Showing posts with label mbaapp.kellogg. Show all posts

BusinessWeek is up for sale. The loss-making business has become "a continuing distraction" for publisher McGraw-Hill. I don't think the current operating model for online newspapers and magazines, such as BusinessWeek, will survive much deeper into the 21st century. For my business startup, I'm exploring what kind of new operating models might work better for online publications.

Many people have many ideas as to what shape publications will take in the future. I've speculated on this myself. Even BusinessWeek has speculated on possible new models for its own future. Yet, as soon as you start executing the idea - the dreams and aspirations meet the dirt and grind of the floor.

I spent quite a bit of time and effort over the last few months trying to find software developers to help me build a prototype for my startup. I've been thoroughly unsuccessful. Lots of people seem to get excited and want a piece of the action. Yet when it comes to actually doing something (in return for equity), there is nothing. "I just don't have the time", one of them moaned - and he was the one who'd been made redundant following the financial crisis. Another is too distracted by women. Yet another does not think I'm committed enough(!)

So two weeks ago, with time running out, I started going about building the prototype myself. I started my career as a software developer, after all, and my undergrad was in Computing. However, having not done any software development in almost four years, I thought I would struggle - particularly since the programming language is new to me - Python. Yet, it has been less of a struggle than I anticipated. What is a challenge, however, is pulling together something that will be sizeable for anything other than demo purposes. Yet this might be enough. My plan is to spend the Fall quarter at Kellogg pursuing potential customers who may give me enough money to develop a fuller software solution over the summer internship period.

The dirt and the grind may not be too pretty, but hopefully there will be enough before school starts to get others to buy into the vision and dream. The prototype just needs to be suggestive enough to let the minds of potential customers go wild. If it can capture the hearts of Northwestern's software developer type students, who might then help develop it further, that'll be even better. As to what to call this prototype / business / idea... I wonder if I could get a student loan package to cover the debt associated with BusinessWeek brand? Probably not.

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Uncertainty creates huge amounts of work. All parties involved spend time and energy to gain mutual trust and clarity. Yet it can be allusive, because none of the parties involved want to end up with a bad deal. I have found this particularly true for me in my accommodation hunt

I was not lucky in the McManus (Kellogg halls of residence) lottery. In fact, I don't know anyone who has been lucky. So consequently, I've spent some time weighing up options - trying to reach certainty in what I wanted to do. What's most important to me? Proximity to campus? Proximity to the bars? Amenities, such as an onsite gym? Style of apartment? Whether I'd share with a another person? In the end I've probably ended up with what could be considered the safest possible option: an apartment in Park Evanston - the block with the second highest concentration of Kellogg students. Can so many Kellogg students be wrong? Surely I can trust the heard? To keep costs down, I'm sharing a 2 bed 2 bath with a fellow Brit. Again, sharing with a Brit will reduce some of the cultural shock and increase my certainty as to what the other guy will be like.

With the stress and time of finding an apartment has eased, the uncertainty now is whether we can get the lease sorted out smoothly. As we're not in the country, there are questions as to whether legally we need a Notary Public. They are a rare breed in the UK and cost a fortune, whereas in the US I understand (from Wikipedia) that it is as easy to become a Notary Public as applying for a library card. When I get to the States, I might apply. If we can get the apartment management to just trust us that we're not going to disappear off the face of the Earth, then the time and effort of this process will squish to nothing. Hopefully we'll get there soon.

In the meanwhile, I'm buying a whole stack off furniture off an international student who is graduating from Kellogg and heading back home. I just could not bare the thought of trying to set up an apartment piece by piece. Trips to and fro from Ikea over the week before school starts might be a fine Kellogg tradition, but not one I'm keen to partake in. The uncertainty I have with the furniture I've bought is around figuring out how to get all the furniture to the new apartment. Perhaps I can just put it into storage until I get there? Will it survive in one piece? Can I trust these shipping people when they say they'll take good care of it?

Despite all this, there is one thing I can say with certainty - I got my first choice KWEST trip. I can't reveal much more than that, as a tradition of these trips is The Big Reveal - that the participants don't reveal personal details about themselves until the end of the trip. However, it is interesting that there is already a rumor floating around. Allegedly one of the participants in one of the South American trips worked in the "adult entertainment" industry, if you know what I mean. Is it true? Would Kellogg admit such a student? Why would such a student need an MBA? Oh, the uncertainty!

