Andrew`s MBA Diaries

All Finished

2007-09-15T20:29:00.000Z

So that's it. I am now an Oxford MBA for real. I really can't believe that it is over. What a whirlwind year!

The Capstone week's lectures weren't bad and it was a great excuse to meet up with everyone again. Our presentation went well (the two Japanese in our group were randomly selected by the school to present, and they did very well). The individual 3,000 word essay was straight-forward (well, at the end of the MBA writing 3,000 words is like shelling peas). And as expected, we partied every night.

The Turf for the last timeThe final black tie party was fantastic and the school pulled out all the stops. It was easily on a par with any other party that I have been to this year. As a strange twist of fate, Esther and I were asked to make a speech each, which we did and actually enjoyed quite a bit. I always find it quite difficult to follow her (we did our EP together) as she is an amazing speaker, so in a perfect display of teamwork, she went deep and meaningful and I went light (very) and funny (somewhat).

Me speaking

Esther and INamiko, Akiko and Arima san

So I now have a couple of months to have a baby (well, watch Namiko have him), move house and prepare for my new job (which I am very much looking forward to).

And I suppose that this will be my last post to this blog. Its funny, looking back, it was a great decision to write it. I re-read it from time to time and it reminds me of everything that has happened over the last 15 months. Its hard to imagine that in such a short space of time my life would change so much, that I would meet so many fantastic people who I can call friends and that I would now be preparing for a job in a company such as McKinsey.

Money well spent, is all I can say.

Cheerio.

End of the summer, only the Capstone to go

2007-09-07T10:17:00.000Z

The summer is over, and this evening I will travel to Oxford for the final week of my MBA; the much anticipated Capstone Course.

Since my last post we have completed our SCP. It was an amazing experience! The final week involved us presenting our findings to the DTC Executive Committee, which went surprisingly well. You know when you have done a good job when the Managing Director's comment at the end of the presentation is "brilliant work!". We all left the room feeling suitably content. The week following involved us submitting our written document which ended up being a 60 page thesis. Actually when I look back on the experience, the amount we learnt about the industry in such a short period of time was amazing. I will never look at a piece of diamond jewellery the same again.

In addition to the SCP, I have been working on selling our current house and buying another. Despite being tremendously time consuming, it has (so far) gone reasonably smoothly and so I am hoping that we finalise soon.

Other activities include preparing for the 2008 MBA welcome panel. To briefly explain, during the first week of the course last year a few 2006 MBAs came back to present their experiences to us and offer the opportunity to ask questions. So now it is our turn to present our experiences to the next year's class (and so it goes on). Due to the fact that I am not starting at McKinsey until November, I seem to be taking the lead for this panel, and so have been coordinating a few of my fellow students to produce some slides... Hopefully it will all be alright on the night.

In addition, I have been trying to write a speech. Our final formal dinner will be held on 14th September (in Templeton College) and Esther and I have been volunteered to make a speech each to reflect on our experiences. Hmm, writing speeches was never my forte and so I seem to spend more time procrastinating that actually writing. Luckily (?!?) I only have 7 mins.

So that has been the summer. I am now an uncle (my sister's first child) and will soon be a father (Namiko is now 36 weeks pregnant), so I suppose that there is a lot of change there as well.

Thomas Chambers (No.1 Nephew)And finally, it seems that the Oxford University 2008/9 MBA brochure has been released. Spot the chap on page 19!

Summer in London

2007-07-23T18:21:00.000Z

Its been a couple of weeks since I blogged last. I am now in London and have just started my 3rd week of the strategic consulting project at The Diamond Trading Company (DTC). Our offices in Charterhouse Street, London are right next to the 'diamond academy' (where they have lots and lots of diamonds), is very comfortable and right at the heart of the organisation.

Our project – reviewing the value proposition of one line of products – started off very broad and so our the first week was mainly taken up in forming a realistic scope with which we could direct our line of attack. We have so far had two reviews with our sponsor, who seems to be happy with what we have achieved/the direction that we are going in, and been introduced to both the Managing Director and several members of the executive committee who all seem to have a real interest. It seems that this project is really high profile and I am led to believe that real decisions will be based on our results. As proof of their intent, and in addition to the office based work, two members of our team (there are four in total) will travel to India next week to visit customers so as to understand exactly what they require from the company offering. DTC are certainly ensuring that there are no barriers to us collecting really robust data with which to make our recommendations.

