London Business School *loves* evaluations, we fill out one after each course, some lecturers want one after each lecture and the Programma Office seems to want evals at random intervals. So, I decided to write my own evaluation of the MBA so far, based on the criteria I had before I applied to b-schools. [ranking from 1 to 5, 1 being the worst to 5 being the top]
1) International aspects of the school
Rank: 5 out of 5
This definitely scores top marks. There is no one culture that dominates the campus, and with over 50 nationalities in our class, there’s always a national, religious or cultural holiday to celebrate. I’ve learned so much about Indian customs, Peruvian drinks, Iranian food and American ways of doing things and it feels like the United Nations!
2) The curriculum & faculty
Rank: 4 out of 5
So far, so good. We’re on the core courses, and we’re covering the stuff I figured belongs to an MBA education: finance, financial accounting, strategy, managerial economics and organisational behaviour. What impresses me is that professors know what others are teaching and refer to that, and that all professors seem to be very open to suggestions for change.
3) The social life
Rank: 5 out of 5
Wow… this is awesome. There’s something on for everyone, if you like going to pubs or clubs or cities in Europe, or cities in the UK. This weekend features two Halloween parties, last weekend Diwali, weekend before that Tattoo.
4) My classmates
Rank: 5 out of 5
Wow again. Programme Office did a good job picking the people they did. I haven’t met any a**holes yet, everyone’s been helpful, nice, friendly, humourous (some more than others).
5) Help regarding my career
Rank: 5 out of 5
Again: full marks. Even though my career is going to be somewhat oddball, there are so many resources to help me figure out a) what I want to do and b) how I will get there. The CV surgeries that we’ve been offered have been very helpful and I *love* the coaching sessions.
Is there nothing negative I’ve got to say? Hmmm, there are a few things, such as assignments seeming to pop out of nowhere and all at once, some scheduling difficulties (like stats classes conflicting with Tattoo, although this got sorted out), and the cafe on campus is swamped every break, making it hard to get my tea that I so desperately need to keep going, plus their choice of sandwiches isn’t fab… but then again, the Biz restaurant has great food
One improvement I would like to suggest to the Program Office is to give courses in stress management. Everyone around me seems so stressed out, it’s beginning to scare me. And the worst is that although I’ve got a lot on my plate, I feel I’m not stressed out enough compared to all these other guys…
Al has written a great piece on the stress or no-stress phenomenon, read it here.
Yesterday saw the opening of the Rubens: A Master in the Making exhibition at the National Gallery and I’ve bought season tickets. Hopefully, I’ll have some time this weekend to go down and see it, although that might be rough as our first mid-term is up next week.
PS My heart goes out to those folks who applied R1 (deadline last Friday) and are now waiting for the interview decision, hang in there!
PS 2 Shout out to Futureguru…. please write some more, we miss you!