Press on!

Apparently, I've been living under a rock. I had assumed Wordpress was for blogs only, but boy was I mistaken! Their super-nifty themes can be used to put up a website in a matter of minutes (sans content of course, which takes a few hundred years at the rate at which I write). So, I'm breaking up with iWeb and migrating to Wordpress instead for designing my website. Hoping to be up and running with a skeletal version in a couple of weeks.

In other news, one of my good friends from Stern came down from Westchester today to hang out with me and li'l Chikoo in Manhattan. She has been jobless since graduation (3 years now!) partly by choice (don't ask! she claims the stress of work makes her a crazy person, which I can see, but she is the kind who manages to find something to get stressed out about even when nothing's going on...) and I was very happy to hear that she is starting to look for a fulltime job finally. Anyway, she is very smart (Ivy undergrad and all that) and was giving me some good ideas and things to consider with respect to my website. Some of it is really obvious stuff that I should absolutely be thinking about - market research, how big is my target audience, when will i start to look into advertising, what is my marketing strategy beyond Facebook etc. It made me realize I really must take a more disciplined approach to the whole thing and try to apply some of my b-school strategy and marketing lessons to the new "venture" (which it is SO NOT). So far, I've simply been winging it - hey, I have a fulltime job taking care of my kid and can devote all of 30min a day to the website, so even the winging it strategy seems to be a reach some days.

Lastly, what is with this HBO show "Game of Thrones"? I mean, what's up with the gratuitous nudity? I haven't been watching, but Lamboo seems to be watching it on HBO on Demand at the rate of one episode a week (or sometimes, a month) and I usually sit with him and space out on the interweb (this is all past Chikoo's bedtime so we feel like our old selves again for a bit till Chikoo decides we've watched enough TV for the day and should be entertained by him instead). Anyway, I occasionally catch glimpses of the show and am shocked by the amount of nudity and sex. I'm hardly a prude, but is this much sex and nudity particularly necessary to further the plot? I doubt it. The show seems interesting and complex enough without it. One scene in particular bothered me about the episode we're watching tonight - a 12-year old boy feeding from his mother's breast! I am all for breast-feeding, but this is just cree.pee. I know it's probably a 'stunt boob' (yeah, I had to google it, so the next time someone starts type "st" on my google search, it is going to bring that up as the first suggestion), but isn't there some law protecting child actors from this sort of thing? He may be sucking on plastic, but doesn't the act of sucking on a boob-like object at the age of 12 scar you psychologically somehow? Not sure what directing that scene must have entailed. Or maybe there's more cgi at play and the kid is actually sucking on something not resembling a breast at all in reality. I hope.

Creating a website

My friend T and I have decided to create a website.

Sounds easy yeah?

That's what I thought too until I launched into the actual process of doing it. Sweet Holy Moly! Who'd have thunk that there are a gazillion different choices every step of the way? I'm a bit overwhelmed. And I'm embarrassed to admit that despite having been a techie, I still feel fairly clueless about the whole process. Maybe I've been a non-techie for too long (5 years now!)

The way I see it, here are the broad steps I need to accomplish:

0) Concept - Work in Progress

1) Register domain - Done!

I did all of 5 minutes of research and finally went with GoDaddy (perhaps it was those Superbowl ads! I'm quite impressionable). I have registered the domain name for 5 years at only $3.99 a year! I think that's a pretty nice deal. Not sure if I should have taken 10 years since the incremental is only $20.

2) Site hosting - Done!

Perhaps I should have done a bit more research on this, but I figured I would try out GoDaddy's basic hosting plan (on Linux) for a year and if that isn't adequate, I will switch with the benefit of knowledge gained over the next year. It cost me just $48, so I'm pretty sure that switch will happen at some point, maybe even sooner than I plan.

3) Content - Work in Progress

We have had one fairly productive brainstorming session so far which has yielded a broad outline of topics and content we intend to include on the site. It's going to be interesting to see how we are able to generate content with both of us working on this just a few hours a week.

4) Design look and feel - TBD

T is an executive producer at a media firm, so we're hoping she can rope in one of her creative friends to do some free graphics for us and help us out with the look and feel.

5) Implement - TBD

The implementation is the most challenging part. Back in my techie avatar, I mostly used MS Visual Studio on Windows to do all my programming, most of which was middle and back-end coding. Unfortunately, I currently don't own any copies of Visual Studio and even if I did, I am tripped up by the fact that my husband is an Apple-head and has Mac'ified our entire apartment. So, I'm currently researching the following:

(a) Software that runs on the Mac that can be used for building websites. I have been playing around with iWeb which does a damn decent job, but I'm not sure how well it will hold out for creating more robust functionality

(b) We intend to host a message board on our website, and would like to license third party software to run on our server, but honestly I have no clue how.

(c) I have been using Classic FTP to upload files to the host, but not very happy with it so far. It hangs too frequently and takes way too long to sync files unless I do them directory-by-directory. Looking back at the link above, I wonder why I didn't read the reviews before downloading. It seems obvious that it's a sh*tty product.

