Was it fun?
It was, by far, the best three months of my life. Every day, I walk into our beloved yet crammed and congested E-51 building, and I am inspired by the people around me and energized by the mystique of the place! At Sloan, you can just feel new ideas flowing through the air. It's truly an amazing place! If you love being inspired, if you crave being challenged, and if you look for a tight-knit community, MIT's MBA program is where you need to be!
What is surprising?
When I first visited the school, I was told by the current students that the most impressive thing about Sloan is how collaborative this place really is. Being a skeptic and coming from a background where corporate politic and competitive culture are the norm, I didn't put too much weight on that statement. After all, even prominent investment banks claim that they have a "collaborative" work environment!
So, let me set the record straight! MIT Sloan is where collaboration happens! This is god honest truth! I can't believe how supportive and helpful everyone is. If I share my business idea, I would instantly receive 10 leads that would help me with the idea. If I have trouble with econ exam, people would line up and offer help. If I miss a company recruiting event, I would have 4 classmates hiding my nametag. This is collaboration! This is support! I don't ever want to leave a culture like this!
Reality Check?
You are going to be so busy!! The school is not shy about booking your nights and weekend away. You are likely going to spend 100 hours a week on school-related events. You also have to learn to manage 250 emails a day (with more than 100 emails in which you have to respond to). If you received an email at 3AM, it is often expected that you respond to that email within the hour. Classes are actually quite easy, but it's the activities that will make you forget what free time feels like.
Reality check 2: Don't expect to see a lot of road maps around here. A second year said it best: MIT is "designed to be chaotic." When I volunteered to lead the event planning team for MIT 100K, I was told, "Great! It's your baby now. Go and make it happen!" That's all the direction I have received. Pretty scary, isn't it? Now I know why admission committee want to know if I can bring a concept from the drawing board to reality.
Catch-22 (My Favorite Memories)
- My buddy Steve brought a visiting applicant to our strategy class. We were discussing a case on the problem between management and labor. This applicant began to engage in a long debate with my professor and argued that all these problems can be solved by love and that "all you need is love". Steve stared straight ahead, knowing full well that everyone was looking at him... He had the classic look from "Wanna get away" Southwest commercial! Poor Steve!
- Beerfest is the greatest invention in the world! Apparently, your intelligence won't help you throw the ping pong into the plastic cup!
- BHP and 141 can put college fraternity to shame!!
- Japan, Latin, and Korean C-Functions are amazing! MIT talent show and auction are the events worth waiting for! Indy posing as Carmen from South Park was too funny!
- Core team dinner at Grill 23.
- Finished OP project and married to Jon and his computer for 48 hours!
- Luxury Box with 25 sloanies at a Celtics game. Cristal, baby, cristal!!
- Game 7 of ALCS and Game 1 of World Series. Sweet Caroline... oh oh oh... so good so good...
- Jakeym skipping out on Game 7 for a girl he didn't even like!
- Unbelievable EPC event. www.mitepc.com
- Ryan and Irina's facial expression when they first saw the EPC video.
- Beating HBS in basketball.
- Ever-entertaining Professor Weber...Now, "your intuition is absolutely correct!" but Barath, "Dividend is NOT an expense!"
- Professor Fernandez ... Why are you mad at us?
- How I made the decision that led to the launch of the Challenger!
- D-Sum was talked about his sister's visit to Boston... Jeanine's immediate response was "Is she hot?"
- Sandy buying her first scooter.
- Derek backstabbed Suboem in the Game theory class!
- Shimiti... taking my spot in 3-on-3 competition with Barath and Kabir.
- Walking out of the Yahoo building with Weng Kee, feeling dumb about internet marketing.
- Boston Celtics thinks I am an amazing person and wants to work with me in the OP project.... not!!!
- Professor Freund and his amazing DMD class. Now "that's exactly the type of forward thinking that we don't like!"
Jimmy Chen- I was looking around on the MIT Sloan site and trying to get an idea of what student life at MIT was like. Then, when I clicked on your blog, I thought I may recognize you? I went to NMH, lived in Crossley, and I think you were in my dorm with me. I was the short Asian guy with a British accent?
Posted by: Marcus Leung-Shea | February 02, 2008 at 09:56 AM