Change of plans...
For all of you who are eagerly awaiting my return to Australia - here's some good news . . . I'll be back in Sydney on December 14th.
I've decided to skip Austin and Denver. I've seen enough b-schools already, and I'm quite happy with my short-list, and while it'd be great to go skiing in Colarado, I'll save it for another time when some of you can join me. Last day in DC today . . . I'm off to Florida tomorrow - woo hoo!
Monday, November 27, 2000
So, what's been happening in the past week? ...
Ok, so I've been a little slack at keeping the weblog up to date over the past week or so. Truth be known I've been busy travelling, sightseeing, and absorbing the b-school scene in the north-east.
Last Monday I visited Columbia Business School in Morningside Heights in New York. This b-school has everything I'm looking for - well established, well regarded program, a campus atmosphere and a city location. There's even accomodation on campus for international students at subsidised rates - awesome! It is a little heavilly focussed on finance though, which is not surprising given its proximity to Wall Street. All up - pretty good. I've added it to my short-list and will be carefully watching how its entrepreneurship program develops over the next two years.
My final night in New York was pretty memorable. At the hostel I met a musician from Chicago who was on a similar quest to me (searching for a graduate program), and we went out on the town to the Village, visiting an entertaining bar/restaurant called Lips where all the waitresses were drag queens (hello to Ginger and Gusty Winds if you're listening). We also went out to a cool Jazz bar called the Blue Note - great music, but the drinks were way overpriced.
B-school number eleven was the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philapdelphia. Wharton's aim seems to be to be the biggest and the best. They take around 700 students a year (slightly less than Harvard), and have the most clubs and the most electives. However, I fear they may have spread themselves too thin - some of the electives are hotly contested, whereas others have very few students. Interesting b-school, lovely historic campus, but if I lived there I think I'd find myself wondering off to New York all the time as there's not a great deal to do in Philadelphia. It was unfortunate that I visited Wharton the day before Thanksgiving as most of the students seemed to be discussing where they were going for the weekend rather than immersing themselves in the latest business concepts.
I spent Thanksgiving day checking out the historic sites in Philadelphia, went to see 'Unbreakable' to see the rest of the sites (quick review: worth checking out, great twist at the end, won't be as much of a classic as 'The Sixth Sense'), and then caught a train down to Washington, DC.
I've been in Washington for the past three days, absorbing myself in the Smithsonian, and taking heaps of photos of sculptures, monuments, and memorials. Amazing town - definitely one up on Canberra. The Smithsonian is huge - I've been to the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, the National Air & Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of American History, and there's still more to see. The Thanksgiving weekend crowds were rather annoying, and the queues to visits special exhibitions and the Whitehouse are ridiculous, but overall its a great experience. When I originally allocated five days to visit Washington I thought it was a bit excessive, but it turns out that I could probably keep myself busy here for up to two weeks.
Alas, that won't be the case, as I'm off to Florida on Tuesday to pay homage to Disney and NASA.
Ok, so I've been a little slack at keeping the weblog up to date over the past week or so. Truth be known I've been busy travelling, sightseeing, and absorbing the b-school scene in the north-east.
Last Monday I visited Columbia Business School in Morningside Heights in New York. This b-school has everything I'm looking for - well established, well regarded program, a campus atmosphere and a city location. There's even accomodation on campus for international students at subsidised rates - awesome! It is a little heavilly focussed on finance though, which is not surprising given its proximity to Wall Street. All up - pretty good. I've added it to my short-list and will be carefully watching how its entrepreneurship program develops over the next two years.
My final night in New York was pretty memorable. At the hostel I met a musician from Chicago who was on a similar quest to me (searching for a graduate program), and we went out on the town to the Village, visiting an entertaining bar/restaurant called Lips where all the waitresses were drag queens (hello to Ginger and Gusty Winds if you're listening). We also went out to a cool Jazz bar called the Blue Note - great music, but the drinks were way overpriced.