Mark and Swapandeep strategisin' in our office

Kaysa, not strategisin' (in all fairness, it was late)
From a ‘non-work’ point of view, our apartments are quite luxurious and perfectly placed for exploring London (being located in the centre of Marylebone). We have more restaurants within walking distance than we realistically can visit in the time allocated and can walk as easily to Oxford Street as we can to Regents Park. In the evenings I am even managing to either get to the gym or, when the weather is nice, take a run around the park. This is certainly very different to the ‘MBA hours’ that I was pulling less than a month ago.

Every Tuesday all the MBAs that are in London for the summer meet up for dinner. Last week was Italian, this week Sushi. It’s great to hear how everyone is doing/adjusting to working life. Seeing as there are about 20 of us here, it makes for a nice evening.

So that is it so far for the SCP. I am really enjoying the DTC and remember now why I love London so much.

Photo from night out in Camden

Week 10 Trinity... Last Oxford Exams!

2007-07-01T21:23:00.000Z

The end of Trinity Term. I can't believe that it is over.

This week I sat 3 exams in the Exam Schools (on High Street). One on Monday, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday which also marked the day that I finished all formal assessment for this term. Where has the time gone? Just the SCP and Capstone, and this MBA is over...

Swapandeep summing up my emotion following the Restructuring Exam on Wednesday

Arash and I following our last examFollowing our last exam, and in line with tradition, we all piled down to the Turf for a well earned drink (it was, after all, 11am). Unfortunately, most of us didn't last long as we had been up most of the night with some last minute revision.

It would seem that the Turf is now 'Award Winning' Archit, Saim, Gaurav, Kaz and Shariq at the TurfOn Thursday I went down to London for a welcome BBQ at McKinsey's Kensington office. This was arranged by the recruiters to welcome all of the consultants (currently in the UK) joining this year. It was a great event and I managed to meet plenty of people. Most were joining at the Business Analyst grade (for people who have just finished their undergraduate degree), however I did manage to meet some who (like me) were joining as Associates following the completion of their doctorate/MBA. Everyone was full of enthusiasm, intelligent and a seemingly fun loving, I am sure that I have made the correct choice.

On Sunday Namiko and I attended Paul and Liz Evans' son's Christening. Little Ethan was very well behaved during the ceremony and was then treated to a party on a train. It was a lovely event for which even the weather was well behaved (for a change)

Liz, Paul and Ethan Namiko, Bump and TrainSo, with Trinity over, I have now moved out of Oxford and back into our house down south. The next week will involve me preparing the house for sale (it should go on the market tomorrow) so that we can move to London in November. And I thought that I was going to have the week off!

Week 9 Trinity - Revision Week

2007-06-24T21:19:00.000Z

Due to the fact that I was only revising for 3 exams this term (Restructuring & Implementation, Fixed Income and Media Strategies for a Networked World), I managed to do a few other activities that I wouldn't have had time to do last term.

On Monday, Kaysa, Swapandeep, Mark and I went down to London to spend the day with The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) so as to ensure that we 'hit the ground running' on the first day of our summer consulting project. It was great, we went through the diamond academy (to be taught about the structure, clarity, colour and size of uncut diamonds), before being shown the sorting/pricing methods. We ended the day with a meeting to clarify the project direction and tie up any loose ends. We have a fair amount of homework to now do prior to the 9th July start date, but it should ensure a more efficient first week.

Tuesday day-time I spent doing case studies with my classmates so as to prepare them for their forthcoming interviews (good luck guys!). Tuesday night was Brandon's 30th birthday and we celebrated with an intimate meal (for 4) at Browns before heading to the Retreat where everyone was waiting. A really good night.

Mark, Brandon and I in Browns

I forget the name of this drink, however remember that it has Tabasco in it... Well, one only turns 30 onceWednesday was all day revision broken up with a nice lunch in St Cross College (courtesy of Renee). In the evening I attended Fred Wong's birthday party held in the Magdalen apartment complex (Kitty's place). As with most birthday parties, it was all a big surprise. What was nice was that he really wasn't expecting it. His speech was heartfelt.

