JEREMYCWILSON.COM

 … is critical. In fact, a lot of people believe that it doesn’t matter how smart you are or how hard you work. But what matters is whether you work on the right things.

I just got back from interviewing a student for Education Matters. At the end, she mentioned how smart the people are in her class and also how competitive they are. She was shocked at how tough things can seem sometimes as a student.

But this doesn’t come as a total surprise. Especially at the Medill School of Journalism, where there are fewer jobs than ever. Where the industry in some ways is changing, maybe collapsing. And where jobs are hard to come by.

The same thing holds true at Kellogg and you see it pretty clearly in the recruiting process. Where you apply to a job alongside everyone who has similar backgrounds, who took all the same classes, and who worked as consultants before Kellogg. How can you distinguish yourself that way?

The same thing happens in law school, where everyone is forced to take the same classes, where everyone wants the exact same job after graduation (big law firm) and where many students are light on work experience.

So I propose the idea that it’s not always important to be better, smarter or faster. And sometimes it’s not even important to have more creativity. Instead, I think, it’s because they understand what work actually matters.

The problem is … what matters isn’t obvious. In fact its nearly impossible to tell.  It changes by person, by vendor, and sometimes every day of the week. Sometimes what matters is working on the right task. Other times working the right person. And sometimes it’s simply good timing.

The most successful ones are those that somehow find it, capture it, and then proceed to ignore everything else that gets in the way.

But this is easier said then done. Especially in business school when most students want to get involved in everything, and in work, where you want to learn everything about your job.  But many of those things are not nearly as important as you think.

Success is often the combination of knowing a lot about one thing, while also knowing a little about a lot of things.  It’s about understanding the value of being a generalist and also being an expert. Many times though, we can only opt to be on one side of the fence or the other.

In business, often times people are referred to as generalists. These are the general managers who touch multiple functions, work with multiple teams and work across boundaries and geographies. On the other hand, companies also have specialists. These are the consultants who know a lot about their industry, sector, business unit, or specific task at hand. There is not always a clear cut answer on which one is the preferred route. Even in business school.

Deep knowledge and understanding of a topic surely helps you in a variety of ways. It helps you create better analyses. You gain more access  to the numbers. You refine your ability to understand how a particular system works. And once you do that, you can begin to master other similar topics with overlapping content.

At the same time, it’s impossible to become CEO or political leader without also being aware of the wider world. That’s because we have countless interactions with people from different backgrounds, geographies, interests and beliefs as we navigate our daily lives.

On the other hand, the problem today is that the world is getting bigger every single day. The Internet makes the large world larger than ever and for now, it continues to expand. There is also more news available and more issues that we have access to given the world wide web.  And there is no way to manage it all. So how can you remain a generalist today?

It’s tempting to spend ever more time pursuing that goal. On the other hand, being an expert hasn’t changed. It’s still equally as hard as it used to be. But still doable?

Which one should we pursue?

Does it make a difference if you have a high paying job or low one?

Does it matter if you have an MBA or a JD?

Every single person still has to answer the question.

I spend a lot of time talking about one organization I am part of named Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT).  MLT is a great organization and Education Matters campaign works closely with them. Not only because if it similar mission but also because MLT is one of the Education Matters Project’s strongest allies.

MLT is committed to preparing minority students for careers in business by prepping them for college, graduate school and beyond. By providing students with networking opportunities and career coaching, MLT is making leadership positions available to a much more diverse group of people.

A few weeks ago we attended an MLT conference in Houston to talk about grad school with up and coming fellows as well as to talk more about the education matters campaign. Check out this video from some MLT rising stars talking about what education has done for them. And as always, visit http://www.ml4t.org/ to learn more about how you can get involved with MLT.

This theory is true much of the time.  Imagine running a one mile race.  You start off in the middle of the pack and pace yourself.  You bet on the idea that in another lap or so, you’ll shift gears, catch up and eventually win.  But there’s just one problem. The moment you try, you don’t have as much left in the tank as you thought.

This happens all the time. In track meets, a runner starts off running to slow and then when they try to sprint and catch up, the runner can barely maintain their speed, let alone run faster. Especially in really long race.

It happens all the time in basketball too. A team plays half heartedly before playing hard in the 4th quarter. Then they start making a run but before they can catch up, the game ends. Or the team doesn’t have enough energy to make it all the way.