B-school number eleven was the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philapdelphia. Wharton's aim seems to be to be the biggest and the best. They take around 700 students a year (slightly less than Harvard), and have the most clubs and the most electives. However, I fear they may have spread themselves too thin - some of the electives are hotly contested, whereas others have very few students. Interesting b-school, lovely historic campus, but if I lived there I think I'd find myself wondering off to New York all the time as there's not a great deal to do in Philadelphia. It was unfortunate that I visited Wharton the day before Thanksgiving as most of the students seemed to be discussing where they were going for the weekend rather than immersing themselves in the latest business concepts.
I spent Thanksgiving day checking out the historic sites in Philadelphia, went to see 'Unbreakable' to see the rest of the sites (quick review: worth checking out, great twist at the end, won't be as much of a classic as 'The Sixth Sense'), and then caught a train down to Washington, DC.
I've been in Washington for the past three days, absorbing myself in the Smithsonian, and taking heaps of photos of sculptures, monuments, and memorials. Amazing town - definitely one up on Canberra. The Smithsonian is huge - I've been to the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, the National Air & Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of American History, and there's still more to see. The Thanksgiving weekend crowds were rather annoying, and the queues to visits special exhibitions and the Whitehouse are ridiculous, but overall its a great experience. When I originally allocated five days to visit Washington I thought it was a bit excessive, but it turns out that I could probably keep myself busy here for up to two weeks.
Alas, that won't be the case, as I'm off to Florida on Tuesday to pay homage to Disney and NASA.
Thursday, November 23, 2000
Monday, November 20, 2000
New York, New York
The home of capitalism, world media, and the subway. I've been in New York for the past three days or so, taking in the various neighborhoods, visiting museums, and doing a bit of window shopping on Fifth Avenue. As expected, everything is a little bit more expensive here, although I've finally managed to find a trendy little internet cafe in the East Village that only charges $8/hr. (Kinkos wanted to charge me $18/hr !)
I've been walking in Central Park, visited the Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum. I've shopped on Fifth Avenue, and visited Times Square, and I've walked the streets of SoHo, TriBeCa, and just about every other neighbourhood south of Harlem. I was also fortunate enough to get tickets to see David Letterman (for those of you who were up late on Friday night, I was the one in the audience with the Harvard Business School sweater on ;-)
Visited NYU Stern last Thursday - as expected, it's way to focused on finance, and doesn't have much of a campus atmosphere. Interesting to visit nonetheless, and I'm going back there on Tuesday to attend an investment banking class. Columbia University in lined up for tomorrow, and Wharton on Thursday...
The home of capitalism, world media, and the subway. I've been in New York for the past three days or so, taking in the various neighborhoods, visiting museums, and doing a bit of window shopping on Fifth Avenue. As expected, everything is a little bit more expensive here, although I've finally managed to find a trendy little internet cafe in the East Village that only charges $8/hr. (Kinkos wanted to charge me $18/hr !)
I've been walking in Central Park, visited the Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum. I've shopped on Fifth Avenue, and visited Times Square, and I've walked the streets of SoHo, TriBeCa, and just about every other neighbourhood south of Harlem. I was also fortunate enough to get tickets to see David Letterman (for those of you who were up late on Friday night, I was the one in the audience with the Harvard Business School sweater on ;-)
Visited NYU Stern last Thursday - as expected, it's way to focused on finance, and doesn't have much of a campus atmosphere. Interesting to visit nonetheless, and I'm going back there on Tuesday to attend an investment banking class. Columbia University in lined up for tomorrow, and Wharton on Thursday...
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
MIT Sloan
MIT may not have the history or the beauty of the Harvard, but it makes up for it in it's appreciation of technology, and the level of personalisation and comradery within the school. I took part in the Sloan Ambassadors Program today, a well-organised 3-hour session in which a group of prospective students get to have a Q&A session with a member of the Admission staff, followed by lunch and Q&A with a couple of current Sloan students, followed by attending a typical class (in my case, a technology strategy class in which Xerox Technology Ventures was discussed).
