The MIT Sloan MBA class of ’11 is halfway through the first
semester, the core. After getting through the first pair of midterms last week,
I made a quick weekend trip to Dallas, TX to catch the annual Red River Rivalry
football game between my alma mater, UT, and OU (Oklahoma). Texas won; hook
‘em! Next up, we have a week to prepare for the second wave of exams and attend
a set of seminars. These seminars are part of SIP (Sloan Innovation
Period), and they give students the opportunity to escape their semester
course load and learn about innovative research from faculty across the school.
My flight back to Boston provides an opportunity to share a bit of my
experience to date.
As an applicant, I remember questioning what made MIT
different. Why did I want to come here so badly? I may not be the norm, but I knew
I wanted to come hear long before I new much about the place. I’m an engineer
and an entrepreneur, so the fit was natural, but I still wanted to get some
more perspective on the program. That’s when I started reaching out to Sloan
students and graduates. I was immediately impressed by their responsiveness,
and it is what encouraged me to write this blog. So here is a little bit of
insight that I can share about applying to and being a student at MIT and the
Sloan School of Management.
As you likely know, applying to business school is an
arduous process. However, understanding the programs you are applying to is
unquestionably beneficial to your application and in choosing the best school
to match your goals. My advice here is to reach out to people and ask
questions; ask anything. Ask things that you wouldn’t ask admissions. Students
and alumni are eager to talk to you, and I doubt this is unique to MIT. Also,
use your application to tell admissions what you learned from your
conversations.
Here are a few of my observations. MIT is unique. Helpful,
eh? ;)
The culture here is obviously collaborative and innovative; the examples there
are endless. Here’s one: I recommend that you check out OpenCourseWare, where you can find openly
available materials for all of MIT’s courses. Less known may be the functional,
flexible, and even comical aspects of MIT.
Several of the buildings across campus are renowned
architectural marvels. There are several parts of campus that are so
untraditional that tourists stop me to ask where MIT is. “Um, which part? This is MIT.” There are several parts of
campus that are characteristic of a university as well. For example, the iconic
MIT Dome with “MASSACHVSETTS INSTITVTE OF TECHNOLOGY” declared across the
front. But even the traditional buildings have an MIT touch. They are connected
by a series of underground tunnels, and a single “infinite” corridor unifies
the main buildings at surface level. You won’t find a neat series of
traditional red brick buildings around here. Furthermore, each MIT building is
numbered. Building 3 is home to mechanical engineering and E62 is the new Sloan
building that we will occupy beginning next fall. And the schools (“courses”)
that occupy these numbered buildings are numbered themselves. Sloan is
efficiently referred to as Course 15, or 15. And the individual courses are
themselves… you guessed it… numbered. This might seem normal, but here people
refer to courses by their number. Maybe you’ll take 15.360 in E62.
Another interesting aspect of the MIT culture is the
infamous tradition of “hacks”.
Students routinely organize elaborate schemes that often result in awe. These
stunts are pranks that generally break some rules to pull off an impressive
feat of creative fun. Just imagine walking to class and seeing a fire truck on
top of the Dome on the anniversary of 9/11!
Image Courtesy of http://hacks.mit.edu/
The Institute generally turns a blind eye to the carefully
conducted productions. Another laughable tradition is hidden in the class
rings, the Brass Rat and the Grad Rat. The class ring is redesigned each year,
but several features remain annually. One example is the acronym IHTFP, which
is included in each design. IHTFP is defined differently depending on the
audience, but I’ll give it to you straight: “I Hate This F’ing Place!” Jokes
aside, I haven’t found one person that doesn’t love what they are doing here.
There were a couple of more specific areas that really drew
me to MIT. I’m interested in clean energy, and I want to pursue an
entrepreneurial career path. Lucky for me MIT happens to be no slouch in either
of those areas, and I continue to find new resources in each. I am helping to
organize the Clean Energy Prize, I’m getting involved in the Electric Vehicle
Team, I’m working on a project with GM on marketing the launch of the Volt, and
the Sloan entrepreneurial curriculum is overwhelming.
Finally, a few words on the curriculum at Sloan. Our first
semester includes every mandatory class that we need to graduate with an MBA
degree. Then we are free to choose the rest of our courses from the sea of
available electives. My understanding is that the number of elective
opportunities at Sloan is higher than any other leading business school. There
is even an option to register for MIT courses outside of Sloan or to
cross-register with one of the countless other Boston-area universities. For
example, next semester I could take courses at Sloan, a mechanical engineering
course at MIT, and a business law course at Harvard Law School. Also, once you
are enrolled at Sloan the doors open. There is no application process for the
Entrepreneurship & Innovation track or the Finance track. You simply need
to declare your intention to pursue the track. As a Sloan MBA student, you are
eligible to enroll in any MIT course that you have met the prerequisites for.
So far, it has been great. You can make your schedule as
busy as you want, but everyone ends up far busier than they intended. There is
just too much opportunity to leave anything on the table. We’re only here for
two years, and we want to make them count.
If you have any specific questions for me, you can find my contact info here: http://justinjensen.net/