The same thing is true in business. You start off doing just enough,  but when you try to push something through later,  execution issues in slow you down. And you don’t have the time to attend to everything.

In law firms, the deadlines come up too fast and you may not have enough time to do all the research.

In the start up world, too many issues surface and you don’t have the time to take care of them all.

I propose the idea that in some cases, it might make sense to start off faster. To run harder. To do more. To spring NOW. Because when the time comes to “turn it on” you may not have as much in the tank as you need.

After a few weeks of voting, the results for Clear Admit’s annual Best of Blogging competition are finally in!  According to Clear Admit, the purpose of the BoBs is “to identify and celebrate the applicant and student bloggers who have shared their lives with the online MBA community over the last year.” Without further ado …

I recently got an email informing me that I had won first place in Clear Admit’s Best of Blogging awards as well as in two of the four additional sub-categories.  Thanks to everyone that has visited (even if were only by accident – we have good keywords here).

Going forward,  we’ll be expanding rapidly.  Right now, we’re redesigning our website to more organized and far more powerful. And in a few weeks we’ll launch a video Q&A web series, where I can speak with more of you at an even faster rate.  So as applications and job season begins to heat up and as kids get ready to head off to college this summer, I look forward to speaking with many of you.

Click here to see Clear Admit’s website.

–

Top Student Bloggers
Jeremy: http://www.jeremycwilson.com/
Bayo: http://nigerianintobschool.blogspot.com/
Julianne: http://julianneharty.blogspot.com/

Most Entertaining Student Blog
Bayo

Best Job/Internship Advice
Jeremy

Best Representation of Academics
Jeremy

Best Representation of Student Life
Bayo

Just a two days from now, more hundreds of people in Chicago will come together at Millenium park to attend one of the best run events of the year.  It will be a chance where many of the attendees can support a game changing organization.  Where staff and donors can celebrate a very successful year of hard work. And where the organization is sure to have its best fundraising day of the year.  On Thursday, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School will have its 2012 annul fundraiser event VIVA:

Similar to last year’s VIVA fundraiser this one is taking place in downtown Chicago and should be a pretty good time. As a board fellow with the organization I’ll be attending the event along with all the other Cristo Rey Board members to celebrate the end of a good year.

The event will be filled with food, fun and networking. There will be a great raffle, music and announcements. There will also be high profile speakers and new coverage, just like there were last year. In fact, to learn more about the event this year CLICK HERE.  Personally, I am a big fan of what Cristo Rey is doing and look forward to staying involved and attending future fundraisers.

At Kellogg,  business students seem to be increasingly seeking jobs in the education industry and specifically at strong schools and school systems. One place to consider is Cristo Rey, who many consider to be  a pioneer in their field.

See below for a video clip from created by one alumni of the school.

Later this week, Education Matters Project will have the pleasure of attending US Empowered’s annual gala ceremony.  Each year US Empowered hosts its annual Graduation Gala to celebrate the achievements of our Fellows and Program Directors, and offer an opportunity for community leaders to learn more about US Empowered, meet the Fellows and pledge their support.

On Wednesday, Marquis Parker and I are looking forward to joining the innovative nonprofit in welcoming the largest group of graduate to date.  The team and Board of Directors for US Empowered have worked hard to create the event so we look forward to showing our support.

Founded by Jeff Nelsen, US Empowered is “the nation’s only teacher-led college persistence program, that identifies and trains highly effective teachers to lead students attending non-selective high schools in low-income communities to enroll in and graduate from college.”

To show just how far they have come, in 2007, US Empowered served 30 students at three Chicago high schools and this year, we are working with nearly 1,000 students and 44 teachers in 20 high schools. They really are doing great work here in Chicago, and will soon be expanding to a number of other cities.

At Kellogg and other leading MBA programs,  business students seem to be increasingly seeking jobs in the education industry.  For those considering that option, I highly recommend that you consider getting to know US Empowered. It’s a great organization with a great mission, and a strong team of staff and board members.

See below for a video clip from last years gala!

If you look anywhere on the web today, you’re almost guaranteed to find a story on education reform. In fact, many of my blog posts talk about the same topic. While this is not necessarily a main factor that MBA applicants use in picking a program, today business schools are spending more time and resources on their social enterprise departments. Schools like Stanford that offer the joint MBA and M.Ed. Schools like Yale, reknowned for their nonprofit recruiting. And schools like Kellogg that have an entire department dedicated to Social Enterprise.

