late night ramblings.
The Admissions Office asked me to write up a "typical" week to share in a newsletter for admitted students. So I decided to share it with the greater wheresnate audience. Lucky you.
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There’s no such thing as a typical week at Ross. Just when you think you have it figured out, a new meeting or club event or social activity blows up your calendar. Below is a sample week from last November.
(A bit of background. I’m a Silicon Valley kid focusing on Marketing and Entrepreneurship while at Ross. My plan is to go back to the Bay Area after I graduate in April. I’m married, own a little white dog named Fenway, and have been a Wolverine fan since birth. You can put yourself to sleep by reading my blog, wheresnate.com.)
Sunday
While I’m a bit groggy after a full day of tailgating yesterday, I realize that today has to be a productive one. Big meeting with my Strategic Marketing Planning team. This class revolves around a marketing simulation that requires us to make dozens of decisions each week; our firm is leading the industry, but we’re holding back on high fives. We decide to reconfigure our product, tweak our marketing spending, and pray that our capacity decisions will hold up. I feel bad for our competition.
Monday
Class in the morning: World Economy and New Venture Creation. Mock interviews in the afternoon. As a Career Counselor through OCD, I spend a few hours each week helping MBA1s with their internship search. Somehow I’ve been labeled the “High Tech Guy” so I tend to be pretty busy. One MBA1 comes in and says high tech is his “back-up” industry and that he’s been prepping for consulting. So I’m sure to throw the toughest high tech case questions at him. He leaves a bit frazzled, but with a good sense of how and when to prepare. Nobody calls my industry a “back up.”
Tuesday
Law class. Lawyers really like commas and long sentences. So while I’m glad I’m not in law school, this requirement is helping me understand how to protect IP, a critical skill for an entrepreneur. I spend the afternoon running up to North Campus to meet with a prof in the College of Engineering who has a technology he wants to commercialize and then back to the B-school to film one of our deans for a comedy show next week. Strategic Marketing Planning at night. Our firm still leads the industry, but Professor Kinnear is starting to beat up our strategy a bit. Guess we have more work to do.
Wednesday
It’s gotten to the point where I need to schedule social time. A good friend and I meet at Maize and Blue for lunch, where she vents about the challenges of the interview process. I enjoy my delectable turkey sandwich and dill pickle. At night we have a Section 5 reunion at a local watering hole. It’s the first time since last year that our section has gotten together, and it’s hilarious. These are some of the most loyal friendships I have ever made, truly a group of lifelong friends.
Thursday
Law class, again. And a big meeting for my New Venture Creation group. We think we have a compelling business model for our golf ball locator technology until our finance guy plugs some numbers into his magical spreadsheet. Crap. Undeterred, we head to Scorekeepers for the weekly B-school happy hour. I haven’t met an academic challenge yet that can’t be worked out over a free beer (or three). Late night run to NYPD on the pizza train.
Friday
Homework in the morning. Gotta prep for classes early next week, as it’s shaping up to be a busy weekend. Band practice with P-Hat, the all-Section 5 rock group we started as MBA1s. We have a gig next week, so it’s time to rock (pun intended). Today we review our drummer’s spreadsheet, which reveals we need to learn “Dani California” and “Take Me Out.” Only a B-school band would run it’s rehearsals by the light of Excel.
Saturday
Thank goodness for an away game. More homework in the morning and I start to edit the video I shot earlier in the week. The afternoon is spent at a friend’s apartment, watching Michigan beat up on Indiana, and eating pizza for the third time in 48 hours. Head home with a smile on my face, ready to do it all again next week.
________________________
There’s no such thing as a typical week at Ross. Just when you think you have it figured out, a new meeting or club event or social activity blows up your calendar. Below is a sample week from last November.
(A bit of background. I’m a Silicon Valley kid focusing on Marketing and Entrepreneurship while at Ross. My plan is to go back to the Bay Area after I graduate in April. I’m married, own a little white dog named Fenway, and have been a Wolverine fan since birth. You can put yourself to sleep by reading my blog, wheresnate.com.)
Sunday
While I’m a bit groggy after a full day of tailgating yesterday, I realize that today has to be a productive one. Big meeting with my Strategic Marketing Planning team. This class revolves around a marketing simulation that requires us to make dozens of decisions each week; our firm is leading the industry, but we’re holding back on high fives. We decide to reconfigure our product, tweak our marketing spending, and pray that our capacity decisions will hold up. I feel bad for our competition.
Monday
Class in the morning: World Economy and New Venture Creation. Mock interviews in the afternoon. As a Career Counselor through OCD, I spend a few hours each week helping MBA1s with their internship search. Somehow I’ve been labeled the “High Tech Guy” so I tend to be pretty busy. One MBA1 comes in and says high tech is his “back-up” industry and that he’s been prepping for consulting. So I’m sure to throw the toughest high tech case questions at him. He leaves a bit frazzled, but with a good sense of how and when to prepare. Nobody calls my industry a “back up.”
Tuesday
Law class. Lawyers really like commas and long sentences. So while I’m glad I’m not in law school, this requirement is helping me understand how to protect IP, a critical skill for an entrepreneur. I spend the afternoon running up to North Campus to meet with a prof in the College of Engineering who has a technology he wants to commercialize and then back to the B-school to film one of our deans for a comedy show next week. Strategic Marketing Planning at night. Our firm still leads the industry, but Professor Kinnear is starting to beat up our strategy a bit. Guess we have more work to do.
Wednesday
It’s gotten to the point where I need to schedule social time. A good friend and I meet at Maize and Blue for lunch, where she vents about the challenges of the interview process. I enjoy my delectable turkey sandwich and dill pickle. At night we have a Section 5 reunion at a local watering hole. It’s the first time since last year that our section has gotten together, and it’s hilarious. These are some of the most loyal friendships I have ever made, truly a group of lifelong friends.
Thursday
Law class, again. And a big meeting for my New Venture Creation group. We think we have a compelling business model for our golf ball locator technology until our finance guy plugs some numbers into his magical spreadsheet. Crap. Undeterred, we head to Scorekeepers for the weekly B-school happy hour. I haven’t met an academic challenge yet that can’t be worked out over a free beer (or three). Late night run to NYPD on the pizza train.
Friday
Homework in the morning. Gotta prep for classes early next week, as it’s shaping up to be a busy weekend. Band practice with P-Hat, the all-Section 5 rock group we started as MBA1s. We have a gig next week, so it’s time to rock (pun intended). Today we review our drummer’s spreadsheet, which reveals we need to learn “Dani California” and “Take Me Out.” Only a B-school band would run it’s rehearsals by the light of Excel.
Saturday
Thank goodness for an away game. More homework in the morning and I start to edit the video I shot earlier in the week. The afternoon is spent at a friend’s apartment, watching Michigan beat up on Indiana, and eating pizza for the third time in 48 hours. Head home with a smile on my face, ready to do it all again next week.
posted by nate_johnson @ 3:01 PM
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