The facilities at Sloan are not that impressive, perhaps even a little dated, but the school has recently raised over $100 million from alumni and the industry in general that will be spent on new buildings and facilities over the next few years. The entire school is set-up with a wireless network, and all the classrooms are also wired, so it's an interesting mix of old and new. Of course the Sloan students also have access to the facilities of the entire MIT campus as well.
I quite like the structure of the curriculum at Sloan. The class size is mid-range (around 325 students), and it's broken into cohorts for the first year. There's a fairly fixed core curriculum for the first year, and then in the second year you undertake a management track, which is reasonably equivalent to a major. Unlike Kellogg however, you can only do one management track, however it is common for students to switch between tracks in the process of completing the MBA. There's a large range of electives, and they also have a reciprocal agreement with HBS, so you can take electives down the road at Harvard as well (Sloan and HBS are about a half-hour walk apart).
No surprises, I guess, but I've now added Sloan to my short-list as well. Sloan and Harvard were the only two schools that I was reasonably certain would end up on my short-list even before I left Australia, but it's been fantastic to see the schools in action, attend classes, and meet some of the students. The difficultly I have now is that I already have five schools on my short-list, and I've still got to visit Stern (NYU), Columbia, Wharton (U Penn), and Texas ! Maybe I need to be more selective ;-)
No doubt at the end of the process I'll get a chance to evaluate the short-list as a whole, determine what's really important to me in terms of curriculum and general experience, and hopefully narrow the final short-list down to around four or five schools.
MIT may not have the history or the beauty of the Harvard, but it makes up for it in it's appreciation of technology, and the level of personalisation and comradery within the school. I took part in the Sloan Ambassadors Program today, a well-organised 3-hour session in which a group of prospective students get to have a Q&A session with a member of the Admission staff, followed by lunch and Q&A with a couple of current Sloan students, followed by attending a typical class (in my case, a technology strategy class in which Xerox Technology Ventures was discussed).
The facilities at Sloan are not that impressive, perhaps even a little dated, but the school has recently raised over $100 million from alumni and the industry in general that will be spent on new buildings and facilities over the next few years. The entire school is set-up with a wireless network, and all the classrooms are also wired, so it's an interesting mix of old and new. Of course the Sloan students also have access to the facilities of the entire MIT campus as well.
I quite like the structure of the curriculum at Sloan. The class size is mid-range (around 325 students), and it's broken into cohorts for the first year. There's a fairly fixed core curriculum for the first year, and then in the second year you undertake a management track, which is reasonably equivalent to a major. Unlike Kellogg however, you can only do one management track, however it is common for students to switch between tracks in the process of completing the MBA. There's a large range of electives, and they also have a reciprocal agreement with HBS, so you can take electives down the road at Harvard as well (Sloan and HBS are about a half-hour walk apart).
No surprises, I guess, but I've now added Sloan to my short-list as well. Sloan and Harvard were the only two schools that I was reasonably certain would end up on my short-list even before I left Australia, but it's been fantastic to see the schools in action, attend classes, and meet some of the students. The difficultly I have now is that I already have five schools on my short-list, and I've still got to visit Stern (NYU), Columbia, Wharton (U Penn), and Texas ! Maybe I need to be more selective ;-)
No doubt at the end of the process I'll get a chance to evaluate the short-list as a whole, determine what's really important to me in terms of curriculum and general experience, and hopefully narrow the final short-list down to around four or five schools.
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School isn't just a b-school; it's an institution. With 880 students in each incoming class, the b-school is massive. There are around ten buildings all interconnected by an underground tunnel system. I saw the case method in action at a 'Management of Technology' class - the company under investigation was Red Hat. I also attended an information session being conducted by a 2nd-year student who had formerly been a pilot and established leader in the Army.
The facilities at HBS are top-notch. The library is obviously very old, but has been decked out with heaps of PCs with flat-screen monitors and high-speed internet access. There's an impressive sports and recreation centre thats dedicated to the business school, which even includes an indoor running track. There's also dormitory and apartment accomodation within the b-school grounds (around 50% of the b-school students live on campus).
