New Year, new challenges...

Happy holidays everyone!

Time goes by so quickly that it can be hard to keep track of things. 2005 was definitely one of those U-turn years for me- I have had 2 of those in my life, when I left for boarding school at the age of 6 and being whisked off to another boarding secondary/high school in the UK at the age of 12, those were the years that had a profound effect on my life. This time last year, I was sitting in some bar or pub in Glasgow Scotland probably on my ummthteen pint of beer- a well deserved rest after giving up the whole of December including the x-mas break to re-do my GMAT and polish my essays before submitting them for the second round applications- in many ways I was psyching myself up for year ahead. Looking back now all I can say is that it was certainly worth the sacrifice and having a positive mental attitude to the future was big factor. 2005 was year of deep reflection & sacrifice- On one hand, I had 11 years invested in the UK, I loved the company I worked in, met awesome people, did some interesting and unique work and I made some good friends around the area. Things could not have been better but it was also the perfect time for a change and give up the comfort zone around me. I felt that I was getting too settled in the UK for my liking and I knew that my engineering career had plateaued and come to an end with a much needed last push to get me where I want to be in the medium to long term. 2005 was turbulent- by April I had been accepted to Stanford, left my job in June, July-August I was relaxing in Tanzania, and then was hit by a freight train, literally blown away by Stanford’s offerings on so many levels- it is only now that starting to get over the fact that I made it here.

So what’s in store for 2006? Or to phrase it better, what does success look like in 2006? Execution! If everything goes well, I should be in a bar/pub on the night of the 31st December 2006 celebrating with a full time secured and challenging offer to a rewarding job that will set me on my way to achieve my long term goals. Sure there are many other aspects to a year at business school then acing the interviews- but I believe in judging one’s success in one major item per year, this last year was getting into Stanford, 2006 is will be all about capitalizing on being here and landing that dream career… in the end that’s the business of business school for me. The stakes are big next year, but I really do believe one can write the future if you are determined as the late Peter Drucker once said- often at a sacrifice.
New Year’s Eve is all about reflection though; tomorrow will be a time for celebration on the successes of 2005 and to psyche myself up for a prosperous 2006. To all those applying to business schools in round 2, just keep a positive frame of mind and things will turn out as you expected, YOU CAN write the future.

New Era for Tanzania

Tanzania (my home country) has just had an election, with the ruling party winning 80% of the vote. I’m not very much into Tanzanian politics since the ruling party always wins the elections and there is often claims of vote rigging. But Tanzania has something to be proud of, the economy is growing at a rate of 6% per year and there is political stability. As long as the incumbent party continues to do a fantastic job, I am happy. At the moment, my plan is to return to Tanzania permanently after 5-10 years work experience in the west, unless anything happens to change my plans including any bright ideas for a start-up.
I thought I’d also use this spot to talk more about Africans at Stanford business school. We are probably around 10-15 Africans at most across both years and Stanford has recently been talking about pushing more Africans to apply here, particularly direct from African countries, unlike me, who has really come from the UK. There are some hurdles, for those applying directly, for instance the costs just needed to apply to business school are astronomically high when you consider GMAT, application fees etc…We are talking a good $600 if you apply to several schools, this is a barrier for citizens of a country with GDPs of $200. There has been talk about setting up a Stanford fund to help out such applicants, which is a great idea and may be something I may take on, except I’d hate to think how the process would work out in which applicants would qualify for such grants, but a good idea nevertheless- maybe this would work if all the business schools established this and gave applicants the choice to choose their schools, of course this may increase the total number of African applicants applying to business school, not necessarily Stanford. Our admissions office has been “reaching out” by going to visit places like Nigeria and Kenya. I had to laugh and then point out that these were only two African countries, which already see the lion’s share of African applications anyway. Stanford is a small school, and I did not come here for the African community, if I wanted that I would have gone to Harvard (dinged) or Wharton (did not apply). I came here for Silicon Valley, the weather and strength of non-profit offerings. We are just too far out from the mainstream to attract a mass of African applicants. I have noticed that Wharton, for instance, reaches out to African applicants the best way you can- through the internet. Throughout my application process, I have noticed how the Wharton African community have used businessweek MBA forum posts in this manner- we should do the same. Sure, admission trips to African countries are great, but if you want a diverse representation and maximum reach, the internet is you most obvious means to do it.
I think at the heart of Stanford’s plans to get more African applicants, is this drive to be a more “global” business school. This a deep topic, but briefly, I really believe this has to start with the academics (including bringing in more international faculty), and we are so behind other schools, if I wanted global offerings I would go to INSEAD or London Business School. I would guess that most African applicants who would come to business school would want to stay here in the US on graduation, and hence, an American focus on the curriculum is not all too bad, in fact since I came from the UK, that's what I wanted anyway! I fear the pressure of rankings may have something to do with all this. How global a school is may be of increasing importance these days and this is harder for a small school out in California to achieve, for bigger schools, simply diversifying the head count is an easy means to do it.

