Yes, it's 5:19am the day AFTER Christmas and I'm awake just sitting on my moms couch watching Home Alone! My biorhythms are jacked up and I sleep at the oddest times - which if you ask my GMAT tutor isn't that far off from my normal life anyway. In any event, I was just going through my blog and looking at where I was at this time last year in the application process and I was just about to embark on another day of massive essay writing. You can read about that blog post here: Last Years Essay Writing.
So that's that! I had an incredibly busy weekend - starting on Thursday. First, I signed up for Tuck's Winter Retreat hosted by what I assume is TAABA - Tuck African Ancestry Business Association, but I could be mistaken. In any event, one of my friends up at Tuck sent out an invitation to many of our peer schools for this 3rd Annual Retreat up in Vermont. Of course then we all texted and emailed our friends from other schools to see if they'd be going. The turnout from what I hear thus far should be great! It's going to be a blast and I need to brush up on my Skiing skills. Thankfully, one of my classmates has offered to teach my how to snowboard at the Ski resort not too far from Cornell, so I definitely need to take him up on his offer.
After signing up for the retreat, I trekked my butt into the city to hang out with my friend who goes to Stern. When I got to his apartment I had to take a nap because like I said, my body is all out of whack. But then after I napped (he was at the gym) we went to grab a bite to eat. That was actually the first time in over a year that he and I had a chance to just sit and chat about business school. I first met him last year at NYU Stern's Discover Stern weekend and then his brother is the one who stayed at my house in Ithaca a couple weeks ago the night before his interview.
After he and I had dinner, we headed up to Harlem to go to a bunch of our mutual friends who go to school with him at Stern. I know many of them from Consortium and from MLT. House parties are always fun and a conversation that I had that night is what is going to spark my "What I've Learned in Business School" post after I finish writing this one. I have nothing else going on anyway - well at least not until January 2nd when I fly to San Francisco for our Silicon Valley Trek but I digress. While at the party, one of my classmates from Johnson showed up too which was a lot of fun.
The following day I went to my other friend's Holiday Party down in Central Jersey. It was very nice seeing everyone again and being able to have discussions with other people now that I know what they do. What I mean by that is, now that I know what someone does when he says that he trades derivatives or that he's in retail banking. Yeah, it's a great feeling and a whole new world has opened up to me! But with that said, I'm going to close out this post and make another one right now about what I've learned in business school.
Sidenote - how come in Home Alone this 7yr old boy doesn't just think to go to a neighbors house and tell them what happened to him? Why is he running around town setting up traps? SMH
Showing posts with label nyu discover stern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyu discover stern. Show all posts
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, October 11, 2010
NYU Diversity Conference Day 3
Ok so NYU Diversity Conference Day 3 started off with... yup you guessed it... breakfast!
This time we were upstairs on the 5th floor sitting at tables and not in the reception area downstairs. I got there around 9:30 and talked with people until about 10 when the event was to start. It was funny because we were sitting with a current student during breakfast just talking about life in NYC. She was amazed that we could order food from the grocery store and have it delivered to our houses. Then she was like "yeah and some people have maids!" I'm like... "I have a cleaning lady..." and she's like "yeah see that's what I'm talking about." and I'm like "but she's not a maid... I mean she cleans the apartment from top to bottom and does my laundry, but she's not a maid." and then someone else sitting at the table said "I have a cleaning lady too..." and another person said "Me too...and I'm addicted to ordering groceries!" That's how the conversation went, but to us who live here it wasn't anything new or uncommon.
Anyway - I digress... So after breakfast there was an informal speaker just about things to get involved in at Stern and the student life. This was for about an hour.
Then we went upstairs and sat in groups of 4/5 with a current student to go over our 60 second pitches! Now this was incredibly helpful! It's amazing how people interpret what your saying in a completely different way from what you originally intended! I definitely need to practice my 60 second pitch. Basically what you want to get across is:
Where you want to be -> what you've been doing up until now/background -> How an MBA will get you to where you want to be. Someone in the group would go... and then the rest of us would make comments and so on and so forth. Great exercise!
After the 60 second pitch practice was the mock admissions committee. This was very interesting... So all 80/90 or so of us sat in a classroom with a mock application in front of us. Upon reading the application we were to vote on whether we would Interview - Waitlist - Deny the candidate. In the packet they gave us the following:
- Mean gpa/gmat scores for Stern Class of 2011
- "her" resume
- "her" transcript
- "her" 2 letters of recommendations
- "her" 2 essays
Initially the majority of the class (myself included) voted to interview her. I read the application wanting to know more about the candidate. So then we all started commenting on the pro's and con's of the application. This is where it got interesting and because of this exercise I have a new found respect for admissions officers. Just picture 40 people raising their hands emphatically tearing about this "poor girls" application. Then picture 40 people raising their hands to defend the application. Great points were brought up by both groups... by the end of the sessions more people had switched their votes to waitlist this candidate. I kept my vote the same because I still wanted to know more.
