A bit of this, a bit of that

Post by:
Lauren Abrahams
MS-MBA 2011
Public & Nonprofit Management
MBA Council, PNP Club, Net Impact

If you haven’t already gathered from the information above, I will graduate from BU with a bit of a schizophrenic resume (all by design), which if you know me probably sounds about right. As an MS-MBA student I start my week with a class called Managing IT Strategy, and then the next day I find myself in Nonprofit Land Use and Development. The following evening I attend the MBA Council meeting and report on my duties as the VP of Finance and on Thursday night, my last class of the week is Real Estate Management. So I guess you could say that I am an MS-MBA student with a concentration in Public & Nonprofit, a love of finance and an interest in real estate. And I’m coming up with a plan to make it work.

I applied to business school for a few different reasons, but the combination of the MS-MBA and Public & Nonprofit Management programs is really what drew me to BU. Before applying to school I had lived through a massive IT integration project at a large nonprofit and saw how important it was for nonprofit leaders to really understand IT systems—what they do, how they work together, and maybe most importantly, how people use them. So when I arrived at BU, I had a pretty good idea of why I was here and where I was going. I wanted to arm myself with business expertise and a basic understanding of how to leverage IT strategy in a nonprofit environment—skills I feel are far too rare in the nonprofit sector.

Along the way I realized that I was suffering from a lack of money—both literally (my sad, sad unemployed bank account) and figuratively (how I missed those financial reports I used to spend hours on for the Board of Trustees). Enter MBA Council VP of Finance. While the position hasn’t helped my personal bank account, it has given me the opportunity to create a budget for an organization, play with spreadsheets, and count money, all while spending time with some of the most fun people in the program.

And then there is real estate. Growing up in LA and then living and working in San Francisco instilled in me a love of cities. I love everything about them—the people, the traffic, the culture, the food. Having spent the majority of my last job helping to rebuild a beloved museum in a very civic-minded city, I also came to love the connection that a community has with its built environment and wanted to learn more about real estate development, especially in the nonprofit and public sectors. Luckily, the School of Management has two real estate electives to keep me busy.

So, how does it all add up? Right now, in its infant stage,it adds up to a job where I can help improve capital funding and financing practices in the nonprofit sector. Now, if only it were that easy to find it!

About the author:

Lauren is pursuing her MS-MBA with a concentration in Public & Nonprofit Management. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics and then moved to San Francisco (where, like Tony Bennett, she left her heart). Most recently, Lauren worked at the California Academy of Sciences where she managed the capital fundraising campaign to rebuild the museum in Golden Gate Park. A born-and-bred Californian with a penchant for Mexican food and college sports, you can often find Lauren in the kitchen doing her best to show Boston what Mexican food really tastes like, or hunting for those late-night broadcasts of PAC-10 basketball games.

Post by:
Ilanit Shtein
Mathematical Finance 2012

Hi all,

I am very excited to be writing my first blog! My name is Ilanit Shtein and I’m a first year student in the Math Finance program at BU. I’m originally from Israel and this is the first time I’m living abroad. I actually moved to Boston last year, as my husband started his MBA degree in Boston. Coming from the fairly hot Tel-Aviv, I had some concerns about the weather in Boston. But I have to admit that the past winter wasn’t that bad. And if you’re visiting your family and friends during the winter break, the winter is even easier to go through…

The first year went by pretty smoothly. In the first months, I was busy preparing for the GMAT and TOEFL, as part of my application. After I got accepted to the Mathematical Finance program, I decided to use the few months I had before school to study for the CFA exam. Having practically no past experience in finance, preparing for the CFA (and passing it J) was extremely helpful to me. Finally I could understand what people are talking about in the Wall St. Journal.

Just before school started I had participated in an amazing one week orientation. When I first entered the class I was surprised to see the extent to which my classmates are diverse. I imagined that whoever chooses a Math Finance degree is a geek (like me J). But I was wrong. In my class I have sharp, funny and fascinating people from all over the world and from all walks of life. I’ve made so many good friends and they make the whole experience much more fun.

I’m already spending hours and hours solving homework problems and preparing for classes. Still, I’m happy to say that so far I’ve managed to maintain my busy social life. You could only imagine how little time I have left for sleeping… This is going to be an interesting sleepless year!

