, most seem to have posted their openings this month. The job market is not great, to say the very least, which makes the internship market even tighter. However, the MBA Career Services program has come up with innovative approaches to internship searching. For example, a road trip is being coordinated to 3 or 4 large cities within a day's drive of Knoxville. Interested students are going to go to the employers and present their capabilities, rather than hope for the employers to come to campus. Hopefully, this proactive approach will help develop some additional internship leads for the students. My personal search is going fairly well. I am scheduled to travel to Iowa City for an on-site interview with the organization I was introduced to via my Operations professors. I've also applied to an additional internship in the same city and I believe I have a strong shot at both positions (at least I'm hoping so). It will be such a relief if I get an offer and can check off "get an internship" from my to-do list.
Chapter 13: Happy Valentine's Day - February 14
The culmination of our International Business module involved a comprehensive written case analysis which we completed individually today. International business was fascinating. Our professor is about the furthest thing from an "academic" as possible. He's an international business consultant with absolutely intriguing, and often scarily amusing, anecdotes to illustrate the theoretical concepts we are learning. As he says "academics have cases, I have stories". We've also wrapped up a Logistics & Transportation module. As part of that module we were required to complete an applied project in which we basically served as consultants for one of two local organizations. We were given a particular area to focus on and our task was to analyze the current situation and develop recommendations for improvements. I'm not sure about this, but I think my team picked one of the craziest projects. Our job was to redesign the UT campus mail system. Until I got into it, I had no idea how much work there was to be done. But, our end result received a highly complimentary review so we are pleased.
Speaking of which, I haven't talked about my new team at all. It is definitely as diverse as my last (I now have an Army captain - still active; a former Navy man; a Psychologist; and a woman who worked in television production). Needless to say, we have vastly different perspectives and goals. I don't think he'll mind if I tell you this - Army captain man and I struggle quite a bit. As he says "I don't think we agree on much of anything". Overall, we tend to spend a lot of time working through projects, but thus far our end product has been very good most likely due to the fact (at least I think) that we are able to complement each others strengths and compensate for each others weaknesses. I may just have to have Army man come on here and give his side of the story.
Chapter 14: A Response from "Army Captain Man" - March 14
My favorite teammate, "Army Captain Man," saw my entry describing our dramatically different interpersonal styles and, as could be expected, had his own perspective of our relationship, and of the MBA program itself. So, he has graciously agreed to do a guest entry for my diary. Britt is in a unique situation in that he's an active military captain which means he gets to sit back and relax while the rest of us navigate the internship/job market. However, I suppose that perk is offset by the fact that he has to show up for periodic physical training tests/drills and may be deployed upon graduation! Seriously though, I am definitely a better person for having Britt as a teammember, and hopefully he learned something from me too. That said, here's Britt...
Hello. I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Britt Walker and for those of you that are considering the University of Tennessee’s MBA program and have read Amanda’s diary, I’m “Army Captain Man” that she fondly spoke of. I’m a 33 year-old Army logistician, a father of three (a 2 year old and twin 1-year olds), but right now, I’m a full-time MBA student.
Ok, ok. It’s true. Amanda and I see things in a slightly different light (who would have thought? …a Human Relations professional and a career soldier). But in the end, our products were always very good, and I think that we did in fact compliment each other. In fact, our team received a 94 on a macroeconomics paper and the instructor asked us if he could distribute our paper to the class to demonstrate what a good paper looks like. Talk about being flattered!! Team Athens was practically dancing in the aisles.
Just this past week, we completed Core III, and I for one am glad it’s behind me. Balancing the course workload (resource management, macroeconomics, tax strategy, business law, global business, logistics and procurement, process design, and strategy) with family has been tough at times. Core III concluded with an excellent class on Information Technology. I never realized that EXCEL could do origami. Unbelievable. Seriously, I think that the IT module was super. From array formulas, to v-lookups, to simulations….I think it’s safe to say that everyone learned something valuable. And the ACCESS portion was very good too.
During core III, my days consisted of going to class all morning and studying most afternoons. It will likely slack off towards the end of the semester (by design, I think). Still, for me, I enjoy the ‘family time’ because my career doesn’t always permit me that. I can’t imagine adding a career search to the workload. Though I have been impressed with faculty involvement. The Logistics department has even stepped up to the plate by assisting students in their search for securing employment (plus the Career Services department is active as well with a trip to Atlanta over spring break). Now that’s personalized service!