Well just last week the latest edition of the Merger came out. Written by Medill student Nicole Koetting, this version featured an article written about the Education Matters Project. See below for the article.

———

Title: Fortune Favors the Bold

Author: Nicole Koetting

It all started when Jeremy C. Wilson read an article by Peter Thiel that said that going to college didn’t matter. It was the spring of 2011, and I was bothered by the article. Education had been very important in Wilson’s life, and he didn’t agree with Thiel’s argument that higher education was essentially useless.

“I wish I could talk to every student for five minutes to tell them, education matters; and education is worth fighting for. I know because I fought for it myself,” Wilson said  He talked with other people about the piece and Thiel’s ideas. Then, suddenly, an idea came to Wilson in a flash. He should do something about it.

Now, Wilson, along with a team of Northwestern students and a host of volunteers, has started the Education Matters Project, a non-profit organization with a pretty big mission: “To change the way humankind views the benefits of education and to help fund a better education for students who need it most.”.

Modeled after the It Gets Better campaign, the Education Matters Project website uses videos of role models and students who tell their stories and why they believe that education mattered in their lives.

The Education Matters Project’s aspirations seem to be three-fold: At the organization’s core is changing how the world views education. If everyone had equal access to receive a good education, the Education Matters Project posits, the world would be a better place.

Secondly, the Education Matters Project wants to inspire disadvantaged junior high and high school students to continue their education. “It’s always going to be easier to quit,” a “Welcome to the Education Matters Project” blog post says. “It’s always going to be easier to say no, to stay home, and to stop trying. The problem is, it’s also easier to fail than it is to succeed. That’s what makes it success. We here at Education Matters want to help you understand that working hard and getting the best education you can is critical to becoming the best version of yourself.”

Of course, it’s not that easy: even if disadvantaged high school students stayed in school and were accepted by a college, going to college costs a lot of money. Wilson and the other Education Matters Project team members understand that. Their third objective reflects that discrepancy: the organization wants to be able to give underprivileged students who want to go to college the money to be able to do it. The Education Matters Project will eventually crowd-fund scholarships for students from low-income families who cannot afford it. Donors will be able to give money to specific students through the website, and will be updated on their student’s success.

As of today, the website hasn’t officially launched yet, but the project has over 100 videos and written pieces, as well as hundreds of photos from people who say that education does matter, and those numbers are growing more every day. Wilson’s video was the first one.

Education is a very personal subject for Wilson. He grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, where the poverty rate was nearly 50% and very few people considered going to college.. Wilson’s parents were the ones who pushed him through school. Wilson says, “They imagined me and my sister getting a good education and attending the best schools in the world, even though nobody game them the same opportunity.” He noted that they jumped on a greyhound and fled Youngstown and moved to west to Arizona in search of opportunity..

They were right. Wilson ended up going to Stanford University, where he majored in Anthropology. Now, as a graduate student who knows how difficult it is for students from low-income families to go to college, he’s made it his personal mission, through the Education Matters Project, to inspire students to go to college, and fund them.

For the short term, Wilson wants the Education Matters Project to target junior high and high school students to show them the potential they can achieve if they pursue a higher education. But in the long run, he wants to make education more equal – he wants all students, whether from high-income or low-income families, to be able to go to college if they want to.

As for what the start-up organization needs right now, Wilson says, “At the heart of what we want to get is as many stories as possible. After that, we need to find a way to get the world’s attention. Because the more people that look, the more fundraising we can do.”

Wilson ended by saying, “There’s never been a more pivotal time to show the world that education still matters.”

Just a few weeks ago, many of you found out you were one of the lucky ones who got a call from Kellogg admissions.  They told you that you’d been accepted into the MBA program.  Some of you may have been pretty confident you would enroll here in the fall.  But for others you were uncertain, so you wanted to go check out the schools and see what they had to offer. And just a few days ago, when you thought you couldn’t be more excited, many of you come to Evanston to visit Kellogg during DAK (Day at Kellogg), which is Kellogg’s version of Admit Weekend.