Wish me luck!

Ilanit

About the author:

Ilanit is a first year Mathematical Finance student. Prior to studying in BU, she was designing and implementing voicemail applications as a software engineer at Comverse, a leading provider of telecommunication and billing services, in the Tel-Aviv branch. Ilanit holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Tel-Aviv University. She likes indoor cycling, experimenting in the kitchen, and traveling around the world.

Post by:
Ajay Mehta
MBA 2011
General MBA focusing in Operations and Business Strategy
MBA Council, Operations Club

The Final Year Begins

This is actually my first attempt at a blog and I’m a little nervous on what will come out. Perhaps I should relate it to business school…

ONE MORE YEAR! Being back in Boston is, in a way, comforting...I have a set schedule of classes, get to catch up with classmates I haven’t seen in a few months, and no early morning commuting through Chicago traffic. Another plus is that I no longer have to sleep in a hotel which I did for my summer internship. My back feels great.

This leads me to my summer internship which was with the Canadian National Railroad in Chicago, IL. The internship was a great experience which allowed me to really test some of the skills I had gained in my first year. I was tasked with reviewing a system that the CN used to sort cars in classification yards. After surveying the system and what the competition was doing, I wrote a paper concluding my results and directing the company in the right direction. Writing this paper was a tough task, but using business terms and tools gave me a completely different outlook on how I should write the paper. I caught myself using business jargon and making multiple SWOT diagrams to convey my points. I realized that I was relying on some basic marketing principles which without an MBA would have made my viewpoint very narrow. I also needed to quantify the suggestions I was giving my superiors, and by creating a financial analysis I showed them how the suggestions I was making would save the company money in the long run. These tools, as simple as they seem are not common place for most people. I truly saw the value of getting an MBA and being able to convey these figures clearly and successfully. I used terms and catch phrases which really helped quantify the decisions that company executives outside of the engineering department would be making. In return, my recommendations were taken seriously and will be used to calculate the railroads yard budget in the following years.

With that I conclude my first blog entry…stay tuned for more.

About the author:

Ajay is a full time MBA student focusing on operations management. His professional experience prior to BU was with Union Pacific Railroad in Houston, Texas, where he managed a signal maintenance work group. Ajay spent his childhood in Jackson, Mississippi and left to pursue an engineering degree from the University of Iowa. He likes summer, basketball, and listening to his iPod.

Team MBA Win

Boston University School of Management Wins TeamMBA Award for Second Year in a Row

A global award recognizing a “commitment to social responsibility”

The TeamMBA Award from the Graduate Management Admissions Council

After winning the 2009 TeamMBA Award from the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) for a “commitment to promoting…social engagement,” Boston University has again been honored for “exemplifying a commitment to social responsibility through the actions of [its] students.”

This year, GMAC, an association of leading business schools around the world, has recognized Boston University with one of only six service awards, granted at a ceremony in June, 2010.

"The annual TeamMBA Award...recognizes schools that exemplify a commitment to social responsibility through the actions of their students and the school's demonstrated support of these efforts."

--The Graduate Management Admissions Council

Specifically, BU won the Service Award for Corporate and Social Responsibility, based on the School's support of its annual, student-run event Link Day, organized with help from the School of Management'sPublic Nonprofit Management Program. In 2010, this event aligned the business skills of 60 MBA students with the needs of 15 area nonprofits.

Last year, Boston University was the only school world-wide awarded GMAC’s overall institutional award for outstanding support of student involvement in social engagement “through school-led programs, services, institutional culture, and more.”

The School of Management's receipt of these awards, along with the recent recognition of its Net Impact chapter’s top global status, highlight the growing international reputation of BU’s Public Nonprofit Management Program to attract, support, and help shape tomorrow’s leaders in social responsibility.

More about the foundation of BU's Service Award for Corporate and Social Responsibility: Link Day 2010

More about the 2010 TeamMBA Awards, from the Graduate Management Admissions Council

What I liked best of Year 1 and What I'm looking forward to for Year 2

[Steve Annen, MBA and MS in Media Ventures Class of 2011]

What I liked best about my first year:

I’m from Chicago, which is an awesome town in case you’ve never been there; it has thick pizza, tall buildings, and a giant metal bean. I’ve been to several places in the US, but limited funds have restricted my international travel to Canada (once) and Mexico (once…actually, about one half). However, I have met people from all over the world here at BU and the differences still fascinate me.