Laying out these steps on paper (!) feels good even though I'm pretty clear about it in my head. I'm very excited about this venture! It gives me something intellectually challenging to do - much as a love my son, there are moments when I miss the brain-workout and adult-interaction aspects of my job. More importantly, I love it that I'm doing this with T who is one of my closest friends and really fun to work with.

I will aim to detail our progress as we move through the process. Any helpful tips are greatly appreciated (am not sure why I end all my posts soliciting feedback when I am pretty sure I have 0 readers right now :-)).

Food

Have I mentioned I love cooking? I used to love the calming effect it has after a crazy hectic day dealing with all the insanity at work. And I still love it even though my life is not quite that insane anymore (at least till the little one becomes more mobile and subsequently starts getting into all sorts of trouble). Something about the numbing monotony of washing and cutting, firing up the stove, the familiar yet exciting anticipation of the hiss as the ingredients hit the hot oil, the velvety feeling of spice on your fingers as you color your dish with them, even the seemingly-endless uncover/check/stir/cover cycle until finally you see and simply KNOW without a doubt that dish is complete. And the immense satisfaction of having created something tangible (and hopefully delicious, though we all have our days). And I'm not even talking about trying out new, exciting stuff; I feel this way even about your basic rice, dal and subzi. So, you can only imagine the kind of euphoria I feel and the kind of incessant nag I become when I try something new ("so, was it good? what did you think? did it need more paprika? should i have grilled it instead of broiling"... ad nauseum).

I love eating too. I've been extremely lucky on this front since (a) I have a mom who is an absolutely amazing, phenomenal cook (the kind who can taste a dish, figure out all the ingredients in it, and then do a pretty damn good job recreating it - a skill that has sadly eluded me); (b) I live in New York, a foodie mecca; and (c) I have a husband who enjoys cooking and eating as much (maybe even more) than I do.

One of my weekend (and occasionally weekday) pleasures is visiting the Union Square Greenmarket. Normally I'm not particularly adventurous with the produce - I pick up basic stuff like tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, beets etc. However, yesterday I was in a mood to make something a bit different, so I picked up some delectable-looking spring baby veggies - baby carrots, baby zucchini, yellow and orange baby bell-peppers, spring onions and some asparagus. Guess I still have "baby brain" 7 months post partum!

Anyway, I decided to KISS* and go with a salad. I also had some pearl red onions lying around from having made sambar recently, so decided to add those for a little bit of bite.

Here's the super-simple recipe (don't get thrown off by the steps; I just like super-detailed recipes, that's all).

Desigal's "Oh Baby" Salad:

For salad:

Baby carrots - 1 bunch (6 or 7)

Baby zucchini - 6

Baby bell-peppers - 6

Pearl (baby) onions (Red) - 10. Alternatively, use 1/4 of a medium red onion

Asparagus - 10

Fresh goat cheese (optional)

Parsley (optional)

For vinaigrette:

1 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 spring onion (or shallot)

EVOO for drizzling

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Steps:

0) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1) Wash the veggies and trim ends off the carrots and zucchini

2) Peel the pearl onions (soak them in water for about 15min and the skin comes off quite easily)

3) Cut the zucchini and bell peppers lengthwise in half. Cut the asparagus on a bias to match the length of the zucchini and carrots. If using regular red onion instead of pearl onions, cut the onion into half or quarter rings (such that the onion pieces/strands match the length of the other veggies)

4) Cover a baking pan with aluminum foil, spread the veggies on it, drizzle with a little EVOO and sea salt (or kosher salt) and pepper. Toss with hands to mix in oil, salt and pepper.

5) Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on how soft you want the veggies).

For the vinaigrette:

1) Mince the spring onion (or shallot).

2) Mix together vinegar, oil, mustard and spring onion. Whisk to incorporate

Finally, combine veggies and vinaigrette. I like throwing the whole thing into a tupperware container, shaking vigorously to mix, and then sticking the container in the fridge to let the vegetables marinate a bit in the vinaigrette.

To serve, spoon the salad onto plates, add a dollop of goat cheese, season with a sprig of parsley and serve with a piece of crusty baguette.

Much to my delight, even my in-laws - who are very very desi and set in their ways and whose idea of salad is slices of cucumber and nothing more - enjoyed this salad, as did my very carnivorous husband.

Hope someone tries this! If you do, be sure to post your feedback!

Desi Mom

Wow, it's been a really long time, needless to say.

What have I been upto? Let's see - I got a job in finance at a large multinational financial institution, worked as an associate for 18mos, got promoted to VP (yay!), worked another year, had a kid, went back part-time, couldn't stand it, and have now decided to take a break from work till the end of the year (or at least the end of summer).

OK, now that we're all caught up, let's chat.