Quarter in review- academics. Grade non-disclosure is good

I used to have more mixed views on grade non-disclosure until now. The general bottom line is that grade non-disclosure affects the attitudes MBAs have in their 2 years at business school, which on the whole are a net positive for everyone. Too right, particularly for me! Having just received my grades today, I can now reflect on my total “performance” this last quarter. Like I’ve mentioned previously, I probably took one too many courses given how much time I spent on recruiting events amongst other things. Put this together with the fact I am not used to the quarter system, it made the pressure on my final few weeks quite taxing (hence the lack of blog posts). So I certainly directly sacrificed academic performance for recruiting events and expansion of knowledge. Generally I did well on the subjects that I had interest in and was relatively strong in, such as E-commerce, against other courses such as accounting, where I have less interest not to mention being not an expert (they are plenty of bankers about!). Now just expand this view across the whole class, each student with their own different course loads, strengths & priorities, it would be hard to even consider grades alone as a single measure of “performance” over the quarter, especially for those who spent a lot of time on recruiting events, club events, golf, socializing etc... Everyone should truthfully ask themselves how they think they did taking into account all the goals they set themselves this quarter. Fundamentally, what matters in the courses is what you learnt. I think I've learnt a great deal, but if I could have changed anything, I would have probably turboed accounting (better professor), and exempted modeling for quantitative analysis, I actually think by making this “better” choice, I'm sure I would have simultaneously improved my overall grades and increased my learning! So future Stanford MBA1s, pick your core courses menu extremely carefully! Of course for me, taking E-commerce was an excellent choice, I felt that this had some overlap with some of the core course, and in some ways some of the principles are helping me in the case interview practice I’m currently doing. I even got to learn a huge amount about microfinance through the group project I spearheaded on this course. In effect it brought consulting and banking experience expertise to a non-profit microfinance start up that a classmate has launched- everyone walked out extremely fulfilled. So what do I have to say about those dedicated all their time on academics and did very well? Good for you! But I have to ask, what did you sacrifice? Not much- than you are a star! Did you meet you goals- even better.... Measure against thyself, use the grades to see how you did relative to the class, but bear in mind that in an environment such as Stanford getting top marks could well mean sacrificing other things, unless you’re a mega genius, or have covered it all before in undergrad (in which case, you should have either exempted, turboed some courses or focused on non-academic areas to really get value added on your $120K). So I'm all for grade non-disclosure, but concerned with the recent news that Harvard have now withdrawn their policy on it starting with the class of 2008 , this could force other schools to follow in response to tightening the focus on academics. However, there is a subtle difference with Stanford, where the grade non-disclosure is a student norm rather than institutionally imposed policy. Last I checked, most students still want the norm to continue, not surprising since it was a key reason why many students chose Stanford in the first place. If Stanford got rid of the policy, I think it would take out a huge differentiating aspect to the school. So maybe Harvard students could opt to collude to maintain a “norm”, but I doubt it would stick given the competitive stereotypical nature of their students. I think the result could be to make Stanford increasingly more differentiated to applicants who truly value the attitudes & values that come with grade non-disclosure- academic risk taking, focused recruiting, personal goal setting, basically enjoying what each student considers are the finer things in life. Bottom line, a great make up of students on an MBA program- and many people value that above everything else, including recruiters.

