An Eye-Opening Experience

"As the third week rolled around, panic set in for many of us," says this Sloan student, as "fun" quickly became a "full-time commitment"

by Brian Glenn

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Brian Glenn
MIT Sloan
MBA Class of 2008

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The 2005 Wall Street Journal MBA Recruiters' survey deemed MIT Sloan an "analytical powerhouse," and some recruiters criticized Sloan for being "too quant-oriented." This is what I was looking for in an MBA program—a school where my weaknesses, or at least skills I wanted to develop a bit more, were the school's strengths. On the flip side, this same survey cites us Sloanies as being too impersonal and lacking people skills; I'm satisfied, for the most part, with my current skill set in this realm.

Many teachers, alums, and students will tell you to look for the school with the best fit, yet "fit" has many interpretations. These same individuals argue that you should attend a program that is really an extension of your own personality and skills. Instead of the herd mentality, I decided to step outside my comfort zone and battle my weaknesses head-on, figuring this would offer me the most developmental upside and also better round out my portfolio of skills and experiences for recruiters.…I'll let you know how all this methodology actually turns out over the remaining three semesters.

Orientation and off to the races. Week One at MIT Sloan rivaled Club Med. Spirits were high and social events frequent. By the second week, homework became frequent and social events, or at least my attendance at them, began to wane. As the third week rolled around, panic set in for many of us. The classes and their accompanying deliverables are a full-time commitment. Pile on a few club events, on-campus speakers, and business-formal company recruiting events for two hours in the evening, and you have yourself a full-blown "Is there a God? Am I in hell?" self-reflection session every night before you fall asleep. It's really quite fun when you combine this reflection with the conflicting physical act of writing your tuition check.

Teamwork, Y'all

I remember reading some of these journals last year. One in particular mentioned something along the lines of, "no matter how much you think you're ready for the experience, it will surpass your wildest imagination in terms of time commitment, intensity, and of course what we all signed on for—fun!" Well now, standing in a similar pair of shoes, I echo these thoughts. So far, it's been the eye-opening experience of a lifetime. Literally as well, because sleep is the last of your priorities and something you can catch up on during the morning Intro to Finance class.

As for teamwork, B-school seems to provide a safety-net system in the form of five or six teammates with whom you do most of your work. I know for a fact this structure is not unique to Sloan, so I speak on behalf of all MBA programs. At most B-schools, they match five or six students who have different backgrounds and strengths. On my team, we have a programmer who spent time at a very large software firm that shares its home territory with Starbucks and then some time at a lovable search engine firm that rhymes with "oogle" (maybe one day I'll tell you which one he liked better and why), an I-banker from NYC, a journalist from Korea (I could probably use his help right now while I try wordsmithing this essay), a consultant, and a product manager from a health-care software firm. So far, we continue to get along very well, which is not the norm from what I've seen and heard.

Geographically, we all have different stories to tell, with team members growing up in Korea and Bulgaria, another from Tennessee who has yet to say "y'all" for us, a local who's spent time in Boston and Long Island, and the Google guy (oops, I said it) from California. As the token student from New Jersey, the most I can offer is a good Eagles cheer during football season and directions on how to take the N.J. Turnpike and Garden State Parkway from New York City to the casinos in Atlantic City.