Renee and Barry in St Cross The quad in St CrossFred getting 'the bumps' Those at Fred's Party

On Friday, Namiko and I travelled down to Truffles Restaurant in Somerset (which is owned by my sister & brother-in-law), so as to host a 'Japanese Evening'. Namiko and Mark (brother-in-law) cooked whilst Debbie (sister), I and the staff explained the meal to and served the customers. It was really hard work and both Namiko and I were exhausted.

Saturday was spent relaxing and Sunday day-time was a heavy heavy revision session (for my exam on Monday). Sunday night was spent at Tass' place where she cooked up a feast of Thai food (which was incredible).

So, my first exam starts tomorrow (at 14.30) and I have one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Following that I am free of Oxford exams forever. Now, that is sure to feel very very good.

Week 8 Trinity

2007-06-17T21:05:00.000Z

So that is it. The last week of lectures all finished. It really is hard to believe.

I now have a week of revision and 3 exams before the end of Trinity and that (apart from the Capstone course in September) will be the end of my MBA.

This week was fun filled with a drinks reception to mark the end of the real estate course, a formal dinner at Brasenose college, Brian's birthday, the Collingwood dinner at Pembroke college and the Sylvesters at the business school.

The carving that sits above the top table in Brasenose, a happy unicorn?

The quad at Brasenose

On Friday, during our Private Equity Class, we were joined by 3 people from Morgan Stanley. Just to give a little background, over the past couple of weeks we have been working on an assignment whose purpose was to prepare a valuation of a company as if we were advising a private equity partnership. Anyway we submitted our assignment on Monday and on Friday Morgan Stanley came in to show us how they would have done it. Actually, my team's valuation was fairly similar to theirs and I think that we captured the same topics as they did (with regards to market sizing, growth potential etc). I suppose that the main difference was the amount of data that they could get their hands on, so as to give a presentation which was richer in its content... It certainly gives me confidence that the MBA has taught me how to think the same way as the banking professionals do... quite a change in less than a year!

On Friday night, Namiko and I were invited to the Collingwood dinner at Pembroke College by Tass. It was (without doubt) the best college food that I have had this term. And to top things off, we were on the top table... the service is always better there! Mark and I learnt first hand that Pembroke is the only other college (other than Hertford that is) that has sconcing after meals... albeit a little more formal than we are used to - they have to write it down in Pembroke - we yell it out in Hertford!

Tass and MarkNamiko and I on the top tableLe MenuThe Pembroke way of sconcingSaturday night was the Sylvester awards. A ceremony arranged by the student social body which is used to mark the end of the year. There was music, comedy and, above all, awards for everything from "best facial hair" to "most stereotypical of home country". I presented an award and collected one as part of the rugby team in the "most memorable MBAT sport" category. It was a great night.

Cezar, Cenk, Puneet, Renee, Andre, me and Maho

Finally, today, Namiko and I chilled. We had lunch with Andrea and Akiko before shooting off to the Cotswolds for a day out of Oxford.

Namiko and I in Bourton-on-the-water (notice the bump!).

OK, so it is now time to knuckle down. We have a meeting with the Diamond Trading Company (De Beers) tomorrow in London to discuss our consulting project and I have a few days to make sure that I do not fail my exams...

Week 7 Trinity

2007-06-10T09:36:00.000Z

Its hard to believe that this week was my penultimate week of lectures (not including the Capstone course in September). As usual, they was a mountain of assignments to do, as well as events to attend.

On Monday, Said Business School hosted the 2nd Real Estate Summit (the 1st being last year), where many eminent figures in the British Real Estate industry attended; including both the Chairman and President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. It was organised by Sandy Apgar, our Real Estate elective lecturer and senior advisor to BCG . The event included a keynote speech by Graham Chase, RICS President, followed by 6 break-out sessions on subjects such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Green Housing, and Emerging markets. It finished with a panel discussion in the evening and was a great fun.

This photo below is me during the REITS break-out session. Just to prove that I do actually work during the MBA.

Monday night was the Hertford College Graduate Dinner, which was our last official dinner in College before we leave. Prior to the meal there was a photo taken of all the Hertford MCR members (which should prove to be a nice memento). Mark, Swapandeep, Simon and I attended, and the photo below quite accurately describes the quality of the food on this occasion. Not one of Hertford's best unfortunately.

