So I’m back from MIchigan now and had a wonderful trip! I’m going to write this debrief on the bus home from work and I have about 30 minutes to do so. Once I get home I need to finish an essay as well as do some GMAT studying. So yeah, it’s GO time!
Thursday - I got to A2 around 8pm and hopped in a cab from the airport to my friend’s friend’s apartment. I stayed there for the night because my friend whose apartment I was supposed to stay at was not feeling well and he had to get up early in the morning for an interview. It all worked out in the end because I got to meet more people! You guys know how much I love to do that. So yeah we hung out at his apartment and walked over to his friends house in the same development. She too is a 2nd year student at Ross and was working on this very cool project since she’s a member of Tauber. My host for the night interned at Amazon and I mentioned that I knew someone from Tuck who also interned at Amazon. Of course it turns out that they know one another. Small world huh?
Friday - woke up early, showered, shaved, blah blah...Then went to campus for a 9:30 start. There were about 15 prospectives in the room in the Ross building. I might as well stop now and explain this building - exquisite. I beleive they said it was completed in 2009 and it definitely shows. Look at pictures of it online and then multiply your vision by 3 and that’s what it actually feels like to be in the building. It’s much different from another school I visited in New England. I decided to say it like that because yeah, there are three schools I’ve visited in New England so you won’t know which one I’m referring too.
Anyway so the first thing on the agenda was a Q&A with current students. I knew both of the students on the panel since I met them at the Reaching Out conference. I didn’t ask any questions but rather just let others ask their questions. I did take some notes though. After that Q&A session we went on a campus tour. I should say building tour, because I guess the only school I’ve visited that has a “campus” per se is HBS. Not much to say here about the campus tour except there are multiple floors, multiple class rooms, a gym that looks like an Equinox, and a really nice auditorium.
After the campus tour was an hour long session with the Office of Career Development. Not much new information here given the fact that I’ve sat through so many of those sessions at each school. But what did strike me as important is the sheer number of recruiters that recruit at Ross. Of course it’s a top b-school, so you’ll get many recruiters, but I don’t think many people understand how many. Ross had the most summer interns at Amazon.com at 20 interns, and in 2nd place was Dartmouth with 7 interns, so Ross is phenomenal for recruiting purposes, at least that’s the sense I was left with.
After the OCD session it was time to have lunch with current students. Well one of the students was my host the prior night and the other student was someone whom I met at Reaching Out and then kept in touch with up until that point, so it was fine and dandy with me. I think lunch went for about an hour and then that was it for the day. So then I went back to my host’s apartment and we watched a movie and I fell asleep on the couch. He had to go to a dinner and I was still waiting for my origina host/friend to get back from his event for the day, so I told my host that my friend lived in the same apartment building as another guy and he immediately knew who he was and called him up to see if I could hang out there until my friend got back. Of course the other student said yes, I think he knew I was in town, and my host drove me over to his apartment. We chatted it up a bit and I worked on some essays while he did some school work. Then my friend came home and I walked across the hall and plopped down on his couch.
At this point for him it wasn’t like “phew... the day is done.. what shall we do?” It was more like... “Phew... I’m home... now I have to call this person to get some information on this company I’m recruiting for.” So I didn’t want to impose so I just threw on my headphones and watched an episode of the Office on Hulu. When 1st years say that they are incredibly busy 24/7....THEY ARE NOT KIDDING! They are always doing something or emailing someone.
After my friend was done with his phone call we went to grab a bite to eat in town, which was very cute. It was obviously larger than Hanover, and I imagine it’s smaller than New Haven CT, but I could be mistaken. At least the downtown area... But yeah so at dinner I got a different feeling for my surroundings. I didn’t feel like I was in a young college town with a bunch of undergrads. It felt like a mature but young... grad school/post grad school feeling. I don’t know how to describe it, but I could definitely see myself there for two years. Much different feeling from Ithaca, NY. MUCH!