In Greece, for example, “afternoon” is considered to be from about 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM. In the US, Schlitz is a brand of beer, but in Germany, “schlitz” means…something else. There are hundreds of examples of the cultural differences (what’s this “metric system” you speak of?), but in the end, there are cool people from all over.

The first year is definitely stressful, but knowing that we’re all thrown into this same situation together eases a lot of the strain.. Former lawyers, doctors, substitute teachers, and mustachioed-workers for the Colorado Russian consulate…everyone is now here for grad school and hanging out with them has been great. Plus, now I have places to crash once I have money to travel.

What I am most looking forward to for my second year:

My program is different than most of my classmates; I am earning a dual degree MBA and MS in Media Ventures. My 2^nd year focuses primarily on the media portion of my degrees and actually sends me to Los Angeles for the spring and summer. There are several things I’ll miss about Boston (the people, the Spring Gala, and the MBA talent show to name only a few), but I am looking forward to experiencing life on the West Coast. The idea of networking is ground into your head as an important aspect of the MBA, a fact that has been verified by the alumni I have interviewed. As great as Boston is, I look forward to trying something new and meeting more people in my future-industry. I’m sure I’ll jump back east, so I’ll see everyone then.

Aside from LA, I am honestly looking forward to my Negotiations class at SMG this fall. I have heard nothing but good things think learning the basics will prove to be invaluable in any career.

See you all on campus in a few weeks!

Lessons Learned in B-School

[Posted by Felicia Jadczak, MS-MBA, Class of 2011]

One of the primary reasons why I decided to apply to business school was to make a move and get ahead in my future career. I had just been promoted in my job at the time, but there was no space for further growth. After five years in the same field I was more than ready for a change. I knew that business school was a doorway for something bigger and better, even if I didn’t quite know what that “better” would actually turn out to be!

I remember showing up for the first day of Pre-Term, hot and sticky, wondering if I should have worn business casual, worried about how I would fit in with the rest of the class. I was a liberal arts major: my specialties were English, French, and writing, and I had only taken one math class in my entire undergraduate college career (it was the lowest grade I ever received, in case you were wondering!) I imagined that the other students would be crazy intense ex-investment bankers, ultra-competitive, with closets full of suits and ties, shiny shoes, and leather briefcases. I could just picture the months ahead: long nights of struggling alone over big fat finance textbooks and mind-numbing spreadsheets. That first night I wondered why, oh why did I ever think I belonged in business school? Admissions must have made a SERIOUS mistake by accepting me!

Well, it turns out my fatalistic predictions were only partially true. To my surprise, there were many other people who were just as nervous as I was. There were other English majors! There were other people who’d never opened up an Excel spreadsheet in their entire lives! There were very few bankers, and shiny shoes and suits only emerged on presentation days. There were long, long, sleepless nights of pouring over big fat finance textbooks and mind-numbing Excel spreadsheets, but they were not spent alone. And most importantly, competition was almost non-existent.

One of the very first lessons I learned in school was that we’re all in this together. I still remember the first Saturday morning I showed up to school, planning on somehow making my slow, slow way through a MyFinanceLab homework set, and wondering how I would ever manage when I already felt behind in class. I ended up working on the problems with two other classmates who were more helpful and supportive than I could have ever imagined possible. It was an eye-opening experience and one that was repeated many times over throughout the year. Yes, you might not be an expert in one area. But you probably are really good at something else that another classmate thinks is impossibly hard.

Yesterday evening, as I sat enjoying a mid-week drink with many of my cohort members, I realized that not only have I managed to make it through the first year alive, with enough skills and training to succeed (so far) in a very challenging summer internship, I’ve also somehow come away with a fantastic network of friends and colleagues. I count people from my first semester, second semester, and study teams among some of the best friends I’ve made since coming to school. My cohort has proved to be an invaluable source of support, tutoring, friendship, commiseration, and endless new ideas for social activities. And I wouldn’t be working where I am today if not for the help of an MS-MBA alumna who promoted my resume with her former co-workers.

