I know it’s been a long time since I promised more details “next week.” So far, things have been a lot busier than I expected it would be. It feels like two months since I wrote that last update promising more details.
The first weekend, the welcome dinner and the speech from the co-presidents of the student union were everything that I expected them to be (except for the rain during the welcome dinner, which I hear is very unusual for Palo Alto at this time of the year). We were told of the importance of balancing “what matters most” with keeping an open mind and trying things out. The value of being open to change and things that you have not considered previously, made an impact on me. I told myself that I would definitely try a little bit of everything. The first day or two was a whirlwind of meeting new people, finding out about their backgrounds and where they are from (basically a whole lot of name, from, what I’ve been doing…). Although I thought I would know all of the members of the class very quickly, it definitely hasn’t been that quick: the class is small but not that small. Even the members of my 64 member section are only now becoming closer and more familiar.
The first week was busy. Going in, I thought I worked somewhere that got me very used to a busy lifestyle but this was completely different. All times during the day over the first week involved either a class or an information session with only very small breaks in between. And the evenings were taken with various social events. There were also homework assignments ands reading even for the first day of class.
This to me was the biggest thing to get used to. In college, you could skim through readings or skip the readings altogether and still do fine in class. But grades based on class participation put a whole new light on things. To be honest, I felt like a fish out of water with all the really smart comments from people around me during class discussions. The grading of class participation by peers was an uncomfortable experience as well.
There were two classes during week zero that basically had finals at the end of the week and finished for the quarter (an Accounting and Teams class) that added additional pressure. The final for the teams class was a take home group assignment, the first work that I did with my study group.
I think I was very luck with my team assignment as I immediately felt very comfortable with the other members of my group. This team had individuals with a diverse set of experiences that included music publishing, research/science and public finance.
The Teams class was a very interesting one. During each session we were given assignments to work out in teams: building a lego man, finding our way out of desert, enlarging and putting together a painting piece by piece (see image), etc. These exercises really helped to build relationships with people in the section and understand them better, I think. The teacher of the Teams class was exceptional and engaging.
Over the first few days I realized that living in an Escondido village studio is definitely not ideal for taking part in the many activities that happen around Schwab (the official b-school residence). I also realized that I didn’t have the time to make a 20 minute trek to and from class every day and ended up buying a bike. For any member of the 2012 class that’s reading this blog post, I would strongly suggest you try to live in Schwab or Munger. It’s expensive in Munger (for a studio), yes, but still seems worth it.
Over the first week of class (after week zero), some of the pressure of the first week relaxed because we didn’t have as many of the information sessions filling up the gaps between classes. The classes also started to become more interesting with some good international case discussions. Prof. Barnett who taught our section’s Global Context of Management class was amazingly good and had the section cracking up in laughter for most of our sessions. At least based on the first two weeks of class, there seemed to be a heavy focus on Asia and China and understanding cultural differences and business practices there.
One of the best experiences so far has been in Leadership Labs. This is sort of a role-play class which you take with a small group of students known as the “leadership squad,” who you get to know really closely. This is supervised by a second year “leadership fellow.” The best learning experiences I’ve had so far are the feedback sessions that follow the various exercises of this class. Students are encouraged to give each other honest feedback (both positive and negative) on what they are doing.
GSB students take social activities very seriously as well. The 80s party and the Back to School Party which were the two major parties for example were great experiences with some really funny costumes, etc. We’ve also had an “outdoor adventure weekend” where I was lucky enough to get a place on the whitewater rafting trip. We car pooled to drive up to Coloma and then rafted 12 miles down the American river. The best part of the day was when it became an all out frenzy to pull as many other students into the ~55 degree water as possible! This was followed by Karaoke at the Coloma club which was a lot of fun as well.
Anyway, I should run now and prepare for tomorrow’s leadership lab assignment where I’ve been assigned the role of protagonist. We have our first introduction to the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in an hour or so as well, which should be interesting.
I will “try” to keep everyone updated more frequently from now on.
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Sri Lankan at the Stanford GSB 