After dinner my friend and I walked over to a bar where a couple guys were hanging out drinking and then we took a cab back to his place. Since he had an early flight in the morning and I didn’t want to wake him up if I stayed out, I told him that I would stay at someone elses apartment that night if I had his keys. Since it was Friday and I had no set agenda for the rest of the weekend, I definitely wanted to go out to a gay bar to see what that was like in Ann Arbor. I met back up with those other students and had a dirty martini at Black Pearl. Then I got a text from my other friend whom I met at Yale back in February that he was around the block. So since I hadn’t seen him since that visit, although we speak on gchat quite frequently, I met up with him after my friends and I left that other bar and were on our way to Necto.
It was great to see him again and hear about his b-school experiences thus far. His friend had just gotten into town so they were shooting the sh_t too. It was funny because my friend went to Columbia and now goes to Ross and my other friend (1 of the students I had lunch with/same person I was at the bar with) went to Columbia and goes to Ross. Even though they were at Columbia two different times, I figured I should introduce them, but as I was telling my friend this his friend was like “wait what’s your friends name?” I told him his name and he said “I know him! We did a project together... etc etc” It was just random... how am I in Michigan visiting the b-school and making connections introducing people to one another? But then I realized... This is how my life usually goes!!
So after I spent some time with them it was time for me to go dance. I walked to the bar to meet up with the other group of people and a bunch of students who are part of the LGBT club. Needless to say there was lots of Lady Gaga....Alcohol...and fun times had by all. I ended up being able to stay at a students apartment who lived in the same complex as my friend but who I hadn’t met until that night. Granted everyone was so gracious when I was out there, and I was just making new friends all over the place.
In the morning I went tailgating! It was actually my friend collegiate tailgating experience. Yes yes, I went to Rutgers which is a Division I-A school, but remember, I was a cheerleader in college so there was definitely no drinking before football games! We were practicing! So I figured.... why not have my first tailgating experience be a big one... Michigan’s last home game! While tailgaiting I had a chance to introduce my friends who went to Columbia to one another. It’s funny because they both have the same first name. I think they both read this too so they’re either smiling right now or saying to themselves “he’s so random.”
In any event, yeah... hhmmm.. oh... After tailgating I went over to a 2nd years house. I actually met her the first night that I was there because she was at my first host’s friend’s house. I know that’s tough to follow, but think about it slowly and you’ll get it! So yeah it was great speaking to her because she’s very easy to talk to and was telling me about her experience with recruiting and things like that. She’s going into brand management, and since that’s something I’m considering it was good to get an insiders perspective. She gave me a ton of great insight! a TON!
Ok gotta go.... time to get off the bus!
Ok 12 hours later and I’m back... it’s the morning and I’m back on the bus on my way to work! Literally 12 hours hahaha.. I got off the bus at 7:37pm and it’s now 7:37am! In any event let me continue my story.
So yeah the 2nd year student gave me a ton of great insight. Then she drove me to my friends house, the original persons house I was going to be staying at. Funny that I went to Michigan with the intention of staying at his place all weekend, but ended up staying there once, which goes to show how accomodating the Ross students I met are!
I took a nap and watched some tv while editing my essays and then called an old childhood friend whom I used to do gymnastics with. He went to Michigan for undergrad and still lives in Ann Arbor, so since I hadn’t seen him in like 7 years and I was his in town, it would be a good time for us to catch up again. We went to get dinner at Applebees. After that I went back home to vegitate.
I spent the whole night on the couch and got some sleep. Then in the morning I got a text message from one of the students I was hanging out with all weekend, asking if I wanted to get breakfast. He picked me up and we went to a dinner not to far from my friends apartment. His friend was with him so we all had a nice conversation.
I urge everyone to visit schools but more importantly reach out to current students and be their shadow as much as you can without imposing too much. I learn more about the school from simply listening to the students talk to one another than attending school events.
While we were sitting at the diner, I noticed someone else who looked familiar to me but not from this MBA process but rather from my senior year in college in 2003/2004! There was a guy sitting at a table not too far from me who looked very familiar and then I realized that he lived in my dorm at Rutgers my senior year!! I couldn’t remember his name, so I called my college roommate to ask him and he told me what the guys name was. So after we finished eating I went over to him and asking him probing questions to see if it was indeed him and low and behold...it was! Now THAT was random!
So really quick... the end to my trip is that my childhood friend was kind enough to drive me to the airport so I didn’t have to spend $50 on a cab and then I got home! That’s it hahaha.
No comments:
Post a Comment