Yes, business school has proved to be one of the hardest experiences of my life. But no, I wouldn’t trade the hard work, frustration, challenging situations, and incredible fun of the past year for anything.

Update on Summer Internship

[Posted by Yvonne Choi, Public and Nonprofit MBA/MA in International Relations, Class of 2011]

Hi all!

Welcome to the Boston University blog. Hope this is helpful in your pursuit to figure out whether BU is the right fit for you and if you have already chosen BU, prepare you for the first year.

The first year of business school is hard and long but I had tons of fun too! I think BU does a great job of creating an atmosphere of camaraderie and healthy competition. They seek out those who are brilliant but are not overly showy. Sounds so cheesy but I have met some of the most interesting and diverse group of people from all over the world. And, this summer, they are interning all over the world… from Africa to Vietnam and all over the US.

For me, this summer, I am interning with Bank of America within their leadership program. After a month of summer break, I am ready to get mentally stimulated again. I am commuting to Providence this summer from Boston and although it’s been a bit rough waking up so early, I am able to take a quick nap and do some work on the train so it’s not so bad. The ultimate goal of my summer internship is to be accepted into the full time rotational program with BofA after I graduate so, as they say, not only am I “interviewing” them but I am also being “interviewed” throughout the entire summer. It has only been a week into my internship, but I have already been asked of my constructive feedback on how the BofA banking centers are being run and about my opinion on how to improve customer experience and employee engagement. I think BU has done a great job in instilling in its students key business leadership tools, specifically from our Organizational Behavior class, and core business knowledge in operations, marketing, and finance to generate constructive and intelligent assessments of business situations.

I hope everyone is having a great time enjoying the summer weather. It has been fabulous in Boston, not too humid.

Reflection: Guatemala Trip

[Posted by Stephanie Hawkins, Public and Nonprofit MBA, Class of 2011]

If someone had told me a year ago that I would be traveling with 35 people I had yet to meet, I never would have believed it. But on May 9^th, I boarded a plane headed to Guatemala with other members of my BU MBA class. The idea was proposed by a classmate: a cohort trip, not only to celebrate the end of our first year together, but also to have the opportunity to give back. In addition to the social nature of the trip, we would be volunteering and raising money for the Primeros Pasos clinic outside of Quetzaltenango (also known as Xela). I’m not surprised that over 60% of our cohort decided to attend. My cohort has many students that are in the Public and Nonprofit Management program, the Health Sector Management program as well as former Peace Corps volunteers. In the months leading up to the trip, between studying, classes and group projects, students planned the logistics and raised money for the clinic.

We arrived at our first stop, Antigua, late Sunday afternoon. After exploring parts of the city, it was early to bed for most of us, since the next morning we departed early for a hike of Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano where we were able to get close to flowing lava and some classmates even roasted marshmallows over it! We proudly flew our BU flag when we reached the end of our hike. Afterwards, we set off for Xela where the group split into two volunteer groups that worked at the Primeros Pasos clinic (www.primerospasos.org) in separate shifts.

Over the two days we spent volunteering at the clinic, we were able to paint the entire outside of the clinic, build bookshelves, construct whiteboards, check-in children visiting the clinic, and deliver medicine and toothbrushes to local schools. I was among the group that walked to a local school to deliver the supplies. It was amazing to see the kids playing at recess just like kids do everywhere. They were fascinated by us, asking us if we were “gringos” and asking to see pictures we had taken of them. We had seen the unbelievable natural beauty of Guatemala, but volunteering enabled us to have a more human experience in the country. After Xela, the group traveled to Panajachel, a town on Lago Atitlan, where the group kayaked, ziplined, shopped, ate, and celebrated before boarding the bus back to Antigua for our last night in Guatemala. It was a quick and intense five-day trip that was filled with so many memorable experiences.

The hope is that this kind of trip, one that allows BU MBAs to experience a developing country and give back, will be an annual occurrence. For me personally, somewhere along the way, I realized something. I realized that somewhere between marathon team meetings and study group sessions, late night IMs from classmates offering help, and many meals and social outings, we had formed our own kind of family. Our trip was a great way to give back and experience Guatemala; it was an amazing way to celebrate our newfound family.