During our Media Strategies Lecture on Tuesday, we were joined by Chris Sacca - Head of Special Initiatives, Google, Richard Halton, Controller - Business Strategy BBC and David Wells, Deputy World News Editor FT. The subject of the discussion was "Coping with Abundance" or more specifically, how people (you and I) deal with the immense amount of choice that we now have, especially with regards to information. It was an interesting event with all three guests presenting independently about how their organisation 'makes things simpler for people' using editorials, aggregation etc.

On Wednesday, a number of us were treated to a meal at Keble college by Fred. Those that attended reached the consensus that Keble has the largest dining hall amongst all the Oxford colleges. And the food wasn't bad either. We followed the meal with a trip to Keble bar.
All those that attended Fred's dinner
On Saturday night Aston and Wayne organised a barbecue at their house on Botley Road. The weather held out and we ate and ate and ate. The evening was topped off with some karaoke before we wished Jian well on his way (he leaves for an internship at Deutsche Bank in Shanghai next Saturday).
Esther, Arash, Shinjiro, Swapandeep, Wayne, Naosuke, Simon, Jian and Abhishek

The weekend (despite having some nice weather) was taken up with assignments. We had two big ones due for Monday morning. Luckily, I only have 3 more to complete before the end of term...and then its exams (well, only 3 of them). Its only a few weeks now until we start our SCP. Time to start preparing.

Week 6 Trinity

2007-06-03T21:20:00.000Z

After a relatively quiet week last week, this one was full of activity.

Work related:

On Monday our real estate class ventured to Bicester Village (an outlet shopping mall about 25 minutes outside Oxford) for a tour and case study discussion. Recently we had completed an assignment on Value Retail (the owner of Bicester) and were thus able to enter into an interesting discussion about the origins of the idea and subsequent financing decisions with our hosts. It was an interesting visit to a highly successful real estate project.

On Thursday, and during our Business in China class, we had a conference call with Buddy Ye, CEO of wangyou and 2002 Oxford MBA. He talked about the starting up of an internet company in China and the paradox of the fact that it is a UGC (user generated content) website yet needs to be censored so as to comply with the Chinese authorities. Buddy talked about his use of radio stations (71, in which they broadcast the most popular UGC of the week) and the other off-line methods he has/is currently using to promote the site. So far, and since inception in 2005, his site now has 9 million users with a plan to be the no.1 social networking site in China. Unfortunately the company's financials do not look positive, so the question is "will they make it"? It seems that from what we know, even odds are about the best that one would get with that bet.

The Parties:

This week was my birthday and with the help of some lovely friends I managed to celebrate it on three consecutive nights.

On Wednesday night, Mark, Swapandeep, Simon and I invited 22 people to dinner at Hertford College. We had been meaning to do it for a while, but had not got around to arranging it. We started with a pint (or two) in the Kings Arms Pub before moving to hall for dinner. Following not a bad meal, the Hertford boys introduced our guests to sconcing (a tradition at Hertford and used as a drinking game) before escorting them to Hertford Bar for yet more drinks. The evening finished in Merton Bar and many people were not well on Thursday...sorry chaps.

Xing, Andrew Taylor, Renee and I at HertfordOur guests outside Hertford Hall

Thursday night was a quiet one with a couple of us going to the Head of the River for a couple of drinks and then carrying on in one Hertford College's kitchens after closing time. What I was not expecting was that whilst I was in the kitchen a large number of friends had gathered downstairs to surprise me at the turn of midnight (my birthday). It really was a lovely surprise and I was quite touched by the number of people that came out to celebrate with me.

My cake

Swapandeep helping me eat my cake Friday night was the Great Gatsby Ball at Templeton College. This was a massive summer party held in the college grounds and fully paid for by Templeton. During the meal (Templeton has the best college food in Oxford), all of the people in the Marquee (about 10 tables) sung me a rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday' before demanding a speech (which I gave). I realised that in a very short space of time I had made some really good friends that I will miss when the course ends. Anyway, following the meal we all moved to another location on the grounds so as to partake in a lot of dancing and even more drinking. It was a fabulous party with many of us staying until the bitter end. Many people were also not well on Saturday.Esther and Arash in the MarqueeAllan, Andrea and IAshish and Mihkel getting down Those that made it to the bitter endOn Sunday I attended Satyenda's son, Aryan's forth birthday. It was great fun with many of the MBA's (and their families) turning up. I then moved to the business school for a barbecue party and some croquet. It was a nice end to the week.