Chapter 15: Iowa City Here I Come!! - March 21
I am proud to announce that I finally received an internship offer!! Woo hoo! I will be spending part of my summer in Iowa City, IA with ACT. Yes, ACT as in the college entrance exam people. However, they also have an entire division devoted to business consulting. From what I understand, I will be working on the management consulting side. Its not exactly the traditional MBA internship, but I am excited because it fits right into my long-term career goals. It looks like a number of internship offers are starting to roll into the MBA students, which is great news! Maybe I could get a few people to write a blurb about how they plan to spend their summer. I'll have to work on that.
We recently wrapped up our Core III coursework and completed our last team assignment. We have just begun our Concentration courses. I am taking the Operations and Finance concentrations. I really like Operations, but Finance has completely lost me. Luckily, this weekend looks pretty open so hopefully I can catch myself up. I've been a bit behind... Four other students and I were selected to compete in Washington DC for the George Washington University/KPMG Non-Profit Case Competition. The weekend in DC was great (though a little scary considering there were well-armed security people all over the city). We placed 2nd in our finals bracket -- not as great as we'd hoped, but the client organization (National Geographic) loved us -- and that is what counts! Problem is, we spent so much time preparing the case, we are having to work frantically to catch up.
Chapter 16: Concentrations & Distractions - March 28
We had a fascinating guest speaker today in Operations/Logistics. He is a Supply Chain Consultant for the Healthcare industry. He spent the class discussing the challenges and potential for Supply Chain efficiencies in healthcare. It was intriguing -- what a wide open field for applying the material we are learning. Rumor is, the Marketing concentration courses are going very well. This week they learned Focus Group techniques by serving as subjects -- next week they are beginning work with a marketing association to develop a marketing contract proposal with a well known television station. In Finance we are revving up for our first exam, and just completed a real estate finance project.
On a lighter note, I was asked to play softball on our intramural co-ed team. Let me rephrase that, I was TOLD (by a classmate) that I would be playing softball. It was fun, but, unfortunately, we're not very good. Part of the problem is that the MBA team doesn't seem to take the game as seriously as the opposing team--those faternity/sorority teams are intense! :)
Chapter 17: Yes, there IS a social side... - April 29
Yes, there is a social side to the MBA program, unfortunately with my family and work demands I don't often get to partake. So, I asked my friend Fred (a fellow 1st year - and President of TOMBA) to give you a little taste what kinds of fun things the program offers.
I, as you all are, am an avid fan of Amanda and her Diary. I was humbled when she asked me to write an entry, so here is my entry. Let me introduce myself first…my name is Fred Brown and I am the current President of TOMBA. TOMBA is a student run organization that represents our class in four different aspects: students, faculty, alumni and volunteer. We just wrapped up our final "Spring fling" where we rented out the second floor of Long Branch Saloon, a local Knoxville establishment with a country twang to it. It was a wonderful time, especially since we wrapped up our finals that week and were ready to let loose. Most of the class turned out for the event and we socialized until the wee hours of the morning and had a lot of fun. In fact, one of our more creative students did impersonations of all of the faculty, as the entire class rolled in the aisles. This is one of the many TOMBA activities we scheduled over the Spring. The Fall is going to be even better as we plan a school year kick off party on a barge, bring more alumni back for our famous tailgates, as well as MBA Day in November.
As for me, this year is winding down and I consider it to have been a tremendous success. I took both the finance and marketing hubs, which were both good, although the marketing hub really stood out. I am now an official marketing major and those are the only courses I will be taking in the fall, along with the Executive in Residence (EIR) program. The EIR program is fantastic because it puts me, as a student, in touch with some top-notch executives in one-on-one settings. Although course-wise my Fall load is light, I will be focusing more on my job search as my wife and I plan a move to Boston in December. Hopefully this entry will live up to Amanda's high standards and I will indeed read these passages on the Amanda's Diary page, perhaps one of my greatest accomplishments…
Chapter 18: Tying Up Loose Ends - May 6
Its the Wednesday AFTER the program ended and guess where I am.... I'm in the Graduate Assistants' office trying to finish up some projects that were left lingering when exams and the final simulation exercise hit. Most of the students high tailed it out of here as soon as we were let out on Friday (May 2), but a few of us are still around trying to make up assistantship hours we weren't able to fulfill last week.