Can I say how patronizing some people are about Stay At Home Moms (SAHMs)? I recently went on a 5K run with a friend from my ex-job and she made a very disparaging comment about my current situation (i.e. being a SAHM for a while). It's not really worth getting into the specifics, but suffice it to say that I was quite hurt. The comment made it sound like being a full-time mother is somehow "less" than being a working woman. Now, my friend is 36 and single and quite career focused, so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised by the attitude. But come on people - show a little empathy. And a little respect. You have no idea the kind of patience, resilience and smarts you need when bringing up a child.

In any case, I don't want to make this a ramble about working moms vs stay at home moms. It's a personal choice (or sometimes not a choice at all but a necessity) and having experienced both of those things albeit for short periods, I'll say both are equally difficult and each has its tradeoffs. What is terrible is single people or folks without kids somehow adding a value judgement to either situation. Also - single friends of mine - next time we meet, ask me how my kid is at least once in the course of a 2 hour hangout. I have to listen to you go on and on about your new role at work ad nauseum, but you don't have the decency to ask me about my KID?? Seriously??!

Questions to avoid

This might be a slightly mean post, but people, you have to stop asking the following 2 questions:

1. My stats are blah blah blah. What are my chances?
2. You must have discussed [essay3/gmat scores] with your classmates. What do most people do/score?

No one can tell you your chances except for members of the admissions committee. I know it's very tempting to think that current students have some sort of insight into the process, but honestly, we have no friggin' clue. Really. None.

As for the second question, once people get into bschool, they almost never discuss the application process, except maybe to express relief that the whole thing is over. One reason is that once you get into a school of your choice, you no longer feel the need to constantly obsess about how you got there (yes, I know it seems an impossibility right now to even imagine a state of being where you're not thinking about the process, but trust me, you WILL get there). And the other reason is that there is so much going on once you start school that there's not much time to sit around reminiscing about your essays. Recruiting will kick in almost as soon as you join, and if you think this process is tough, wait till you get to that one [pause for evil laughter: *mwahahahaha*]

So anyway, don't mean to be mean, but you will be saving both of us (and other students you talk to) a lot of annoyance if you would simply leave these 2 questions out of your list.

Happy Halloween!

Random photos taken in the city

A non-Stern post, after a long long time.

Over the summer, I spent a good chunk of one of my paychecks on a Nokia N95 which, among its many wonderful features, contains an awesome 5MP camera (you can check out more about the phone here). Here are some photos I took with the phone, some in New York and a couple in Dubai


Waiting to cross the GWB... OH BOY!










"Prayers for Peace" - outside a church in midtown









Metro chic!












And more of it












Take me out to the ball game - Mets Stadium










The quintessential image of Dubai - The Burj









Droopy Dromedaries











Sand Art (see video here)

Agony Aunt

"Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in"

Hard to believe it has been two years since I went through this pain and suffering. But take it from someone (definitely) older and (questionably) wiser, that it is definitely worth it. Or not - if the economy goes into a full-fledged recession before I graduate, I'll be singing a different tune, to be sure.

In any case, here are some answers to the most recent FAQ's I've received via email:

1. How generous is Stern wrt financial aid?

From what I understand, quite generous (based on purely anecdotal evidence). I know of many people who are on partial or full scholarships, either through the school or through associations like the Forte Foundation. On this matter, you should probably talk to the admissions office who'll be able to put you in touch with people better versed on this subject.

In addition to scholarships and federal and private loans, once you are in school, you can apply for part-time jobs on campus of which there are many (you probably won't have time for one in the first semester because of recruiting, but going forward there is definitely a lot of availability).

2. What did you particularly like about the environment at Stern, both in the classroom and outside?

Ok, I am going to try to not make this sound like propoganda, but it probably will :-)
In the classroom, I am constantly amazed at how great the professors are. Learning from professors like Damodaran, Roubini and Yermack is truly a pleasure. Not only are they extremely knowledgeable about their subjects (and I don't mean merely from an academic perspective, but also from a practical one as well), they are also very very good teachers, constantly motivating you to think harder and really understand the underlying concepts.

When I was applying last year, I honestly never believed in the whole "learning from my classmates" line, but having taken a number of case-based classes, I can confidently say that most of the learning in those courses happens because of the vast range of experiences your classmates bring to the classroom. There are as many viewpoints as there are students, and I never realized how narrow my viewpoint was on certain issues.

Outside the classroom, what I really like (apart from getting shitfaced with my friends at the many, many social events) is that there are so many opportunities to stretch your wings. Whether it is organizing a conference for a club, participating in the Stern Consulting Corps, taking part in case competitions or business plan competitions, managing a live investment fund, or acting as a VC consultant for startups, there are more opportunities than there is time. I think I have made the most use of quite a few of these opportunities, and I have really loved challenging myself and getting involved in things that I would never have to opportunity to do outside of school or in my career.

3. If you could change a few things about Stern, what would they be?

Definitely, add more space. For some reason, there's always a dearth of study space in school (guess that's a feature of being in downtown New York!). There's plenty of bars and cafes around to hang out in, but probably not the most conducive for studying.
Can't think of any others right now, but the next time I crib about something, will jot it down.