First off, congratulations on your acceptance to Kellogg. I remember my acceptance to Kellogg a few years ago . I hope you are thrilled to get in. Second, congratulations to those of you who made it to the admitted student weekend. That was a great decision.

Feedback after the DAK 1 was that everyone had a blast.  And the point of this post is just to quickly to say that I think the same thing was true for DAK 2.  Many of you have already decided that Kellogg was the place for you during your stay, which is great news. And others have been making those decisions all week.

But don’t take it from me, take it from the feedback emails we’ve been getting since DAK ended:

Learning how to execute a campaign is a skill that certainly be taught. In classrooms, you learn the basics. At conferences you learn the strategies. And by working on real campaigns, you learn what actually works in the real world.  And so in many cases, it’s easier to get started if you’re taught. But might there be a benefit to learning more informally?

In business school we think about campaigns all the time. How to create a marketing campaign for products. How to start spreading the word for a big conference. And how to build buzz for clubs and organizations on campus.

In law school the same things happen. Students think long and hard about how to get momentum. How to start the process to change the things you care about. And how to organize and structure thoughts to make a good argument – to have a case.

But maybe that stuff is not good enough for a world class campaign?  Because to do that, you need the ability to connect the dots from start to finish. To change course of events, not just for your campaign but also considering other campaigns around you. And to understand the emotions of the people, not just the mechanics behind the process.

Perhaps the ability to do that can only come from learning from the ground up. From creating yourself.

Not from a teacher. Not from books. And not from a place without the same level of emotion.

ClearAdmit’s has become the standard in the MBA blogging world. Not only do they have one of the biggest hub of blogs aggregated but they are also useful for spotlighting where to find more information about business school. Well, just a few days ago, I found that I was nominated again for the Best of Blogging awards for 2011-2012.

For those embarking on the MBA application process or career process in general, I’d love it if you kept visiting and asking questions.  Unlike most bloggers before me, I have no plans to slow down here on JeremyCWilson.com. Instead, I plan to pick up the pace over the next few weeks and months.

Stay tuned for more great posts to come.

Good luck to everyone on the ballot.

And CLICK HERE to vote for me.

Have you ever had an idea that you knew was good, but forgot about it later in the day. What about an email you wanted to send or call you wanted to make, to make progress on an idea you were working on. It’s happened to me and I’m willing to bet it’s happened to you too. But one way you can avoid missing big ideas is by simply writing them down.

This post comes to me ironically because it happened to me yesterday. I had a great idea for a blog post. I came up with it on my way to the gym. Thought about the concept during my workout and was ready to write something great when I got back. But just when I got home an hour later, I realized that I couldn’t remember it anymore. And it’s been bugging me all day today.

Every time this happens, it reinforces the idea that writing down your idea can be powerful. Even if it’s just a rough note to help you remember. Today, we’re busier than we’ve ever been before. We’re also inundated with more content, more people and more noise than any time in history. In some cases writing down an idea or a reminder will be the only way you will remember.

And while right now you might feel like going out of your way to do this isn’t worth the effort, the one time you have a great idea that you forget just hours later, I guarantee you won’t feel the same.

I’m not surprised that Easter Sunday comes in early April. It’s the beginning of spring time, the flowers are starting to bloom and the sun is finally starting to come out again after being cold for months. As a result, it always feels like a time of recharging for the rest of the year, which is exactly what the Easter season symbolizes.

Today, many people around the world wil recognize Easter in some form. Some will head to church service or mass. Others will celebrate Passover with their families. And others will just go out for a walk, some around Evanston and others to the city to enjoy the Sunday morning. Many with the mission of celebrating this rebirth and renewal.

Personally, I’m taking an early morning walk today, to get outside and see Evanston. Then I’ll stop by the store and head to the gym. And then I’ll stop by two brunches to enjoy the morning with friends and family.

First, I’ll head over to a brunch sermon with the Kellogg BMA family who will celebrate the holiday at Dean Rogers place. The gathering will start around 11am and should go for about two hours. One of our very own Kellogg MBA members will deliver a brief message to the group.

After that, I will join the Kellogg Christian Fellowship (KCF) at a brunch event today.  KCF is teaming up with Catholics@Kellogg for brunch at the Celtic Knot. We will have the entire section for our gathering to enjoy fellowship with other likeminded people.

