It has been Hilarious

So we're all very glad that its finally over. Hilary has been something else. I was sitting in the Common Room today and chatting with one of the MBAers from a few years ago and he was saying that when we look back on Hilary we are going to be amazed at the amount of stuff that we managed to learn in such a short period of time. Maybe, in time I will look back over Hilary and say that it was one of the most intense periods of my life. But then, who knows what life has in store for me...

An Oxford moment
Exams just kind of happened this term. It seemed that they were a minor inconvenience amongst the many assignments that were due in the last few weeks. We were having a coffee one morning in a little café near to the Examinations School when this man who was standing outside took out his camera and started taking pictures of us! I guess we were quite a sight weren’t we?

Lunch afterwards
We found a lovely café/restaurant called Cibo while studying between two exams where the waiters were lovely and let us sit there and drink coffee and study with no fuss. It was such a good experience that after our last exam, we convinced a whole group of people to go there for lunch. There is a good Marketing strategy for you :)

Yummy!

Much relief
The smiles, the sighs of relief, the rekindling of friendships ignored for the last few weeks.








I don't know about you but bring on Trinity!!

Studying shots

	Drats! Someone could have told me about this BEFORE I spent all that money on an MBA.
	My college, St. Hugh's library. There are books there on every obscure German poet that you can think of. Very distracting.
	The Radcliffe Camera - as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with taking pictures.
	In fact, the inside of the Radcliffe is rather like... a library. Still, fun to study where many greats have studied before...
	Effects of an MBA. No fellow study group members were harmed in the taking of this picture.

Right. Back to the books now.

Ode to the old

There was a young girl from Jamaica
Who thought life would go on forever
She checked the mirror one day
And to her dismay
Found the gray hair that started her decay

Not happy!

Studying... again...

The library
is my home. I eat, sleep and socialise here. Oh, and sometimes in between updating my profile on facebook, and updating my blog, I get some studying done. Today is Financial Management. What joy to revise the intricacies of variance analysis and activity based costing.

Spring day
Of course, it would have to be the first real day of spring outside with clear skies and the first hint of buds on the surrounding trees. I can't wait for Trinity - punting on the Isis, Pimms and lemonade, playing croquet on the college lawns... courses that I'm genuinely interested in...

The break
I'm thinking of hopping over to San Francisco over the break to have a wander around the city and form my opinion of the city. Maybe make a few contacts, send out a few feelers... Meet up? Come with? Who knows, SF may be the next place I hang my hat.

So, anyway, back to the grindstone...

End of Hilary

It's hard to believe that another term is officially over. Well, classes at least are over, we've just got the small matter of exams to deal with before we can breathe a little. Like good MBA students, we celebrated a little with a little bit of a theme...

I've been wasting alot of time (which I don't have) recently on Facebook and I have to say that it is addictive! My whole class has caught the craze and we're uploading pictures of each other and tagging one another like crazy. It's great fun. A word of warning though, don't sign up two weeks before your exams. Not good.

This has been a hard term. They warned us in the beginning and I don't think any of us really believed it. Now you understand what they were going on about. Classes are over but the fun hasn't stopped yet. This is the time that you realise the value of friends and relax, knowing that they understand and that they will be there for you when you are finally able to resurface.

To all those out there who are struggling with the last Finance II assignment or IBGG or OM or FM or NBD presentations, I'm right there with you. I'll be there to hold you, just keep swimming.


Gratuitous holiday snap of me holding a shark on a dive in Singapore.

Cobwebs

Would you set up a factory and employ children to work in it?

I imagine that most of you would answer this question with a resounding no, but consider this:

Would you set up a factory and employ children if the factory was located in a poor developing nation with very few schools and the children would be starving or turning to crime if they didn't work in your factory?

What if the government of that country passed a law stating that 20% of the workforce of all new factories must be children? What would you do?

Now, suppose that your parent company had a Corporate Social Policy that stated that the company aimed to promote the "education, happiness and well being of children". Would that change your answer?

Let say that the business that you are in is producing educational toys for children and that is the main product of your new factory.

How do you think that a mother who has just bought one of your toys for her child feels when she discovers that the very people who are making those same toys are children, just like her son? What will she think about your company?

Google is in a precarious space at the moment with their decision to go into China. In an industry with incredibly low switching costs, a psychological contract based on trust is the only thing that binds their customers to the brand. It is all Google has. Eroding that trust for the sake of market share could be the thing that looses them the entire market.

It reminds me of a fable that I heard when I was younger about a guy who used to be called the "Human Fly" because he would climb up the outside of buildings with no support. One day he climbed up to the nineth floor of a very tall building... then fell. Urban legend has it that when they found his body, he was clutching a cobweb in his hand - what he had thought had been a solid support, turned out to be his downfall.

