Graduate Student Blog

Spring Semester Equals…Snow?

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

Spring Semester Equals…Snow?

As I write this, snowflakes the size of golf balls are falling on Boston. 3,012 miles away (but who’s counting?) at home in Los Angeles, my sister is enjoying 81-degree weather. While I’m a bit jealous of her January beach weather, I have to admit that the snow is pretty cool. In fact, I’ve added “lived in a real, live, snow globe” to my list of Boston accomplishments. I’m also proud to announce that I successfully accomplished my first car-digging-out over the weekend. (Sort of…with help…and it wasn’t that snowed in. But us Southern California kids have to start somewhere.)

In other news, school has started! And as of Thursday, I’ll have two classes under my belt thanks to BU’s week-long intensive classes. Last week was five days of Clean Energy Services during which I worked on a project with a solar services start-up looking to take their business overseas. Each team member researched solar energy and incentives in different countries to determine the feasibility of investing there. I chose to look at Kenya and learned a lot—not just about formal solar energy policies, but also about all of the cool guerilla home solar systems that people build off-grid.

This week brings five days of Negotiations, one of the most popular classes here at the School of Management. After three days, I can tell you that while I’ve overcome some of my negotiation fears, I’ll still happily pay someone to do it for me. Definitely not one of my core competencies.

The rest of the semester will bring Financial Statement Analysis (another must-take at BU), Public Policy Analysis, and Modeling in Excel. Of course this is in addition to putting the job search into full-swing, staying involved in various groups at school, and putting in quality time with friends at the local pub before we all fan out across the country—maybe across the world—after graduation in May. If the past three semesters are any indication, it will be over before we know it!

Moving From One City to Another

Post by Elissa Seto
MBA 2012
Public and Non-Profit Management
Cohort Cup, PNP Club

About a year ago this time, I remember receiving my acceptance letter from BU. I was feeling elated, relieved and about fifty other emotions. After being on cloud 9 for a few days, reality set in and decisions had to be made. Though signing away $1000 to reserve my spot in the class of 2012 was tough, one of my older sisters wisely reminded me that $1000 was less than 1% of what I was going to be paying over the next two years, so I had better get over sticker shock now.

However, even though I submitted my deposit, I still was not entirely sold on moving to Boston. New York had become my home after graduating from college and doing Teach For America. I loved my job at an educational video game company. I had a great network of friends and professionals in the city. Additionally, moving to Boston not only required relocating me, but also my partner as well.

What solidified my decision to attend BU was coming up for the Admitted Student Open House. My partner and I came up to Boston together for the weekend where I was able to meet current and admitted students and he was able to explore the city. After a day of talking to students and professors, I realized that going to business school at BU was going to be the best decision for me. Though my current job offered a lot of growth, an MBA from BU would be a much stronger investment in my future.

I was going to miss many things about New York, such as 24-hour subways, Central Park and amazing restaurants. However, I have learned that Boston definitely has plenty to offer as well. The T provides more than enough adequate public transit options. If there is something that is not accessible by the T, I have a Zipcar membership for that. The Boston area has tons of great running and bike paths that offer even more variety than Central Park. Even though my discretionary budget has been dramatically reduced since becoming a full-time student, I have still been able to discover many great culinary gems throughout the city.

Overall, I am happy with living in Boston. However, as a first-year MBA student, I definitely don’t get to see as much of it as I would like!

About the Author:

Elissa Seto is a first-year, full-time MBA student with a concentration in Public and Non-Profit Management. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 2005, she did Teach For America in New York. Most recently, she was the Manager of School Engagement for Tabula Digita, the producer of interactive educational video games.

Networking, Networking, Networking

Post by:
Ajay Mehta
MBA 2011

How to network is one of the many tools that you learn and perfect as a MBA. It starts when you get to campus and start practicing your elevator pitch within the first week. The career center helps you reach out to alumni/companies that you are interested in and learn about prospective careers where you have to use your pitch to strike up conversation and get your foot in the door.

Networking can be a complicated procedure in some cases, especially as a second year. You’re getting all these names of people that could possibly put you in your dream job, but you have to balance ‘using’ someone, to not being desperate and straight up asking for a job. It’s a fine line to walk but can be extremely rewarding if you play your cards right. Not only can you meet some good people with interesting backgrounds, but being a student allows you to really ask someone what they think about their career. You can gather honest answers about companies, job titles, and corporate culture which are invaluable when it comes molding your own career.

This is a skill the school helps you build with various seminars and practice with your peers. In some cases, tactics that my classmates were using proved to be extremely helpful for me, or the advice I received from practicing with professors and counselors. As a second year I’m realizing that this is a crucial aspect to finding the job I truly want which is the primary goal of pursuing a MBA. Most jobs are found by using your personal network which at BU, is constantly growing. At times, networking feels like more effort that its worth, but in the end it’s a rewarding experience and something you will continue to do throughout your personal and professional careers.