Satyenda and AryanBrian, Founder and President of the Said Business School Barbecue societyAbhishek, Shariq and Naser, the croquet hustlers

And finally, as those that have been reading this blog will know, I have received a number of job offers recently (as have many of my friends) and have thus been deciding which one to accept. In the end I had narrowed the decision down to offers from two consulting companies, McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company. After much thought and discussion, I have chosen McKinsey and will join their London office this year. Prior to starting at Oxford I had decided that consultancy was what I wanted to do when I left and so am really excited that I now have this opportunity. I can't wait to start!

So, I thoroughly enjoyed this week, it is hard to believe that tomorrow marks the beginning of the penultimate week of my Oxford MBA lectures. Where has the time gone?

Week 5 Trinity

2007-05-27T17:04:00.000Z

Consolidation Week take 2. Yes, these trips are lovely and a wonderful part of my MBA but they do play havoc with my assignment schedule. This week was therefore one of concentration and deadlines.

That is not to say that nothing else happened. On Thursday, Jonathan Black (Ex-Booz Allen Hamilton) and I held a case study workshop for the undergraduate consulting club. This is where we were to explain what consulting companies look for in recruits and the techniques to tackle the business cases which one must 'crack' during the interview. We were only expecting about 10 people to show up, however it seems that there is quite an appetite among the undergrads for these jobs and we had over 30 attend. Having recently gone through the process of getting a job it was interesting to relive my experiences and reminded me how much I had learnt.

On Saturday Namiko and I went down to the river to witness the summer eights rowing (a bumps race). I would have loved to have taken part however, with the training for the MBAT as well as the assignment requirements for this term, I couldn't find the time. Never-the-less, we were there to cheer on the Hertford College crews who all did very well this year.

The photo below is the men's first division in which it seemed like Teddy Hall was about to be bumped. By some stroke of magic, they escaped....very exciting.

On Saturday night Namiko and I joined Akiko and Andrea at Allan and Haruyo's place for dinner. Over the course of the MBA we have got fairly close to the other 2 couples and it would now appear that all 3 of us will move to London towards the end of the year.

Allan's cake

And finally for this week's post, on Friday Namiko had her 20 week scan which revealed a healthy baby boy.

Week 4 Trinity & MBAT

2007-05-21T16:29:00.000Z

Last night I returned from the MBA Tournament held by HEC in Paris. I had an amazing time!

To those that have been reading this blog/done an MBA in Europe, MBAT is where all the top business schools get together for a four day sports competition.

About 90 of us started on Thursday morning at 5am, catching the 08.12 Eurostar. We were in Paris by lunch time and proceeded to invade Monmatre. The remainder of the schedule is as follows:

Thursday: Travel, Hotel Check-in, Opening Party at HEC
Friday: Sports during the day followed by a barbeque/party at HEC
Saturday: Sports during the day followed by dinner and a party in Paris
Sunday: Sports finals followed by the closing ceremony and journey home

As a whole Oxford did very very well, winning the recreational sports category and coming second in team sports. We came 5th in the individual sports and so finished 4th as an overall result.

Some personal highlights for me were:

Winning the rowing (I am a very proud captain!) with the Cambridge crew getting 3rd place (which is retribution for them beating us during the varsity day last month)
Playing rugby (7s) and coming second (we lost to London Business School on a very wet Sunday morning)...I ache all over,
Playing ultimate frisbee (we came 2nd) and
Being a quarterfinalist at petanque...we was robbed

In addition to the sports, there were also the parties, helped along with the rugby beer pong, compulsory left-handed drinking (punishable by the fine of completing your beverage), a ban on pointing and using the words "drink", "drinking" & "drunk" (all punishable by the fine of completing your beverage).

All that went admit that it is a weekend that we will not forget in a long time and added a new dimension to the whole MBA experience. We met new people from different schools and got to know our own colleagues even better.

Just before the big event
The rowing squad
Basic rule of rowing: the winning cox always gets wet...Sorry Robin

Us beating London Business School's 2nd TeamThe Oxford MBA rugby squadThere was some other good news this week; the company operating the SCP (summer consulting project) that we really wanted accepted our pitch and offered us the positions. Kaysa, Mark, Swapandeep and I will therefore be spending the two months over the summer at the Diamond Trading Company (part of the De Beers group) in London. We really are very excited about it.