It was an eye opening experience to hear people's comments about what some would consider minor things in an application. I can't remember all that was said, but I have the takeaways and notes that I will be taking into account for my application. A couple of comments made me say "damn that was harsh" but hey... everyone has a different perspective.
After this mock admissions committee it was lunch time with a Stern Alum! I ended up sitting at a table with someone I've met before. I met him last year at a Stern LGBT Reception. I think it was last October actually. I won't go into detail about what we all spoke about, because I'm tired of typing right now. It was good though lol...
So this was the last part of the Diversity conference but AHBBS was coordinating a night out at Tillmans on 26th street. So as all of us prospectives were saying goodbye to one another we kept asking each other if we would see each other later that night at Tillmans. So I went home... took a nap...took a shower... and then went down to meet everyone.
I will leave the rest of the nights events up to the imagination, but let's just say that there was a lot of Facebooking w/ current and prospective students and picture taking! It was a blast!
One particularly funny thing happened though. So one of the kids that was sitting at my table the day before at lunch (remember that omg you know so and so conversation?) Well he's now a friend of mine.. so when I was adding him to Facebook we saw that we had a friend in common. Yeah so the friend we have in common is the girl that I met and talked to in the train station at Yale back in February! Remember? Which is also the day when I met my two friends at Ross! Apparently they went to high school together in DC! Small world....
So yeah... I have one more blog post to write tonight and then I have to write my essays.
NYU Diversity Conference Day 2
Sorry to write this post so late, but things have been hella crazy and I'm going to write all of the blog posts tonight in order to catch up.
So first thing's first... This blog post is about Day 2 of the NYU Diversity conference...
The first item on the agenda was breakfast! You know I love me some free food! I got to the Kaufman building and went into the reception area. I said hi to a couple of newly found friends and got my food and sat with three other prospective students and chatted with someone on the admissions committee. It was very informal even though we were all dressed formally for the AHBBS conference later. The conversation with the admissions officer wasn't all about school and such, but it was also about life in general. Every one of the admissions staff is very nice and hospitable. Also... they are "regular" people who just happen to hold people's fates in their hands! ;-) But no it was a great conversation... and then I was talking with another guy who tapped me on the shoulder on Day 1 and mentioned that he reads my blog! (Hi N_____ if you're reading this).
He and I were exchanging war stories about the application process and different campus visits we've attended. It's nice to hear all of my thoughts echoed by others. ESPECIALLY about how expensive the process is!
In any event, after the breakfast it was time to go to a mock class. We were split into two groups. Group A (my group) attended a mock economics class and Group B (not my group) attended a management class. Sidenote - economics is called Firms & Markets at Stern. So the professor was Professor Askor and yeah the list of his credentials is very long! Being an economics major in college I was excited for this class. Maybe excited isn't the operative word, but intrigued at how it would be different from my undergraduate class.
We played a game during the class illustrating how markets are formed where he split the class into two groups and handed out envelopes with a price on it. One group was the buyer group and the other group was the seller group. We had to buy 1 unit of "something." So long story short... I had $200... so when a seller yelled out that they would sell 1 unit for $80 I said... "I'll buy it for $80" Now that person selling for $80 probably made money on the transaction if they had a $60 unit. But I didn't care because I made $120, so my margin was higher than theirs. We didn't actually find out which group won at the end but we did see the transaction price converge around $100, which was the goal. Supply and Demand baby!
After the mock class we went to the AHBBS conference. The lunch was great and was in the student center. Here is a picture of the view from the student center...
Sitting at the table was good times. It was weird because somehow everyone at the table of say 8/9 people knew everyone or someone that someone else knew in some capacity. Yeah I know that's a lot of one's, someone, etc etc blah blah you know what I mean. Picture a scene out of a movie (i don't know what movie) where someone says "oh i'm from X" and then someone else says "Oh Do you know so and so?" and then they say "yeah... we did such and such together..." and the other person says "yeah I met him/her at such and such while we were doing such and such..." and then someone else says "did i hear you say you were at such and such place? i know someone who was there... do you know so and so?" and the other person says "Omg yes! i met him/her when I was there and then we all did this...we lived across the hall from one another!"