NSHMBA Event

Post by:
Juan J Estrada
International MBA 2011

The semester has been advancing at a quick pace. All of a sudden we are almost a month away from the end. The long term tiredness starts to kick in, that feeling of fatigue that doesn’t go away completely after a weekend of rest.

Times continue to be exciting, however. I attended the NSHMBA conference in Chicago two weeks ago and it was a great experience. At the beginning I felt like just another bee in a swarm desperate for a job. As the conference evolved though, I came to realize how crucial it was to focus my effort. At the beginning I made the mistake of inquiring at a consulting firm’s booth without really having done thorough research on the company. I have close friends who have been at this firm for a couple of years. I thought I would give it a shot with what I knew from them about the firm, but it was certainly not enough to get me past the inquiry. There were dozens of people in the lines for this and other consulting firms and I had not even trained myself for case interviews. I realized I wasn’t ready for the consulting firms, but I could in any case focus on life sciences and healthcare companies. I had done research on a couple of them and my background in medical devices could really call their attention.

Most of healthcare and life sciences companies had booths only for marketing and finance, interesting fields but not where I could play my best cards. I found a healthcare company that had a line for project management and I decided to go for it. I found out by talking to them that they sponsor international students, something fairly uncommon among the companies attending the conference.

In the project management line I talked to a manager called Erin. She works in projects related to insurances and reimbursements, and since I am interested in technology, she told to come back at a later time so I could meet someone who worked in the field of my interest. I went back a couple hours later and met Matt, a manager of Innovations and Information Technology. He introduced me to one of the VPs of the company, responsible for human resources, who liked my resume and invited me to party with the company that night and to an interview the next morning. That night at the party I met as many employees and managers as I could. My interview the next morning went well, I got the contacts of the people I met in LinkedIn agreed to apply to any position I thought fitted me. I just turned in my application a few days ago and am currently waiting to hear back.

The rest of the conference went well; my attitude changed after that first reward and felt much more confident talking to recruiters. The healthcare company reminded me the differential value I have to offer, what changed the feeling of being one more of the bunch. I realized how much of a difference it makes to target efforts at what best fits you as a candidate and how crucial it is to have a confident attitude. I talked again to the consulting firm and got a clear picture of the recruitment process, sold my skills, and met several recruiters. I ended up leaving the conference with a good taste in my mouth.

About the author:

Juan is a first year International MBA student. Before coming to BU he worked coordinating a project on the development of a medical device in Madrid, Spain. Through this European Commission sponsored project, Juan had the opportunity to inmerse in a variety of European cultures both in professional/organizational and in social terms. Prior to his experience, Juan had obtained a Biomedical Engineering bachelors at Georgia Tech, in Atlanta. Having grown up in Colombia, Juan enjoys experimenting in the kitchen with tropical ingredients, dancing -specially latin music- and keeping up with the news and what is going on in the world.

Reflections: Year 2, going by quickly

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

Tomorrow at 7am I will click on the “register” button and sign-up for Spring 2011 classes. It’s hard to believe that these are the last classes I will take at BU. It’s my last chance to take a class that will round out my resume, or to finally sign-up for that class that everyone says you can’t leave BU without taking. I didn’t think it would be this difficult, but how do I choose between a class that seems practical for my career aspirations and one that sounds incredibly intriguing, but is not quite career-related? And then, of course, is the secret (or not so secret) dream of every second-year: to only have class three (or two!) days a week so that we have time to “work” and “search for jobs.”

All of this class planning has made me think about each day, each MBA event, each dinner with friends a bit differently than I had been. All of the sudden I find myself walking down the street thinking “this is the last Nov. 1 that I will spend in Boston” or “this is the last MBA Halloween Party that I will attend.” It feels sort of silly since, until this past week, I’d only lived through one Nov. 1 in Boston and attended one MBA Halloween Party—it’s not like I have a huge history to reflect on. But I think it captures the essence of what the BU MBA program is like.

We all uproot and move to Boston (and even if you already live here, your daily life changes so much I imagine that it’s kind of like uprooting…) and are thrown into a whirlwind of classes, networking, info sessions, and new friends. By the time the second-year rolls around, things become “normal”—you ‘re back in the swing of classroom learning, networking becomes a bit less awkward, you realize that you don’t have to attend every info session, and friends become family. And just as that happens, you start looking ahead to life post-BU degree and you start to feel things tugging at your roots again.

I’ve decided, though, that even with a move back to California, a new place to live and a new job (fingers crossed!) looming ahead of me, I won’t lose sight of what’s right in front of me now: three more East Coast seasons and a lot of time to spend with friends. And these last classes that I’ve spent so much time agonizing over, of course.

