Admit Weekend WrapUp (1): Haas

I am back. What a packed 11 days those were. Oh boy. I hope I can still remember it all, because I basically survived on an average of around 5h of sleep per night throughout the entire time.
I'll give it my best shot:

April 9th
Direct flight to San Francisco. One of my friends who is a flight attendant chose the same flight and made sure I got in last and told me to introduce myself to the crew. She said there might be something in store for me. 20mins into the flight a crew member is asking for me and tells there was "a mistake". A minute later I am sitting in a business class seat, sipping wine, and having the biggest grin on my face. I think I was playing around with the controls for about an hour. :)
You can imagine I got into SFO quite relaxed and took the crew bus to downtown San Francisco. After a few drinks and some dinner I went to bed.

April 10th
The BART took me to Berkeley. Glorious weather. Around 25 degrees celsius which I think is around 80 fahrenheit. No cloud in the sky. Just walking up to Haas through the amazingly beautiful Berkeley campus was an awesome experience. You gotta love those little streams and bridges everywhere. I will already say: Berkeley has the most beautiful campus of all schools I got accepted to. I sat in on a strategy class before heading to the reception. The class wasnt that exciting and I noticed a lot of students watching TV or checking email on their laptops. The reception was okay and was held in one of the bigger rooms of the b school. We then headed out in smaller groups to current student houses where we were invited for dinner. This was actually a great chance to get to know people better and learn more about the program and lifestyle. After that we went out to bar on Shattuck in downtown Berkeley. The bar was nice and all, but the music was deafening and it was almost impossible to have a decent conversation. Plus, and many internationals might be able to relate, I need conversations in English to be with as little background noise as possible, because I need to concentrate more. (Although I guess my hearing has been better, too)
So I left around 11pm and headed to see a friend in the SF marina area to have even more drinks until something like 2am.

April 11th
After a breakfast that I was late to we had our mock-class with Prof. Morgan. Quite on the sharp side that chap and a very exciting class. I was actually fooled by my hindsight bias. We had to read a RyanAir case before the class and as I recalled the company to be successful I guess I was reading through the case with a heavy bias. It was interesting how it turned out that the market entry strategy that RA was going for was highly questionable.

Following the class there was a career fair with the various industries represented at tables. I was talking to a few of the consulting guys. I will speak about Haas consulting record more later.

After the career fair we were listening to some of the faculty and why the chose to come to Haas. Most of them emphasized Haas' track record in research and that at Haas you are at a place where people are on the cutting edge of research - whereas at other schools you merely learn what is already known. (I am wondering however: how much of what is being researched makes it to the classroom? and how fast?)

Lunch was held at a hotel near the school and was quite yummy. I spoke to a very senior marketing professor who was interesting but quirky. :)

The student life panel was fun as it was hosted by a guy who does stand-up comedy. I felt inclined to ask a question and the following dialogue between the guy and me cracked everyone up. But it was also good to find out about where you should live in Berkeley as an MBA student (and what you will have to pay for it).

The ensuing scavenger hunt around campus was quite some fun. every station was hosted by one of the clubs and we had to do several crazy things such as do a karaoke performance or a TV commercial.

"Dinner" was had in the courtyard of the Haas business school with BBQ and texmex food everywhere. Plus several performances of bands and cheerleaders and what not. I actually wasnt paying attention as I was talking to a few of the current students and had beers with a friend who will do his Phd at Cal. The event was fun and good to bond more with the other admits.

April 12th
I was late. Really late. By the time I got to Haas the alumni panel had already begun. Those guys were fun to listen to, but to be honest I didnt like some of their reasoning why they came to Haas:
"If you consider b-school a vacation, where would you rather spend it? In a place where there is a lot of snow, or somewhere warm and with a lot of sunshine and with nice people?" Wasnt convincing enough for me. But oh well.

The wrap up was awesome though. Especially compared to that of Tuck. More about that one in the next post though. During the entire 2-3 days some of the current students had taken pictures. They presented the best of those in a nice, animated presentation featuring some great music. That one was quite the heartbreaker, and I am sure that is what tipped many people. It almost tipped me to Haas. :)

Pete Johnson held a nice little wrap up speech and then we went off to the optional tours: Wine tasting, SF tour and hiking. I decided for the later and had an awesome hike somewhere north of San Francisco on the coast. Perfect weather too. I wish I had brought shorts. But who knew?

That was it. Days at Haas. A great event, very well organized. I didnt drink the cool-aid though. Oh and what is it with those "t-shirts" they gave us? their neither short nor long-sleeved but something in between. You look ridiculous in those...

I stayed a few more days in San Francisco trying to get some sleep with no success. I am sure about one thing, though: I will definitely try to get an internship in San Francisco. I just LOVE that city.

...more about Ross and Tuck in the next posts...

Admit Weekend(s) Travels

April 9th is approaching fast. I can't wait to hop on the plane to San Francisco and experience Days at Haas. I will continue to Ann Arbor on the 14th and check out Ross. Unfortunately, classes will be almost over, so I hope to be able to get a good impression of the school despite that. Then it will be onwards to the Tuck Admit Weekend and then back home on the 20th. Quite a ride in store for me, I guess.

I really hope that I know where I will want to end up when I sit down on that window seat and have a few hours to think about it all. The Haas' decision will have to be made right the next day.

