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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I previously discussed how television networks act as a three way match-making platform for audiences, content makers and advertisers.  It was not always this way. In the distant past, advertisers heavily influenced the shows made for television. The medium was more akin to a two-way platform between advertisers and audiences: advertisers made shows for audiences interested in tuning in. This changed in the 1950s. With technologies such as TiVO and on-demand TV scuppering commercial breaks, are we now set to return to a world of advertiser made shows?

In the 1930s and 1940s, the early years of television and radio, broadcasting acted more instinctively as a two way match making platform between advertisers and audiences. Advertisers strongly influenced and shaped content broadcast to the audience. This is evident in the naming of show titles, which included the Ford Star Jubilee and General Electric Theater. The influence of advertisers was such that, one story even suggests that the president of the American Tobacco Company made high ranking NBC executives fox-trot to the tunes of a show that the American Tobacco Company was sponsoring. The American Tobacco Company head wanted the NBC executives to test the tempos of the songs for dance-ability.

In the late 1940s, William Paley's CBS started experimenting with making shows in-house. The experiment proved successful, as CBS in-house shows started gaining larger audiences than that of shows broadcast by NBC. Everything changed when Pat Weaver, president of NBC in the early 1950s, broke the ties that advertisers had with the content that was broadcast. Instead of advertisers sponsoring a show and working with an advertising agency to make it, the networks made the shows themselves. The focus of the advertising agency moved to making 30-second commercials for the breaks in the shows. Later, rather than making the shows in house, the networks outsourced production of the shows to studios and production companies. This is what now leaves us with the three party platform of content makers, advertisers and audiences that network TV now is.

However, the arrival of technologies such as TiVO, on-demand TV technology and the Internet is creating difficulty for this three way matchmaking system. Viewers can now skip advertisements. Over the last decade, this has started to cause significant problems for advertisers, who have been spending money on commercials that audiences can now choose to skip. The response by advertisers has been a trend taking us back to the previous age of advertiser influenced shows. BMW has a history of using product placement. However, the company took this further with two series of short films featuring BMW cars. You can see the films here:

http://fincherfanatic.blogspot.com/2007/08/bmw-films.html

These films, distributed on the internet, have been so successful - they have inspired similar efforts by Pirelli and Mercedes. In the meanwhile, Fox has started dedicating TV slots for infomercials, which they hope in future will become as entertaining as regular TV. NBC had already started creating shows for displaying in show advertisements - though these shows will only be broadcast online. In the case of the show Mall Cop, TV producers have advertised Segway PTs not for gaining profit - but out of their own shear enthusiasm for the product.

Will this transformation in advertising create moral ambiguity? Certainly. Advertisers and content makers will need to grapple with how brand sponsored content can be made ethically. Will this mean that quality TV programming will deteriorate? I think not. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, MTV pioneered the concept of the music video: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message. Investment in music videos increased, production quality of the content form sky rocketed and the music industry was forever changed. No one minds that it is advertising. What needs to happen for this to happen to regular TV shows?

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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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At the place I currently work, we've just had the third restructure in the space of two years. Senior managers come and go every year or so – changing the focus and direction of the workplace each time. It all makes for a work environment with a hell of a lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. People literally get stuck, unable to figure out what to do with their work and their lives. Demotivation and anxiety is rife. However, a previous boss said something to me once that has stuck and always helped me get through:
For me, it has been sterling advice - sweeping away clutter and letting me focus on the right things.

In a similar way, the MBA application process certainly produces a lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. I've tried to keep applying the same mantra, but it has been quite hard. Thankfully, it's all over. I've been rejected by Harvard and Stanford. I'm free at last. :-)

For anyone in a similar situation and seeking consolation, here is some inspiration:

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I've had someone write in and ask a question so important, I just had to share it on this blog:


My view is this:

• Make the option of starting a business so compelling, you'd be a fool to not do it. What would you need to do so that by the time you graduate, the potential for your business, particularly in paying off that loan and then some, is so great - you can not resist doing it? I'm developing a personalized plan for myself to create that compelling option.
  