4. Which are the most popular courses? which did you like the most?

Oh, there's a bunch depending on your specialization. Some popular ones (the * indicates that I took the course, the + indicates I liked it a lot):

Corporate Finance (Damodaran) *+
Restructuring Firms and Industries (Yermack) *+
International Macroeconomic Theory and Policy (Roubini) *+
Competitive Strategies in the Marketplace (Czepiel)
Game Theory (Brandenberger)
Foundations of Entrepreneurship (Okun) *+
Bankruptcy (Altman)
Advanced Futures and Options (Subramanyam)
Consumer Behavior

5. Which student clubs did you participate in? Which are the most active ones?

Pretty much most of the clubs are very active. Almost all the professional clubs are very active (GFA, MCA, GMA etc.) and are great networking opportunities. For banking, GFA is the one to pick. The region-based social clubs are pretty active as well (SABAS, LABA, ABS, JBA etc.), and those can be a great way to network and hang out with people who are from or share an interest in the region. And of course, there's SWIB which is a bit of both and a lot of fun.

6. Were you satisfied with the career office?

The Office of Career Development (OCD) does a fantastic job of educating you about career options as well as preparing you for the whole recruiting process. They are also constantly trying to get an increasingly broader range (i.e. more non-finance) of companies to recruit from Stern. I was very happy with the skillset they provided me through their workshops etc. I think most of my classmates would attest to this as well.

7. Besides clubs etc, what kind of activities are available for people interested in a banking career?

I'm not sure I understand the question completely, but since when does that prevent an MBA student from giving gyaan :-).

If you mean what other networking opportunities, I'd say that the OCD and the GFA organize a number of events where you can meet people from different banks and network with them. The banks themselves organize a number of events to pitch the company and also to get a feel for prospective applicants.

If you're talking about training, the GFA organizes events like "Training the Street" which is a modeling workshop; different professors hold valuation, accounting workshops etc.; JP Morgan organizes an annual case competition which is a great way to get a feel for banking and also impress managers; there are a number of inter-school case competitions to test your mettle against the folks from other top schools in the country; GFA organizes an annual conference where you can hear senior executives from a number of banks discuss topics of relevance.

All ye prospective Sternies

Be sure to attend Preview Weekend. It's a great way to get a feel for the school and your future classmates, have some fun, and most importantly, watch me make an ass of myself. Yup, in a moment of sheer madness, I volunteered to be part of the desi dance program for Passport Day (which is the culmination of Preview Weekend). While I don't exactly have two left feet, my dancing is more suited to the so-crowded-you-can-barely-move dance club scene than a well-coreographed bollywood jhatka & matka affair. But what's done is done and all that's left is to pity the audience.

If you are among the 3 people who read my blog, AND have been admitted to Stern, AND will be visiting during Preview Weekend - Should I just give up right now? :-) - do stop by at the South Asia/India booth and say hello.

Enjoy your admits and preview weekends and have fun being wined and dined while it lasts.

The New York Advantage

Two more reasons to go to Stern?

1. Stern Consulting Corps is a wonderful opportunity, on the professional and personal front. On a personal level, it is a fun and unique way to give back to the community and also to immerse yourself in a unique experience. On the professional front, it is an opportunity to get hands-on consulting experience, while learning from senior consultants (typically from McKinsey, BAH, Deloitte etc.) who act as mentors throughout the 10-week program. And, you get paid for it!

I'm part of the program this semester, working on a project for Carnegie Hall. I obviously cannot divulge the details of the project, but I'll definitely say that this experience is very different from anything I've done before and anything I'll probably do in my future career in finance. I've only been on the project a few weeks now, but I've already learnt a great deal about the industry and about marketing and strategy. And in this case, there are the added perks like free concert-hall tours and tickets ;-).

2. Experiencing NYC in the classroom - One of the best things about being in b-school in NYC is the access we have to businesses and other institutions, enabling us to watch what we learn in the classroom being applied to businesses every day. An example?
Live Met Opera Case Study - As part of our marketing class, we are doing a live case study on the Metropolitan Opera today. Highlights of the day include a tour, a dress rehearsal of Simon Boccanegra, and a meeting with senior management (and possibly Peter Gelb!). Only in NY!

There are things every top business school can give you (a great education and a good network), but only in New York will you get the kind of access and experience that makes business school a truly rewarding experience. So, keep that in mind as your admits start to flow in and you are in the enviable position of deciding between Stern and other schools.

On the personal front:
I did obtain a summer internship about a month ago. I'm happy to say it was my first choice and a highly competitive one. It feels GREAT to have a job, but given that my entire first semester seems to have been driven by the sole purpose of procuring an internship, I feel somewhat demotivated these days. Or, maybe it's just the weather.

Also, for those of you who plan to visit Stern and have lunch with a student, I have signed up to be part of the program. So, if you are paired up for lunch with a smart, beautiful, charming Indian woman, it could very well be yours truly ;-).

