You’ve all heard the saying before. That a good team working together can accomplish a lot more than the sum of its individual capabilities. And that leadership is about facilitating teamwork to achieve common objectives. Well that saying is especially relevant for us now at Kellogg, as over the past few weeks, students have been lobbying for leadership positions for a number of different clubs on campus. And it’s especially relevant for one of my teams now, as we have recently decided to run for Kellogg’s Cork and Screw Club. ... More >>
I recently received a question about Northwestern’s JD-MBA program. The question comes from a potential applicant that has asked me whether he should consider taking the LSAT as part of the application process. I’ve received similar questions on various occasions in times past, so wanted to include the question here on my site, so readers could have a bit more information on how to think about the topic. ... More >>
There’s a movement taking place in the business and legal worlds. As a senior executive at a public company today, it’s just about impossible to escape complex legal issues. Similarly, if you’re a leading corporate lawyer, you consistently run into business issues, not only at your firm but also at the firms of your clients. The next question then, is obvious. Is it possible to have a career that combines both business and law. And if so, how can you do it? Well, the Northwestern JD-MBA program seeks to answer that exact question. As today the program sponsored a talk by
Nichlas D. Chabraja to talk about the intersection of business and law.
Kudos to Northwestern’s JD-MBA program for once again taking the lead in facilitating conversations with both the business school and law school. Over the past few years, there has been a lot more momentum with regards to the collaboration of the business and legal industries. And Kellogg has stayed well ahead of that trend. ... More >>
It takes a lot of time and energy to do well at Kellogg, so most people expend a lot of effort to ensure they choose the right classes. They configure and reconfigure their schedules. They ask friends what classes they are taking. They look at professor ratings from prior years. And they pick classes that not only help them get certain majors, but ones the seem interesting and that might give you certain skills that could be useful professionally. ... More >>
Winter quarter is traditionally regarded as the hardest term at Kellogg. Not only is it cold, rainy and snowing a significant amount of the time, but you’re also still taking core classes and in the midst of their first year job search. Further, students taking the Kellogg Global Immersion in Management class don’t get a real spring break. Instead they take winter quarter final exams early and straight out to another country to take part in a research project until the spring quarter begins two weeks later. ... More >>
After two weeks of a lot of hard work, a lot of fun, and meeting lots of new friends, my time in Kenya is finally coming to an end, as tonight we will be jetsetting back toward the US to start spring classes on Monday. Given the timing, there is only one question that remains. What should I do today before we leave? Especially since today is a free day. ... More >>
One thing I learned in law school is that to be successful sometimes you have to outwork the competition. Start preparing sooner. Pull longer hours. And study harder than everyone else in your class. However,if the only reason that you’re winning is because you’re winning more hours, are you actually winning in the end, given the tradeoff of time and other opportunity costs? That’s one questions that’s been on my mind a lot these days, especially here in business school. ... More >>
The MBA admissions process is difficult to navigate. Not only does it take a lot of work to get admitted but it’s also enormously unpredictable. As a result, a lot of people get started doing research early to get a head start on putting together a quality application. They do their best to get good scores and write great essays, and they also do a lot of research beforehand to find a school that’s the perfect fit. With that in mind, I recently received an email from one of my readers about my experience at Kellogg as she is gearing up to apply to business school next fall. ... More >>
Waiting for a business school admissions decision can feel like one of the hardest things in the world. Not only do you not know whether you’ll get in or not, but you also don’t know when they’re actually going to contact you, at least not for most schools. Well, after weeks of waiting patiently, and after months of applying to schools all across the country, Kellogg applicants have finally been receiving their admissions decisions this month. And over the past two days, a couple of my good friends have recently been admitted. So to the members of Kellogg’s Class of 2013, congratulations on your acceptance! ... More >>
One hundred people doing some the same thing at the same time can at times be more powerful than a thousand people doing it separately. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking – that math doesn’t sound right. I agree. It doesn’t sound right to me either. But recently, I’ve come to find that sometimes there’s tremendous power not only in working together, but also in working together at exactly the same time. ... More >>
