Internship

Hi all

I'm going to stop apologizing for failing to keep this updated as well as I should.

I was lucky last spring to secure an internship with General Mills. So, this summer I spent my days in the office working with the many Big G cereal brands. It was a great experience to help grow the brands' at retail. I worked on 5 projects (more than most) involving analysis, strategy, and tactical implementation of initiatives for key growth customers of the Big G cereal brands.

While it was a great opportunity and experience, I'm looking for a new challenge to move forward with my full time position post-MBA. I'm still very interested in CPG brand management as the end goal (and what I feel is my calling, if you will), but I'm looking at finding the right fit and position for me.

Wish me luck!

End of Core

So, since my last post was actually just posted, but was meant to be posted back in late October/early November, I figure now is as good a time as any to give some information on how the remainder of the semester went.



After Academy Week I was able to participate in the Elite Eight Brand Management Case Competition at the University of Minnesota. The teams, from Kellogg, Fuqua, Ross, Anderson, Haas, Kelley, Minnesota, and Wharton, all were presented a real challenge that the marketing team at 3M was facing regarding a new consumer product. I can't go into too much detail, but the challenge involved naming of the product, segmentation, and developing a global comprehensive marketing plan all within 36 hours! Though we didn't place it was a lot of fun, a definite challenge, and a great learning experience. My team was great to work with as we challenged each other and still worked well under the time-constraints we were given.

School kept on going, however, whether we wanted it to slow or not. The remaining weeks of class flew by with a few mid-terms and even a final or two prior to the internal 1st year case competition. This year's case, like that described above, was a live case for Eaton Corp and involved Green technologies and global expansion. Each team had to assess the situation, recommend entry into one of three countries, a path of entry (greenfield/De Novo, Joint-Venture, Acquisition, Partnership, etc.), and provide details for why this is the best country and method of entry. We were given far too much time in my opinion for this case (almost a full-week) because that provides too many opportunities to go down the wrong path in our research. I prefer the 24-48 hour competitions so you have to make a decision and own it...right or wrong you have confidence in your choice! Each team was given feedback on presentation style, PowerPoint deck, analysis, etc.

Finals came shortly after Case Comp and was really busy. We all went into cram mode, in essence, working on one subject for 2 days and taking a test, then switching gears for another subject and repeat. It was a hectic week, but we all survived! The funniest part of finals week was that about 80% of the male students decided to either not shave, or do something interesting with their facial hair. Walking through the school we were all subjected to some hilarious mustaches, and some hideous (mine not withstanding) creative facial hair fiascoes. At the end of the week there were a number of social gatherings put on by the school including the "End of Core Party", which was a lot of fun!

Winter Break was what you made it I guess. Some of my friends did a lot of traveling, others stayed in, but most were still busy with networking and interview prep. I had a number of mock interviews and informational discussions with company representatives during the break. Also, the week before school restarted, there were a few student-organized 'treks' to cities for company visits. I attended 2 and co-led a 3rd. I was in Minneapolis for 2 days during which 20+ of us visited with Land O'Lakes, 3M, General Mills, and Target. We got to meet a lot of people in the marketing organization at each of these companies and learn more about their jobs and what it's really like to work for each of the companies. It was a great complement to the on campus events that many of these companies had held down in Bloomington over the course of the semester. Most of that same group then drove to Madison for a full-day visit with Kraft-Oscar/Mayer. This, too, was fun and insightful. The team introduced us to a number of branders from many schools (not just Kelley Alum) and took us on a tour of Madison (a great city, btw). After that a group of us hopped on a bus to Chicago. We then got to meet with the marketing consulting arm of GfK (a large marketing research firm), had a happy hour with local alumni, and then a full-day event with Conagra in Naperville. All of the companies I visited during these treks put on a great event for us and gave us a lot of exposure to how things really work within their organizations.

