Wow, it is almost the second birthday of the blog. I don’t remember doing anything voluntarily for such a long time (well, perhaps sticking with the same guy).

I got a nice birthday present: “2008-9 Best of Blogging” nomination from ClearAdmit. ClearAdmit is an admissions consulting company that runs an MBA blog which is an excellent resource for MBA applicants (I used to read it when I was applying). So the nomination, as they say at HBS, is an honor, a privilege and a humbling experience. I also got a cool icon:

The birthday and the nomination motivated me to update many parts of the blog – the pages that appear at the header (best posts, blogroll) have been updated, as well as other things.

Here’s an updated map of where my readers came from this year:

wwwcomputersexycom-world

Loved the dot in Hawaii!

Last year for the birthday I wrote about “the exotic world of blog statistics“, courtesy of Google Analytics. (being a geek,) I had a lot of fun with that, so this year I decided to write

Google Analytics – The fun continues

Part 1: You Ask, CS Answers

This is my gift to you, my readers. Sometimes you reach my blog by asking questions in google. I am posting some of the most probing questions coming from google, along with my answers. Hope you find them helpful, I put a lot of thought into them.

“which is best section at hbs?” – Section I.

“what did you write for hbs essay” – yes, most people write essays to get into HBS. For me, I just sent the link to my Facebook profile.

“can you finish hbs in one year?”
1. no
2. why would you want to?

“hbs do i stand a chance?” – sounds like the beginning of a Haiku:

hbs do i stand a chance?

autumn leaves are changing colors

bunnies squirrels and crimson cash.

“what does hbs looks for in the mba essays?” – people who google so eloquently.

“would you like for a while in the united states?” - as Borat says, “yes, it is niiiiiiiice”

“why did you start the mba program?” – it’s a prerequisite for graduating.

“admitted to hbs what next?” – you must send a $1000 deposit to at least one HBS blogger. Contact me for details.

“advantages of hbs faculty diversity” – they speak with multiple funny accents.

“can i write my harvard essay in third person” – no, she definitely doesn’t recommend it. It’s not like you’ve done something to deserve it.

“can people send embarassing information about me on facebook?” – yes. They can also find out your name and address from your google searches. Muhaha!

“cs hbs muhaha” – muhaha to you too!

“closest hotel to hbs” – Doubletree Guest Suites Boston. Chocolate chip cookies are to die for.

“cooking in hbs dorms?” – no, unless electric spoon counts. Some dorms have shared kitchenettes (=microwave).

“differences between hbs and stanford gsb” – 30 degrees in the winter.

“do i put mba at the end of my name?” - would look pretty weird, no? “John smithmba”?

“do students like hbs?” – no.

“do students read blogs” – yes, and I just updated my blogroll.

“does hbs have majors?” – no, we specialize in “general management” (=we’re equally bad at everything)

“hbs what students do after graduation?” – try to pay back student loans.

“how can a hbs mba student earn by working part time?” – write fantasy books.

“how do older applicants get into hbs?” – vicariously.

“how long does it take to get from hbs to boston airport?” – usually, 15 minutes. With construction on Storrow Drive, indefinitely. Avoid (take I-90 instead)

“how to analyze distressed companies in excel?” – as always, google does a fabulous job bringing you to the experts in the subject matter. I would recommend the function sum().

“how to write an essay with a “wow” factor?” – use some HBSpeak.

“is combination of mba and cs good?” – serious answer, yes. I think it’s a powerful, relatively unique combination (geek power + biz power).

“mba cocktail party what to wear?” – I recommend this:

dress (photo from here)

“no class on fridays at hbs?” – no, this is not true. We learn Monday-Friday. Life is tough.

“obsessively look at ex’s facebook” – I have no idea what you’re talking about.

“weird guy essay” – I’ll defer that to half the guys in my section.

“what city’s nickname is ‘the emerald city’?” – Seattle! (soon to be known as “home”)

“what is the most amazing thing you done?” – cannot discuss in a family-friendly blog. On a serious note, I consider leading this and helping this organization as two of the highlights of my HBS experience.

“what medical scientist would you most like to meet” – the guy who discovered caffeine. Wow.

“what to do during hbs visit” – answers in another one of my classics.

“what to wear to harvard mba information session” – I recommend this:

guy-in-ugly-suit_2 (photo from here)

“why don’t people tag themselves in their pictures on facebook?” – would you tag yourself if you looked like this?

ugly_people (photo from here)

“why mba students are driven by money & power?”- that’s completely superficial and inaccurate. We’re also driven by alcohol & sex.

“why would you like to meet thomas edison?” – Heard he’s ridiculously good looking.

“what to wear to hbs interview” – I recommend this:

3-japan_01 (photo from here)

Part 2: Google Anomalies

This year, my blog got really ahead in google rankings. I don’t know if that says good things about the blog or bad things about google, but I’m enjoying the results in the form of many more visitors coming to the blog as a result of a google search.

The blog appears in the first google results page for some relatively obvious keywords, like “HBS blog” or “Israeli MBA blog”, but some of the keywords are somewhat… obscure. Here are some of the amusing keywords where the blog appears on the first results page:

being a second year student – the first result, even without quotes!

Greg Brenneman – this guy is the former CEO of Burger King and Quiznos, and I’m the 6th google result (because of this post).

hbs lehman smoking – first google result! surprising, I would expect many more people to write about it…

“best looking mba students” – second google result! (with quotes) Not surprising of course. btw, one of the people who reached the blog after searching for this phrase spent 54.40 minutes on the blog. I’m sure he (she?) was reviewing the list of recommended books for MBAs.

hbs mba don’t try and be superhuman – first google result. Sometimes I’m just amazed by what people search for.

Thanks again for being such a wonderful crowd throughout these two years. If you feel like giving me a gift, leave a short comment!