Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit’s weekly roundup of the MBA blogosphere! The Class of ’09 has been busy with summer internships, but have been kind enough to take time to share their experiences, while the Class of ’08, most of whom have now graduated, look back on their experiences and forward to the future. While both of these groups had plenty to offer over the past several days, we’ll start this week’s review with applicant bloggers, many of whom are soon to be first year students…
The MBA Class of 2010 is slowly winding up their admissions process. Miss Curly Bee lets us know that after the exhausting process of applying to b-school and finally deciding on The Kellogg School of Business, she has taken time to do as many anti-intellectual things as possible, including the compulsory TV-on-DVD binges before her big KWEST trip and the start of her b-school career. MissionMBA provides prospective MBA students with invaluable insight on GMAT testing strategy and explains how he managed to score an impressive 770 on the test.
Our Class of ’09 bloggers have been working and playing hard. Anand, of the Darden School of Business, starts off by sharing several snapshots capturing the breathtaking scenery of Barcelona, where he continues his backpacking tour of Europe. His classmate Squaremethod lets us know that he, like so many of his other ’09 comrades, is busy working at a fast-paced internship. His fine arts background and Darden education have put him in the unique position of performing quantitative analysis in art-related areas, a challenge sure to give him a leg up in his future career. HairTwirler used her McDonough MBA experience to land an internship working with FINCA, a non-profit microfinance organization. The work environment is understandably and decidedly different than the corporate office in which she previously worked and, while this position is more challenging than her previous job, it is also more rewarding. MBA_salsera, another Georgetown MBA student, is glad to be working at an internship with a company near her hometown, but bemoans the difficulty of participating in all of the planned internship activities because of her own familial and social obligations. Still, because of all the beautiful country around her, it’s a mixed bag she is happy to deal with! GSBSutras tells us that as much as he would like to enjoy the late, but pleasant, arrival of summer in the windy city, he has to spend the last 10 days of this quarter feverishly writing papers and engaging in group study sessions to finish his first year strong at the Chicago GSB, a dilemma with which many MBA students are all too familiar. Darden student Mandy, has been keeping us updated on her Dallas-based internship with Frito Lay. On the trip down, she caught up with old family friends, basked in the ambiance of the Gulf Coast, explored what Austin, TX had to offer (a bucket of cheese) and finally ended in The Big D to begin work. She’s finding it a challenge to explain the logistics and rationale behind her 56 mile round-trip bicycle commute to her coworkers, and hopes that her growing reputation as “the biker” won’t overshadow her contributions to Frito!
Since graduation, our Class of 2008 bloggers have been busy with a myriad of activities. This week, Necromonger shared his concerns about the viability of an INSEAD MBA in the U.S. job market, an issue on which he had previously blogged. Now, armed with the complete INSEAD experience, he also provides us with a trailer to whet our appetites for his decisive comparison of INSEAD vs. U.S. B schools, which we can expect to see soon! Angie, unlike most MBA students, graduated from LBS with virtually no debt, a monumental accomplishment! While she certainly had a fortuitous situation, she provides tips that many B school students can use to reduce their own MBA expenses. Even after graduation, J-Term Johnny continues to reap the benefits of his CBS connections. Through his affiliation with Columbia’s Media Management Association, Johnny was able to get a big discount on registration to the 2008 Advertising 2.0 Conference in NYC. In addition, he has been meeting with several venture capitalists and marvels at the ease of arranging meetings with VCs.
Thus concludes our weekly highlights from the MBA blogosphere. Be sure to check back next week to stay up to date with b-school commentary from the frontlines! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