For many people at these events, and around the rest of the city, it should be a good time of rebirth, recharging and renewal, not just in the physical sense but also the spiritual sense.

To those who are going to church today, including my parents, Happy Easter. To those who will head over to mass, hopefully you enjoy that too. And to those who have been celebrating Passover this weekend, including both of my roommates, “Chag Sameach”.  To everyone else, I hope you feel renewed on this spring day.

In business school, we live by our email accounts. We get emails all day, every day. Sometimes from professors and faculty. Other times from clubs and group members. And sometimes from friends and classmates on campus organizing social events. As a result, sometimes it can be really hard to get to all of you emails. And forget it if you’re in a joint program with two email accounts.

I have never ever been so behind on email as I was right before spring break. I can’t tell you the ratio but I’m sure I missed a big % of the emails I was getting. And another 20%, I quickly scanned, read and couldn’t fully respond to or comprehend.

Being in the joint JD/MBA program makes things a bit harder, with two sets of classes, two listserves and two friends from both schools. Likewise, having a blog, helping people with admissions questions and now starting a new website and company complicates things even worse.

To all my blog readers out there, I think I caught up with most of you but if it turns out i missed your email, please send me one again. I’d love to hear from you, especially all you long time readers.

And if you’re interested in participating in our new education campaign, the Education Matters Project, I’d love to hear from all of you as well.

I spend quite a bit of time managing my Inboxes. I could only imagine the life of a Fortune 500 CEO or politician who solicits feedback from their customers and constituents.

On the other hand, maybe once you start missing some emails, it all feels the same. Whether politician or blogger.

Someone has said, “Once you’re in water over your head, it doesn’t matter how deep it is.”

Just today, we attended a financial aid information session at the law school. Every year financial office can give their obligatory talk about how student loans. During the session, we all pulled out our loan papers and saw how much debt we had to pay back. The average amount … well let’s just say it was a lot of money. Enough to scare just about everyone into being happy they decided to take big law jobs upon graduation.

The interesting part of the whole scenario is that we feel this way, even though most of us have REALLY great jobs to walk into in the fall.  MBAs that go into banking and consulting firms Law students into high paying law firm roles.  Jobs that not only pay six figures but also provide lifestyles that the average person never even dreams of. But in spite of that, we’re still all a bit nervous about the big $100K+ number at the bottom of our loan forms.

But imagine the student that attends an expensive grad school program but doesn’t have the options we have. Imagine the student that comes out with $100K in loans but only makes $40K per year. Or the student that also comes into grad school with $100K in loans form undergrad Or worse yet, the student with six figure loans who can’t find a job.

The school systems makes it very difficult for some students to get started after graduation. For most of us, it is nearly impossible to pursue our real interests – the ones we talked about in our applications.  And for almost everyone, it also makes it really scary.

Education Matters and we have to do something about this.

** See below for a short blurb about school being expensive from Seth Godin’s recent manifesto: Stop Stealing Dreams

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It’s also not very good at doing what we need it to do. We’re not going to be able to make it much cheaper, so let’s figure out how to make it a lot better.

Not better at what it already does. Better at educating people to do what needs to be done.

Do you need a competent call-center employee? School is good at creating them, but it’s awfully expensive. Do we really need more compliant phone operators, and at such a high cost?

Given the time and money being invested, what I want to know, what every parent and every taxpayer and every student should want to know, is: Is this the right plan? Is this the best way to produce the culture and economy we say we want?

What is school for?

If you’re not asking that, you’re wasting time and money.

Here’s a hint: learning is not done to you. Learning is something you choose to do.

We’re bad at figuring out this dilemma. And MBA admissions offices know it. That’s why the scenario comes up every year. And that’s why it comes up at some of the same schools. What scenario you ask?  This one–You’re accepted to one top business school and you’re thrilled. It’s the place you’ve always dreamed of getting in for the last six months.  On the other hand, another school gives you nearly a full ride. And tomorrow you have to decide.

First things first. Congratulations! You are in a great position to have both options. And you are lucky to be able to choose from two “top” MBA programs, especially in this economy. One with great professors, smart classmates and great career opportunities. And another with a more famous brand … and a daunting $100K price tag. The million dollar question (or perhaps $100k question) is this.

Which should you take?