Hola – Perspectives in Spanish from an International MBA Student

Entrada escrita por:
Juan J Estrada
International MBA 2011

Hoy hace un buen día, por lo menos mucho mejor que en los días anteriores. Y mejor aun siendo viernes, tras una semana de clima lluvioso y de mucho trabajo. Todavía mejor como antesala a un fin de semana de tres días.

Soy un estudiante del programa de MBA Internacional de la Universidad de Boston. Lo de internacional es porque cursamos nuestro primer semestre en China, empezando el primero de mayo y terminando la última semana de Julio. Yo llegue a China directamente desde Colombia, después de un largo viaje de dos días. El primer mes lo pasamos en Pekín, que es una ciudad inmensa en la que lo primero que llamo mi atención fue lo colosal y moderno de su infraestructura. Ahora me arrepiento un poco de haberme dedicado tanto al estudio durante ese primer mes. Una vez nos mudamos a Shanghái para el segundo y tercer mes del viaje, fue que supe en realidad lo que significaba un verano ocupado. En Shanghái nuestras clases cambiaron, ya no eran tan cualitativas sino que tenían más números. Soy ingeniero por formación, pero aun así mercado, contabilidad y estas clases, tenían tareas que tomaban mucho tiempo. La experiencia en Shanghái también fue distinta de la de Pekín porque Shanghái es una ciudad más internacional, su infraestructura es aun más grande e impresionante y te da una sensación de que el mundo de los negocios se mueve allí a un paso increíblemente rápido. Empezando la década del 2000 viví a las afueras de Nueva York por un par de años y no pude evitar percatarme de cuanto se parecen ambas ciudades. Los rascacielos, su diversidad, lo extenso de la ciudad y el afán o apuro de la gente me dieron un déjà vu. Esa sensación de familiaridad me gusto en Shanghái pero al mismo tiempo me percate que Pekín ofrecía una experiencia china mas autentica. Sus Hutongs, la menor concentración de extranjeros y sus monumentos históricos me hicieron sentir en un mundo diferente. Era una sensación similar a la que se genera cuando uno se siente perdido y me abrió un interés personal por Asia, por lo grande y diferente que es ese lado del mundo del nuestro.

Tras China me vine directamente a Estados Unidos para descansar y prepárame para la semana de Orientación en Boston, que se lleva cabo a mediados de Agosto. Había escuchado muchas buenas cosas sobre Boston pero no espere que en realidad me gustase tanto como me gusta. Hay estudiantes por todas partes, la ciudad es lo suficientemente compacta como para poder ir en mi bicicleta a cualquier lugar. El transporte público funciona muy bien (a veces demasiado bien porque sientes que para en cada esquina) y la arquitectura y el diseño urbano de la ciudad son esplendidos. Estoy realmente ocupado, mi programa de MBA termina en Mayo y la cantidad de clases o asignaturas que estoy cursando es bastante alta. También estoy involucrándome con clubes estudiantiles, el de estudiantes latinoamericanos-LAMBA y el de negocios Bio-business (negocios en la industria farmacéutica, biotecnológica, dispositivos médicos, diagnósticos etc.), además de que asisto regularmente a eventos de networking y soy embajador de este programa (lo que explica porqué ponen mi entrada de blog aquí). Esto quiere decir que el tiempo que tengo para disfrutar esta ciudad es limitado y tengo que mantenerme enfocado si quiero tiempo libre los fines de semana, pero por lo menos si me da la sensación de que estoy sacando lo mejor de este programa.

Es hora de irme, ya volveré a escribir pronto por aquí, tengo más cosas para contar.

Sobre el Autor:

Juan es un estudiante del programa de MBA internacional. Antes de venir a la Universidad de Boston trabajo en la coordinación de un proyecto para el desarrollo de un dispositivo medico en Madrid, España. A través de este proyecto, patrocinado por la Comisión Europea, Juan tuvo la oportunidad de sumergirse en varias culturas Europeas, tanto en términos profesionales/organizacionales como en términos sociales. Previamente Juan se graduó con honores de Georgia Institute of Technology en Atlanta como Ingeniero Biomédico. Juan nació y creció en Cali, Colombia, razón por la cual le gustan los ingredientes tropicales en la cocina, la salsa y la música latina en general y mantenerse al tanto de lo que ocurre en otras partes del mundo.

Perspectives from an International MBA Student

Post by:
Juan J Estrada
International MBA 2011

It’s a really nice day out today. Much better than the past days at least. It’s great to have a nice Friday after a week of gloomy weather and a very intense schedule, especially as the starter of a three day weekend.