From one mode to the next…

So winter quarter has come to an end- the finals were suffocating me under the weight of 15 or so hours of exams in 4 days. Can’t believe I’ll be earning 21 credits or over 21% of my MBA degree!!!. No sooner than after all the merry drinking and partying (which of course was in excess) had ceased have the classmates embarked on various adventures, some for a much needed holiday, Argentina is the place to be seen, other’s on study trip to India, Philippines or Israel. Or how about combination of holiday and study trip? Some, like me, are staying behind in the bay area over the break to do more serious things, as I asked someone outside Schwab yesterday what they were up to, they uttered, “Business planning for my start-up… After all we’re in business school!” Yup, says it all. For people like me, preparing for what should be an extremely tough upcoming quarter of on campus recruiting- so I’m trying to review my internship plans, formulate cover letters, touch base with business contacts, fill out application forms and of course practice for those interviews. I’m still in a state of confusion at the moment, on one hand I really to want expand on my weaknesses of finance by going for investment banking opportunities, whilst the other side is saying that I’m a natural consultant, that’s where I rose to in my last organization and I really only have one year’s experience in the aerospace & defense field more in operations, and I should continue this into strategy consulting. The end game for me would be to end up in private equity in emerging markets. Question is how can I get there the quickest and be most prepared? It’s that age old career question, do you broaden or focus? I’m only 24 and it would seem like I still have time to try out new things before deciding. In the end it comes down to what I’m most passionate about… I’m hoping this gets resolved for sure over the next few weeks- For now, I can reflect back to all the company dinners, recruiting events… On gut feeling, consulting is still ahead. Next quarter, I’m taking only the four core classes of 16 credits to give me room to breathe under on campus recruiting.
Don’t worry, I know it’s x-mas, so I will be traveling around California to enjoy myself… I just don’t need to travel 1000s miles to find a place to relax… Home (Tanzania) is far, Britain is grey & cold (although I do miss it)- I just need to re-ask myself, why did I come to Stanford, California again?

I'm the middle of finals-- there's my excuse

Okay- So I've been getting numerous requests to update my blog- what, people actually read my stuff!!!? Okay, this time you'll get a short update that's much more in action, rather than the more instrospective accounts you get from me.

So I'm in the middle of finals, level of sleep has declined, never realized modeling could be examined so detailed (it was tough...). E-commerce was a marathon, my hand has never written for that long (3 hours 45 minutes)... Now trying to understand the intricacies of bond accounting, treasury stock and pension benefit obligation in time for that Accounting final tomorrow- then I have to hit economics to round out the finals on Thursday.

One thing that's pounding in my head:
TAKING 21 UNITS IN A QUARTER IS NO JOKE- NEVER DO IT!

I'm sure once this is all over, I'll start dribbling about how it was worth it, "...all for the extra learning... E-Commerce is so amazing... blah, blah blah..." For now, I'm tired.
Spare this for a thought- in the quarter system under Stanford, I learnt something last week and was examined on it no sooner than 5 days later! Apparently- no rest required...

End of manic week- rest required!

Last week was just insane! Midterms from Monday through to Wednesday, I had a mock interview on Tuesday, and on top of that we had some company presentations- I attended the Lehman Bros presentation on Thursday, followed by an early start for those interested in London opportunities. The highlight for me was the opportunity to have lunch with Ian Davis, yes, Ian Davis the MD of Mckinsey & co. I was so excited! So glad I entered the lottery, and so lucky to have won! It turned out to be a really nice lunch, lots of interesting questions and excellent responses, Ian seemed worried that MBA students were now prefering to go into “sexy” jobs such as Private Equity, Venture Capital & Hedge Funds- I don’t think he has too much to worry about, there will always be people knocking on Mckinsey’s door for post MBA jobs- after all they are the largest single MBA employer around.
I suppose I should mention how my mock interview went- all I can conclude is that I do need to spend a significant amount of time getting my story & “headline statement” perfected- or should I say my “elevator speech” for my target job position. The other thing that came up were the mannerisms and gestures that are acceptable for interviews here in the US. It was good to focus the bulk of the mock interview on improving my entrance and exit into the interviews, for me these were clearly the weakest- so a lot to work on there too.
So after a packed week, the weekend was so needed- I just slept, slept and slept again to make up for those late nights studying and early mornings for exams, company presentations etc… But studying started to creep in by today, as next week is the netimpact conference, lots assignments and classes are being squeezed into the first few days.