We spent the last week playing the Marketplace business simulation game. I can't even begin to tell you how intense (and fun) the simulation was. It started on Monday (following two final exams, no less) when a secret draft was held to create 18 teams. The teams were assigned to each of 3 "universes" and we competed against those in our universe to create and sustain successful computer businesses. The simulation was pretty much 8am to 9pm every day. As a team we had to decide which market we would target, what components we would manufacture, what productions schedule we would follow, what R&D we would invest in, how we would improve quality and production, where we would locate sales forces, whether we would be web or brick and mortar based (or both), and many many more. Once our decisions were entered into the web-based program, we would wait to find out how we did against our competition. Then the next round of decisions would be made. After four "quarters" we all ran out of money and had to approach venture capitalists for investment. We actually had to prepare and present presentations to potential venture capitalists, convince them to invest, and negotiate stock prices. Then, using their investments we continued to run our company. At quarter 8, we then had to show the capitalists what exactly had become of their money. My team started out very strong and, in fact, was favored by the venture capitalists as "the team to watch." Unfortunately, hubris took over and we blew our lead in one round. We made a risky decision that would make or break us -- AND, the next time we logged in a large loan shark named Guido was knocking on our door asking for the $4.3M he'd had to invest to keep us afloat. That decision alone pretty much cost us the game - we went from a strong 1st place to a tentative 5th place finish. Needless to say, our investors were not thrilled (there were rewards for investors who made the most money). Nevertheless, once we'd recovered from the humiliation of making a very stupid decision, we realized that we really had learned a lot and overall had done really well.
Now, I plan to spend the next couple of weeks working on my dissertation and preparing to move to Iowa City. I begin my internship on June 2 and I can't wait. I'm so excited to get back to the midwest - and I'm looking forward to a break from the classroom for a while. However, I do plan to continue my diary so stay tuned...
Chapter 19: The "Real" World - May 28
Well, I am moving to Iowa City tomorrow. I can't even tell you how excited I am to start work. I had about one month off between school ending and my internship starting and I am so bored!! I've learned a little bit about the work I'm going to be doing this summer. The company I am working for (the business consulting side of ACT, Inc.) creates and administers selection tests mainly for line and shop floor employees. It sounds like it will be a nice mix of my two areas: I/O Psychology (employment selection) and Operations. The pay is not so great, but the hours are short and the flexibility is great. Everyone that I've talked to has only had good things to say about working there. Since its in my target city, I am hoping that I can use this summer as a stepping stone to permanent employment. We'll see...
Chapter 20: Cornfields, Cornfields everywhere... - June 9
O.k., much to the chagrin of my classmates (many of whom think I'm crazy to want to live in Iowa), I have to kick off this entry by telling you all just how great it is to be back in the Midwest. The Midwest is definitely where I am most comfortable and I am loving the fact that I'm here!!
I'm just beginning my 2nd week at ACT. So far things are going very well. Tomorrow I'm touring a client's manufacturing facility with a couple of the consultants, and I'm looking forward to seeing the merge of my two interests in action. My main project is a statistical validation analysis of the selection system ACT uses. Its really interesting and puts a lot of my I/O Psychology skills to the test.
However, once a few people got wind of my MBA coursework I was quickly encouraged to write a "white paper" to circulate at the company about how ACT could tap into the current Lean operations trend sweeping through industry. Most of ACT's clients use the ACT tests to select technical, line, and shop employees. So, it would behoove them to not only understand Lean concepts, but also to tailor their services to specifically address the selection of "lean minded" employees for companies attempting to implement, or sustain, Lean initiatives. Luckily, I now have training in Operations (thank you Dr. Srinivasan) so I get to spearhead the initiative. I suppose this endeavor could either make or break me as a potential full-time employee, but I'm excited about the challenge and thrilled that I've been given the latitude to take it on. I'll keep you posted on how it's received.
I've been keeping in touch with some of my fellow MBA's who are currently interning across the country. So far, everyone I've touched base with is thoroughly enjoying their time putting their training to work. Its really interesting to see the extremely diverse companies, locations, and positions in which fellow MBA students are working. Hopefully, all of the different experiences will allow us to better put our coursework into context for one another when we return for our final semester.