In terms of the academic curriculum - it's about 95% case based. Harvard in the home of the case method. In fact, most professors at other top b-schools prefer to publish their cases through Harvard. In the first year, you become part of a cohort of 80 students, and do all your classes with that group. The second year is all electives, and there are about 70 to choose from, plus you can takes classes from other schools within Harvard or from Sloan @ MIT.
Although it's a very big school, I think I'd really get a lot of value out of an MBA at HBS. The name is very well known, which would make a difference back in Australia (and throughout the rest of the world), the quality of education is impeccable, and the facilities are very impressive.
One final feature that makes a difference - all students (regardless of citizenship) can get a loan from Citibank to cover the full cost of the program. With all other schools that I've come across, you enough need to finance the first year yourself, or get a loan with a US citizen acting as a co-signer.
Bit of a diatribe, but suffice to say, I've now added Harvard to my short list.
Harvard Business School isn't just a b-school; it's an institution. With 880 students in each incoming class, the b-school is massive. There are around ten buildings all interconnected by an underground tunnel system. I saw the case method in action at a 'Management of Technology' class - the company under investigation was Red Hat. I also attended an information session being conducted by a 2nd-year student who had formerly been a pilot and established leader in the Army.
The facilities at HBS are top-notch. The library is obviously very old, but has been decked out with heaps of PCs with flat-screen monitors and high-speed internet access. There's an impressive sports and recreation centre thats dedicated to the business school, which even includes an indoor running track. There's also dormitory and apartment accomodation within the b-school grounds (around 50% of the b-school students live on campus).
In terms of the academic curriculum - it's about 95% case based. Harvard in the home of the case method. In fact, most professors at other top b-schools prefer to publish their cases through Harvard. In the first year, you become part of a cohort of 80 students, and do all your classes with that group. The second year is all electives, and there are about 70 to choose from, plus you can takes classes from other schools within Harvard or from Sloan @ MIT.
Although it's a very big school, I think I'd really get a lot of value out of an MBA at HBS. The name is very well known, which would make a difference back in Australia (and throughout the rest of the world), the quality of education is impeccable, and the facilities are very impressive.
One final feature that makes a difference - all students (regardless of citizenship) can get a loan from Citibank to cover the full cost of the program. With all other schools that I've come across, you enough need to finance the first year yourself, or get a loan with a US citizen acting as a co-signer.
Bit of a diatribe, but suffice to say, I've now added Harvard to my short list.
Monday, November 13, 2000
Boston, Massachusetts - a nice place to live
After an exhausting journey from Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon/night (bus, plane, plane, train, train, train, walk), I arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, undoubtedly one of my favourite cities in the world. The combination of 350 years of history, some really interesting architecture, the presence of Harvard and MIT, and a plethora of hip IT companies make for a top quality city. Very expensive on the housing front though. Been sightseeing and checking out the neighbourhoods this weekend. Campus tours and class visits start tomorrow.
After an exhausting journey from Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon/night (bus, plane, plane, train, train, train, walk), I arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, undoubtedly one of my favourite cities in the world. The combination of 350 years of history, some really interesting architecture, the presence of Harvard and MIT, and a plethora of hip IT companies make for a top quality city. Very expensive on the housing front though. Been sightseeing and checking out the neighbourhoods this weekend. Campus tours and class visits start tomorrow.
Friday, November 10, 2000
Half-way through...
Well, I've visited 6 out of the 12 b-schools on my list so far. Still to go are MIT, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Wharton, and Texas. The school that has impressed me the most so far is Haas @ UC Berkeley. It's well-located, well-priced, and seems to have a very dynamic program with strengths in Entrepreneurship and E-Commerce. I've also like Stanford and Kellogg. I like the prestige associated with Stanford, and I think it would be a fantastic campus to spent a couple of years at. Kellogg seems to have an impressive program with a lot of flexibility, and some top quality professors. So, my short-list currently stands at 3 schools. I imagine I'll probably add 2 - 3 more to that list from the remaining six. Most of the people I've been talking to (current MBA students and other prospects) seems to be applying to around 5 schools, so I guess I'm right on the mark.
