What makes Business School hard?
What is it that causes certain MBA programs to be harder than others? Some programs such as Darden are notorious for being very challenging. Is this mainly because of the case method? Amount of classes? Balance in time. etc. What do you guys say make a program hard? As well as what would you say are some of the hardest mba programs and some of the "easier" (notice I put it quotes because I know none are a walk in the park)
Also I know some don't really do much grading while others do.
Mostly, the hardest thing is getting in. And then working that network...
Agree with above, especially if your school has grade non-disclosure. How hard you want to work is a choice, and people choose different things. I'd say it will depend on the relative priority you place on academics compared to recruiting, clubs, social, etc...
academically, top MBAs are a walk in the park for most. Even though most students will come in with substantial business knowledge (including pretty significant numbers who did business undergrad or econ / finance major), the programs are generally setup to assume everyone starts from the same point (Booth with their flexible curriculum is the exception). So you spend the most part of your first year (or your entire first year depending on how long core curriculum last) learning things you already know. Combine that with a ridiculous grading system, low importance of exams and grade-disclosure and it's just not possible to fail. 2 year classes / electives tend to be pretty fluffy (I think I only had 2 exams my second year) so again, not very hard.
That being said, for the people coming in with no business background / knowledge (ie. ex-military), it's really hard because since most of the class already know the subjects being taught, the pace tend to be pretty fast so it can be hard to follow.
Mine was not a target school but was top 20. I found business school much easier than even undergrad and grad school. Now, that said, business school was after I had been working and had calmed down my lifestyle a bit.
Brady was right, B-School is INSANE (Originally Posted: 08/13/2013)
Okay, not exactly, but I wanted to offer up some thoughts now that I've had a taste of the b-school experience.
First of all, Brady is right that MBA students like to party. Pretty much every day there is some sort of event or get-together going on where people are drinking and socializing. For the folks that aren't used to a work hard, play hard environment, I'd even go as far to say it is overwhelming. Nobody wants to be left out of anything so they attend pretty much every activity possible. This makes for an incredibly active social life particularly for those that like to go out.
As for the parties themselves, I find MBA students to be a fun crowd. They certainly aren't going nuts doing body shots off sorority chicks, but they aren't all stiffs that want to talk about finance and banking all day long. People don't mind relaxing and being goofy if the situation calls for it. A handful of people are definitely awkward, but overall people are able to hold a conversation and aren't drinking for the first time. People come from an incredibly wide variety of backgrounds and have unique accomplishments that definitely make for interesting conversations.
In terms of the quality of the women, it is really all over the map. In fact, I think MBA women are a pretty good representation of what you'd come across walking down the street of any major city. Some are quite attractive while others leave a lot to be desired. All of them are smart. Unfortunately, once you take into consideration the M/F ratio and married/dating women, the pool of available women is quite small. The guys swarm these girls so you need to work for it in order to have success. Add on the fact that many of your peers are Type A and highly successful. Not exactly a dream scenario for guys looking to hook up with classmates. Points to b-schools located in major cities on this one.
While I wouldn't yet classify b-school as the "best time of your life," it has been a lot of fun so far. I don't even have mad swagger.
I'd love to hear thoughts from other folks that started school this fall. Have you had a similar experience?
Are the private equity jackets real?
Those are panties what you're referring to.
Glad to hear you're having fun, CB. Can't wait for my turn.
Your post is spot on. Too many parties too little time.
I laughed when I read the part about body shots=crazy. What is the only bad thing that happens in Chicago? Answer: Economics policy and the mob. I think CompBanker needs to chill a little in the Wild Wild West.
Let me fix this for you: "The guys swarm these girls so you need to work for it by not working for it in order to have success."
Haha damn, I'm jelly. Still plotting/scheming my way into a top program (read: needs higher GMAT) ... all in time.
Enjoy though. Any international trips in the near future? That's one aspect I look forward to.
Heading up to campus this weekend. I was an absolute degenerate in undergrad (frat, athlete, and a student of game/aspiring PUA), so was kind of nervous about falling back into my old ways for the sake of "networking". Truth be told I consider this a bit of a "do over" and want to push myself to perform at peak potential this time around. Happy to know that nothing TOO crazy is going on and it's mostly good, clean fun being had. I have heard that FOMO (fear of missing out) is really tough to shake, though. But I want to focus on recruiting and actually learning some of the quant intensive stuff I ducked in college.
What school are you going to?( If you don't mind me asking)
@CompBanker:
What's the ratio of the females who are single/available vs. already taken? Guys?
I just got to a non urban top 15 with a ~70/30 m/f ratio. It seems like the girls are higher % single than dudes, lots of whom are in LDRs or straight up brought their wives/families out, so the "singles ratio" might be ~5% better than the overall percentage. Yay.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the university getting here.
I finished pre-term recently, and yes, I agree with everything that CompBanker is saying. It's definitely not a crazy ASU undergrad party, but it's still a lot of fun. I think what is especially awesome is that I'm meeting interesting people daily, forming relationships, and going to a plethora of social activities, ranging from house parties to dinners to sightseeing in the city to bars/clubs. I honestly think the next 2 years will be the most memorable of my entire life and am giddy with excitement.
CompBanker, best of luck to you!
If your life peaks in your mid-twenties I feel bad for you.
COMPBANKER IS BRADY
Well, I would say my month and a half spent in Chapel Hill echoes CB's points.
I'm having a blast, though, admittedly, the work has just started. With that said, your calendar is packed. Between classes, career services events, resume classes and socials, you barely have time to check your email.
We have a few good looking girls in our class, purportedly more than the year before us, but significantly less than the year before that..surely an outlier. We have about 28% females in my class. As Comp said, it seems the vast majority of the good looking girls are locked-up already, mostly married. The good news for the Kenan-Flagler guys is we have a tremendous undergrad population to wade through, not to mention we have an undergrad b-school that shares our building, so there will be a lot more distractions come next Monday.
Parties have been great. I threw an impromptu keg party at my complex pool a few weeks ago and had about 50 folks show up with just a couple hours notice. Last weekend I threw another and easily had 100 people show up and went through 3 kegs (the beer in the 4th one was fucked up so we couldn't drink it). Point is, most of these folks aren't nerds and stiffs, they like to drink and like to socialize. In fact, we actually had a few folks experience some undergrad flashbacks and they started doing keg stands...then everyone went out drinking and closed the bars down at 2am.
Good times so far.
Regards
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