In a recent question from one of my readers I got that exact question. But it’s no new question. It’s actually the third time I got the question this week. And fifth time in two weeks.  But before I answer, let me take a second to explain why this is a harder question than you think.

$100,000 is a HUGE number, and in reality it doesn’t mean a whole lot to people just a few years out of undergrad.  We don’t know what it means to be in debt for a years paying it off. We don’t know where we’ll live or what we’ll be doing after school. And many of us don’t know if we’ll have families in the next few years. So while it’s not a number that we play with, it often isn’t one we truly comprehend. .

Secondly, the idea of compromise involving something that is $100K or $150k is hard to understand. Compromising on $5k or $10k maybe. But not over $100K. It just doesn’t make very much sense and can impact our self esteem depending on what choice we make. That’s what makes it hard.

Without further discussion, below is the question and below that is my response.

–APPLICANT QUESTION

**  Note I took out all school names to provide a more fair, honest, and thorough response

Subject: (Top School) brand vs. Full scholarship at (Lower Ranked School)

Message Body:

Hi Jeremy,

I was recently accepted at (Top School) and I’m extremely excited about the possibility of joining the (Top School) family! (Top School) is my top choice but I’ve been offered full scholarships elsewhere (Lower Ranks Schools X, Y, Z). I’ve been offered a 50% tuition scholarship at (School)

I want to make sure that I thoroughly evaluate each opportunity before making a final decision. As an MLT fellow I am surrounded by brilliant fellows who have motivated me to achieve both personally and professionally. I would like a similar MBA experience and from my perspective most top 15 can provide that. I’m interested in pursuing a career in management consulting or health system management post MBA.  My long term goal is to pursue an entrepreneurial ambition.

I would like your opinion on how school selection could potentially impact my career trajectory and professional network. I understand that certain employers emphasize MBA brand over others. I also understand that being obligated to pay high student loans may stifle my ability to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. Do you think it’s worth the extra money to attend a school like (Top School) vs. (School X or Y)?

Thanks for your time and advice!

(Name)

—-MY RESPONSE

Hey (NAME)

Thanks for reading my blog, and for reaching out with your question about the MBA application process.  It’s funny how this exact question comes up every single year. In fact, it came up a couple of different times over the past two weeks.

As you might imagine, this question comes up every single year. The combination of schools changes, though not dramatically but the question remains the same.  Here is what I think.

In short, all comes down to what you value most. And applicants tend to value different things. Some of them value ranking, others prestige, others location, others classmates, others potential job opportunities, and some don’t know what they value. My message as an MBA admissions advisor is usually aimed at the people in that last category, and I try to catch them far before they ever apply to business school so I can help them figure out what they value most. The message is that you have to know what you value early. Because schools will throw money at you, you’ll meet interesting classmates, get exposed to new opportunities, and you won’t have a sense of what you really wanted in the first place.

The problem is that most people don’t know what they value so they start to ask around and get answers. The problem is they ask too many people and the answers are not only diverse but also confusing. In many cases, they look like the following:

1. Most alum of (Top School) will tell you that there is a material difference. Especially if they made the same decision. So they’ll tell you to go to their school
2. Most alum of School X or Y would say otherwise, especially if they made the same decision. They’ll find reasons you should save the money and go with their school
3. Asking someone online (like me) I should theoretically tell you to choose My School which is Kellogg or the school closest in culture to mine
4. Many very senior leaders will likely tell you to choose School because they might value the brand of the school. Especially if they recruit at that program.
5. Mathematicians would probably do the math compounded over 30 years and prove that the money is not actually a large factor, depending on the industry.
6. People who have worked their butts of to succeed will tell you it doesn’t matter, because hard work is what makes the difference, not school name.
7. People who have worked really hard but not seen the fruits of their labor will tell you to pick the higher ranked school because that is what will make the difference.
8. CEOs will tell you that a degree can really help but they’ve met low performers from all schools.
9. Highly successful people from certain disadvantaged communities will tell you pick the best school and dont consider a non top
10. And people who feel they weren’t given fair chances in their career will tell you to 100% come to School
11. If Steve Jobs were alive, he’d probably tell you that you don’t need an MBA
12. And in terms of Kellogg, one VERY highly esteemed professor always tells people from certain communities that you should 100% take the (Top School) because the network and opportunity is so much better.
13. I’d probably give the same advice, though that would depend on the person.