I am an international MBA student at BU. The international comes along because we do our first semester in China, from May 1^st until the last week of July. I arrived to China from Colombia, after a long trip that lasted two days. The first month or so we spent in Beijing. Beijing is a huge city where the first thing that impressed was the size and modernity of its infrastructure. I now regret that during that first month I put a bit too much time into my coursework without really having the need to do so. I didn’t go out as much because I thought I was too busy but it wasn’t until we moved to Shanghai, for the remaining two months of our stay in China, that I really got to know what a busy summer was. Shanghai was very different from Beijing. The courses we took in Shanghai where mostly quantitative, and although I’m an engineer, getting the homework done was very time consuming. Shanghai is also very different from Beijing in the sense that its more international, its infrastructure is even bigger and more impressive and you get a sense that the business world is moving at an incredible pace. Nine years ago I used to live an hour away from New York City, and I couldn’t help but relate both cities. The skyscrapers, the diversity, the size and the rush all gave a me a déjà vu. I liked that feeling in Shanghai but I also realized that Beijing offered a bit more of an authentic Chinese experience. Beijing’s hutongs, lower density of foreigners, and historic landmarks all made me feel I was in a very different place. It was similar to the sense one gets when getting lost and it opened up a personal interest for Asia, for how big and different that side of world is from ours.

After China, I came straight the US to get rest and prepare myself for Orientation in Boston, which takes place in mid-August. I had heard lots of good things about Boston but I didn’t expect to actually like it as much as I do. Students are everywhere and the city is compact enough so that I can use mi bike to get anywhere. Public transportation works very well (sometimes too well, because there are segments where the stops are pretty much next to each other) and the architecture and the urban design of the city are splendid. It’s really busy around here though, my iMBA ends in May and my course load is pretty heavy. I am also involved the BioBussiness and Latino MBA clubs, I attend networking events and I’m an MBA ambassador. This means the time I have to enjoy the city is limited and I’ve got keep focus if I want to get free time on the weekends, but I do get the feeling everyday that I made the best of it.

I have to get going now but I look forward to posting here again- I’ve got more to say. Alright, be good – and if you can’t be good, be careful!

Health Sector Management Program (HSMP) in Action!

Michelle He
MS.MBA in Health Sector Management
Class of 2011
Health Services Management Association, BioBusiness Club, MBA Ambassador

Health Sector Management Program (HSMP) in Action!

First of all, a new student club MBAid was established by a group of Cohort D students from last year after making a fantastic trip to Guatemala volunteering at a local clinic. This year, MBAid is organizing an even bigger event inviting both first and second year students from all cohorts to join. Check out MBAid website to see photos from last trip and read the blog! Secondly, with increasing number of MD/MBA students joining the program, great effort is taken to integrate the health sector MBA program with the student community and programs at Medical School. In collaboration with its Medicine & Business Association, the first event was taken place at Boston Medical Center, where the CEO of BMC gave a talk followed by an interesting dialogue among medical students reflecting the challenge and need of bridging the gap between medicine and business. A variety of social events are also being organized and getting on people’s calendar. Last Friday, a HSMP welcome party was successfully held at Andrea(HSMP Executive-in-Residence)’s beautiful house in Cambridge. Although it was a chilly Friday evening after the rainy week, everyone was instantly warmed up by delicious Indian food and had a great time!

Building on past years’ tradition and success, a few more exciting events are in planning to connect members opportunities to reach out to alumnus, local professional organizations and potential employers: Learn @ Lunch brings speakers to campus to help students learn more about what a day-to-day activities look like for them, what challenges they have and what they learned from their experiences; Speed Networking brings both first year and second year students together to increase their interactions and bounce off great ideas; Health Sector West Coast Trek is scheduled to happen in the Spring when students get to check out hospitals and bio/pharma companies in Cali.

As for me, after rolling out the HSMP student mentoring program, I’m moving on to start planning the Young Alumni Panel for the coming month. That’ll be a great opportunity for students to hear recent HSMP graduates’ experiences and insights, and for alumnus to get a chance to meet with current students and revisit the campus. It should be a great event and as I am writing this line, I realize that I am almost running late for the planning meeting – gotta go now but stay tuned for more!

About the author:

Michelle He is a second-year full time MBA student with a concentration in Health Sector Management. She is also pursuing an MS degree in Information Systems. Prior to MBA, she worked at CITGO petroleum corporation in Chicago, where she was responsible for managing a variety of projects to ensure successful implementation from inception to completion. Michelle misses the beautiful city of Chicago, but she starts to appreciate the change of seasons in the Northeast and the unique characteristics of Boston architecture. In her spare time, besides shopping Michelle likes watching movies with friends, power walking along Charles river, and exploring different cuisines in Boston.

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.