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe I'm through 25% of my MBA! It's a very strange, yet satisfactory feeling.
This semester has been a whirlwind of activity - corporate presentations, OCD required events, quizzes, homeworks and midterms, club activities, and finally summer internship applications. If nothing else, this semester has taught me how to manage my time (somewhat) effectively.

Anyhow, I am off to India for 2 weeks to chill out, eat some good food and hang out with family and friends, and of course, to prepare for all the interviews scheduled in Jan.

Happy Holidays! And for all the applicants whose deadlines are around the corner, Good Luck!!

On the job front

So, to give anyone interested a glimpse into how the whole summer internship application process works:

October: Shmooze with company reps when they come on campus for presentations, and get as many business cards as you can.
October-November: Write thank you notes and ask for informational interviews. An Informational Interview is - for most industries and companies - a meeting with someone at the company where you can have a conversation with them and find out as much as you can about the company, the industry and the different jobs in it. For jobs like IBanking and Sales & Trading, however, this process is more of an interview and less of a conversation (from what I've heard).
December: Apply to the companies for the various open positions
December: Companies will shortlist you for an interview based on your resume as well as the feedback they have received from the different people you have met and spoken to at the company.
January: Interviews and final decisions.

This same timeline is repeated in the spring for Entertainment, Media and Technology companies, perhaps with less emphasis on the informational interview.

In other words, think of it as a painful extension of the MBA application process (except for the small mercy of not having to write 4 essays for each application, which is more than offset by the pain of shmoozing with people every single day throughout October)

So, yours truly is currently in the process of writing custom cover letters, and praying that she doesn't make speling mistaks or indavertently refer to Ms. Jane Smith as Mr. Jane Smith, or confuse Morgan Stanley with JP Morgan in her cover letters, and remembers to send in all the applications by the correct deadline dates.

Fit and Community

"Being an international applicant, I couldn't get a chance to visit the Stern campus.
It would be great if you could tell me little bit more about the Stern community and how fit a person from technical background is to Stern"

Regarding fit - to be entirely honest, I'm not sure I know how to answer that question. We do have a lot of engineers, but we also have a lot of people from other backgrounds. Stern really tries to get people from diverse backgrounds and also diverse future interests. It's hard to say how many engineers they would end up admitting because it depends on the size and mix of the applicant pool each year.

Regarding community - Now that I am here at Stern, I can say that our community is truly one of our biggest assets, in addition to our excellent faculty (especially in Finance and Marketing) and our location. One of the most valuable things you gain from your MBA is a lifelong network, and I think Stern really helps build and foster those relationships by establishing a very strong sense of community.

When I first visited Stern as a prospective student, I didn't expect to see a tight-knit community feeling among the students, especially because of the New York location and the lack of a typical campus structure. However, when I was at the information session, the 2 guys who were holding the information session seemed to know everyone! People were in groups everywhere, studying or just hanging out, and everyone seemed to know everyone. It was definitely eye-opening. And now that I am here, I can attest to that.

I think the way you build a community is getting together like-minded people and giving them a lot of opportunity to work and play together. And Stern does this very well - in your first semester, you are divided into Blocks of 60 each, and you take most core classes together with your block, but also do a lot of activities together - there are block parties, block volunteer activities (our block volunteered for the Avon Walk this year), and block dinners with each of our professors for this semester. Through these activities, you get to know everyone in your block pretty well by the end of the first semester. Add to this the different clubs that you will be member of, and all the different events and activities (both formal and alcohol-centric) that each club holds, and you can see how your sense of community and your network builds!

It's that time of the year again

No, I'm talking about the stress-inducing holidays. I'm talking about the stress-inducing MBA application time. I've been receiving some emails about what Stern does, what the community is all about etc. , so I'm going to try and answer some of those questions here.

Today's question:
I was looking to gain insight into the student clubs/activities related to Finance at Stern. Could you please provide me information from your experience at Stern that you think sets the school apart from other leading B-Schools, especially in the finance field. What kind of activities does Stern organize that helps students pursuing a career in the finance field?

As any current B-school student will tell you, I don't think I can do a fair relative-value assessment. What I can talk about is what Stern does, so here goes.

NOTE: This is specific to Finance, but some of these activities apply to all industries and functions, and the professional clubs associated with each industry organize their own activities similar to the ones organized by the Graduate Finance Association here at Stern.

1. Official Corporate Events - During October and November, before you apply to companies for your summer intership (typically, applications are due the first week of Dec), atleast two to three companies come to campus every day for corporate presentations - these are typically a presentation followed by a reception during which you get to network with the representatives of the company (usually the companies are represented by somewhere between 5 and 20 people, depending on the type and size of the firm). These events are organized by the Office of Career Development (OCD).