If someone is at any of the admit weekends, let me know, I will get in touch with you!

In at Tuck!

Okay, although I wasnt so sure about Tuck, they did admit me.

Well... this situation is getting increasingly difficult. However, I think Ross is now out of the game as Tuck is probably the better school when you compare the two.

Now, if Haas doesn't come around with some $$$ and Kellogg admits me, it will be between Tuck and Kellogg.

Although, I guess I should make this decision based on how I feel about the schools when I go to visit them in April. Admitted students week at Haas is 10-12 April, Tuck 18-20 of April. Haas wants a decision by the 15th. (they will have to extend that for me)

Kellogg's admit weekend coincides with Tuck's so that one is going to be difficult. I will have to visit one of the schools on a non-admit weekend day. Which will obviously make a big difference, I assume.

Aaaahh choices...if someone had told me 9 months ago I would have this choice, I would have seriously questioned his sanity.

Where would you guys go?

Obviously the best weather is to be found at Cal. Plus, they have the tech bonus and the Valley is around the corner. But they didnt give me any money. I think I got the money for the pretty strong GMAT score that is quite unusual for a candidate from my country. I think I would have gotten in at the schools that gave me one with a weaker GMAT score, but then they wouldnt have shelled out the cash. So passing up on those offers sort of feels like not taking full advantage of my score. Maybe I am wrong.

Tuck will be the school with the most tight-knit community. Plus they place very strongly in consulting, which is where I want to go. They actually have a better record than Haas in that aspect. And they have great skiing.

Kellogg is the only M7 school of the ones that I applied to and probably the one with the best brand name of all (especially in my home country). Plus, also a super-strong consulting placement record.

This is not an easy one.

Admitted to Haas!

Well, last Monday I was sitting in a bar with a lady-"friend", trying to explain that there is no reason to be angry with me when the phone rang and Haas called to admit me to the class of 2010!!!! Yeehaaa.

Well, she was the first person to hug, so I hope she didn't misinterpret. ;-)
Somehow our conversation was going on very well from that moment on.

So I am in at the school that has always been the dream school - although I cannot pinpoint the exact reasons anymore. I guess researching so much about Michigan and the entire application process, opinions from people on forums etc. have influenced me in a way that has somewhat taken Haas off the pedestal. I have now spoken to alumni from all schools to which I applied. Obviously noone ever said they did not like their program. But I must say the people from Michigan and Tuck I spoke to were by far the most enthusiastic.

By the way, I really appreciate your comments. It's always helpful to get different opinions that help you put things in a different perspective.

So now I have a Ross admit with 20k/y and a Haas admit with no money. Now what? Although Haas does carry the better brand name in my home country, I find it very hard to forfeit $40k...(although in euros it's not that much any more)

Thoughts anyone? This post may sound less exhilarated than one might expect. And I am indeed not as psyched as I maybe should be. I guess a little love in the form of cash would make my decision for Haas a lot easier.

Also, I need to keep in mind that I have two more decisions outstanding. I really hope Kellogg makes up its mind sometime in February and not at the end of the R2 round in March.

The Waiting Game... not getting easier

Let me tell you: Getting accepted to one school will not make you that much more relaxed when it comes to waiting for decisions from other schools.

Cal started to call people...I wouldn't even know this if it weren't for the infamous forums out there. One of the downsides to reading them is knowing too much sometimes. Although I wish I would have started to read forums like gmatclub earlier on. I might have applied to Stanford after all.

So here I am waiting for a decision. Going through a lot of "what ifs" in my mind.

Got the Ross admit binder this week, though. Beautifully made. Those guys really went the extra mile and left a great impression. I am sure Michigan would not be a bad choice if I don't get in anywhere else. Ann Arbor must be great and the new building looks fantastic, too. Nevertheless, Ross doesnt have the international brand name that Haas or Kellogg have, something truly important for my future career.

Oh well...one step after the other. Now it is just time for the Haas people to spread some love. :)

Haas Interviewed

That's it. Application season is over for me. I finished my last interview with a Haas alum and now that will be it. No more essays, interviews, GMAT preparation for me. Looking back though, it was an interesting time. To everyone who is about to begin their MBA journey: See this time as a challenge not as a nuisance. Especially the GMAT and the essays. I think you do learn something throughout the entire time.

Anyway, how did the interview go?

Well, honestly, it could have been better. I guess there was no trouble with the questions. After speaking about my career so far, he wanted to know why I wanted to pursue an MBA despite a previous business degree. What I wanted out of the degree. Then we moved on to what I would give to the program, why they should admit me. We spoke a little about a possible weakness and then I had time to ask a few questions. All in all the whole thing took around 45mins.

It's not that anything went wrong throughout the interview, but I still am not thrilled about it. Especially it didn't strengthen my enthusiasm for Haas. When I started out on my MBA journey, Haas was my absolute no.1 choice. I am becoming less and less convinced about that. It could have been that there was no real chemistry between that guy and me. But then again, isn't the way you feel around the alums a decisive factor as well? The alums from Kellogg and Tuck have been phenomenal.

Well, maybe I won't have to think about it in the first place as I am not sure how I will be rated after that interview. I think I made a convincing case why I need the MBA, and why from Haas but as we all know decisions are influenced by personal impressions. Having the Ross admit under my belt makes it a lot easier to wait for Cal's decision.