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"You don't need that - why do you need that for? You don't have rubella, mumps or measles", began my doctor. I could feel the weight of an already burdensome MBA matriculation process getting heavier. I need to submit my immunization records to Northwestern's medical center by the end of June. My medical practice does not have my vaccinations records for these early immunizations from my youth. Why? Because while all the other kids in the UK *were* getting their vaccinations as kids, I was in Sri Lanka. I'm not even sure I've had these vaccinations. My doctor was shaking his head - he did not think that the Northwestern medical center needed these records. I insisted otherwise; why else would they ask for them?

"Do you have lots of cash to burn?", continued my doctor, "because we can get lab reports done to check if you're immune to them, but it'll be expensive - very expensive". I wondered whether I had suddenly become some kind of science experiment for my doctor and his nurse. They had already spoken with great curiosity about the tuberculosis QuantiFERON test that Northwestern's medical center has required that I take. My doctor and nurse had never administered it before. To me, it seemed just like any other blood test - stick a needle in my arm and suck some blood out. To them it was out of the ordinary - tiny samples in three test tubes that needed to be shaken about a lot.

Wearing a slight grin, the doctor must have sensed what I was thinking. Maybe they had seen the I'm not a science experiment look before? "Instead of doing lab tests, maybe we'll just give you the MMR vaccination; it won't do you any harm and we can probably give it to you for free". At last, the weight seemed to lift. Could it be true? Would I finally be able to tick these medical immunizations off my matriculation to-do list? I could see a slight glimpse at the end of the tunnel. "Hold on", I said as I flicked through details on Northwestern's medical form, "the MMR test requires two injections at least 28 days apart - which will be after the end of June deadline for these forms". Blank stares followed.

After waving his head for a little while, my doctor gave a heavy sigh, shrugged and walked off - leaving me with the nurse. Come Monday, I'll be calling up Northwestern's medical center to ask for their permission to prolong this agony further. Oh, what joy.

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Kellogg has been keeping me more than a little bit busy over the last week or so. Almost quite suddenly, I've had a flood of correspondence from the school and a lot more to think about. What follows is a run down of this ...

Pre-Enrollment Courses. Kellogg not only has pre-term, but even has online courses for you to do before you get to even the pre-term. I had mixed feelings about this, but when they said that the courses has been designed by Kellogg faculty, I perked up a little bit. If Kellogg faculty were involved, it might well be a little bit interesting. Nevertheless, I don't think I'll be able to look at these until July - after I've finished work. Life it a little too busy at the moment.

Finances. My official loan offer came through from Northwestern. You can not help but stare at the amounts involved and gulp at it. I need to go through it all in detail and do some budgeting for myself for the next two years. I was at my bank this week when one of the "savings specialists" nabbed me to try and convince me to do something "more effective" with my savings. His eyes almost watered when I told him what I'd be spending it on.

Medicals. Some of the items on the to-do list that Kellogg provides makes me groan. This is one of them. I need to fill out a four page form describing my medical history. Worse, I need to get my doctor (GP) to fill in one of the pages. I handed the page into my medical center on Friday. He called on Monday night (after 10pm!) saying he was working late and would get back to me the next day with costs. It's Thursday and I've still not heard back. Going through and trying to find all those immunization records is killing him, I'm sure.

KWEST. Most of the other Kellogg admits that are blogging have made some mention of this already. I've been anticipating this a while. Registration opened at 10am CDT yesterday (20th May), but it took me a whole 11 minutes - it gets me thinking that I might not have been as quick as some others. Oh dear. At least I'm not going for the Mystery Trip. All my selections were pretty much in South America. I don't want to travel too far.

Accommodation. The other admits I've been in touch with are well into their hunt for accommodation. I've not been as quick off the starting block on this one. I'm favoring McManus, the halls of residence, mainly because it reduces complications for furnishing (most apartment rentals are unfurnished?) and tenancy length (I don't have to rent over the summer). I had already got my application in by the due date, 1st May. I hear we'll get results of our applications soon. Fingers crossed.

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I've been spending far too much time flicking through the catalog of KWEST trips. KWEST is the week long world wide service trip that Kellogg students attend before pre-term. The trips for 2009 don't seem to be up on the website yet, but we were given a booklet of the 2009 trips at DAK1.