Have you ever had a good idea for a new business, but found it too complicated to get started. Well, what about a good idea for your current company, but weren’t quite sure what to do with it. Well, if that’s you, don’t worry. This is a common problem. But one way you can get started on your next big idea is simply to write it down. ... More >>
It costs a lot of time and money to go on Kellogg’s Global Immersion in Management (GIM) trip. You forego taking another class in the winter quarter. You pay a lot of money out of pocket. And you do classwork during spring break, while your friends are having a blast in various locations around the world. But other than having a blast with your fellow classmates in a new country, does it make sense to go on GIM? ... More >>
Tomorrow, me and about 30 classmates will be jumping on a plane and jet-setting out of Chicago and finally heading to Kenya, where we’ve all be excited to go for the last 10 weeks. While two or three of my classmates have visited Kenya before, for most of us it will be our first time in the country. To commemorate this special experience, one of our class leaders has been sending out a series of countdown emails, each filled with pictures and words to describe the trip. ... More >>
I realized the other day that a fair number of my good friends at Kellogg come from very different circles. While some of them did come from my section, others I met in student clubs that I’m involved in, others while going throughout the recruiting process, some while transitioning in the JD-MBA program, and others study groups that I’ve been assigned to in class. To my initial surprise, a smaller number of them actually come from the fun nights I’ve spent in Evanston or downtown Chicago. ... More >>
One thing about Kellogg is that the academics quarters fly by pretty quickly. Unlike law school, where semesters are drawn out for fifteen or so weeks, and where the days are drawn out due to the hundreds of pages of reading we have for any single class, at Kellogg, the quarters are each ten weeks and we don’t have nearly enough time to get everything done. Well, because the last few weeks have flown by so quickly, it’s now time to begin the final exam period. ... More >>
Every business school applicant has an overwhelming number of things to think about. It is easy to get caught up spending endless hours writing, editing, and applying, and you often forget that working hard isn’t quite as effective as working smart. To help the new MLT fellows with that, I spent the day with them at the Darden School of Business to moderate a panel on how to get into business school. Like last year’s session (click here to see my post on last year’s session), this year’s session was filled with eager and energetic MLT fellows as well as with a few MLT armed to share information with the up and coming applicants. ... More >>
Clutter. We’ve all complained about it before. Between running from meeting to meeting, to getting bogged down by emails and voice mails, we all have to figure out how to manage clutter. And that’s especially true in business school, where the number of meetings is higher and where emails drop into your inbox by the second. And for me and my classmates now, we feel the urgency to organize and finally start getting things done because just one week from now, we’ll all be taking final exams. ... More >>
The Black Management Association (“BMA”) hosted the 24th Annual BMA Conference last weekend February 25 through 27 at the Kellogg School of Management. The event is one of the largest business school conferences at Kellogg, not only because of the number of students and alumni who attend but also because of the participants who come in to speak for the weekend and the message delivered by the speakers and panelists. ... More >>
Have you ever had to pitch an idea to an audience but weren’t quite sure how to deliver the message? Well, what if I told you that no matter what you said, people forget 99% of it? How would that impact your pitch? What specific words would you say? And what words would you decide to change? Giving a pitch in front of an audience is a hard task. Fortunately, in a recent talk in my media management class, Suneel Gupta and Leena Rao provided a few tips on how to make a strong pitch and get people to remember. ... More >>
For better or for worse, I’ve noticed that a lot of people have been wondering what their classmates will be doing for the summer. While some classmates jump at the chance to tell the entire world about their offers, others are a bit more tactful in their approach, and another group isn’t quite sure yet. But no matter which of these groups a students fits in, it’s likely that he or she has a sense of what industry they might end up in and further what geography they’ll be at for the summer. ... More >>
You’ve all heard the saying before. That a good team working together can accomplish a lot more than the sum of its individual capabilities. And that leadership is about facilitating teamwork to achieve common objectives. Well that saying is especially relevant for us now at Kellogg, as over the past few weeks, students have been lobbying for leadership positions for a number of different clubs on campus. And it’s especially relevant for one of my teams now, as we have recently decided to run for Kellogg’s Cork and Screw Club. ... More >>
