On Wednesday evening I attended a lecture given by Paul Krugman the Nobel Prize winning economist.
Dr Krugman was discussing “Getting Out of the Crisis” and it was presented by Universite Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve (the French speaking part of the country). I owe a very big thank you to my Vlerick classmate who heard about the conference and shared it with the rest of the class. Continue reading "An evening with Paul Krugman"
Oh, woe is me. How do I despise thee November? Let me count thy ways..
Grades for the first period came out last week. Thankfully we are now well into the second period to worry about how we did – as long as we passed!
Insead operates a non-disclosure policy for grades. This means that grades are considered confidential to everyone – including recruiters. To have gone through the rigorous selection process for the MBA programme and to have obtained the degree is considered a significant achievement in itself. Continue reading "Beyond the normal distribution"
SDA Bocconi has a challenging and busy academic programme which encourages students to develop their academic skills and knowledge, interpersonal skills (through numerous group work), time management skills and of course, networking skills. Networking skills are developed through the Career Development Service at the school, as well as through activities and student clubs. Continue reading "Opportunities for networking"
Last Thursday I had a chance to attend a lecture with General Michael Hayden, the retired United States Air Force four star general, former director of the National Security Agency and former director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009. The lecture was followed by dinner with the General, his wife and other students. Continue reading "Lessons from the CIA"
I couldn’t have avoided [American] football in the US this term even if I had tried. It is a huge part of the American culture I wanted to sample coming to a US business school. I could not have imagined how much I would have taken to it however. Continue reading "Go Wildcats!"
I’m at the departure terminal of Chicago O’Hare airport, getting myself a bite to eat while waiting for my flight. Seated next to me is a US armyman, dressed in battle fatigues, perhaps between flights. There have been at least a dozen people, complete strangers, who have stopped by to shake the armyman’s hand, to say, “thank you for serving, we appreciate it”.
Imagine that - complete strangers, at a busy airport, stopping by to shake the man’s hand and to express gratitude for his service to the US. Wow! I know this is the Midwest and patriotism runs high in these lands, but this was something to experience. Continue reading "Thanks from the heart"
The one thing that has pleasantly surprised me about pursuing my MBA at Vlerick is the non-competitive atmosphere of our programme. I believe that part of the reason for this, is that it is ingrained in the culture of the school and is a large part of the structure of our programme. Working as a group has literally been a part of the programme since our first introductory class with the Dean, where we were assigned to small groups to analyse our first case. Continue reading "Collaboration is key"
Today I have had my first personal meeting with my coach from Lee Hecht Harrison. As I headed to the meeting room around 6:30pm lots of things were going on in my mind. I wondered whether the meeting would be like a job interview or a simple introductory meeting where we would review my CV and talk about my future career goals. Continue reading "Thinking out of the box"
A week ago I was sitting in the office of the manager of career services here at Vlerick discussing my future. I told her that after a few months of sitting in classes I was certain that I wanted to get back into the entertainment industry.
I told her I was concerned about future employers in the entertainment industry placing any value on my having an MBA. She wisely told me, “You must decide that your MBA has value to you first.” Continue reading "What’s the value of my MBA?"
Welcome to the Financial Times Business Education MBA blog. Over the course of the next year MBA students from business schools around the globe will be blogging their experiences online.
What is it really like to study for an MBA? How do the students juggle their work load and their personal life? What do they hope to achieve once they have gained an MBA? Read the FT's MBA blog to find out.
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The following nine students will share their business school experiences over the current academic year
Cezanne Maherali
Age: 27
Nationality: Kenyan
MBA programme: Cezanne is studying for an MBA at Insead and is attending classes at the school's campuses in Singapore and Fontainebleau, France. She comes to Insead from PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked in sub-Saharan Africa for four years as a corporate finance and management consultant. Cezanne hopes her MBA will help her to play a key role in ensuring sustainable private sector development in Africa.
Rahul Bajaj
Age: 31
Nationality: Indian
MBA programme: Rahul is in the second year of his MBA in Finance and Strategic Management at the Chicago Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. He began his career as a financial analyst in the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley in New York, before moving to India to become an entrepreneur. As well as establishing a security services company, Rahul is also an actor and writer.
Nathan Lang
Age: 24
Nationality: British
MBA programme: Nathan has enrolled in the accelerated one-year MBA programme at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the US. He plans to major in finance, entrepreneurship and marketing. Before joining the school he worked for Boston Consulting in London, Mumbai and Dubai. He has a degree in economics from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
Beth Bremner
Age: 30
Nationality: South African
MBA programme: Beth has elected to study for an MBA at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School. After acquiring a management accounting degree at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, she completed her CIMA accountancy qualifications in London and for the past eight years has worked in the finance industry in London and in the Middle East.
Seda Saracer
Age: 25
Nationality: Turkish
MBA programme: Having travelled extensively Seda has opted to study for her MBA at Milan's Bocconi University. Seda is multi-lingual and has for the past three years worked for Jotun, manufacturer of paints and powder coatings in their marketing department. She studied international trade as an undergraduate at Bogazici University in Istanbul.
Gleana Albritton
Age: 31
Nationality: American
MBA programme: Gleana has recently moved to Belgium from the US to study for her full-time MBA at the Vlerick Leuven Gent School of Management. She has held various marketing roles in the media and entertainment sector in the US and her last position was as director of events and field marketing at Fuse Networks, a national music cable TV network. She has a business administration degree from Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia in the US.
Aswini Anburajan
Age: 29
Nationality: American
MBA programme: Born in India and raised in the US, Aswini is a former journalist and worked for NBC and public radio. She reported extensively on the Barack Obama presidential campaign and the experience has motivated her to look at how news organisations can create business models in the digital age. She is studying for an MBA at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge in the UK.
Kane Cuenant
Age: 26
Nationality: Canadian
MBA programme: Kane is studying for his MBA at Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, Russia. He has a degree from Queen's University, Ontario and has a keen interest in humanitarianism. Kane has worked at the Bureau Veritas, a certification company, where he advised multi-nationals about trade transactions to developing countries. In his humanitarian role he has worked for United Planet, in a fundraising and management consultancy role.
Sarah Guthrie
Age: 29
Nationality: British
MBA programme: Sarah is a qualified chartered accountant and has worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2001 after she completed a summer internship. In 2006 she transferred to PwC Vancouver in Canada where she managed mining and forestry clients. She returned to the UK this year and hopes that by the time she finishes her MBA programme at Strathclyde Graduate Business School in Glasgow she will have discovered where her future career path lies.
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