But yeah that's practically how lunch went and then it was time to go to the ABBHS conference. Long story short there were 8 speakers talking about diversity in the workplace and how to navigate it and be successful. There were many great takeaways from this conference, which also included current students. All in all it was about 5 hours.
After the conference us prospectives into another room so we could ask question about financial aid and admissions. Now I will say that the group of people I was in had great questions. Many of which I would not have come up with myself. T'was very insightful!
Then it was on to the happy hour! If the drinks are free guess what... I'll take three! I didn't really take three but I did have two! While walking over I was talking with another prospective student who said he reads my blog too! When we got to the bar we were talking about how we would see one another again at the Cornell diversity conference in a couple weeks!
Apparently, there was another after party at another bar later and I was debating on whether or not to go to that but decided against it. I actually met a friend uptown at a bar near my apartment, and then headed over to Therapy to meet two other prospective students because we wanted to go to hhmm how shall I say it? A bar with familiar surroundings! ;-) This bar is a staple in Hells Kitchen (area I live) and true to form, I ran into some friends who were hanging out, so we sat with them and danced and drank. I cut myself off because I knew I had an early morning and did not want to feel crappy.
Of course we ended up at a diner but I was in bed by 2am and not drunk at all - thankfully!
Ok... time to write Day 3
So first thing's first... This blog post is about Day 2 of the NYU Diversity conference...
The first item on the agenda was breakfast! You know I love me some free food! I got to the Kaufman building and went into the reception area. I said hi to a couple of newly found friends and got my food and sat with three other prospective students and chatted with someone on the admissions committee. It was very informal even though we were all dressed formally for the AHBBS conference later. The conversation with the admissions officer wasn't all about school and such, but it was also about life in general. Every one of the admissions staff is very nice and hospitable. Also... they are "regular" people who just happen to hold people's fates in their hands! ;-) But no it was a great conversation... and then I was talking with another guy who tapped me on the shoulder on Day 1 and mentioned that he reads my blog! (Hi N_____ if you're reading this).
He and I were exchanging war stories about the application process and different campus visits we've attended. It's nice to hear all of my thoughts echoed by others. ESPECIALLY about how expensive the process is!
In any event, after the breakfast it was time to go to a mock class. We were split into two groups. Group A (my group) attended a mock economics class and Group B (not my group) attended a management class. Sidenote - economics is called Firms & Markets at Stern. So the professor was Professor Askor and yeah the list of his credentials is very long! Being an economics major in college I was excited for this class. Maybe excited isn't the operative word, but intrigued at how it would be different from my undergraduate class.
We played a game during the class illustrating how markets are formed where he split the class into two groups and handed out envelopes with a price on it. One group was the buyer group and the other group was the seller group. We had to buy 1 unit of "something." So long story short... I had $200... so when a seller yelled out that they would sell 1 unit for $80 I said... "I'll buy it for $80" Now that person selling for $80 probably made money on the transaction if they had a $60 unit. But I didn't care because I made $120, so my margin was higher than theirs. We didn't actually find out which group won at the end but we did see the transaction price converge around $100, which was the goal. Supply and Demand baby!
After the mock class we went to the AHBBS conference. The lunch was great and was in the student center. Here is a picture of the view from the student center...
Sitting at the table was good times. It was weird because somehow everyone at the table of say 8/9 people knew everyone or someone that someone else knew in some capacity. Yeah I know that's a lot of one's, someone, etc etc blah blah you know what I mean. Picture a scene out of a movie (i don't know what movie) where someone says "oh i'm from X" and then someone else says "Oh Do you know so and so?" and then they say "yeah... we did such and such together..." and the other person says "yeah I met him/her at such and such while we were doing such and such..." and then someone else says "did i hear you say you were at such and such place? i know someone who was there... do you know so and so?" and the other person says "Omg yes! i met him/her when I was there and then we all did this...we lived across the hall from one another!"
But yeah that's practically how lunch went and then it was time to go to the ABBHS conference. Long story short there were 8 speakers talking about diversity in the workplace and how to navigate it and be successful. There were many great takeaways from this conference, which also included current students. All in all it was about 5 hours.
After the conference us prospectives into another room so we could ask question about financial aid and admissions. Now I will say that the group of people I was in had great questions. Many of which I would not have come up with myself. T'was very insightful!
Then it was on to the happy hour! If the drinks are free guess what... I'll take three! I didn't really take three but I did have two! While walking over I was talking with another prospective student who said he reads my blog too! When we got to the bar we were talking about how we would see one another again at the Cornell diversity conference in a couple weeks!