• Mitigate against failure. Some people will say forget MBA recruitment all together and keep on the startup trek - show your 100% commitment! The project manager instinct in me says this would be daft. You need to mitigate the risk of your venture failing. I plan to intertwine my startup plans with MBA recruitment.

Make it compelling
What will help you get to that dilemma at graduation that makes starting a business irresistible? I believe the key is making life as easy as possible for myself: what forces exist across the MBA, university and my life to date that will help drive my business to be as successful as it can be? I'm not getting hung up an any particular business idea. Instead, I am trying to figure out the business idea that works optimally to the resources that I bring as well as those the MBA will provide. Specifically, I am asking myself questions such as

• What are the resources that I already have access to (e.g. friends, previous employers)?
  
• What resources are there across the university to help me get a product or service built?
• What resources are there through the MBA program to help me obtain customers?
  

I am then using the answers to these to iterate and develop my plan. For example, at Northwestern (where Kellogg is based) there is quite a bit of interest in media, because the Medill school is there. This works quite well with my media technology employment background. Consequently, there are pools of media technology innovation around the university, such as News At Seven and NewsMixer. There are also a bunch of other things, such as Northwestern's dedicated cross-discipline course for commercializing medical innovation and Kellogg's own offerings. Some of these don't quite fit or help me, but some of it does. The real challenge will be winning the support of the holders of these various resources and then weaving together these resources to build my business. If I can do this, then starting a successful business won't be the huge financial risk that people perceive it to be.

Mitigate against failure
Secondly, I plan to use the traditional MBA path of going into Venture Capital as a way of gaining funding for my venture, while still keeping open the possibility of working for a VC firm.

When I was conceiving my career goal, I wanted to make it as realistic as possible. So I plotted out a path that is something like this:

• Spend a year or so leading up to the MBA in a job that has some similarities to Venture Capital.
• Focus the MBA and internship on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Finance.
• After the MBA, go into Venture Capital: learn about building startups by working with the portfolio companies at the VC firm; build relationships with investors.
• Some years later: start a company, capitalizing on resources and relationships built earlier.

This is pretty much what I wrote in my applications, except for the MIT application - for which I said I would attempt to start a company straight from business school. Over the last few months, my grand plan has become more of a 'Plan B'. This is because I've become much, much more motivated in starting a company.

As a traditional post-MBA career, Venture Capital is itself a very, very difficult field to get into. For every person a VC hires, this is another person the VC will have to split their investment returns with. For them, the question is this: will hiring you mean that they will earn more money than they would otherwise?

Getting funding from a VC firm is a different story: it is just as difficult, but I am positioning myself as someone who could make them more money than they have thus far. In the meanwhile, I will be networking and building relationships with VCs, possibly demonstrating intelligence and flair that they might like to hire if things go pear shaped for my own venture.

So, I plan to use the traditional VC job hunt to pitch my business to them as well as build relationships that may help me get hired if things go wrong. Some of the other MBA career paths may also be conducive to this kind of twinning (though I've not looked into them as much):

• Large consumer goods companies that hire MBAs are potential customers of your venture.
  
• Some consulting firms that hire MBAs may be willing to provide your venture with services and a network of contacts, in return for an equity stake.
• Some companies that hire MBAs may invest in your company if they think your company's goods will increase purchases of their products.
  

Unlike VCs, the recruiters may not necessarily be the same people as those who could help your venture. However, the relationships you develop are still likely to help or earn a good referral.

To sum up, my plan is to make the option of starting a company as compelling as possible, by figuring out the business that will optimally utilize the resources I bring as well as those which the MBA offers. I plan to mitigate against failure by keeping open the option of working at a VC, using this traditional MBA path to pitch for investors. We'll see how I get on... :-)

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