Hope everybody had an awesome long weekend!
Mine was pretty good, to say the least. Don’t want to go into details, but let’s just say I ended up driving a convertible – top down, at 5AM in the morning around Philly, with three hot drunk college girls in my car. Hah, don’t worry. I was a gentleman. Just drove them home. Also had one of the best Philly cheese steak and cheese fries ever at this place called Steve’s. Maybe it’s not such a hard-knock life after all.
It’s Fleet Week in NYC. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, it’s a parade of military navy ships docked in the harbor of the city. The ships of course also bring with them their crew. So around NYC all week, don’t be surprise to spot groups of sailors in their white navy uniform taking photos, drinking, and hitting on anything that walks in a skirt. I don’t blame them. I would to if I was stuck on a boat with all guys eight months out of the year.
I also managed to squeeze in a couple of rewrites of my essays over the weekend. After my admissions consultant critique my essays, I realized now I was still a child when it came to kick-ass essay writing. I know I have a lot more work to do before they are finished. But I’m glad I’m going through this process now rather than later when crunch time really hits.
Accepted.com finally revealed the winners of the Beautiful BSchool Photo Contest. You think that they would have notified the participants when they concluded the contest. But no, I had to go and find out for myself. But that’s just my little annoyance. Anyway, here is the link. http://www.accepted.com/mba/Columbia.aspx
Although I didn’t win, I am glad to have gotten an honorable mention. I’m even happier that the photo that won first prize was that of Columbia. Yay! And Wow! The photo of the dorms with the lights and the cloudy moon illuminating the night is just spectacular. Hands down, it by far trumps mine easily. The judges definitely got it right. And it deserves the win. Congrats to all the other winners as well.
BusinessWeek came out with an article about MBAs and the current financial crisis. Here is the link. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/may2009/bs20090520_423631.htmThe article basically asks if MBAs and the business schools they came from are to blame for what has happened. The top leaders of now defunct banks all came from top notched programs. Former CEO Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers came from NYU Stern and former CEO Stan O’Neil of Merrill Lynch from Harvard. There’s also a Hall of Shame list of sorts for bad leaders. Ouch! So does that mean that business school produces unethical leaders? Personally, I don’t think so. People are who they are and I highly doubt that two years in school is going to change that. The individual has to take responsibility for what he or she has done. You can’t blame a whole group for a few bad eggs. That said, I’m glad that most business schools recognize the ethics dilemma and are being proactive about addressing these issues. Some schools got it right when they instead of just requiring students to take a few ethics elective classes, these principles are incorporated into every aspect of the curriculum. And to drive the point home, I totally agree with the statement, “Whatever they can do to make better business leaders, they will do.” But I still believe that ultimately, whatever happens, the responsibility falls on the individual.
After reading this article, I started examining my own ethics dilemma that has been brewing in my head. This may be a little late since I’ve already paid for the admissions consultancy service. But is hiring that kind of help ethical? It certainly puts me at an advantage over the applicants who didn’t hire one. In this competitive environment, any advantage will help. Is this service similar to steroids, a drug that enhances a baseball player’s game? While the drug is certainly illegal, an admissions consultant is not. If it were, there wouldn’t be hundreds of these companies out there in the market. And business schools would make it explicity known that candidates are not allowed to use one. In the end, I’m the one writing my essays. Not the consultant. They are my stories, my words, and my own persona expressed in these essays. The consultant just helps bring out the very best in these qualities. And if anytime in the process that I start to feel that that wasn’t the case, than I’ve have to re-evaluate our applicant/consultant relationship.
Read the full article: Weekend Shenanigans, Fleet Week, BSchool Photo Contest Closure, Ethics