Well, I've visited 6 out of the 12 b-schools on my list so far. Still to go are MIT, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Wharton, and Texas. The school that has impressed me the most so far is Haas @ UC Berkeley. It's well-located, well-priced, and seems to have a very dynamic program with strengths in Entrepreneurship and E-Commerce. I've also like Stanford and Kellogg. I like the prestige associated with Stanford, and I think it would be a fantastic campus to spent a couple of years at. Kellogg seems to have an impressive program with a lot of flexibility, and some top quality professors. So, my short-list currently stands at 3 schools. I imagine I'll probably add 2 - 3 more to that list from the remaining six. Most of the people I've been talking to (current MBA students and other prospects) seems to be applying to around 5 schools, so I guess I'm right on the mark.
University of Michigan Business School
Internet access has been difficult to come by over the past couple of days. I'm in Ann Arbor, Michigan today (some of you may need to get out your maps), visiting the business school at the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor is the qunitessential American college town, a population of around 140,000 consistenting mostly of students, university employees, and supporting businesses. The college football scene here is HUGE - the football stadium here seats over 100,000 people.
The b-school at U of M though did not seem all that special. It's very much a general management program. Nothing stood out as an outstanding feature of the program. It's well regarded and well ranked, and would probably provide a decent education. I've come out here to experience the university town culture, but I want to do my MBA in a big city (or very close to one).
Internet access has been difficult to come by over the past couple of days. I'm in Ann Arbor, Michigan today (some of you may need to get out your maps), visiting the business school at the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor is the qunitessential American college town, a population of around 140,000 consistenting mostly of students, university employees, and supporting businesses. The college football scene here is HUGE - the football stadium here seats over 100,000 people.
The b-school at U of M though did not seem all that special. It's very much a general management program. Nothing stood out as an outstanding feature of the program. It's well regarded and well ranked, and would probably provide a decent education. I've come out here to experience the university town culture, but I want to do my MBA in a big city (or very close to one).
Monday, November 06, 2000
Kellogg Graduate School of Management
Very impressed with Kellogg. They've got a good program with lots of flexibility, it's well-regarded by students and recruiters, and it's located in a lovely little city called Evanston, about 15 - 20 miles north of Chicago. I attended an information session and an Advertising class today, which I was both super-impressed with. Apparently, Kellogg's main strengths are Marketing and Finance, but their E-Commerce and Entrepreneurship streams are rapidly gaining in popularity. I think I'll have to come back tomorrow to attend another couple of classes and spend some more time checking out the campus, but so far ... I think I might like it here.
Very impressed with Kellogg. They've got a good program with lots of flexibility, it's well-regarded by students and recruiters, and it's located in a lovely little city called Evanston, about 15 - 20 miles north of Chicago. I attended an information session and an Advertising class today, which I was both super-impressed with. Apparently, Kellogg's main strengths are Marketing and Finance, but their E-Commerce and Entrepreneurship streams are rapidly gaining in popularity. I think I'll have to come back tomorrow to attend another couple of classes and spend some more time checking out the campus, but so far ... I think I might like it here.
University of Chicago GSB
Not impressed with the University of Chicago. Apparently the quality of the education is very good, but the neighbourhood is terrible. It's underprivileged, ugly, and just felt unsafe as I was walking through the area. I didn't even stay for an information session or to attend a class, as I have no interest in living in that sort of area for two years. The campus was also pretty average, and I didn't get a sense of comradery amoung the students. Rather than hanging around all day, I took the train all the way across town to Evanston...
Not impressed with the University of Chicago. Apparently the quality of the education is very good, but the neighbourhood is terrible. It's underprivileged, ugly, and just felt unsafe as I was walking through the area. I didn't even stay for an information session or to attend a class, as I have no interest in living in that sort of area for two years. The campus was also pretty average, and I didn't get a sense of comradery amoung the students. Rather than hanging around all day, I took the train all the way across town to Evanston...