On the bright side, I'm now only focusing on 5 courses, which is a relief- so I'm now going to expand my club membership to include International Development and hopefully more social events- assuming my remaining 5 courses don't ramp up too much towards finals.

Time to check in...

This blog is starting to feel like burden- every time I think about writing a post I just think of multiple issues that are going through my head that make it difficult to write a clear post- so sorry, I’ll have to break things down:

Midterm- oh no!
Well mid-terms are coming up and although I do not feel that I have put in the hours required for the exams- I think they will go alright- this is helped by the fact that most of them are open book, so I’m not spending time cramming formulas, rather, making sure I understand how to solve the problems. I am also slightly concerned about the fact that I haven’t sat an exam in 3 or so years, I’m sure that is quite a small gap compared to some of the older students, either way, I hope I can still write consistently legibly for 2-3 hours!
I know I’ve given this topic more than it deserves, but doing 6 courses in the core has basically caused me to go wide and not so deep, this is worrying & frustrating, there are just some classes that I am literally swimming with the assignments as I don’t spend as much time on them as they deserve. On the other hand, I love the variety in my learning, I feel like I’m learning much more in E-commerce, it’s also the course that I feel connects across all the core disciplines. For now, I value going wide and not deep- as one of class ends after midterms, I can begin concentrate on going deep.

To bank or not to bank (Internship)…
I’ve been to my fair share of consulting events over the last month and I know pretty much all I need to know about this profession- I have even managed to fit in a practice case interview! Now, I feel strangely drawn towards investment banking as an internship opportunity to explore- yes, we all know the insane hours one has to work and the lack of a good work/life balance, but I can’t resist the temptation of the amount this industry pays and the finance training I could receive that would broaden my skill-set to more than a consultant. In addition, the training would open up doors to prestigious and highly competitive Private Equity roles, if not immediately for full time, but certainly 2nd job out of business school. I don’t intend on going full time in this area, but I feel the internship would provide me with the perfect opportunity to try it out without making such a big leap. Going for both consulting & investment banking internship will be hard work, not to mention the potential conflict risk this introduces during on campus recruiting- there’s a high chance of running into your i-bank interviewers whilst on your way to your consulting interview (which the banker apparently don’t take very well)! So depending, I may have to choose which track, I’m still most keen for consulting, but investment banking is on the horizon- as the company presentations start after the mid-terms, I’ll either get more clarity or more confused on this issue…

It’s the best space to be in your 20s
Serious stuff aside, I just have to comment on how much of love/hate relationship I have with the business school environment. I love being around such brilliant people and exposed lots of opportunities. But it is so tiring and at times, so intense… The hidden lessons such as learning to cope with high workloads, rationalizing what opportunity to pursue among 3 or more other good alternatives at a moments notice- these are the “soft” management lessons that will serve me for life… I’ve never been so busy, and slowly my hours of sleep have declined from a healthy 8, down to just barely 5 hours on some nights. I feel so relieved whenever I venture off campus and enter the real world- breaks from this environment are what keep me sane- California certainly helps… But I’m wondering how I would react if I was at a city based business school such as Columbia or Harvard, where I can step outside the bubble more easily than the pure campus environment? I best not go there- I’m at Stanford and I love it!!! After all, there are some fun aspects that balance things out- the work hard, play mentality make it a great place to be at my age.

And now- the party continues…In little less than 3 hours- the GSB Halloween party kicks off- it promises to be spectacular- and for once I made an effort on the costume. My friend in San Francisco will be the DJ which is great…

I'm managing...

I feel really bad that I haven’t written my blog for almost 2 weeks… You’ve heard the excuse before- “I’ve just been too busy keeping up with….” … So hey- let me summarize what I’ve been up to:

