Now this is the kind of visit that one should make before they apply for an MBA program, however given the geographical separation, I decided to visit Stanford as I was in the bay area for some business.
Disclaimer: what follows is the stark un-adultrated truth...some folks will like it and some wont.
I had forgotten the whole concept of carpool lanes and clogged bay area freeways, so I was running late for my appointment. Hence I parked my car in an illegal spot on campus (and did not get ticketed later, something which never happened to me when I had lived on that campus, id get ticketed if i looked the other way) and reached the admissions office. Ofcourse they thought that I was a prospective student initially, but as soon as they realised that I was going to be an MBA1 (first year MBA) starting Fall2006, the red carpet was more or less rolled out. My liason at the MBA office came out and had a chat with me for 15 minutes. Everything about my interaction with the staff had a superb personal touch and I am glad that I chose this school. I was instantly given the admit weekend package (which i missed) and also given an admit weekend shirt, which was a good reminder of what college is all about, collecting free t-shirts at job fairs! :D
So I went for the corporate finance class, my other choice was the supply chain class, but I chose a class, out of my zone of comfort. It was given by Prof. Strebulev and I was extremely impressed with the way he conducted the class.
now here is the deal, all those brochures show spanking new classes, however to my disappointment, the carpets were worn out a little and the wooden chairs (though they were pivoted and one could have fun spinning around em) looked a little rickety. OBSERVATION 1: Im spoilt with those fancy leather chairs in our boardrooms, get back to reality ash !
the professor started off the class with a case study on US Tobacco. This was the first time that I saw the case study method in action. It was extremely interesting and now Im convinced it works. Its a balance of drawing in students, taking short deviations to "teach" things (in this case, he took a break from the case to explain what rating agencies are, and how they function and how many comapnies are rated AAA, what it means, etc) and then came back to the case.
Also, here was a learning, when you are in a class, arranged in a semicircle, the best seats are between angles 60 degrees and 120 degrees. In the other seats (0-60, 120-180degrees), you are usually in the blind spot of the professor and hence even if you raise your hand to answer questions, chances are you will go unnoticed !
the discussion in the class was extremely interesting, though I noticed that the professor chose not to pick on the IBankers, but chose students who appeared to be from a more non conventional background. He even spotted a few students saying "Aaah Mr X, so thats where you are hiding"!
however on the flip side, maybe it was just this class, I was somewhat disappointed with the level of..ummm..errr....the level of "intellectual vitality" in this class....somehow i remembered my masters classes being different, the questions being sharper, the approaches being more radical.....in this class however they seemed to be a very high level of order and chaos was starkly absent!
the other thing i was a little bummed about was that a lot of peope were surfing the internet on their wifi connnections, @45,000 for 3 quarters, 6 classes/quarter, 3 classes/week, 12 weeks/quarter ~ $70/class, and this is just tuition expenses! Thats a lot of money spent to be surfing the internet!....or am i getting old fashioned here???
the aweosme thing was that everyone was in flip flops and most people had shorts...the atmosphere was very laid back !
overall, id give my classroom experience a 8/10, the only downside was perhaps the learning atmosphere a bit, but then again..that was one class..one section on a monday morning ! but it does shed some interesting light on the grade disclosure debate...
lunch in the canteen was good...but expensive $7 bowl of mexican goulash and a bottle of water...but then again..i guess Im spoilt with our subsidised lunches where we have a 3 course meal for 4 euros. however the canteen was teeming just like a pub on a friday night and you could feel the energy among the students....
bottom line..its going to be an interesting two years !
cheers
Ash
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Strange tourist with Elephant bone!