Many Kellogg students talk about KWEST as though it is a relavatory experience, "you will meet your best friends for life there!"... The only thing that I'm convinced about is that it has to be worth doing, given all the hype. There must be 38 or so different trips, each led by 5 students who by then will be in their second year, with 25 matriculating first years joining them.

Every country in North, Central and South America must be represented between the various KWEST trips, along with every Caribbean island. There are also a dozen European destinations and four trips to elsewhere in the world. Each trip has a page in the booklet and you'd be forgiven for thinking that each trip was competing to win the prize for cheesiest advert. The headings include "Eco-Seekas In Costa Ricas", "Scandinavia: Do Blondes Have More Fun?", "No Spain No Gain" and "We don't keep score in Ecuador". They are quickly followed by a few brisk paragraphs of Kellogg's best copywrite, such as:


Descriptions of various activities the group will participate in follows. The activities range from snorkeling to hiking, skiing, "general debauchery" or whatever it is the environment facilitates. To cap off the cheesiness, the trip leaders include photos of themselves in their craziest outfits and give themselves nick names such as, "Freeze Tag" Fry, "McDreamy" and "These hips don't" Lai.

As for which trip I'm going to sign up for, I'm veering towards the central or south Americas. I still have plenty of time to decide on which one specifically...

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The business schools try very hard to differentiate themselves. Yet, just reading Tieny's Columbia admit weekend debrief reminds me of how similar the top schools are... right down to bragging about the achievements of the admits at the admit weekend. The business schools are more similar than different. As soon as one innovates something, the others quickly copy. Several years ago MIT started the business plan competition. Now every top business school in the world has a business plan competition. Among the Kellogg class of 2011, I'm sure there is even a Miss Evanston to rival the Miss New York in Tieny's Columbia class.

However, there are some things for which a school just has so much more shear enthusiasm, it is not copied - or at least copied very well - by other schools. These are those things for Kellogg. If you know anything about Kellogg, you know them already. However, this is my take on them:

• The adcom will sometimes play down the strength of the school in Marketing, to ensure Kellogg is seen as a well rounded school. However, from having professors blogging on super bowl adverts to having an extra day during the Marketing conference for Kellogg professors to update industry executives on the latest marketing thinking, the enthusiasm for marketing just seeps out. It is hard not to notice that there is a lot going on at this school when it comes to marketing. I sometimes wonder whether Kellogg has admitted so many of us bloggers deliberately, given the free marketing that we have and some us will continue to provide the school.
• At some business schools, students are viewed as the product of the school. They have little influence on how the school is run. Kellogg is on the absolute opposite end of the scale - student participation is a massive part of Kellogg experience. There seems to be almost no aspect to the running of the school that the students play some role in. For example, I was shocked to learn that even the Honor code, that thing that everyone signs to certify that they will not cheat, will respect class mates etc - even the Honor code is policed by students at Kellogg. After you graduate, your involvement continues. In the first few years after graduation, you will be called on to conduct admissions interviews. As time progresses, and as your career success unfolds, you may be asked back to talk at events or classes. Some MBAs even come back to the school to serve as faculty. The relationship between students, alumni and the school is carefully engineered to be tight.
• Team work and developing soft skills plays a central role at Kellogg. I understand that even one page essays are given as team assignments. As is often the case with team orientated work, how long it takes depends entirely on how well the team get along. As a corollary of all this team work, the students also seem to spend a lot of time socializing. One alum once said to me, "9pm to 2am was blocked out four days a week on my Outlook calendar as drinking time". Some people will frown at this, but I think this is great. So much socializing can only lead to perfecting skills such as of small-talk, which is a key part of Western - and particularly US - culture. The BusinessWeek specialty rankings, based on data from MBA recruiters, bears this out: Kellogg grads top both the soft skills metrics of Teamwork and Communication.
  

All of the above is nothing new; it is the kind of information that is already in the guide books. Yet, I have to say that I have really only started appreciating these differentiating aspects of Kellogg now that I'm on the way there...

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Kellogg's admit weekend, DAK, was pretty intense. What struck me most about the event was the scale - for the 250 or so admits at the event, a large workforce of upwards of 200 current students must have been involved to make it all work: career panels, club fairs, KWEST trip fair, "section time" leaders and much, much more.