Sunday, November 05, 2000
The Second City
Been in Chicago for about a day and a half now. Interesting city - very much into promoting itself as the USA's second largest city. It also has the second tallest building in the world (Sears Tower), from which the view last night was absolutely spectacular. Chicago doesn't seem to be very heavilly geared towards tourism - it's more of a workers' domain. Plenty of good shopping on Magnificent Mile though. B-schools lined up for Monday (Chicago) and Tuesday (Kellogg) - stay tuned for the reports.
Been in Chicago for about a day and a half now. Interesting city - very much into promoting itself as the USA's second largest city. It also has the second tallest building in the world (Sears Tower), from which the view last night was absolutely spectacular. Chicago doesn't seem to be very heavilly geared towards tourism - it's more of a workers' domain. Plenty of good shopping on Magnificent Mile though. B-schools lined up for Monday (Chicago) and Tuesday (Kellogg) - stay tuned for the reports.
Friday, November 03, 2000
Stanford Business School
Took the CalTrain out to Palo Alto today to visit Stanford University. Palo Alto is about 50 kilometres south of San Francisco, and the town basically exists to support the university. The Stanford University campus is absolutely gorgeous - well laid out and well cared for, lots of lawns and common areas, beautiful gardens, and many of the builidings are architecturally unique. Most of the buildings are funded by donations from wealthy alumni, but I imagine a great deal of the rather high student fees go towards maintaining the image of the place.
The fees for the Stanford MBA program are quite high (just under US$29K this year) - the highest I've seen so far, but this is also the first private university that I've visited. There's nothing particularly special about the curriculum for the program. It's extraordinarily flexible, with no requirement to do majors or concentrations. You can even take up to 16% of units outside of the b-school.
Essentially, I think the main drawcard is the Stanford experience itself, rather than any particular feature of the MBA program. Most students also live on campus (about 95% of the undergrads, and 45% of the grads), so there's a big culture that's built up over time that you become a part of.
Difficult to tell whether I'd want to apply to Stanford. The school's well-regarded, and I'm sure I'd get a top-flight education (if I actually got accepted - they get around 6000 applicants for only 365 positions), but I'd be concerned about living a sheltered life on campus or in a college town. I'd like to be able to experience American city living at the same time. Out of Stanford and Haas, I think Haas is more suited to my profile.
Took the CalTrain out to Palo Alto today to visit Stanford University. Palo Alto is about 50 kilometres south of San Francisco, and the town basically exists to support the university. The Stanford University campus is absolutely gorgeous - well laid out and well cared for, lots of lawns and common areas, beautiful gardens, and many of the builidings are architecturally unique. Most of the buildings are funded by donations from wealthy alumni, but I imagine a great deal of the rather high student fees go towards maintaining the image of the place.
The fees for the Stanford MBA program are quite high (just under US$29K this year) - the highest I've seen so far, but this is also the first private university that I've visited. There's nothing particularly special about the curriculum for the program. It's extraordinarily flexible, with no requirement to do majors or concentrations. You can even take up to 16% of units outside of the b-school.
Essentially, I think the main drawcard is the Stanford experience itself, rather than any particular feature of the MBA program. Most students also live on campus (about 95% of the undergrads, and 45% of the grads), so there's a big culture that's built up over time that you become a part of.
Difficult to tell whether I'd want to apply to Stanford. The school's well-regarded, and I'm sure I'd get a top-flight education (if I actually got accepted - they get around 6000 applicants for only 365 positions), but I'd be concerned about living a sheltered life on campus or in a college town. I'd like to be able to experience American city living at the same time. Out of Stanford and Haas, I think Haas is more suited to my profile.