Chapter 21: All Good Things Must Come to an End - July 25
Well, today is the last day of my internship. On Wednesday, I presented a summary of my summer's work to the organization. Basically anyone interested could come listen, which at a "normal" organization means no one shows up -- BUT since ACT is a research organization I had a pretty good turnout. Aside from the fact that the computer/proxima wouldn't work and my presentation had to be postponed until later in the afternoon so the tech guys Workforce Development could attend. That presentation was much more nerve wracking (but more fun) because what I had to say directly related to their area of responsibility. So, they had lots of questions and solicited a lot of input from me on what I thought was happening currently and which direction ACT's assessment development should head in the future. Despite the excitement of that I am definitely glad the presentations are over. The rest of the week I spent saying goodbye, wrapping up projects, etc. And tomorrow I'm moving back to Tennessee. I'm anxious to get back and wrap up these degrees I'm working on -- after a summer in the real world, it's hard to return to student life.
Chapter 22: Long Time, No Hear... - September 25
Yes, its been nearly 2 months since I wrote last. A lot has happened since then. School is back in full swing, I'm on a full-time job search, and attempting to get my dissertation underway. With all of that, there is little time for anything else. BUT...I'm also "editing" a manuscript for a book written by one of our Operations professors. Basically, my job is to read it and point out where things are confusing, what issues have been left out or are too redundant, and basically evaluate the flow and readability of the book. On the one hand, that job has taken a LOT more time than I expected, but on the other hand, I have learned more from the editing process than I ever expected to learn. The point is - if you come here and you find yourself bored -- you are not looking. There is definitely plenty here to keep you busy.
On the job front - things are not going as smoothely as I'd hoped. While the market seems to be picking up, just getting an interview is proving extremely difficult. ACT isn't hiring in the area I'd be interested in right now, and quite honestly I'm not sure that its quite where I want to be professionally. The Business Consulting side of ACT is a "side-business" and I think I'd rather be involved in the core operations of an organization. So, I've intereviewed with a couple of companies but thus far things have not moved much further. I'm still optimistic though. We recently had the MBA Career Fair and a number of great companies came (Dell, Williams-Sonoma, Sara Lee, FBI, Milliken, Union Pacific, etc.). Many of the MBAs are already actively interviewing - 1st years for internships and 2nd years for full-time jobs. Also, the Supply Chain Forum (http://www.bus.utk.edu/ivc/supplychain/) is gearing up with expected attendance from Dell, Whirlpool, Union Pacific, Honeywell, Schneider, and more. It sounds like it, too, will be a great networking opportunity - particularly for the L&T and Operations students.
Unfortunately, with class in full swing - focusing on job search as much as I should be is difficult to do. Speaking of class, I've got an Operations assignment to focus on...
Chapter 23:The Oracle of Omaha is Coming to Knoxville - October 9
That's right, Warren Buffett of Berkshire-Hathaway is coming to UT as the guest speaker for the MBA Symposium Series. October 14th there will be an invitation only Q&A session with Warren himself. And things are hopping around here in preparation. He lives in Omaha, which isn't terribly far from my target location, so I'm trying to figure out some angle to slip him a resume but we'll see how that works out. Evidently he likes to keep things casual and wants to "be surprised" by our questions. Its kind of refreshing to learn that such an icon in business seems to be down-to-earth and willing to share the "secrets" to his success.
As for my life - things are crazy as usual. But there is definitely a light at the end of this tunnel. We've applied for graduation, filled out the forms for the cap and gown rental and are starting the graduation invitation process. Its hard to believe its all going to be over in just a couple of months. In fact, our Operations midterm is just next week. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it. I assume I'll do fine, but I think this is going to be an intense study weekend. My son told me recently that he "not like school" -- he's only 2! For him "school" is just the place I go after I drop him at daycare.I think he'll be happy to have his mom back for a while. Even a full-time job couldn't possibly keep me as busy as two full-time programs and a 12 hour per week job. But he does enjoy coloring next to me as I work on homework - he says we're doing "house-work together."
Chapter 24: Missed the Turnoff for the Quickest Route to a PhD - October 28
Remember how I told you that Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, was going to be the guest speaker for this year's MBA Symposium event? Well, he came and he was fantastic! Most impressively, he came bearing gifts. Let me back track to explain...
Last year UT's Financial Management Association (FMA), which is made up of both undergrad and graduate Finance students, made their annual trip to visit Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska. See...Mr. Buffett is a personal friend of one of our faculty and every year he hosts the FMA trip. Each year the FMA takes a gift to Mr. Buffett -- footballs, sweatshirts, typical college fare. Last year, the FMA decided to take the biography of Jim Clayton. Mr. Clayton is kind of a celebrity in Knoxville, he owns (well, he owned) Clayton Homes. Anyway, the group took the biogaphy to Mr. Buffett, he read it and became so interested in the Clayton company that he contacted them. Long story short, in the past month or so the sale of Clayton Homes to Berkshire Hathaway was finalized.