I had to take control of my academics after the shock to my system in my first week when I realized that I may not be able to handle 6 courses and maybe taking an E-commerce elective was a mistake. In the end it has not turned out so bad, and my intuition was right in the first place- the busier I am, the more efficient I’ll be- this logic arises in that I feel bored when I'm doing too few things academically, and end up misusing any free academic time, especially when I have those annoying breaks say from 10am-1pm. So a full schedule for me makes good sense. I previously mentioned that Modeling was taking up far too much time- it is now easing a bit, which is a relief and is helping, but I’ve now generally learnt how to best allocate my time to each particular course, and naturally some get more of my time than others! I also cut back on my tennis (but not eliminated it) which has helped.
One of my classmates who runs an amazing microfinance organization in East Africa (which I am thrilled to be invited in joining the board of!) has started taking Swahili course, and today I sat in on this daily lunch time class- it was fascinating- I felt instantly transported to Africa- the full on sunshine and palm trees outside made this easier to imagine (the weather is still amazing!!!) I am thinking of taking the intermediate or advanced level of this class in the Winter quarter- the beginners’ and intermediate class had about 12 and 7 people respectively (the advanced has virtually none). I’m so excited by the prospect of being able to keep up or improve my level of the Swahili language in my two years here. Perfectly in line with my goals for returning to East Africa in the long-term.
It is scary that mid-terms are literally only a few weeks away- the pace of learning is definitely much faster than I could have imagined.
On the clubs front, I actually cut back on the clubs I would have naturally signed up to, instead I focused on the ones that I knew I wanted to be a part of in the two years, and in time I would find out which ones I should REALLY join from classmate feedback and the general buzz around campus. So Wine, Consulting and Africa business club were the ones that I can see committing long-term- I envisage joining Entrepreneurship or Venture Capital later and add others as/if my schedule clears up. I feel relieved that I’m not in the situation that some students are in- having joined lots of clubs, some feel in the position that they have over-committed and having to say “no”- and we know how hard that can be...

I’m looking forward to the Net Impact Conference in November, which should be a treat on a variety of non-profit and socially responsible business topics; it will be the largest conference Stanford has ever hosted, period! Although it’s a little bit on the pricey end- I do think it is worth it for anyone at the business school with a mild interest in careers that make a meaningful impact to society…

End of the party...?

First week of the core went at a blistering fast pace. Most people take just the core courses or exempt one or two and load up on an elective, retaining the 5 core courses (or maybe an additional 2 unit course). Myself- I’m taking the core courses plus an elective in E-commerce... Yes, that's 6 total courses. So after returning on Sunday afternoon totally shattered following the rafting trip last weekend, I actually started the week unprepared and stretched- I won’t even pretend to say that it was a smooth ride, but I survived. Although, I wished I'd exempted out of Modeling (see Lady Rattler's post on this course), chats with a second years has revealed that this is one of the most time consuming, if not most difficult courses to grasp in the core... And no, just because I'm an ex-engineer does not mean I'm a whiz at Excel, I'm used to other modeling packages in engineering, not in economics and accounting...
I'm not the only one, I've found a few other people who are doing the same (6 courses) yet surviving- like ducks, some of us may look calm on the surface, but really underneath we are swimming like mad!... It didn't help that I fitted in 6 hours of tennis over the week as well, that could do with some reduction. I know want balance in my experience, but I was just trying to do far too much of everything- once again time management is key!

Following the last course on Friday, I attended the first of the Liquid Preference Functions (LPF), a nice get together of GSB over drinks and ice-cream. This then spilt over to a party at the Graduate Community Centre and a 2nd year party at a mansion in Atherton... Good to hear the social side is still strong when we do have the time- So no, the party’s not over.

Weekend starts early...to Santa Cruz.

Wow, so pre-term has come to an end. I'm now loaded up on the next set of course readers ready to start the core on Monday. I can't believe pre-term has gone by so quickly, I feel this was just taster of how quickly things will move in the core classes... Managing my time is certainly shaping up to be the biggest challenge here. I'm anxious to see how I handle my time to fit extra-curricular clubs, not to mention recruiting prep- I know it doesn't start until later in the fall, but getting a strategy together will be crucial to go in prepared in the wake of the academic work to come. The Mckinsey company visit yesterday, although lighthearted and informative, was a gentle reminder of my key purpose of coming to business school.

So although there has been a lot of social pre-term activity and I've tried to remain true attending as many events as possible, it gets tiring, especially since last weekend was spent Napa Valley and a Scavenger hunt on Sunday left me tired starting the week. So keeping true to my promise to spend some time outside the b-school scene when things get intense, I ventured out to Santa Cruz this afternoon/evening with a friend I met in Zanzibar over the summer who happens to live locally. So I've finally seen the surfer town where they filmed that teen-horror film, the Lost Boys (fictional town name of Santa Clara). Great place, and more relaxed than Palo Alto. Just what I needed to end the week and start another big weekend- going rafting with a third of the class down south on the American river near Sacramento.