Apparently, there was another after party at another bar later and I was debating on whether or not to go to that but decided against it. I actually met a friend uptown at a bar near my apartment, and then headed over to Therapy to meet two other prospective students because we wanted to go to hhmm how shall I say it? A bar with familiar surroundings! ;-) This bar is a staple in Hells Kitchen (area I live) and true to form, I ran into some friends who were hanging out, so we sat with them and danced and drank. I cut myself off because I knew I had an early morning and did not want to feel crappy.
Of course we ended up at a diner but I was in bed by 2am and not drunk at all - thankfully!
Ok... time to write Day 3
Thursday, October 7, 2010
NYU Diversity Conference Day 1
So... today was the first day of the NYU diversity conference. As I lay here on my bed I figured I would write an update before going to sleep. I'm going to write it as the days events happened...
First I went to work haha. Unlike a lot of the people, about 50% of people are not from the tri-state area, I live only a couple of subway stops from NYU. So I got to the Kaufman building around 4:30. Upon picking up my name badge I was told that I look familiar, by someone from NYU. I said "yeah I've been here last year for a marketing event." They said, "Oh yeah.. and your last name is unforgetable." I smiled and thought to myself "Thanks mom and dad!" If you guys don't know, my last name is Battle-Baxter. Battle is my moms last name and Baxter is my dads last name. It just happens to flow. Say it outloud and you'll see... Richard Battle-Baxter. If you throw in my middle name it sounds even cooler... Richard Alvin Battle-Baxter.
Anyway, upon arriving I was escorted into a reception area with soda, coffee, and some snacks. I met a couple of cool people. You know how that goes. Initially everyone is standing in a small group of 3/4 asking the standard questions - "What do you do?" "Where are you from?" "What other schools are you looking at?" Just have these answers ready because you will be asked them by other prospectives at every event you attend.
So then after the little hour long reception we went upstairs to the 11th floor and sat at tables for an introductory speech to the weekend. I noticed that there were about 100 prospective students there. Actually, I think it was closer to 90. So after that speech it was time for ice breakers. It was similar to musical chairs in that each table was given a scenario ie. "You are the owner of a restaurant and have to come up with a dish that represents NYU." or "You are an olympic planning committee and you are to come up with a city and new sport for the next olympics!" The games were fun and interactive and allowed us to meet a whole bunch of people we probably wouldn't have met otherwise.
Then after the ice breakers it was DINNER TIME! Dinner was only across the hall but it was a complete 180 from where we were previously. It was as if we were at a 5 star restaurant! I sat at a table with my friend Jessica and we had two current students sit with us, as well as the director of admissions, Issor Gallagay. I personally love 3 course meals. We had a nice appetizer.... steak and potatos....this amazing cupcake...and coffee. Oh... do not let me forget to mention that the wine was flowing! My glass was never empty and at one point I said to the person next to me.. "they really want us to get drunk don't they?" which was funny because then the waiter echoed my comments as he refilled my glass.
One of the best parts of dinner was listening to the Dean speak. Being a minority himself, he could really relate to the positions that we were all in. If I tried to begin to mention all of the accolades of this dean, I would write a 9 paged book. He's phenomenal and has this hhmm... ora... about him. The dinner conversation was great. It's always nice to hear from current students, but this time it was different. I think maybe because we were sitting at the table for so long and the personalities of the two current students assigned to our table, we got a lot of great insight into the Stern experience.
After dinner we were lead downstairs into the basement for Beer Blast which was dubbed Sangria Blast for the evening. From what I understand this event occurs every Thursday and is open to all Sternies. So we get down there and it's hot because there were so many people, but it was fun! I saw a couple of my friends who go to Stern and talked to them for a bit.
An coincidental thing happened though, which in hindsight is not too surprising considering my past experiences. So one of the students who was sitting at my table saw me at Beer blast and told me to come find her after I got my drink. So I did, and she introduced me to the two people she was talking too. One of the guys told me who he used to work for and I'm like... Oh did you work in Ohio? He said yes. So I asked "do you know ________ and _______?" He's like "oh I love _______ and yes I know ________ and (Current student sitting at my table) knows him too!" I thought that was weird so I turned to her and said "How do you know ________?" She said "I grew up with him!" I thought that was weird because I grew up with him. We played soccer together since we were very young and I had never met her. So I said.. did you live in Old Bridge? And she said "No... our parents grew up together in Nigeria so we've know each other forever!" I was like "wow... what a small world?" Now if you guys are wondering who this person we were talking about is... Well.. he's my friend who is now at Duke Fuqua! You know... This Guy!