Then began 2nd semester - and for that, I think I'm going to wait another week or so to write about...hopefully not too long

Lots To Say, Little Time To Do So

So, as you can tell from my 6 weeks of absence, the Core keep us busy! Since my last post we have done a LOT. Midterms are done (I made it through without too many scars), we've gone through Academy Intensive Week 1 (which I'll expound upon here shortly), and we're back in the mix of things preparing for the pending 1st Year Case Competition.





Midterms: Though the midterm season is definitely brutal; the school does attempt to alleviate some of the pain by spreading out most of the exams over the course of about 4 weeks. They then try to add to the pain by piling on the other deliverables/homework assignments/team projects/etc. all due within those same 3-4 weeks. What you get is a bunch of stressed out MBA's that learn how to survive and even thrive under stressful conditions. It also teaches us a lot about time management and prioritization (definitely important subject matters post-MBA). The worst for me was Finance, though I think I've started to understand better what went wrong and how I can improve for the final exam. My best performance I think was on my Econ test. All in all I'm tracking for a decent grade and learning most of what I'll need for my electives next semester and beyond.





Academy Intensive Week 1: At Kelley all students join what is called an Academy. These academies are something like a mix of a professional club and Major that are function and industry specific. This program of using the academies to complement our MBA and chosen major is unique to Kelley and really sets us apart for long-term success. There are 8 (and a half) Academies for students to choose from in 3 broad business areas. The finance academies are Corporate Finance, Investment Banking, and Investment Management; the management academies are Supply Chain and Global Management, Consulting, and Entrepreneurship management; and the Marketing Academies are Business Marketing and the Consumer Marketing Academy (of which I am a member). During my two years as a Kelley MBA student and a member of the Consumer Marketing Academy (CMA), I will have 3 Academy Intensive Weeks (Academy Week) with the CMA. Academy Week 1 consisted of company presentations of 6 companies in 5 days in 4 states. Kraft Foods (Oscar Mayer) visited us in Bloomington, we then traveled to Chicago for company presentations at MillerCoors and JewelOsco (Supervalu), over to Benton Harbor to visit with Whirlpool, down to Indianapolis for an event with Eli Lilly, and then lastly on to Cincinnati to visit with P&G. I learned a lot about many industries and how consumer marketing is similar (and different) across categories.

As this was meant to be posted long ago, I'm going to cut it off here and try to get another update out there soon. Wow - School really does take a lot of your time!

3-weeks down...

So, Wow...not sure what to say about life as an MBA so far, but I'll see if I can sum it up for you.

Awesome and Busy. I don't think you can fully realize the truth of both of those statements until you, yourself, are actually in b-school. But, for good measure, I'll take a crack at explaining my view on it.

Awesome: Everything that has been going on here is quite simply that, Awesome. The school has gone to great lengths to challenge us and provide us with a lot of good times. I, personally, love both sides of that equation. We are working on a lot of case studies, joining clubs, studying for quizes/exams (yes, we have one of each already), etc. But, we're also out networking with recruiters that are on campus, meeting and hanging out with our fellow classmates (and the second year students) too. This makes for what will be discussed in the 'busy' section, but it also makes for a great time. Everyone here is smart, open-minded, and fun to hang out with. We go out to the bars (or other social venues) a couple times a week usually and we always have a great time. We also, so far, get a long great when it comes to working on our team assignments. Really - I couldn't have asked for a better experience thus far.

Busy: At Kelley, we have 3 class sessions per day which go for a little more than 4 hours in total. This will go on for a total of 15 weeks, which means that we're almost 20% the way through the Core. It also means that we've had 36 class sessions in the last 3 weeks. For those 36 sessions we've had to read likely over 1000 pages in the form of case studies, text books, online articles, and other assigned readings (The Goal anyone?). I'm averaging about 5-6 hours of sleep each night (staying at the school until after 2 most weekday nights). I'm now a part of the Student Admissions Committee (we do building tours, info sessions, lunches, class visits, etc. with prospective students), the social rep for my cohort (group of ~80 students that I have class with throughout the Core), have been invited to join the Marketing Case Competion team heading to the Elite Eight Brand Management competition in Minnesota this November (they got 3rd last year and we're hungry for a win this time), and am on the flag football team. Why do I do this to myself? Because I told myself a long time ago that I'd try to take advantage of ALL that b-school has to offer; and thus far, I think I'm doing a good job of it.