2. Panels - The OCD holds a number of panels with MBA2's and alumni where you can learn more about a particular industry, company or function. There are a number of these that happen throughout your first semester to help you make a more informed decision about what track you want to pursue

3. Workshops - Because Finance jobs are highly sought after and the selection process is extremely competitive, the clubs alongwith the Office of Career Development host a number of workshops for Resume & Cover Letter Writing, Behavioral Interview, Technical Interview as well as specialized workshops such as How to Pitch a Stock etc. throughout the first semester to help you prepare for the application process.

4. Unofficial Corporate Events - In addition to the corporate presentations hosted by the school, there are also other, specialized events such as cocktail receptions with companies, which are hosted by clubs such as the GFA, AIM (Association for Investment Management), STR (Sales, Trading and Research club) and FEA (Financial Engineering Association).

5. GFA Hour - This is a 1.5 hour weekly lunch during which a company will come and talk about a topic - this could either be a case study of a recent deal that they completed, or it could be about a particular industry or a current issue affecting the economy or businesses. Not only are these highly informative, again these are also a great way to network with officers in the company. Typically, the companies who participate in GFA Hour are all the major investment banks, but we also have other financial institutions such as commercial banks, credit card companies, mutual funds etc.

6. Other - In addition to these, a number of clubs like the GFA organize alumni mixers, where you can network with alumni. The school has an online database of about 70,000 alumni worldwide whom you can contact. I have had tremendous response from all the alumni I have contacted, and they have been instrumental in my research into companies and industries.
So, as you can see, the school - through the OCD and the clubs - invests a lot of time and effort to make sure that you are successful in establishing a longterm career that is the right one for you.

I will try to talk more about other industries, in the coming weeks, but typically recruiting for Finance happens in early-mid Jan, followed by Consulting and Marketing. The Entertainment & Media, and Technology companies come to campus starting in March.

If you have questions, post a comment or send me an email and I will try to address them going forward.

Good luck with all your applications!

Fame, Glory and a Big Cardboard Check

I recently found out about the Seventh Annual Deloitte Case Challenge at Stern, and decided to participate in it just for the challenge (if not at bschool, then when?). The competition was held last Thursday, and what follows is the sweat and tear-filled saga of the trials and tribulations of 5 classmates in search of glory and fame. Or something.

12 teams (out of 16 teams that applied) were selected at random using a lottery. Each team consisted of 5 members (thankfully, there was no random assignment of teams - we got to pick our own before the competition). We were given the case on Thursday night, and had till Friday 8am to prepare the presentation. What followed was a fun and challenging experience.

The case was about a men's wallet company looking to expand into the women's handbag market; we had to come up with an analysis on the soundness of the plan as well as recommendations for the next 5 years for the company. There was a lot of data provided alongwith the case, and one of the challenges was trying to sift out the relevant data. We took about an hour to read through the case and some of the materials in order to internalize the information, and another hour coming up with the right framework to use to evaluate the case. Since this was a market entry case, we decided to analyze it using the 4Ps (Product, Pricing, Placement and Promotion) and Porter's Five Forces. We then spent a good two hours talking about the case and brainstorming different ideas.

At around 10:30pm, we were finally ready to divide the case up and attack the components in teams of one or two. Broadly, we split this up into target market/placement, promotion, supply and manufacturing, financials and competitive landscape. In addition to the manufacturing and supply-chain research, I opted to do the financials alongwith another teammate, and this was probably the most challenging part of the case (and according to the judges, what really set us apart from the other teams). The financials were challenging because the company is private and the only financial data we were provided was an estimated income statement for 2006. The est. IS had entries for Sales Revenue, Cost of Revenue, Interest Expense and SG&A, and we had to make a ton of assumptions about expected revenues from the handbag business, cost of advertising, cost of capital and operating costs in order to do the requisite DCF valuations (thank you, Gode and Silber!!). What I found somewhat surprising was that none of the other teams did a DCF valuation (I guess it pays to have two finance geeks on the team! :-)).

After working on our individual slides for the next 4 hours, we put everything together and went over the deck a couple of times to check for accuracy and typos. At 4am, we decided to call it a night, and went home to get a couple of hours of sleep (apparently, we were one of two teams that got some sleep that night!). We were back in school at 8am to hand in 12 hardcopies of our slides. During our first round presentation at 9am, we presented for 30 minutes to a panel of 3 judges (just us and them in the room); there were about 4 or 5 questions at the end during the 5-minute Q&A session, a couple of which were quite challenging. After our presentation, we headed to the Starbucks lounge to get some shut-eye before lunch.

During lunch, the three finalist teams were announced, and somewhat to our surprise, we happened to be one of the teams!

The final round presentations followed a slightly different format. The room was open to all the other participants as well as the 4 teams who got eliminated by the lottery on the first day (overall, around 60-70 people). Each team was alloted 40 minutes to present to the audience and a panel of 9 judges, each of whom could interrupt us at any time to ask questions. Our team was the second to go. Our first teammate spoke of target market and placement, and was only asked one question, right at the end. This gave us a sense of hope that was quickly extinguished as we witnessed our second teammate get interrupted every 30 seconds during the course of her 4 minute speech. However, she held herself with amazing confidence and answered all the questions extremely well. I was the next to face the firing squad.

