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NOVEMBER 2000 MBA JOURNAL: B-SCHOOL REVIEW Alex Virtue: Reflections on the Overall MBA Experience
In this final entry, I'll briefly recap the second semester of year two and try to give you, the reader, a sense of what I've come away with after my two years as an MBA student at the Wharton School. Second Semester Overview Caryn and I spent our holiday break in California again this year and avoided any possible Y2K incidents by celebrating New Year's Eve at my parents' secluded mountain cabin. I had already accepted my job with Merrill by the end of the previous semester, so this break was truly relaxing -- as opposed to the year before, when I was dreading the impending summer job interview process. When I settled back in for the spring semester, graduation still seemed far away. My classes this semester basically rounded out my finance and real estate majors and consisted of an excellent new course on venture capital and private equity finance, courses on real estate law and development, and a much-anticipated course on negotiations. While I could have satisfied the 19-unit credit requirement by taking only two classes in the spring, I loaded up to the 21-unit limit and even audited an international real estate class for a total of five courses. Why inflict the additional pain? As someone who took the entire core in the first year, I found that there were far too many spectacular electives out there, and as such, I wanted to take full advantage of the learning opportunities in the last semester. While I'm glad that I chose finance and real estate as my majors at Wharton, I wish I were able to sample some of the advanced courses in strategy, marketing, and entrepreneurship. A third year wouldn't be a bad idea. On the social side of things, I tried to spend as much time with my classmates as possible. I know I just said that graduation seemed a faraway prospect at the beginning of the semester. Well, this perception changed in a matter of weeks, especially around April, when everyone realized that the number of Thursday evenings at Wharton's MBA House (pub) could be counted on one hand. Strangely enough, I met some of the most amazing people I know at Wharton during the last few months of school. As our time together dwindled, I wished that I had more time to spend with all my B-school friends before we all scattered across the world to pursue our new careers and settle back into reality. Some great and memorable events at the end of the semester were the Spring Formal Ball and the Beach Week retreat. Beach Week is a Wharton tradition that takes place just after finals. Hundreds of second-year MBAs descend on an otherwise quiet beach town for a few days of sunbathing, volleyball, BBQing, and yes, hedonistic partying. And just a few days before graduation, the second years are treated to Final Friday -- an all-day event that starts with a leisurely lunch, includes the rivalry of "Cohort Jeopardy," and culminates with a student-selected all-star faculty panel Q&A held in Zellerbach Auditorium. It was hard to believe that we were sitting in the same forum where, less than two years earlier, Dean Gerrity welcomed the Class of 2000 -- the "most qualified" class in the history of the Wharton School (a distinction that the WG '01s readily claimed a year later). The Wharton MBA Class of 2000 graduation ceremony took place at Penn's Franklin Field on a rainy Sunday afternoon in late May. U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers delivered the keynote speech, urging our graduating class not to shun public service in our lives and careers going forward. Despite the light rain, the graduation ceremony was a wonderful opportunity for the students and our families to recognize and share an achievement that started three years earlier with GMAT prep courses and agonizing application submissions. Wrapping-up in Philly and moving on . . . Now that our families have all gone home, Caryn and I are packing up our apartment and getting ready for our move to Manhattan. It's hard to swallow that we'll be paying nearly three times the rent in New York than we do in Philly for an apartment that's half the size of our current place. But Manhattan has so much to offer and we're excited. So, now to address the questions I left you with last time. Did I enjoy my time at Wharton? You bet. Would I recommend it? Wholeheartedly. Would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat -- I wish I could do it again! As with most things in life, the question as to whether one should pursue an MBA cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no". Similarly, I can't make simplistic comparisons about where I would be today or five or 10 years from now if I had not decided to attend Wharton. The MBA program is surely intense, but also gradual enough that I suppose it's easy for me to take for granted the things I've learned, the people I've met, and the experiences at Wharton that have profoundly changed my life. On a personal note, I've benefited in numerous ways. My classmates, professors, and mentors at Wharton have enriched my life in ways that it's impossible to explain in a sentence or two. And while I'm saddened by the departure of those that have touched my life at Wharton, I know I now have a network of friends in cities all over America and the world. Moving to Philadelphia and experiencing a different lifestyle on the East Coast has also broadened my outlook on life and made Caryn and I more adaptable as a married couple. And since Caryn and I shared so many of the experiences during our two years in Philadelphia, she's also made some great friends, both students and partners, that we look forward to keeping in touch with in the future. Academically and professionally, Wharton's program provided me with a set of analytical and technical tools that I know were lacking before I came here. Additionally, attending a top business school has allowed me to make a career change that I simply could not have accomplished otherwise. And I know that my involvement with Wharton and its alumni doesn't end here. I'm confident that my affiliation with Wharton will bring dividends and open doors throughout the rest of my career. So, if you're one of those people reading this that is on the fence about business school, my advice is to definitely look further, and if you like what you see -- go for it! Talk to students at the schools you're considering and sit in on classes. Go to a social event, if you can. I'm surely biased, but I think Wharton does an incomparable job of balancing the academic, professional, and social areas of business school. If you're worried about the money or the opportunity cost of attending business school -- don't. I would pay twice what they charged me for the experience of attending Wharton. Student loans will be paid off in a couple of years and you'll benefit from B-school for the rest of your life. If you're further along in the application process and applying to a number of top programs, then I hope my writings over the last two years have given you greater insight into the Wharton School and what life is like as a Wharton MBA candidate. A fantastic new building (Huntsman Hall) will house the School in less than two years' time and Philadelphia is genuinely undergoing a remarkable transition. It's a great place to live, despite what you may hear to the contrary. I'm honored to have been selected to participate in Business Week's MBA Journals and wish all those who aspire to business school and an MBA the best of luck. I hope you find the program that is truly right for you. I know I did.  Alex Virtue  | | [an error occurred while processing this directive] Learn about your online education options |
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