With that being said - and I could have said much more - I'm going to go to sleep. I have a very long day tomorrow and I'd rather not be tired. Plus I'm excited to get to wear my new custom suit that I got last month! Not sure which shirt I'm going to wear with it, but I'm sure I'll figure it out in the morning!
Later...
First I went to work haha. Unlike a lot of the people, about 50% of people are not from the tri-state area, I live only a couple of subway stops from NYU. So I got to the Kaufman building around 4:30. Upon picking up my name badge I was told that I look familiar, by someone from NYU. I said "yeah I've been here last year for a marketing event." They said, "Oh yeah.. and your last name is unforgetable." I smiled and thought to myself "Thanks mom and dad!" If you guys don't know, my last name is Battle-Baxter. Battle is my moms last name and Baxter is my dads last name. It just happens to flow. Say it outloud and you'll see... Richard Battle-Baxter. If you throw in my middle name it sounds even cooler... Richard Alvin Battle-Baxter.
Anyway, upon arriving I was escorted into a reception area with soda, coffee, and some snacks. I met a couple of cool people. You know how that goes. Initially everyone is standing in a small group of 3/4 asking the standard questions - "What do you do?" "Where are you from?" "What other schools are you looking at?" Just have these answers ready because you will be asked them by other prospectives at every event you attend.
So then after the little hour long reception we went upstairs to the 11th floor and sat at tables for an introductory speech to the weekend. I noticed that there were about 100 prospective students there. Actually, I think it was closer to 90. So after that speech it was time for ice breakers. It was similar to musical chairs in that each table was given a scenario ie. "You are the owner of a restaurant and have to come up with a dish that represents NYU." or "You are an olympic planning committee and you are to come up with a city and new sport for the next olympics!" The games were fun and interactive and allowed us to meet a whole bunch of people we probably wouldn't have met otherwise.
Then after the ice breakers it was DINNER TIME! Dinner was only across the hall but it was a complete 180 from where we were previously. It was as if we were at a 5 star restaurant! I sat at a table with my friend Jessica and we had two current students sit with us, as well as the director of admissions, Issor Gallagay. I personally love 3 course meals. We had a nice appetizer.... steak and potatos....this amazing cupcake...and coffee. Oh... do not let me forget to mention that the wine was flowing! My glass was never empty and at one point I said to the person next to me.. "they really want us to get drunk don't they?" which was funny because then the waiter echoed my comments as he refilled my glass.
One of the best parts of dinner was listening to the Dean speak. Being a minority himself, he could really relate to the positions that we were all in. If I tried to begin to mention all of the accolades of this dean, I would write a 9 paged book. He's phenomenal and has this hhmm... ora... about him. The dinner conversation was great. It's always nice to hear from current students, but this time it was different. I think maybe because we were sitting at the table for so long and the personalities of the two current students assigned to our table, we got a lot of great insight into the Stern experience.
After dinner we were lead downstairs into the basement for Beer Blast which was dubbed Sangria Blast for the evening. From what I understand this event occurs every Thursday and is open to all Sternies. So we get down there and it's hot because there were so many people, but it was fun! I saw a couple of my friends who go to Stern and talked to them for a bit.
An coincidental thing happened though, which in hindsight is not too surprising considering my past experiences. So one of the students who was sitting at my table saw me at Beer blast and told me to come find her after I got my drink. So I did, and she introduced me to the two people she was talking too. One of the guys told me who he used to work for and I'm like... Oh did you work in Ohio? He said yes. So I asked "do you know ________ and _______?" He's like "oh I love _______ and yes I know ________ and (Current student sitting at my table) knows him too!" I thought that was weird so I turned to her and said "How do you know ________?" She said "I grew up with him!" I thought that was weird because I grew up with him. We played soccer together since we were very young and I had never met her. So I said.. did you live in Old Bridge? And she said "No... our parents grew up together in Nigeria so we've know each other forever!" I was like "wow... what a small world?" Now if you guys are wondering who this person we were talking about is... Well.. he's my friend who is now at Duke Fuqua! You know... This Guy!
With that being said - and I could have said much more - I'm going to go to sleep. I have a very long day tomorrow and I'd rather not be tired. Plus I'm excited to get to wear my new custom suit that I got last month! Not sure which shirt I'm going to wear with it, but I'm sure I'll figure it out in the morning!
Later...
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