There are times in life when we surprise ourselves. I had no idea I could be so poised under pressure, or that I could "wing it" so well when required (I'm usually all about preparation, preparation, preparation!). I was barely 30 seconds into my speech when bang! came the first question. Next thing I knew, I was barely following my original speech format, having been forced to modify it in order to answer the questions that kept coming up. Luckily, I had done enough research on the topic (supply-chain and offshoring/outsourcing) to be able to answer most of the questions. A couple of questions threw me off a bit, but we had all agreed as a team that should we be asked for research or data that we didn't have, our answer should be "we'll have to research it some more and get back to you", which was a lifesaver!

Anyway, the rest of the presentation went off relatively smoothly, and we all heaved a huge sigh of relief and proceeded to the cocktail event to get some much needed alcohol-therapy. By this time, most of us had gone almost 36 hours without sleep (not counting the 2 hr nap in the morning), and were hardly in a mood to network with the Deloitte executives or with one another. The Deloitte guys probably saw this, and decided to announce the winner fairly early on and put us out of our collective misery.

For lack of a good segue, I shall put it quite bluntly - WE WON!!!!!!

We were awarded one of the ridiculously big cardboard checks (RBCC) for $2500 and somewhat smaller, individual carboard checks $500 each (and a wallet from the company that the case was based on). Much squealing, giggling and hugging (did I mention our team had 4 women? GIRL POWER!!) later, we posed for photos with our checks and some of the senior partners. After some more networking, we decided to drop the check off in front of our strategy professor's office (did I mention all of us are in the same block? GO BLOCK 3!!!), and head home for some overdue R&R.

HAPPY DIWALI!!

Wishing all (both? :-)) my readers a Very Happy & Prosperous Diwali!! May the coming year bring you everything you wish for (and may that focus on happiness more than prosperity)!

Tiiiiiiiime

What's been going on?

- B-schools have more VP positions than students. Everyone I know has become VP of something or the other ("VP of New VP Management") at some club or the other ("Association of Indian Ex-Software Engineers looking to move into Finance"). Some clubs are a bit too full of themselves (conducting multiple, rigorous interviews), while others will make you VP if you so much as bother showing up to their kickoff meeting.
- Corporate presentations are in full swing. This is when it helps to be focused because the presentations begin conflicting with each other (there are only 3 slots a day for presentations and a lot of companies).
- Midterms are in two weeks. Mid-terms?? It's barely been a month!

Dates Galore

No, I'm not talking about the dinner-and-a-movie kind, sadly.

Between the academic deadlines (individual assignments, team assignments, team presentations, quizzes, midterms, finals), the Office of Career Development's (OCD) deadlines (resume reviews, interview workshops, career counselling), and the dates and deadlines for various clubs and activities, I am already running around like a chicken with its head cut off. And it's only been a week! Of course, I should've signed up for the time management workshop offered during preterm, but um, hehe, I was late in signing up for it. So, now, I really have to figure out a better system than Google calendar to manage my schedule. Maybe I need to suck it up and get a Treo or a Q. Even so, I somehow don't feel comfortable with the way things are setup on a regular calendar. I think I need to come up with some sort of custom spreadsheet.

In other news, we have a business plan competition coming up... er... sometime in the next two years, for which I have teamed up with a few people. We have a pretty solid idea, but a lot of research needs to be done to see if it's feasible. The prize is seed money, so if we can win, atleast I wouldn't have to go through the whole recruiting process, and that would be schweeeet!

Pre-Term

It's been a crazy busy week of seemingly non-stop networking. Some highlights of the week:

0. Some talks by some very impressive alumni and corporate leaders and faculty (CEO of Rothschild, Global Head of Equities at Lehman, VP of Corp Marketing at Sony).

1. Scavenger Hunt - This was a professionally organized scavenger hunt which pitted study groups within a block against each other (fyi - the class of 400 odd is divvied into "blocks" of 70ish each, each further divvied into study groups of 5-6). All groups within a block were sent off to the same downtown neighborhood armed with a set of 20 clues to solve. Though we didn't win (we got too cocky and made two very careless errors), we had a hoot running around Chinatown trying to solve the clues. I have a feeling I may have been a bit too aggressive, but I think atleast two of my teammates were equally, if not more, so. I know I'm not usually this aggressive inside the classroom, but I guess that's what happens when you're pitted against 400 other Type-A's.

2. Mets Game - This was kinda cool because, despite having been in NY for over 5 yrs, I've never been to a baseball game before. Even though the game was painfully boring (I'm told not all baseball is this sporific), it was a good, relaxed atmosphere to bond with classmates.

3. Presentation Skills Workshop & Networking Skills Workshop - Because these are two very very important aspects of not only landing a job, but also of becoming a successful leader, the school had two experts come in and talk in detail about these. Personally, I felt 80% of both the workshops were things that I was already familiar with (most of it common sense really), but 20% of it was actually quite valuable and new.

