Sunday, June 04, 2006

how good are the vault guides?

one thing that i have heard from almost everyone who goes into business school is that one should have enough focus on what they want to do there. You should go in with an open mind, but with some choices in focus, as opposed to hmm..lemme try real estate, naah perhaps FMCG!

to understand more about the choices which intrigue me, namely: Biotech, I-banking, Consulting and venture capital, besides the energy industry (which I am in), I am considering buying and reading some of the vault guides. I have used these guides in the past to get into management consulting firms, but have not looked at industry specific guides.

I went through the vault guide to the energy industry, and found it rather disappointing on the basis of the content. Hence before buying other guides to such as the ones to the I-banking, venture capital and the biotech industry, I was wondering if you folks had any opinions?

cheers
ash

5 Comments:

Blogger MBABlogger said...

I am reading "Business Consulting" by the The Economist and I think its a great peek into consulting industry...

4:52 PM  
Blogger FooBarMe said...

I have been thinking about buying the vault guides also. Thanks for this post. It would be nice to hear some feedback before buying.

11:21 PM  
Blogger SgHama said...

The career office at Stanford will probably have the Vault guides available, so it's probably better to just wait till then. I've browsed through the VC guide - it's ok in that it gives you an understanding of the industry, but if you're looking for firms to target, etc. then it doesn't help there.

5:09 AM  
Blogger DesiGalNYC said...

I've read only one so far, and found it pretty useful. It gives you a detailed look at the industry, the various possible career paths, the job functions at different levels, and also the pros and cons of working in an industry. I don't remember it having anything about target companies though, as mentioned above.

Btw, you should definitely check with Stanford. I know Stern has free downloads of these guides for admitted students.

On an off-topic - I'm definitely doing the Tuscan wine-trail (Montalcino, Montepulciano etc.), and also visiting Sienna (was intending to stay there initially, but it looks like Florence is a better place to set up camp, and take day-trips to all these other places).

7:28 PM  
Blogger DesiGalNYC said...

There are also Vault guides to Top Employers in each industry.

4:26 PM  

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