Some of the highlights for me were as follows...

• I turned up at the Prairie Moon bar on Thursday 5th February for the DAK welcome drinks. With lots of brown wood and dim lighting, it seemed just like the small town bar I imagined it to be. The admits attending DAK were split into six sections of 30 or so people. My section, the Jugheads, were having welcome drinks in this bar. I was assured by one of the other admits, "yeah - the section names we have now are the junior version of the real section names... the equivalent real section name for Jugheads is Bigjugs". Unfortunately, he was wrong - they're called Bucketheads. We had six or seven current first year students acting as section leaders. Confident, talkative and upbeat, I found the section leaders to be really great stewards for that evening and the rest of DAK - a huge contrast to the sometimes nervous looking admits wondering who to talk to.
• Admissions Director, Beth Flye kicked off the Opening Ceremony on Friday. She welcomed the admits. "I don't know what kind of vitamins you're taking", she said, citing the admits' average GMAT of 719, average GPA of 3.6-something and a host of startling admission essay extracts. These extracts included people who had started voluntary organizations, released music records, achieved significant athletic success, hosted weekly cable tv shows and more besides.
• Professor round-table lunches featured members of the faculty talking through what their programs covered. I attended those for Media Management and Entrepreneurship. Michael Smith talked about how the Media Management program sought to answer questions about varying forms of media - professional and user-generated, proprietary distribution and open distribution - and the challenges businesses faced in order to develop business models that generate revenues in the current advertising (and wider economic) downturn. Scott Whitaker surveyed the entrepreneurship offerings available at Kellogg. I was surprised not only by how many admits were interested in entrepreneurship, but how serious they were - asking really deep questions, such as how they could get a head start on doing something entrepreneurial at Kellogg.
• Marketing Mini Class: I found this to be thought provoking and entertaining. The class started with the professor asking "what is marketing?" and taking responses from the audience. He then delved into the importance of customer insight based marketing versus marketing that lacked customer insight. For example, Marmite customers take pride in that some people hate the taste marmite. Consequently, Marmite used this insight to develop the successful "Marmite: you love it or hate it" series of commercials.
• Strategy Mini Class: After we had read a mini-case, the professor asked us to identify why Costco was so successful and how they would fair in the current economic climate. The session was mostly done through eliciting responses from the audience. I had thought the session would go in a particular direction relating to supplier power, but was impressed when it went on a tangent about membership fees that also seemed appropriate.
• Careers Service Overview. The center seeks to train students in the life skill of finding jobs, rather than just providing them with jobs. They have staff that work with you through the entire process of determining what you want to do to mock interviews to celebrating the success of getting offers. A testimonial by a student, where she described her story and the doubts she faced, was particularly effective in describing the process.
• Scavenger Hunt, games and other "section time". These were kooky, just as our sections leaders described them, but they were actually a lot of fun. I thought they helped the admits get to know each other somewhat and lowered inhibitions. Our scavenger hunt included piggy back races and dizzy bat.
• Welcome address by Dean Jain.
• Dean Jain told the story of how he had joined Kellogg. His supervisor had told him that there was no future in math and that he should join the top marketing school, Kellogg. He wondered why the top marketing school would take him, the worst marketing person. Despite this, he had an interview with Kotler and others. He presented some math which perhaps no one on the panel understood. Kotler asked, "this is marketing?"; Dean Jain replied "this is the future of marketing". 
• He described how Kellogg had risen to become a top 5 school:
• Focusing on developing students' collaborative working skills, interviewing all students that apply so as to evaluate their soft skills and focusing the MBA on developing soft skills such as teamwork.
• Through recruiting exemplary faculty in basic disciplines rather than competing for typical business school faculty. This is in turn helped Kellogg produce unique research.
• Through initiatives throughout the 70s and 80s, such as the Executive MBA program, spreading the quality of the program by word of mouth. "For word of mouth marketing to work, there needs to be many mouths".
  
• Dean Jain ended the session by looking to the future, developing the school's brand, global perspective and a number of other things I can't remember right now.
  