Getting ready to make the next two years count

I feel like I’m slowly getting into the swing of things now here at the GSB, even though the core has not started yet. Today’s highlight was the first of the “View from the Top” series, where a leading CEO comes to give a talk at the GSB. Today was Richard Fairbank from Capital One, a solid alumni of Stanford undergrad as well as the business school. He was nothing short of an excellent speaker and gave a moving story at the end about his father’s determination to launch an ambitious experiment to prove Einstein’s theory of relativity. The experiment, finally being launched after 40 years following some hard times including being revived after being scrapped by NASA in1980s, is now on the verge of successful completion. I could certainly relate to the story, having just left the glamorous yet frustrating aerospace sector in the UK. However, the main message that came out of that speech that struck me was that it’s the journey that matters in any endeavor you go for, dream big goals, stick to the journey and you will have a rewarding experience.
I’m going to try so hard to make my time at Stanford count. For the next two years I’ll be connected to some of the brightest, most ambitious people my age on the planet which will provide tremendous opportunities that I must not waste. When I return to my room completely shattered after a long day, there is an easy temptation to just relax and let a few hours go by and let this become a habit, just as I’m sure, and we’ve been warned, how easy it is to fall into the trap of FOMO (“fear of missing out”). I need to maintain balance, to not over stretch myself to the point of over-stress, but find time to rest and enjoy the rest of California area. That’s why I place so much value on taking a day off in San Francisco or wherever outside the MBA scene from time to time. Additionally, regular tennis sessions, not only provides me opportunity to get to know a lot of people more closely (and offer some coaching for those who value it and improve my tennis). However, things can get intense on campus- I just need to optimize my experience over the next 2 years.
One other things, Richard Fairbank was a very eloquent speaker, so important for a business leader, and a reminder of why those management communication program lectures are so popular with MBA students… I’ll certainly push myself in this area too.

Now, a busy weekend lies ahead…

Bookworm has found his lair!

Okay, I know this is nothing to get excited about, but I have finally taken the library tour at the Jackson Library at Stanford. So what, you ask? Well, me and libraries are inseparable when it comes to needing to maintain good academic discipline, I could never work well in my own room- least not the one at Schwab! What with all the cable TV, partying, tennis courts etc... to distract me? The library is the only place I can find the calm to work and I can put in insane work hours.

Another obvious issue is books. I only ever bought 2 textbooks whilst doing my engineering degree in undergraduate years, although I know I cannot replicate the same tactic at graduate school, I intend not to go out and buy every singe latest edition book that is out there when I am only 5 mins walk from the lair where I would want to read it anyway. Course readers are another issue, I found it so strange paying $90 or so for 2 syllabi and a bunch of articles.
The only pitfalls that may arise are when I have to study off campus or outside of library hours.

Cardinal Cards complete

Wow, I can’t think of a better start for an MBA program than running a business simulation that get you to experience running a business. Cardinal cards requires a team of about 12 compete with another 5 teams to make & sell the best greeting cards from all day (it gets exhausting). Each “cycle” lasts 20 minutes as you rush around collecting orders, purchasing supplies, ordering market research etc… It was all pretty good as it forced you to appreciate all the functions of business/management. The stakeholder roles within the simulation were all played by GSB faculty and staff which is great for getting to know them early on. There are also appropriately inserted “lessons or hints” in between cycles to alert you of the issues faced by a manager ranging from ethics to leadership & teamwork. I was in the administration role, helping to prepare financial accounts on time at the end of each cycle as well as taking care of other random compliance forms. Our team, and I’m sure much can be said about others, struggled in the first day with everyone shouting over each other, but by the end of the second day we were an amazing cohesive team and I have to boast that we were the most profitable team and had the highest customer satisfaction! At the end of the second day marking the end of the simulation, we were notified of a GSB slip up on setting up our sections and study groups, leading to an emotional outcry by teams. The Cardinal Card teams were set up in such a way that many were part of the same study or section, so the change meant that I, for one, was not in the same study group that I had bonded with over the last few days… Of course, my new study group could be just as awesome as the former…!
Directly following the Cardinal Cards, was the Liquidity Preference Function (LPF), the first of the after week drinks sessions and get together, and you could finally grasp the size of the class and meet people who lived either in another part of Stanford or off-campus. At this point, I was beginning to get tired… I think the amount of sport I tried to participate in over the past week must have played a role, or maybe it’s getting up at 6:50am to play tennis before breakfast & Cardinal Cards that caused it…
Today, I need to escape the business school scene just for the afternoon… Yes, back to San Francisco. This time to explore Oakland & Berkeley area, find a barber and catch up with friends…

