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NOVEMBER 1998 MBA JOURNAL: MID-TERM REPORT Alex Virtue: The First Seven Weeks of B-School
Many of you may have read Wharton's application and wondered what a "cohort" or a "cluster" is, and how a huge class of 775 incoming students can possibly be smoothly integrated into a first-year MBA program. While some may argue that smaller programs provide a more comfortable and intimate academic setting, Wharton's size does give the school many advantages in terms of its vast alumni and academic resources. Nonetheless, I must admit that I was skeptical of just how collegial the atmosphere would be, but was pleased to find that my initial expectations were exceeded. Here's how it works: The incoming class is first divided into four "clusters" of approximately 190 students. Each cluster is then segmented into three "cohorts" of approximately 65 students and further into learning teams of five to six students within the cohorts. Since the 65 or so students in a given cohort take all of their first-year classes together, friendships tend to form rapidly within this group. The members of our cohort -- Cohort D ("Cohort Delta") -- naturally believe that we are among the finest among the first-year class. I'm not sure that this is based on any empirical evidence or just by the fact that we tend to have such a good time together at the various cohort events and parties. In short, while I'll never get to know everyone in my class, the active social and extracurricular life at Wharton ensures that everyone has a wide circle of friends both within and outside their cohort -- as well as among the 750-plus second-year students. While Wharton's physical plant (i.e. Vance and Steinberg/Dietrich halls) is older than the gleaming high-tech buildings at many other top schools (the school will break ground on a new state-of-the-art building in 1999), Wharton nonetheless does a great job of providing a technologically advanced environment for its MBA and undergraduate students. During preterm, every student is instructed on how to use "SPIKE," an interactive communications package that has information on and links to every imaginable resource both within and outside of the school. Additionally, computer terminals are located throughout the buildings, allowing students to check E-mail and stock quotes, or perform research and assignments without lugging around a laptop computer each day. Given the emphasis on technology, the bulk of communications among the faculty, students, and administration is handled electronically. Now more about the academics… Wharton's academic year consists of two academic semesters, which are further divided into quarters or "mini-semesters." Since some courses such as finance and financial accounting are semester-long courses, and others such as microeconomics and statistics are quarter-long, there is a partial scheduling transition in the middle of the semester. While some students with strong academic and professional backgrounds in general-business basics waive many of the core courses, most students either enroll in the entire core or waive select courses such as accounting or finance, allowing them to replace core classes with more advanced core classes or even electives (waivers are granted by the Academic Affairs Office upon either presenting appropriate academic credentials or by passing a specific waiver examination). While the four weeks of preterm preparation gave me a heightened sense of preparedness for the core, I was not in the position to waive any of the core classes and enrolled in the standard core schedule. My first quarter consisted of five required classes: Financial Accounting, Managerial Economics, Statistics, Leadership/Ethics, and Marketing Management. Taking the advice of many of my second-year student friends, I also enrolled in a sixth class, Corporate Finance in the fall, rather than the spring, so that I would be fully prepared for the real estate/banking job interviews at the beginning of the second semester. While taking Finance in the fall was a somewhat risky proposition ("front-loading" your first semester schedule is not generally endorsed by Academic Affairs), I'm glad I dove right in with the full load, especially considering Wharton's outstanding strength in finance. A friend of mine who completed his MBA a few years ago told me that the MBA is largely a degree in time management. While the first semester certainly hasn't been all work and no play, it has been close to that. Fitting everything into a given day or week has been a challenge. The following schedule represents a typical day for me at Wharton: 7:30 -- Rise, shower, get dressed, grab a quick bite 8:30 -- Either walk, ride my bike, or take the bus to Penn (mode of transportation varies widely depending on my level of motivation!) 9:00 -- First class (Mon/Wed: Accounting, Tues/Thurs: Economics) 10:30 -- Second class (Mon/Wed: Marketing, Tues/Thurs: Finance) 12:00 -- Lunch: either relax, attend lunchtime recruiting presentation or an academic or club meeting 1:30 -- Third class (Mon/Wed: Leadership/Ethics*, Tues/Thurs: Statistics) 3:00 -- Third class breaks; generally grab a cup of coffee and catch up on the Wall Street Journal and class reading 4:30 -- Attend a corporate presentation or two 6-8:00 -- Arrive at home, spend a few quick moments catching up with Caryn and eating dinner 8:00 on -- Study. Evening study has ranged from all-night team case write-ups to individual study sessions. I generally call it a day around 1 or 2 a.m., hoping to awake somewhat fresh the next day. *A career-management seminar taught by one of the directors from CD&P (Career Development & Placement) is worked in with the ethics module on Wednesdays. Thankfully, the above routine lasts for only four days of the week as we are all granted a respite from classes on Fridays. By Thursday evening, everyone is ready to blow off some steam at the MBA Pub which, as previously mentioned, is conveniently located at the far end of Vance Hall. Fridays have usually been a good day for me to catch up on some of the week's work without the pressure of attending classes, although exam review sessions, seminars, and club meetings are often scheduled on Fridays, given everyone's extremely tight scheduling constraints of the Monday-Thursday schedule. Like most "partnered" students, I try to spend a good portion of Saturday with my wife Caryn, and by Sunday I'm meeting up with my learning team and gearing up for the onslaught of the coming week. Like many of my classmates, my feelings about the academic and activity load are mixed. Surely, we're all here to achieve the academic pursuit of the MBA. However, properly allocating the necessary time for socializing and recruiting is always difficult; I've never seen so many people with Palm Pilots in my life! And just when one huge project or assignment has been completed, there's another one waiting to take its place. Next time I'll discuss the second quarter and more of the extracurricular activities and clubs that I'm involved in as well as the summer-job search and recruiting process.  Alex Virtue  | | Learn about your online education options |
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