Now, back to my story of Mr. Buffett's visit. He began his speech by handing out personalized honorary PhD's to each of the students who went on the trip and therefore contributed to his dicision to purchase Clayton Homes. BUT, that's not even the best part. Within the portfolio that held each of the honorary PhD's was a B share of Berkshire Hathaway stock!! For those of you non-finance people - that is one fantastic gift. Not only can they honestly claim to be a PhD, but they have a share of stock currently trading at about $2,600.00. Not bad!! I do have to say after years of PhD school, I am seriously jealous!
So, now let me describe the event. Mr. Buffett was delightful -- there is no other way to describe him. Mr. Buffett spent two hours fielding questions from students, enlightening us with his insight, and entertaining us with amusing, and, at times a little racy, anecdotes. The two hours flew by! Afterward, he spent a substantial amount of time meeting and greeting the students. All in all, it was a great time!
Oh and by the way, PBS was here to tape the event. Check your local listings for a chance to see Mr. Buffett in action on UT's campus...
Chapter 25: We Came, We Saw, We Conquered...(the job market anyway) - November 24
Despite the still dismal economy, the 2nd year MBA students are making names for themselves all over the country. Personally, I'm still targeting the midwest and have strong leads in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I should have answers soon (possibly very soon) and I'll keep you posted. BUT, to give you a flavor for where my class is heading upon graduation (which is unbelievably soon!!) I've asked a few of my colleagues to quickly sum up their job search and acceptance success. For now, I'll sign off and leave you with their thoughts...
A Professional Student in the Making?
Fred Brown -- Marketing
I came into the program open minded about which direction I wanted to take my career. I just knew there were some gaping holes in my understanding of business that needed to be filled in. I was interested in the broad business knowledge not the specifics of a particular concentration. I am now planning to continue my education at law school and am looking for marketing work in the interim. I graduated in 1998 from the University of Florida with the goal of law school and am now going to fulfill that goal. I believe it will be important to advise businesses from the perspective of one of them, not just as a "lawyer." I am interested in corporate law (business to business legal issues including property, contracts, IPOs, etc) and am moving to New England to pursue that dream.
The Whole Package - Focus, Ambition, Internship, Networking...
Angel Norman -- Finance
My undergraduate degree is in Business Administration from the University of Alabama. I have 15 years of experience in dentistry as a practice manager, staff trainer, management consultant, and continuing education presenter. My career objectives for returning to school included developing my knowledge of finance. While consulting, I often received questions from the doctors about their retirement plans. I did not feel qualified to provide advice. However, I saw a great need by doctors for such information.
During my summer internship I worked in a company that manufactures over-the-counter dental products. As part of my internship, the company sent me to a national dental meeting to launch the company's first professional product. At the meeting, I had the opportunity to network with the other exhibitors. I saw a company that was new to me (but that has been in business for over 30 years), Xélan. The company provides asset management and financial advising for physicians and dentists – a company suited exactly to my career goals. I spoke briefly to the exhibitors and expressed my interest in the company. I was given a contact name in their corporate office. The company sent its Atlanta advisor to interview me. After several telephone interviews with corporate in San Diego, CA, I was offered a position as financial advisor with the company. Networking really paid off for me!
An Internship Pays Off in a BIG Way!
Marcus Carr -- Finance
I was without an internship up through the beginning of May. I did some recruiting on my own off the Excel spreadsheet provided by MBA Career services. I looked at companies and cities I was interested in, then mailed off a hard copy of my resume and cover letter to a specific individual and followed-up with phones calls. I received an email from Dr. Wansley, a Finance professor, indicating that SunTrust bank had a possible position working on risk grading loans.
While I was doing my internship this summer, my supervisor mentioned that there was a new credit department consolidation that was going to take place at the end of the year. At the end of my internship, I was asked to apply for a Credit Analyst position within that department. After the interview, I was contacted by the HR department and was told that they had a more senior role in mind. Basically, she told me they wanted me to run the department and head the department start-up. During my last semester of the MBA program, I worked 20 hours per week at the bank. After graduation, I will continue my present role as Assistant Vice President and Manager of the Credit Support Unit, but on a full-time basis.
No experience? No problem!!