Completed my first week here

So I survived International Pre-Enrollment. Although the immigration talk was a little overwhelming... Just think of this scenario:

You send you passport & I-20 to Pennsylvania to get your tax number (since you probably need to compute your taxes in April with the fellowship funds in your account). You then get stopped by the police and asked for your passport and I-94, since strictly speaking you are meant to carry these with you anywhere you go, especially if you head somewhere far from your local area, for instance San Diego. Since you do not have the documents you get apprehended as a possible illegal immigrant...

I know it's a highly unlikely scenario and maybe you should know better but to stay at school and do nothing while your passport is on the other side of America. But what happens if your passport is lost in the system? It’s also almost impossible for internationals to get a social security number, which although we will get one if we do an internship in little less than a years' time, it would be very handy to have it early on in order to get cell phones, credit card, driving licenses etc… The conclusion, being an international student means there are some unique barriers for accessing some useful services in the states, and one does need to be careful. The IPEP was very useful for new internationals as well as those from English speaking countries such as South Africa and UK, and it’s good to know that Stanford have someone who it is their full time job to advice on complex immigration status issues.

Exemption exams studying are the talk within Schwab at the moment and it has started to make me feel like I should have signed up to take some, despite the fact that I know reviewed this issue thoroughly in May and came to the conclusion that it is not worth taking any. But nevertherless, in a panic state I’ve just gone through the samne process again and come to the same conclusion! So no, although I know certain topics well, I don't know them well enough to pass the exemptions exams, or put in another way, I don't want to scrap through the exams and kid myself that I've mastered certain subjects. So Labor Day weekend will be spent lounging around and exploring, not studying… I'll heading back into San Francisco with some newly made friends this afternoon...

International Enrollment kicks off...

Today was the first GSB classroom experience- International Enrolment (IPEP). Quantative Enrolment (QPEP)started last week. It was great to meet about 50 or so of the international students at the GSB and another 50 or people who have been doing the Quantative stuff. It seems the IPEP seems a damn lot easier than the QPEP work- although I did not expect to be video taped during the presentation exercises today...

On other news, San Francisco was awesome on the weekend. My friend was the perfect tour guide. The fact that he is a DJ meant that I was able to see 9 clubs and various bars in 2 nights... He shall come in handy on those gettaway weekends to the city when I need to escape from the MBA madness.

I hit Walmart twice in the last 2 days and have finally almost got my room fully supplied...
There have been some moans about the lack of available late night eating areas on campus amongs other things (or how far everything is- which is reflective of the huge Stanford campus)... Having a car and/or a bike is almost a must... Let's see how long I can last. I'm just not falling for the huge rush of people grabbing deals left, right and centre without taking a step back and evaluating what options you have- I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm no rush, although I recognise the necessity of having a vehicle whilst out here.

I'm totally shattered, completely overwhelmed...

Now in the normal MBA playbook, you are meant to visit the MBA program of your dreams before you apply or take the acceptance after having at least taken a peak at the school you are going to spend over $100K and live for 2 years of your life. Well I did not, I applied and accepted the position at the GSB without ever setting foot within 2,000 miles of the campus, I relied totally on what I had read and personal experience. I had it in the back of my mind-"what if I hate the campus? Or Stanford does not live up to all the ratings & hype?". After all we all have our personal opinions which can sometimes widely differ from the norm. I was even about to set myself up for disappointment when I saw the grey weather in the morning- "I thought California was meant to be ALWAYS sunny? And on my 1st day it's cloudy!". First impressions are everything.
But today I finally made it onto the campus, and had all my expectations were met if not exceeded. The campus is just breathtakingly huge and beautiful. And yes, the true California sunshine returned at 10am and lasted the whole day- not a cloud in the sky.
Everyone I met was also very friendly, and this made things run pretty smoothly on my 5 hours on campus, taking it easy touring with my mum whilst doing my chores. I then attempted to do 2 hours of shopping (getting the essentials) before the jetlag kicked in as predicted...
Tomorrow, we head for San Francisco. I'm shattered.

