Welcome to the new week! Round 1 deadlines are starting to approach, and many applicants are looking for last-minute ways to pump up their essays with school-specific information. Since student papers offer a great window into student culture, activities and academics, keeping up to date with these publications is a great way to discover detailed information that can improve an application. With this in mind, let’s check in on what’s been going on at Wharton, Harvard and Fuqua this week.
At Wharton, the new dean took center stage in an interview in this week’s Wharton Journal. The Journal’s editors in chief sat down with Dean Robertson to discuss his vision for the school, his plans for hiring and retaining star faculty members, and the steps he’s taking to improve relationships between students and administrators. In other news, current Wharton students should be happy to hear that school’s student government recently voted to refund almost $29,000 in activity fees, taking advantage of new revenue streams and increased efficiency to pare down the association’s annual budget. And in the humor section, one second-year student contributes a point/counterpoint on his summer internship – with his boss providing the opposing view.
At Harvard, two student entrepreneurs are generating national media buzz with their new venture, The Updown, which eventually hopes to become a community managed hedge fund. The Harbus also reports on another creative Harvard Business School student, who was one of six contestants to reach the final round of the ABC show American Inventor. In the classroom, the partners of incoming RC (first-year) students got a taste of Harvard academic life recently with a mock case study session – complete with cold calls! Elsewhere in the paper, a second-year student offers some humorous advice to the incoming class on how to approach the EC (second-year) course selection process. (Hint: A diagram of an upside-down T may figure into the process.) Finally, it appears that the reprint of the column on the partner’s view of HBS “stirred a modicum of controversy,” as predicted. In response, the Harbus has promised to regularly feature articles on partner issues, which should provide some great insight into another side of life at HBS.
Meanwhile, after a lot of academic conversations in the last issue, this week’s Fuqua Times is packed with information on the social side of life at Duke, including the school’s regular happy hours, called Fuqua Fridays. Much of the issue is focused on welcomes from the social representatives of the first-year sections, but there’s also time for the first real edition of Fuqua Connections, which explores the links between selected first-year students on campus. While the first-year class may still be getting settled into the school, they’re already being asked about their plans for spring break – which could include a 9-day trip to Utah sponsored by the Outdoors Club and the Leadership Development Initiative. For those looking for a great learning experience without heading outdoors, the interview with Fuqua Finance Professor John Graham provides an interesting look at M&A in the current economic climate.
That’s the campus news for this week. Be sure to keep an eye on this space for more inside information on the student life, academic climate and social scene at the leading business schools!