Thursday, November 02, 2000
Alcatraz
A visit to San Francisco isn't complete without a tour of Alcatraz Island, so this morning I caught the cable car to Fishermans Wharf, and bought a ferry ticket out to Alcatraz. The island is actually very close to the San Francisco penisula, and the ferry trip took less than ten minutes. To my disappointment, I discovered that there were some scenes in "The Rock" that must have been filmed elsewhere ;-( A lot of the island is very run-down, with several buildings reduced to rubble. The main cell block has been well maintained, and there's an audio tour that you can do that tells the story of how several of the inmates lived. I also got to walk around in the "recreation area", which is just a big concrete yard with high walls. All up - an interesting experience, definitely one of the nicer prisons that I've visited (as a tourist ;-), and good value at only US$12.
A visit to San Francisco isn't complete without a tour of Alcatraz Island, so this morning I caught the cable car to Fishermans Wharf, and bought a ferry ticket out to Alcatraz. The island is actually very close to the San Francisco penisula, and the ferry trip took less than ten minutes. To my disappointment, I discovered that there were some scenes in "The Rock" that must have been filmed elsewhere ;-( A lot of the island is very run-down, with several buildings reduced to rubble. The main cell block has been well maintained, and there's an audio tour that you can do that tells the story of how several of the inmates lived. I also got to walk around in the "recreation area", which is just a big concrete yard with high walls. All up - an interesting experience, definitely one of the nicer prisons that I've visited (as a tourist ;-), and good value at only US$12.
Halloween on Castro
Wow! San Francisco definitely knows how to party. Halloween is huge event in the USA, and I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time last night and experience Halloween on Castro St in San Francisco (along with half a million other people ;-). It was as big as the Mardi Gras in Sydney, but even better because so many people in the crowd get involved - infact the crowd is the event itself. Several blocks were closed off to traffic, and everyone just mingled, checking out each others' costumes and generally having a good time. Awesome!
Wow! San Francisco definitely knows how to party. Halloween is huge event in the USA, and I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time last night and experience Halloween on Castro St in San Francisco (along with half a million other people ;-). It was as big as the Mardi Gras in Sydney, but even better because so many people in the crowd get involved - infact the crowd is the event itself. Several blocks were closed off to traffic, and everyone just mingled, checking out each others' costumes and generally having a good time. Awesome!
Wednesday, November 01, 2000
Haas @ Berkeley
Went across the bay to Berkeley today to visit the Haas School of Business at the Berkeley campus of University of California. While the campus wasn't all that visually impressive, the b-school definitely made up for it. I attended two classes; a first-year class in introductory finance (dull, but absolutely essential), and a second-year class called 'Negotiation & Conflict Resolution" which was very interesting, and utilised the backgrounds of the international student body very well.
I was also fortunate to attend a speech from Thomas Siebel, the founder and CEO of Siebel Systems. This is one of the major advantages of attending a b-school that is located close to the business community. Several of the businesses that you're studying are literally just down the road (or at least within an hour or two's drive).
Being a public school, the fees at Haas are a little lower than the private schools. Studying at Haas (for an international student) is *only* US$20,000 a year. In comparison with the other US b-schools, I think Haas definitely has potential for me. It's well located, well priced, and seems to be well regarded by the local business community. Congatulations Haas, you've made it to my short-list.
Went across the bay to Berkeley today to visit the Haas School of Business at the Berkeley campus of University of California. While the campus wasn't all that visually impressive, the b-school definitely made up for it. I attended two classes; a first-year class in introductory finance (dull, but absolutely essential), and a second-year class called 'Negotiation & Conflict Resolution" which was very interesting, and utilised the backgrounds of the international student body very well.
I was also fortunate to attend a speech from Thomas Siebel, the founder and CEO of Siebel Systems. This is one of the major advantages of attending a b-school that is located close to the business community. Several of the businesses that you're studying are literally just down the road (or at least within an hour or two's drive).
Being a public school, the fees at Haas are a little lower than the private schools. Studying at Haas (for an international student) is *only* US$20,000 a year. In comparison with the other US b-schools, I think Haas definitely has potential for me. It's well located, well priced, and seems to be well regarded by the local business community. Congatulations Haas, you've made it to my short-list.
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