The last few miles...

I'm in California!!!! Not quite at Stanford, but near enough- I'm at a hotel in Palo Alto that at a guess, is a couple of miles out.
Oh my God! First impressions is that it looks just like parts of Africa- only more developed (obviously). A developed Bongoland! I could get used to this.
Don't even know why I'm on the computer, 10 hour time difference from Tanzania- I best go to bed. Tomorrow I move in and do some touring with my mum, not to mention sort the basics (student ID, bank account etc...) Could be a long day- just hope I don't burn out by 2pm as jetlag kicks in...

5,000 miles or so to go... Goodbye Britain

After almost starving on the British Airways flight due to the strike being put on by the catering staff (Gate Gormet), I'm going to stock up on munchies for the Atlantic crossing tomorrow.
But being back in the UK has been pleasant. Now for the final plunge...

Last blog from Bongoland- 10,000 miles to go...

So this is my last blog from "bongoland", I can't believe 7 weeks has passed since I finished work in the UK and set out here. Although, the prime focus was to relax and sort getting my new passport and visa, my main concern was getting too bored. I have not let the sun, beach and sea get to me and restricted myself to 2 trips to Zanzibar. I have gained some valuable experience on my short 1 month internship on the Tanzanian capital markets which has kept me busy, and added a much needed extra dimension on my resume. I was able to keep up with the pre-pre term preparation mainly involving hundreds of dollars worth of credit card expenditure that I really could have saved up for other things. I finally did the excel skills assessor yesterday and I was surprised by the result; apparently I lack the basic skills in "printing" spreadsheets, I suppose it’s something that I never do that much of.
Some useful messages came through this week from Stanford on the first few days for international students such as setting up a bank account, getting a cell phone, purchasing a bike etc... And on the accommodation front, I have been notified of my suite and room mate as well. My mum was relieved that there is an organised trip to Walmart on the Sunday I actually move into Schwab from the weekend stay in San Francisco, leaving me to finish off any last minute shopping and importantly, leaving my mum with more time to rest (it’s 10 hours time difference between Tanzania and California) before flying on to her next stop in Philly to visit my sister on the Monday. I've also contacted an old friend of mine that I knew at the age of 11 years old when I was at boarding school in Kenya and who now lives in the bay area and has offered to give my mum and I an assisted tour of San Francisco that weekend, it will be weird to not have seen him for over 15 years! Furthermore, an American friend of mine that I knew from boarding school in England has just moved from NY to San Francisco just this Friday gone- so I'll be in good company in the region thanks to old faces, what a small world. But before all that, I'll be back in England briefly early next week to collect my stuff and any spare moments I'll be sure to be in a beer garden at a pub to enjoy my last few English pints and ales.
It still hasn’t properly sunk into me yet, 12 years ago my parents sent me to UK to study, now I’ve opted to pack up again and send myself to study, this time over 10,000 miles from home.

Not on the pre-pre term preparation checklist but...

...My father has kindly agreed to send me to have 2 hour golf lessons every morning from today until I leave in weeks time. I've had lessons and played golf before when I was younger, but they were pretty much forced onto me by my father who had just taken a shine to the game and wanted all the kids to get into it and accompany him- unfortunately at the time my sport of choice was tennis- so although I put the effort in, I would have rather be playing tennis where my heart was. Things have certainly changed, now I think I'm ready for this game of choice for business types.
So I had my first lesson today, and it was great, my priority is to work on my swing on the range rather than just leap onto the golf course- that's if you can call the Dar es Salaam course a golf course! The course is severly underfunded and really needs some corporate sponsorship to get anywhere near international standards. As my dad said- funding is the issue- a professional golf course requires an irrigation system equivalent to one required by a modern town of 15,000- now where is a developing country like Tanzania going to sort one, when the city water system itself needs work. As multinational companies flood into Tanzania, we hope they will put up the required funding- after all the executives would certainly want to play an occasional round now and then at a course that is right in the city centre! I'm definitely looking forward to trying out the world class Stanford course.