Ben Brownlow -- Finance
Going into the MBA program I was focused upon finding a position relating to fixed income or equity research. As an undergraduate, I had taken several investment classes and had majored in finance. However, I had no applicable work experience prior to the MBA program. To obtain an internship, I spent an enormous amount of time cold calling and arranging interviews with investment firms from New York to Memphis with recommendations. After completing my summer internship position with Morgan Keegan in equity research, I was extended a full time offer to stay on as an associate analyst. For both internship and job searches, I have found that interviewing is a learning process and most everyone I met was willing to provide beneficial advice and assistance with interviews. I quickly discovered that to find a position you must be willing to follow every lead and most importantly, be persistent.
Chapter 26: My Swan Song - January 30
My final entry has been a long time coming. I kept hoping I'd be able to write about my great new job in my last entry, but alas I am still interviewing. I decided to go the academic route (i.e., college faculy positions) and they seem to be a bit slower on the decision process than most companies. I suppose it makes sense, the job wouldn't actually start until Fall anyway -- but I would love to check off my "get a job" entry on my to-do list. The interviewing process has been exciting, thrilling, painful, disheartening, frustrating, enlightening, fun... All in all, a complete rollercoaster. Lots of travel, meeting people, and grip-and-grin sessions -- but I have to admit I have learned a lot during the process and met a number of really interesting people. I've turned down one school, been turned down by one school, and been waiting on the rest. Call me unrealistic, but I still strongly believe that the right job is going to come soon...
The great news is that my MBA has opened doors at schools that would never have considered an I/O Psychologist for the position. The title "psychologist" tends to alarm business school faculty, but the MBA seems to intrigue them. As we all know, the key to an interview is hooking them and my MBA seems to be a really good hook!
Funny thing -- at one of the schools I was actually asked about this diary by multiple people. I was floored that 1) they'd found the diary and 2) had actually read it thoroughly. Nothing like realizing you just unintentionally bared your soul to a potential employer. As our Director of Admissions likes to point out -- "I'm famous!!" Good news is that I'm still a frontrunner for the job...
Anyway, I am handing this diary over to another student for the future. Though I used this diary as an outlet for my opinions, I hope that it has provided some valuable insight into the UT MBA program. If you made it all the way through this diary, I sincerely appreciate your attention. I wish you the best as you consider your options for graduate school and hope that you seriously consider the benefits of a program like UT's. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!
It’s been a while since my last entry. When Donna Potts asked me to do one last entry I had to go back and read through my old entries to see where I’d left off. At the time I was happily married (still am!), the mother of one fabulous little boy (now I have two!), working on my PhD (done!), finishing up my MBA (also done!) and still on the job market. I am happy to say that not long after that last entry I accepted an Assistant Professor position at Augustana College, a liberal arts college in Rock Island, IL. Actually…it was the faculty at Augustana that I was talking about in my last entry. When I arrived on Augustana’s campus to interview the faculty seemed to know an awful lot about me which seemed very strange until I realized they had read the diary entries. I guess all those warnings about being very careful about what you put up online are valid!
Anyway…I am a proud member of the Business Administration department at Augie. I teach a number of courses directly related to my PhD (Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, & an I/O Psychology seminar) but I also get to teach Operations Management as a result of my MBA training. OM is, by far, my very favorite course to teach – the field is always changing so it definitely keeps me on my toes! Touring factories and organizations has turned into a serious hobby for me (we don’t go on many family trips without arranging at least one tour) and teaching OM gives me an excuse to keep knocking on business doors. My favorite part of teaching OM is the thrill I get when my students are able to take class concepts they have just been introduced to for the first time ever and apply them to our real-world projects and to their own lives. At the end of the term the final project is for the students to “re-engineer” some inefficient or ineffective process in their lives using OM concepts – reading those papers is the highlight of my term! I’ve seen everything from cold cereal inventory management to proposed overhauls of the Augie campus mail system.
But I’m not just in the classroom – my MBA has also opened doors for me to pursue consulting projects with regional organizations. In some instances I’ve included my Augie students – which helps me out with the legwork and definitely bulks up their resumes. In other cases I’ve worked projects on my own. . In the middle of a consulting project I’ve often complained about being overwhelmed with work and family responsibilities, yet I find myself looking for a new project as soon as the first one is finished. I love the complexity, the challenge and that consulting forces me to keep up to date with management research and news.
The UT MBA program was a fantastic experience for me and the education I received there continues to inform my teaching and my consulting work (and my ability to manage my time effectively!). Best wishes to as you consider your own graduate school career – it is a commitment and investment in yourself that is well worth the effort. Take care…