• An alumni panel of three Kellogg graduates offered their advice. They all agreed that the Kellogg alum network is close-knit and there is an implicit understanding that Kellogg alumni will help each other when called upon. They urged admits to use the opportunity of business school to develop their networking skills.
  
• Keynote Speaker: Scott Smith '76, former President of the Chicago Tribune. His main message was that perceiving the situation is often under-rated compared to taking action. The compared this to the current economic situation, where a lot of action had been taking, but has the situation been correctly perceived to choose the right action?
• The Closing Ceremony took place in Chicago itself, with buses carry the admits to the River East Art Center for dinner, followed drinks and partying in Martini Park. By this point, many of us had got to know each other quite well and the evening was an opportunity to develop those friendships further over buffet lunch in the exquisite surroundings of River East, as well as dancing and joviality at Martini Park, which seemed to be full of beautiful people. I thought it was great night of gossip and final ultimatems between admits, "have you decided on Kellogg yet?".
  

There were a number of other activities beyond the above. I won't go into these into detail, though they were useful. These included information sessions and events such as Financial Aid, day-in-the-life diary of a student, a session on academics, "Continental breakfast" of bagels and pastries every morning, a fair for the various KWEST trips at matriculation, a fair showing the different clubs at Kellogg, dinner at a "genuine" Chicago Pizza resturant, career panels where second year students offered advice on pursing particular careers, a night out at the Keg bar - which seemed just like my undergrad binge drinking days and a tour of various accommodation options on Sunday morning. It was a packed schedule.

I met some awesome people over the weekend. I thought I would be able to get along with most of the admits, and really become tight-knit with some of them too. Three of of the Kellogg admits who have been following my blog managed to identify me :-O. It was good meeting to you guys. This article tip is a good one, French girl - thanks.

Updated, 7th Mar '09

• Orlando's photo/videos via his blog

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As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I met my Kellogg interviewer and a few other alumni for drinks. They gave me their top tips.

1. Be prepared for American weirdness. Kellogg students like to sing Bon Jovi's Living On a Prayer. They like to sing it a lot. This is because the chorus "oooh, oh - we're half way there" has particular resonance apparently: half way through the MBA? half way through life? half way through the jug of beer ?... you get the idea.
2. Go on KWEST, the service trip before starting at Kellogg. Some of your very best friends after Kellogg will be people you met on this first trip. Each of the trips attracts a different type of crowd. In fact, on each trip you go on while at Kellogg - you develop a close set of friends (though none as close as those on your KWEST trip). So, also go on the Ski trip. In the past it has been highly subsidized by the banks. A large number of students in the class go. It's a great party.
3. Internship hiring will start quickly. Be prepared for it: CVs, etc. Most people think they have the first term to figure out what they want to do over the summer. They are wrong.
4. Waive as many courses as possible. You want to get on to do the advanced courses, which is where the really interesting stuff is.
5. Network, network, network. There are opportunities to meet a lot of people from a great many companies. Some people start keeping spreadsheets detailing each who they've met, their contact details and some memorable details to remind them of that person.

Another interesting thing that became apparent: most US students go on international KWEST trips, whereas the international students go around the US. Secondly, McManus halls is also mainly international students, wheras US students prefer to get apartments.

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Unlike Soni, I’ve been getting some attention from the Kellogg. I've exchanged a few emails with my designated "buddy", who is a current first year student at Kellogg. He keeps trying to call me at the most awkward times. Strangely enough, he happens to be someone I met a while back. My alumni interviewer has also been in touch. I've now also met all his Kellogg friends in London. I might post about that later this week. I'm surprised by the attention, and also touched. They must think I'm some kind of Rockstar. More fool them.

Kellogg’s admit weekend is called "Day At Kellogg" or simply DAK. It takes place next week. I received their welcome email recently. It starts Thursday 5th Feb evening and ends midday-ish on Sunday. That's my kind of "Day". The agenda is packed quite tightly and includes all kinds of wonderful stuff. Some of the highlights are:

• Welcome addresses
• Mini-classes
• Professor Roundtable Lunches
• Careers Service overview; breakout lunches
• Parties
• Financial information sessions
• Housing tours
• Alumni discussions

Since I am making the trip from the UK, I’ve decided to stick around a little longer in Evanston - up to the Wednesday after. I am hoping to get some pre-MBA prep done that will edge me closer to my post-MBA goals. My tentative plans for the extra days include

• Meeting with some more current students, including hopefully Shahid Hussain.
• Checking out the Technology Innovation Center (Northwestern's Incubator)
  
• Attending the PE/VC conference, all day Wednesday.
• ... and a few more things I still need to get in touch with people to sort out.
  