I hope that this latest move doesn't have Google clutching at cobwebs.

Torpids

"Torpids is latin for big arguement" said Matt Urhammer of Exeter College and a fellow MBA student, just after the St. Hugh's mens boat was caught in a pileup of half a dozen boats. The bigger the arguement, the more the fun of the event.

Torpids are an Oxford tradition that goes back more years than anyone can remember and in true Oxford style, the rules are nothing short of ridiculous. As far as I can tell, the point of torpids is to "bump" the boat in front of you in the race before they bump the boat in front of them. And by bump, we literally mean touch the other boat with your boat. How crazy is that?

Of course, everyone goes out to watch the fun.

The girls boat did much better, naturally, as they had our very own Kate on the boat. They bumped after the first corner and are on to the next stage. Go St. Hugh's!

News just in: Using photographic evidence taken by Jason (on the MBA program) the St. Hugh's mens team managed to appeal and win the decision that they had bumped Exeter before the pileup occured.

This means that both the men and womens boats will be rowing for blades today - both being chased or chasing Exeter. A fantastic achievement, and one which almost never happens. Well done team!

PPS. Both our mens and womens teams won their blades on Saturday. Very well done.

it's snowing

After a beautiful morning of brilliant sunshine, it started snowing around lunchtime.



Here's the view of the courtyard at SBS from my NBD group meeting window. Nice.

So you want to do an MBA...?

A friend of a friend who is thinking of doing an MBA e-mailed me some questions he had. Here they are and my answers.

Why did you decide to do an MBA?
An MBA has always been on the agenda for me. Being a Business Analyst in an IT firm, I was always being asked to solve business issues and the more I picked up from the companies I worked in, the more I realized that there was so much that I didn’t know, and was interested to know. Additionally, I had been increasingly pidgen holed into a particular sector and I wanted to get wider business experience.

Which did you choose, and why?
I applied, and got offered a place at both Saïd (Oxford) and HEC in France. I choose Oxford because when Oxford offer you a place, you don’t say no. Why else? It was a one year course, not far from London (though in hindsight that doesn’t make a difference because you don’t have time to visit), and because I attended an Open Day here and chatted to the students felt they were the kind of people that I would have a beer with.

Is Saïd suitable or geared towards technology people?
It is a business degree however, and there will be lots of non-technical courses that you will be expected to master. There are a good number of ex-tech’s here though.

What are the pre-requisites for most of the courses?
There are no pre-requisites. If you get in, then they expect that you will be able to do all the courses.

How does the application work? Tests? Interview?
Check out the website. You apply on-line but you need to send some stuff though the post so start as early as you can. You must take your GMAT but that’s the only test. If they like the look of you then there will be an interview which is more like a 20 minute chat than a full blown scary interview.

My advice in this area would be to focus on your essays. Really think about them and produce a well thought out, coherent, consistent work. This is where you differentiate yourself from the many, many others applying so don’t be afraid to let the real you come through. Of course you want an MBA, of course you want to come to Oxford, but what will you bring to the class of 2007? What makes you stand out from the crowd?

Do get a good GMAT score, do come for an Open Day and do chat to others like me.

Who do you think is suitable for an MBA?
Someone who does their homework before they apply :)

What outcomes did you expect when you started the MBA?
A better understanding of the business world, good social networks and some time out to think about what I want to do in the future.

Is it fun, or really hard?!
It’s really fun and really hard. Look through this blog, I think it gives you a pretty good idea of some of the things that you can get up to while here.

Is the networking coming in handy?
Oh yes. And will be *very* handy in the future.

What kind of people go to Saïd?
There are all types here, from ex-techies like you and me, to lawyers, doctors, people from media companies, marketing companies, retail companies… it’s a very diverse bunch. There is also an incredible international mix, 1/3 of the students come from the Americas, 1/3 from Europe and Africa and 1/3 from Australasia. I don’t think you can get this at any other business school. The world is suddenly very small.

If say, I think the whole thing through, am suitable, have found the right course, etc. how much might the whole thing cost at Saïd?
If you want to make the most of your time here, take whatever they suggest you need and add another £5k to it.

Don’t let the cost put you off. Beg, borrow, mortgage your house, get sponsorship, go to your parents, apply for scholarships and grants, go busking, whatever it takes. Money is only that, money. At the end of the day, you’ll be operating in a different ball game when you leave and you will more than make up for the sum you borrow now.

What you mustn’t do is try to work while you’re here. It may seem like a good idea now but it’s virtually impossible when you get here. An MBA is an 8am to 1am, 7days a week job. But worth it.

Is Said one of the best in the country?
Absolutely. According to the FT, Saïd is currently at #20 in the world and #2 in the UK after LBS and way ahead of Judge (Cambridge).

Best of luck in your application, and drop me a line if you find this helpful or if you have any other questions.