4. Bar Blasts - These were fun because (1) they were all held in the E.Village, which is still a somewhat alien neighborhood for me (I always avoided it since it was filled with raucous college students :-)), and (2) yes, you guessed it - bars are good places to get to know people better, thanks to alcohol, the Great Uninhibitor.

The rest of the week was a blur of presentations by professors, alumni and the various offices serving the MBA program.

A quick note about networking - Even though I talked to about a 100 (or more) people, and connected pretty well with atleast 30 of those (people whom I spoke to more than once, for atleast 10-15 minutes each), I did not enjoy the process as much as I thought I would. This is not to say that the people weren't interesting (quite the opposite, in fact); I think it's more because the whole thing is so forced. But, I suppose I'd better get used to it, since this is how it's going to be at all events (esp. recruiting presentations) for the next two years.

Some photos from Italy

My Italy trip can be summed up in one word - "gastronomic". The whole trip was pretty much about eating and drinking. I think every meal I consumed consisted of 3 courses and half a bottle of wine (plus Amarone/Grappa/Limoncello and what-have-you). I think the only authentic Tuscan food I didn't eat was the tripe, which I was too chickenshit to try. The wines were very, very good across the board - Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile de Montepulciano. Even the Vino da Tavolo's (table wines) were pretty damn good. But, the thing I absolutely LOVED were the olives! I have never, ever tasted olives so fresh and succulent. Mmmm....

Anyway, the food was amazing, and the Tuscan landscape is so varied and beautiful; from the green groves of Chianti to the rolling plains of Volterra, to the hills of Montalcino, each region has its own distinctive look. The common thread is that the towns all have medieval forts and churches. I would've definitely liked to see more of Tuscany, especially northern Tuscany.

The one thing I would've done differently is stay somewhere in Tuscany (most likely somewhere in Chianti) rather than staying in Florence and taking day-trips. Florence is cool, but I liked the countryside a lot more. Also, because Florence is such an old city, there are way too many one-ways and winding roads, which makes getting in and out of Florence pretty time consuming.

Florence was kinda cool. It's a lot smaller and less modern than Rome or Milan, but it was easier to walk around in. It was also tons of fun renting a moped to drive around Florence for a couple of days. It's the best way to get around the city, and brought back wonderful memories of riding around Bangalore in a Kinetic Honda :-). I must say, I didn't care too much for the Uffizi. Too much Christianity without much thematic variation in the paintings. Or maybe just my ignorance.

Milan was cool the way New York or London or Paris is cool. I did splurge a bit in Milan and eat at a Michelin starred restaurant (I figured what the hell, I'll probably be living on pizza for the next two years), which was really good, but nowhere as good as a Michelin starred restaurant in Paris (IMHO, maybe the guide is only reliable for France). I also window-shopped on Via Napoleone and Via della Spiga (maybe in a few years, I might actually be able to buy something from one of those shops).

MILAN:
Tram Station. "Efficiency" and "Italian" seldom go together, but the tram timings were pretty accurately reflected on these little screens.
















Top of the Duomo against an absolutely clear blue sky. Sadly, due to ongoing repairs, the rest of the facade was covered by a terribly unsightly billboard










Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle













Slightly creepy-looking souveniers


















FLORENCE:
The marble facade of the Cathedral (at the Duomo)












Firenze - city of scooters and mopeds













Santa Croce at dusk (over the next couple of days, we kept getting lost and coming back to the same spot :-))











Dudes fishing in the Arno! ("catch of the day" at the neighborhood restaurant?)

















TUSCANY:
The landscape around Volterra is a complete contrast to the Chianti landscape (more brown here than green, of the wheat fields)











Wine Barrells inside the Vignomaggio Winery in Greve


















Chianti Country (grapevines, olive groves and cypress trees)
























Lots of sunflower fields en route to Montalcino (from Florence)











View from terrace of the Vignomaggio Estate (a beautiful winery in Greve, producing some excellent Chianti Classico)










San Gimignano, city of 14 "skyscrapers" (medieval towers dating back to the 13th century, the tallest of which is 175 ft)

Almost there

There have been a whole lot of little things to take care of before school. I finally completed the assessments (needn't have even studied all the material; they were really simple), registered for classes (all core courses since I can't really opt out of any of them), got my ID, submitted all the requisite forms etc.. I still need to buy a bag (backpack? messenger bag?), business calculator, stationery etc. Boring, but necessary.

I did use my new ID to visit the Bobst Library, and the Kaufman Mgmt Center. I'm hoping I have time to go back and check out more of Stern sometime next week. Also, it takes me only around 20 minutes to walk from my house to the campus, so it should be possible to walk to school on most days, rather than taking the subway.

Other than that, I've been reading a bit ("Altered Carbon", "Kite Runner", "Guns, Germs and Steel", "Freakonomics", "Maximum City"), hanging out with friends, cooking a lot and watching way too many "Law and Order" marathons.

Will post my Italy snaps soon...