On Thursday I plan head out to NYC for a long weekend with some friends – a holiday! All in all, it should be a good trip. I'm especially looking forward to meeting my future classmates. I’ve learnt that I’m in the "Jugheads" section at Kellogg. Isn’t that the stereotype for dumb-asses? :-/ I’d rather the section is called "Rockstars". Because, you know, I am one…

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While Sammie and Glammie have been talking fashion, I've been talking to a current Kellogg student about a different kind of essential wear: thermal underwear.With temperatures touching -32 Celsius at times in Evanston, apparently this kit is absolutely necessary. Another friend has warned me: "get ready to adopt a whole new sense of fashion". Yikes!

I don't think I've ever lived or experienced that kind of cold before. The furthest the UK reaches is perhaps -10 Celsius. Chicagoland winters has already scared off one Kellogg admit ;-). I'm imagining my eye-lashes freezing over, becoming brittle and falling off. Oh, what horror awaits. I better order my thermal underwear.

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With the end of my job in sight and business school beckoning – I fully expected my motivation at work to wane. I expected I would be distracted by the life that lies ahead. I've heard from past MBA applicants that this kind of demotivation is typical at this stage of the process and I expected to be susceptible to it. Yet... none of this expectation has materialized. Instead, I've become more motivated at work.

I put it down to this: I feel like I'm representing Kellogg in everything I do. Everybody now knows I've been admitted and hardly anyone around here goes to business school, let alone a top US business school. I feel motivated to make a really strong impression in the last 6 or 7 months I'm here, just so people will have no doubt: "that Kellogg place really does take on the best". I sometimes think to myself, "how would a world class Kellogg grad do this?"... and as cheesy as it sounds, it does edge me on a little bit further. I'm now working longer hours and more concentrated at work than ever before. It sucks, really - it's distracting me from getting my pre-school prep done, e.g. registering, booking flights/accommodation etc and everything else for DAK.

In the meanwhile, I did get a chance to join the Facebook group for admitted Kellogg students. It seems a little more active than the discussion board on the Kellogg welcome site, though only a little more active. The people on there seem varied and interesting: an Italian, a guy from General Motors, a bunch of Ivy school grads, consultants from every consulting shop, a museum person, at least one person with a kid ... it goes on. There are 46 people on there so far. I wonder if any of them have found their Kellogg super-suit too.

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I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I seem to have spent a lot of time over the Christmas holidays 'researching' about Kellogg. There is so much going on, it is hard to know where to start. For example, there are over 140 clubs... so about 1 for every 8 students?... which probably explains why most of the club websites are out of date. Of course, I knew a lot of this before I applied - but I really started to get my hands dirty over the holidays. I even joined the mailing list for the Startup Incubator at Kellogg's parent institution (Northwestern University). I figured that since Kellogg has already given me an @kellogg email address, I may as well flaunt it. In the corner of my brain I did think "I should wait for H&S to reject me first... or at least pay my deposit", but I'd otherwise only waste time with something else, e.g. trying to overcome the temptation of eating another mince pie.

From my rummage around, there are a few things that others (even non Kellogg-ites) may find useful... Firstly, there are a few blogs written by Kellogg students that provide useful guidance on what lies ahead. I found an old post by a UK resident studying at Kellogg particularly useful. It describes a check list of things to do leading up to admission:

• http://www.shahidhussain.com/blog/?p=22#more-22
  

• http://dearbornsupperclub.blogspot.com/search/label/kellogg
  

• http://mbabound08.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/dak-2/

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I've been admitted to Kellogg. I wasn't expecting a call so soon, so it was a fantastic surprise. I was shaking with excitement for minutes afterwards. I wanted to tell everyone, but then told no one. I got the call towards the end of yesterday. I finished my work and headed home, still a little in cloud coo-coo land. I called my brother on the way home and left an answer phone message. He texted back later, "well done, but what did you expect?". Err... dunno. I called my sister; she was thrilled for me. I'll probably tell my parents later today; it will depress them that I've escaped the marriage conversation another two years.