I love it here, I'm challenged every day, I'm sleeping a lot less than would be optimal, and I'm having the best time of my life!

Orientation; Check! Week 1; Check!

Alright; so it has been a while, but all is well.

Jump Start:
Jump Start is the pre-orientation Finance/Accounting/Excel classes that are meant to help provide us with a 'jump start' before real classes start. While, that all may be true (and I did learn/relearn some good stuff), the real benefit is meeting everyone! It was a great time to get out there and get to know as many of my new classmates before classes meet and we are all too busy to do much. There was a social event every night hosted/planned for us by some of the 2nd year students and, oh yeah, there was class during the day. I highly recommend going to this if you're heading to Kelley (or the 'math camp' type of thing that almost every other top school has too). It's great fun and it really does give you a leg up (a jump start) once classes kick off.

Orientation:
Wow! I used to be a part of the orientation program at Purdue (Boiler Gold Rush!); which was a TON of fun and a TON of work and it lasted for about 5-6 days. The orientation for us b-schoolers was virtually 2-weeks long...I don't even want to know what all went into this. It started out with some diversity/cultural difference trainings; we've all been through it before (and will again), but it is what it is; nothing more and nothing less. Then we went off to Bradford woods for a half-day team building exercise. This was actually quite fun and culminated in building a car (made from a plastic cup; straws, lifesavers, and a paper cup). Wednesday began with some class-like discussion about a case we had to read ahead of time to understand how classes will be going forward and the start of our case competition. The case was about Timberland's attempt to valuate their Social Responsibility expenditures (donations/benefit hours/etc.) Quite fun, but due (partially) to some bad advice we didn't do as hot as we'd have liked. Live and learn I guess! So, next time it is on! After that we then had a lot of meetings about the various clubs and organizations and opportunities that we will have to be picking/running for in the coming weeks. There was a lot of talk about Ethics and the Kelley Code [of conduct] and that sort of thing. We were inducted into the MBA class with a nice reception that followed some fun speakers (an alumnus and the Dean). Lastly (and likely most importantly), we were given a LOT of homework near the end of orientation. We had about 200 pages of reading to do before the first days of class (or at least if felt that way). I had a lot of fun but am glad to be in class now.

Week #1:
As mentioned, there was a lot of reading for this first week. We had to prepare (read; run numbers; discuss; answer questions about) 5 different cases last week (3 for Econ alone!). I love this stuff! It's fun to get competing ideas out there about what's happening in a given situation for a given company or industry. We are also learning a lot about the various tools (that even I did know existed) in Excel. I'm glad the week is over, but I've got to get back to the books! I have another 50-75 pages to read for tomorrow and some pivot tables to play with!

Oh the joy of being in b-school!

Wishing I had more than two weeks off, but loving every minute!

So, let me start this by saying that I have been spending my time between leaving my job and beginning my MBA as efficiently as possible. I've done quite a bit in a short amount of time; a little too much in a little too little time to be honest.