Like I said, all the answers will confuse you.

In general, my gut is that a good number of people in your shoes choose (Top School) because of what I said in my intro. The stakes feel high, and you don’t want to compromise on such an important decision.  But not every one chooses this. Some don’t. And while some may regret it, others are happy.

In the end, it’s something only you can decide, based on past experiences, needs, concerns, hopes, thoughts about fit, career aspirations, and value of prestige. Things you should evaluate far before having the decision, so you are prepared to decide once you have to.

For another perspective, check out this interesting thread on BTG about one person’s choice between Kellogg and Ross. http://www.beatthegmat.com/mbawatch/ross-school-of-business-university-of-michigan/comment/1332511185-957-11

Both sides of the argument make sense. Ross offers a bit more money. Kellogg offers the applicant something more closely aligned with their career goals. And both offer a great opportunity at success.

Good luck.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic recently.  But I couldn’t have said it better myself. So check out this post written by the one and only Seth Godin.

–This post is courtesy of Blogger Seth Godin. CLICK HERE to go to his blog.

Too many MBAs are sent into the world with bravado and enthusiasm and confidence.

The problem is that they also lack guts.

Guts is the willingness to lose. To be proven wrong, or to fail.

No one taught them guts in school. So much money at stake, so much focus on the numbers and on moving up the ladder, it never occurs to anyone to talk about the value of failure, of smart risk, of taking a leap when there are no guarantees.

It’s easy to be confident when you have everything aligned, when the moment is perfect. It’s also not particularly useful.

People don’t like deadlines. Deadlines mean you have to finish something you started. That you have to make a decision. And that you are forced to give a response. But the truth is that deadlines often work really well. If the person or company setting the deadline has prominence, then everyone will listen. Nobody will want to miss out.  But sometimes deadlines have unintended consequences.

I’ve seen it from experience. Deadlines make a lot of people turn in a bad product just be finished. This happens all the time in business school where the notion “done is better than perfect” tends to be the norm.

Other times, people “plan” to start right before the deadline. So in no case will they spend enough time on it, but instead “just enough” time. So in this case having a deadline limits their time spent working.

And some people always just finish after the deadline. No matter when it is and no matter how many extensions you give, they will probably finish right after the time you set. This is happening to me right now with a video I am getting edited. .

So I propose the idea that maybe the smartest thing you can do is add a 48 hour buffer to the back end of the deadline. That way, it accounts for a person being late. It allows you to fix up things that are quickly turned in. And it allows for things like technologyical error that may have occured.

Just keep in mind, that some people miss their deadlines by much more than 48 hours. And sometimes the work to be done after takes longer than that as well.

Just spreading the word about a video I found online. It comes from the Happiness Project, which is a memoir of successful lawyer who spent a full year learning how to be happier.  In addition to coming up with a #1 New York Times bestseller it also recounts the author’s daily adventures and videos in pursuit of happiness. One lesson was on something a lot of MBAs are thinking about right now, as graduation approaches and people are making job decisions about what to do next. Work life balance.

Here is one video from the project, entitled “The days are long but the years are short.” This videos refers to the idea of a family, which I’m sure will resonate with many of you.  But either way, the concept can be applied much more broadly.

There are plenty of reasons to please people around you, especially at work.  You want your boss to be happy with your work. You want classmates and colleagues to enjoy working with you. You want people you’ve met to like you and maybe become friends. And you want people around you to generally think you are a good person. But I propose the idea that you should NOT try to please everyone.

Trying to please everyone is natural. Because we’re rated that way at work. We get 360 feedback in our professional circles. And perhaps most importantly, because it feel good. Personally, I’m guilty of doing this exact same thing.

On the other hand, pleasing everyone takes a lot of time and energy. It requires extra emails and discussions. Necessitates lots of extra thinking. And most importantly, can make you more confused than ever about your original intentions and mission.

Here is one example that will explain quite clearly.

The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey

A MAN and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?” 1

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.” 2

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.” 3

Well, the Man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours—you and your hulking son?” 4

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned. 5

“That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them:

“PLEASE ALL, AND YOU WILL PLEASE NONE.”

 Don’t get my wrong, learning to please people can at times be an important skill. But at times, it can also be dehabilitating.

** Thanks to Michelle Millar for sending me this fable