On my route home there is a West Cornwall Pasty place. The warm cozy smell of freshly baked pastries and pies emanates from there. I had been resisting the urge for over a week, but decided to tuck in on a Chicken and Mushroom pie. I felt so guilty afterwards, when I got home I got on my rowing machine for 20 minutes. I then started emailing and calling my friends.

I can feel the rush of my life path wooshing in a different direction. The weight of the debt is also starting to dawn on me. Part of me has started thinking, "you're giving up a reasonably well paying and highly secure job to take on something in the region of $160k of debt... during a financial crisis?". I really need to make sure I make the most of any MBA.

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I've had my Kellogg interview. Overall, I am satisfied with it. I want to shout out thanks to HappyBunny and Soni for posting their experiences. The themes were similar to what they mentioned, but the questions were quite different. In fact, I think it is the type of interview where you can not really prepare a huge amount, even if you know the questions. You really just need to know who you are and have some stories to tell that are anchored in your resume and consistent with your application.

The first half of the interview was centered around walking through the resume. The interviewer asked very specific questions on this and various experiences I mentioned on the resume. The second half consisted of more generic questions that were very much in line with the original Kellogg essay questions from this year and previous years (look them up). If anyone wants to discuss specifics, punt me an email.

I think I rambled in several places and my delivery could have been much, much better. If I am fortunate to get further interviews, I will definitely have to work on this.

Best moment: He starts the interview by saying, "you have a very interesting resume". [This was a confidence boost for me].
Worst moment: "Is the colour of the tie you're wearing Harvard red?" [*cringe*]

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Over the weekend I got my interview invite for Kellogg. I looked up the interviewer's name on Google. I'm sure everyone does that. I think the school has picked someone who has a background similar to me in at least some ways. Interesting! I got in touch with the guy and we are meeting on Thursday. It's strange to think that, after Thursday, it will be the end of the line for my Kellogg application. It will then all be down to the gods, or at least the Adcom, to decide my fate...

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After much agony and angst, I finally submitted an entire application - Kellogg. I worried a lot over whether I made a mistake somewhere in the application, but I've checked it all several times over. I'm got to stage where I just felt like pushing it out of the door. The amount of further time spent on it versus gains returned was very, very low. What ever happens, it is all too late now anyway.

I still have to chase my recommenders to do their bit across all the applications. When I spoke to one at the start of last week, he said to me "you'll be pleased to know I have answered 5 questions". I knew something was wrong when he was counting in terms of questions and not schools. I told him that the other recommenders had raced ahead of him and had done a few of the schools. By Friday, he said to me "you'll be pleased to know that I have done all 5 schools". I was shocked. He had apparently spent an entire day doing them all. Who knows what the level of quality is, though. He still has not submitted them yet either. Gasp - more pain.

At least Kellogg is out of the way. The problem with submitting ahead of the deadline, of course, is you're always thinking... what if I think of something better, later? And you also wonder how many others are submitting now... and whether the adcoms are reading blogs posts about submissions and tying them to the actual submissions they get. Oh the paranoia! Ah, screw it.

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Kellogg is an interesting school. When I visited the school in early April, it was probably the most haphazard of my visits: classes were cancelled without notice, tour guides did not turn up and even the weather was slightly grim. I don't know much about marketing, but for a school that is reputed to be the Marketing King, it sure was not thinking too much about customer touchpoints.

By comparison, Kellogg's downtown neighbours, Chicago GSB, was a slick operation. I attended their Chicago Live event. The event kicked off with some good speeches from the admissions team and, on the whole, the event was quite well run, even if some parts were dubious (like the loud and rowdy pub evening).

However, it is Kellogg that has been growing on me in the last few months. There are articles all over about the delight that is Kellogg, with the most recent being Business Week's Choosing Kellogg. Perhaps the school's touch points are not as important as the touch points with what everyone else says about the school?

So I have stretched my initial list of MBA schools to apply for from 4 to 5 to include Kellogg. Just adding this one extra school makes the application process suddenly seems like a lot of work, but I am only applying to schools that I would not mind matriculating to.

Here is my shortlist, in alphabetical order:

• Harvard Business School
• Kellogg School of Management
• MIT Sloan
• Stanford GSB
• Wharton

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