[转帖]UNC专贴:我在UNC的第一个月

eagers

The first 3 weeks -- Exciting everywhere.

In the first 3 weeks, I did:

* Settle down. Our apt rent is only $529/month for a 2 bedroom/ 2 bathroom. Share with a roommate.
* Driving around. It's always exciting to drive fast in the highway.
* Classes can be very demanding! First classes begin at 8am, and may last till 12:20, and resume at 2pm till 4:50. 12 classes a week (80 minutes for one class)
* Talk with English and Culture Advisor, a Professor focused on helping International Students only. Now, English is still a problem, but much less trouble-making than 3 weeks ago.
* Prepare resume and talked with my Resume Peer Counselor, received pages of comments from him.
* Attended the student career clubs' events and workshops, including Consulting Club, Finance Club and Marketing Club.
* Attended several business school events to meet more 2nd year students. Talked with four 2nd year students to learn more of career planning.
* Attended the Career Day and Securities Day to meet alumni and representatives from tens of leading companies, for the summer intern hunting.
* I cannot remember all......

Give you a schedule for a specific day:

1:00 (yesterday) sleep
6:00 get up
6:45 go out to take the bus
7:05 arrive school and work on a homework and prepare for questions for a noon meeting
8:00 - 12:20 classes (with only 2*10 minutes breaks)
12:20 - 12:40 lunch and a brief talk (by appointment) with a 2nd year student on his summer internship experience.
12:40 - 14:00 consulting club meeting and presentation
14:00 - 15:00 go to the Career Service library to check the Resume Book of previous years students, and searched some company profiles.
15:00 - 17:00 study group discussion on the homework
17:00 - 18:30 Career Service Office meeting: how to win in the company presentations
18:30 - 19:00 go back home by bus
19:00 - 20:20 prepare supper and the lunch for tomorrow, eat supper
20:20 go to school again
20:30 - 21:00 check and reply emails
21:00 - 23:00: 2 homeworks
23:00 - 0:00 revise my resume
0:00 go back home
0:30 hope I can sleep

But I can tell you that life can be not as tedious as above. I travelled to D.C. in a weekend, and to beach in another weekend. Also, the Chinese students here are preparing for the Moon's Day celebration and party.

I just hope you know more of business school, and more of UNC. If you like it, go to talk more with the UNC Admission Director, Ms. Sherry Wallace, when she visits your city in late Sept.

Good luck!

haitai

非常想去的学校

谢谢前辈

feelgood

thanks!

eagers

Academically, this MBA program is very tough. I cannot imagine how you can go for a part-time job when you are struggling both for courses and jobs. I can tell you that it is 100% surely IMPOSSIBLE! I really don't know how I can still hanging around this BBS. Maybe it's just because I have some kind of commitment to the MBA admission office personally. But I promise you that most UNC MBA graduates are willing to contribute to the school, as what I am doing here.

But I agree with you that when you go for information interviews, you have to travel a lot to New York and other cities. I did three trips to other cities, including NYC, Atlanta and Charlotte in the past 4 weeks, very intensive, and very inconvenient.

But the alums are very supportive. In most of the time, it's enough to just call the alums.

The above may be a little bit complicated to you before you really come to a top MBA program. You will learn a lot of job hunting skills in school, and then know what I am really talking about. I know I know ... it's confusing to you at this moment. But I cannot explain more. It's really a big topic. I am on the learning curve too.

Also, please allow me to say here: most Chinese students say that finance and operation management are the two stronggest areas of this MBA program. And the job placement proved this too. Of course, there are many students working in marketing after graduation too.

Finally, don't expect too much or too high from an MBA program. Your previous experience matters a lot, especially when the job market is down. Also, if you are a career changer, i.e. you want to work in a different area after school, you must keep your original career area as a backup, always.

Hope these infomation helps.

eagers

As to marketing: big brands have biases to international students. I have rich experience in marketing before MBA, but it's still hard for me to work for big brands in marketing here. One reason may be the working permit, while the companies can hardly persuaded the relevant parties on offering a marketing positions to a foreigner. Another reason is still the language and culture shocks. But marketing position is still possible to foreigners. One chance is when they want to develop a niche market, such as the Chinese American market. Another chance may be some marketing strategy analysis works, not directly related to branding. As always, everything is possible. So if you do love marketing, it's still worthwhile to try it.

UNC is strong in marketing. It's definitely true! Nearly a quarter graduates last year work for 'product and consumer development', which is actually marketing. But don't think marketing as just branding works. Marketing can be very strategic, including business modelling and strategy works. MBA graduates are always plighted in very strategic positions, even working for marketing. I do have many classmates interested in marketing, very rare in top MBA programs.

As to profiles of my classmates. You don't have to see it as a reference. Actually, most US students are not from big name companies. They invest in MBA just for a return to get into the companies. But many international students are coming from big name companies. I don't mean to say that big name companies worth more. Actually, each company has different values. What I can say is that: many of my classmates are very very smart, far beyond my expectation before.

eagers

Recently, the Wall Street Journal ranked UNC as #10 in MBA programs in US. I don't think this anything important. But what interesting is a comment from the recruiters (Wall Street Journal ranks programs according to the recruiters' comments only).

The recruiter said that 'they are happy and cheerful, very hard to find in business schools'. I'm very proud of such comments. It means, you don't have to pretend to be a CEO here, while actually you are not! You can just be yourself, live as what you used to live before business school, and enjoy study as well as life. When you graduate, if you find a good job, congratulations!

If you do not find a job that can bring you over $100k income a year (maybe it's just $80k a year), you don't have to feel a lot of pressure. I believe that this is a right attitude to the MBA programs and the careers to follow. I know some students feel a lot of pressure when graduating. They may want to take an offer, but they did not finally. They have the concern that their classmates are all going to the investment banks and top consulting firms, while they have to go to industries.

To be honest, as a Chinese student, you should not count too much on those firms, especially in this tough job market. If you cannot go to the firms, but instead you go to an industry, you should know that it is just another chance for you to excel in the new organization. If you can be the CEO or CFO of the company finally, or you can lead the company's businesses in a region, you are still excellent, and even better than working as a partner in a consulting firm or working as a director in an investment bank. That's why the recruiters commented the UNC graduates to be 'happy'. I hope this can help you to make sensible decisions for school screening.