After leaving work I had a great weekend with a few friends (Ann and Phil); we went to the Arlington Park horse races among other things. I then spent a day getting some stuff ready to move to Bloomington, a day of seeing some other friends (Megan and Pov from the burbs and an out of towner, Sean) along with some shopping at Ikea (Amazing prices and a LOT of stuff, btw). Then I had to go down to my mom's to borrow her van to help with my move and saw another friend before actually getting my stuff the next day. Moved to Bloomington Friday/Saturday and then up to Indy for what should have been the beginning of a short vacation with another friend, Angi. We were meant to fly to Hilton Head on Sunday night, but got bumped thrice and didn't actually fly out until Monday night (got to the place around midnight a full 24 hours after we were supposed to arrive). We spent that day relaxing on the beach and checking out the area (Salty Dog Cafe anyone?). Flew home Wednesday after sitting on the Laguardia Tarmac for an hour and a half and then 40 more minutes in Indy awaiting a plane to leave our gate (anyone ever heard of the idea of rerouting us to another gate?). Then the next day (yesterday) I drove back to Chicagoland for dinner with a friend last night, a comedy show tonight, and the Jimmy Buffett Concert tomorrow (really excited about it!). Ultimately I'm glad to have been able to do all of this and spend a lot of time with a lot of my friends, but Wow - that's a lot in a little bit of time. I've officially driven well over 1000 miles in the last 2 weeks, been on four flights (and bumped from three flights in the process), moved into a new apartment (though that process is no where near complete), and still have a bit more ahead of me. Looking back I feel that I may have been better off taking an extra week to settle the move and have all of this fun, but it is what it is and I'm loving every minute!

Jump Start begins on Monday. I'll have Finance from 8:30 to 11:30 and Basic Excel from 12:30 to 3:30 (I know - it's silly, but I'm used to 2003 and will be using 2007 exclusively from now on - I don't even know where the sort button is!) on Monday and Tuesday. I'll then have Accounting on Wednesday through Friday from 12:30 to 3:30. I'll hopefully be supplementing the class times with finishing up getting the apartment in order and hanging out with my new b-school friends and pre-reading some of the other text books. Orientation then begins on the following Monday and goes all week and the week following. I don't know what all it will entail, but I'm excited to meet everyone and to get into the thick of it. I think it will be great to meet my cohort and my team (5-7 people I think) that I'll be spending so much of my time with over the next few months during the Core. The Core actually begins on Monday the 31st, so it's weird - I feel like classes don't start for a long time but really between Jump Start and Orientation, I'll be going strong for the next 3 weeks before going to class #1...crazy!

The dichotomy of leaving for b-school

Friday was my last day as an employee of Recycled Paper Greetings. I'm trying to let that sink in a bit, but the feeling is odd. It's an interesting dichotomy that I've got going on: On the one hand I think 'oh my God; I'm leaving this all behind' on the other hand 'Oh my God; I'm heading towards a great place that will be both exciting and full of opportunity'

Unemployed: Well, what can I say - it's not a great feeling. But, should it be - not under normal circumstances, no, however my circumstances are anything but normal. I have (let me rephrase; had) a great thing at RPG. I had a lot of cool coworkers, a great boss, fun projects to work on and a steady workload, great social life outside of work with friends and family all in/around Chicago. Oh yeah, and a paycheck. So, now for the next few weeks I've got none of that. Not that I won't be staying in touch with my coworkers and my boss (truly friends), but its just peculiar to leave that all behind ON PURPOSE.

BUT, I'm NOT leaving IT (work, friends, etc.); I'm taking a big step in improving myself and my career. I'm going to be starting as a first year MBA student in just about 2 weeks at the Kelley School of Business. Now let me let THAT sink in...THAT feels good. Not odd, not peculiar, not particularly scary (though everything is a risk), but GOOD. I've been aiming for this point in my life for a long time. I'm quite confident that this time in my life is going to be some of the best years of my life; definitely some of the most exciting. I'll have the opportunity to entrench myself into the program's offerings. Everything from clubs, leadership opportunities, leading experts/professors, the chance to travel (or study) abroad, etc. will be at my finger tips. And I plan to experience it all.

For these reasons the hand that is excited (rather than thinking about leaving another good thing behind) wins out. It's not that I'm leaving something good; its that I'm heading towards new opportunities and experiences. I'll have plenty of time to work again (and make money), but for now, the time is to learn and grow and experience new and exciting things during my time as an MBA student.