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MAY 1999 MBA JOURNAL: FIRST YEAR REVIEW Alex Virtue: Reflecting on the First Year of B-School
Interestingly, I think it's the less tangible aspects of my first year in Wharton's MBA program that will have the greatest impact on my life going forward. The relationships I've forged with my classmates and our shared experiences of being exposed to so much in a whirlwind nine-month period will be lasting. And while in many respects I'm glad that the year's over, my feelings are somewhat melancholy as I know next year won't quite be the same as the first year in its level of intensity, profundity, or excitement. Well, that's enough introspection for now . . . The Fourth Academic Quarter The fourth quarter flew by even more quickly than the third did. While most of us were anticipating that the academic year would wind down, the final stretch seemed to be as busy as any other time. The core classes in the final quarter included global strategic management, marketing management II (utilizing the "Markstrat" simulation game), supply-chain management, macrofinance (continued from the third quarter), as well as the field application project (FAP). Additionally, I enrolled in the Zell/Lurie Center's annual Seevak Real Estate Research Competition in which our team analyzed investment opportunities in the tumultuous commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market. Our team placed second in the competition, and the event provided great insight on how frustrating and (sometimes) rewarding an open-ended research project can be. Meanwhile, the FAP would demand a great deal more of my time as the semester wore on. Field Application Project The FAP project is a mandatory core class in which the first-year learning teams select a company (or a nonprofit or municipal agency) that has proposed a business problem or issue to Wharton's FAP faculty. FAP turned out to be an incredible time-sink, especially as the date of our final draft and presentation drew near. The company selection process came at a difficult time in between the end of the third quarter and spring break. However, despite a few mix-ups, we were granted our company of choice: A rapidly expanding sportswear apparel company that wanted us to analyze its in-store and online marketing and sales strategy for a product line. As the "team leader" of our FAP project, I was in charge of coordinating all deliverables, meetings, and communications between our professor, my team, and the host client. While things certainly could have proceeded more smoothly, the FAP experience gave me a solid appreciation of how difficult it can be to manage expectations, maintain a fixed schedule, and produce a truly valuable end-product for the client. Fortunately, our presentation and report came together without any major glitches, and our host client seemed genuinely impressed and pleased with our effort. A final requirement of the course was to engage in a "360-degree evaluation" process in which each team member rated him or her self as well as each teammate. Like many other FAP teams, our team grappled with the inconsistent levels of work and input of various team members and the evaluation proved to be a valuable outlet in which to address such issues. The host client was also included in the feedback process, allowing for an outside evaluation of the team's performance and giving each team an opportunity to comment on the quality of the host for future FAP planning. The nature of the FAP project itself left many of us wondering: "Is FAP worth the trouble?" In other words, is the FAP a worthwhile part of the core curriculum and does it provide the MBA students with an opportunity to utilize their newfound knowledge and skills in a meaningful and instructive manner? While I know that many of my classmates found the entire experience to be a painful and overly time-consuming exercise, I personally drew a number of useful insights from the process, both about my own working style and on managing client and teammate relationships. This is knowledge that I probably wouldn't have gleaned had it not been for the FAP course. Furthermore, from a real-world standpoint, I think the FAP was valuable in that it gave our team access to the top management, including the founder and CEO, of a small but dynamic company. Outside of Class On the extracurricular side of things, I continued working with the Wharton Real Estate Club and will be one of the its co-presidents next year. As such, I spent a good deal of my spare time this quarter coordinating the transition with the departing second-year presidents and learning how individual clubs interact with the almighty student-run Wharton Graduate Assn. (WGA). The Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center's spring members' meeting was also held this quarter and proved to be even more impressive than the fall confab (see journal entry #5). Highlights included a speech by then Treasury Deputy Secretary Lawrence Summers and a panel discussion with [real-estate mogul] Sam Zell and other industry titans on the second day. Additionally, as one of our cohort's house managers for the Christmas in April (CIA) program, I had the opportunity to participate in one of the city's best charities. Over five weekends, our volunteers (with generous support from our sponsor, Lend Lease Real Estate Investments) completely renovated the kitchen, repaired a bathroom subfloor, and repainted and redrywalled the living room of a row-house in West Philadelphia. Our house was one of approximately 25 houses that Wharton MBA's adopt each year with all work completed free of charge to the homeowners. I would certainly recommend Christmas in April to anyone wanting to get involved in a truly meaningful and constructive volunteer project, whether in Philly or any other city where CIA is active. Global Immersion Program And then there was the trip to China . . . NATO's use of an outdated map in the Kosovo conflict led to a rather interesting kickoff to our Global Immersion Program (GIP) experience in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The program is an optional international study trip that students can sign up for early in the first year (at a cost of $4,800) to experience the business, economic, and cultural issues of another region of the world. Two other trips were organized in Europe and Latin America, but I found the China itinerary to be the most exciting and signed on with the group back in February. Arriving in Beijing on May 10, we found that the U.S. State Dept.'s mild advisory of only 24 hours ago had now been reworded much more strongly, advising U.S. citizens to avoid travel to and within the PRC. This news, coupled with CNN's vivid reporting of violent bomb protests at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing apparently caught the attention of the Wharton administrators back in Philly. On the morning of May 11, we all faced the very real possibility that our entire four-week trip would be canceled as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the 50 or so students on the trip. As it turned out, our itinerary was only slightly affected, and by our third day in Beijing, we perceived that the Chinese anger was generally directed at the U.S. government and not at American citizens. After a week in the Chinese capital, we traveled on to Shanghai and eventually Hong Kong, visiting multinational corporations, domestic state-owned enterprises, and government agencies in each city. While my China stories could fill volumes, my most vivid takeaway is how little I understood of both the culture and economic realities of the country before the trip. And while the political flare-ups were initially worrisome, I truly think we all gained a greater appreciation of how the U.S. is viewed from both a military and economic standpoint by other countries. Ahead to the Summer Internship and Wharton's Year Two So now that my travels are over, it's time to attack the real reason I came to B-school -- the job! Next week I start my summer internship at Merrill Lynch in New York and will work through the end of August, just in time to rejoin my classmates for our second year together. All in all, I'm very pleased with my decision to attend business school and Wharton in particular. Wharton has impressed me as a place where student input and initiative is both welcomed and rewarded, and where a good balance is struck between educational pursuit and extracurricular camaraderie amongst the students. With the new Huntsman Building coming in the near future (unfortunately, after I've graduated), Wharton will have finally addressed perhaps the most irksome issue on campus -- the limitations of its physical facilities. In short, I've had a terrific year here and am looking forward to next year and my association with The Wharton School far into the future.  Alex Virtue  | | [an error occurred while processing this directive] Learn about your online education options |
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