So that is it. Week 4 of Trinity 2007 sent to the history books...What a week.

Week 3 Trinity

2007-05-13T19:07:00.000Z

Consolidation Week. Taking a few days off to go to Texas may have been great fun, but it certainly did not help with keeping me up to date with the assignments! So guess what I have been doing this week....

Its not just the assignments; it is the preparation for the MBA tournament (in Paris next week), preparation and execution of 'pitches' to companies where we want to do our summer consulting project and helping everyone who is currently interviewing with their preparations (for which it would take wild horses to stop me from doing). When you add jet lag into the mix, it makes for an "interesting" week. Actually, speaking of interviewing the class of 2007 seems to be doing very nicely when it comes to job offers at the moment. After what seemed like a slow start, a number of us are in the process of signing contracts for our dream jobs. There is certainly a lot to celebrate.

This week I did manage to attend a lecture by Stelios Haji Ioannou, founder of easy group, who held an unscripted Q&A session with us. It was interesting to hear how he set up his own airline by 28 years old and how he puts a lot of his success down to having a wealthy father who believed in him. There were certainly some (younger) members of the audience who stated their desire to be adopted by him.... Seriously though, being able to attend these types of talk and the proximity with which we are allowed to get to real live billionaires (that's pounds, not dollars chaps) is something that continues to amaze me.

Stelios

On another note, I suppose that it is time to let the cat out of the bag with regards to something in my personal life. My lovely wife Namiko is expecting our first child (she is midterm as we speak). The reason I mention it is that I have just spent the whole day at the baby show in Birmingham's NEC surrounded by new and soon-to-be-new parents. Bedlam! At least Debbie & Mark (Sister & Brother-in-law) and Mum & Dad were there....

So I am still tired but Week 4 looks to be interesting. If I can just finish the last of the assignments due before Friday I am sure to have a fantastic time in France....

Week 2 Trinity & Moot Corp NASDAQ Challenge Winners!

2007-05-07T17:42:00.000Z

Texas is incredible! I am now back in sunny Oxford having returned this morning from the global Moot Corp business plan competition held at the McComb School of business at the University of Texas at Austin. It was an amazing experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Whilst we did not win the overall competition, we were the run-away winners of our division (the NASDAQ challenge) and so come home with a nice certificate, an even nicer cheque (each) and big smiles. Oh, and we walked away with the prestigious (yet unofficial) ‘award for the best celebration following winning’. We are very proud!

During our time there we managed to mingle with some people from other universities. Whilst many of them were taking it very (and I mean VERY) seriously, we did meet some kindred spirits who were just happy to be there (and who joined us in our nightly exploration of 6th Street in Austin). So Tom and Angie from Carnegie Mellon school of business (Tepper) I hope that you made it back safely.

The competition ran from Wednesday until Saturday evening with various rounds of presentations for the different categories. I must admit the organisers at McComb really did a great job of looking after us (from regular (free) bus services through to complementary alcohol…which is always nice!). The campus of the school is absolutely huge....although I realised that everything is big in Texas! It really was great trip.

The Moot Corp NASDAQ Challenge winning team

Tom and Angie from Carnegie Mellon joining us for a photo sessionOxford was definitely here (Esther)I couldn't resist taking a picture of thisWith Tammasat (Thailand) and their 'Power Prawns' business (don't ask!)The boys in Coyote Ugly (on 6th Street)Pete's dueling piano bar on 6th Street
Prior to going to Texas there were a couple of other activities:

Macquarie Bank presentation
This was a presentation from Macquarie designed to make us apply for their summer consulting project. Basically, part of our degree is the completing of a two-month consulting project at a company (there are options for people to do electives instead, but in the main people choose to do a project). On Monday it was Macquarie’s turn to tell us about what they wanted and thus invite us to make teams and apply for the project. My team is now set and we will now prepare our ‘pitch’.

Kevin Baughan
During our Media Strategies for a Networked World lecture this week, Kevin Baughan, Head of Technical Strategy, from Virgin Media came in to talk about the change in his industry (which is made up of fixed line phones, mobile phones, cable TV and broadband internet). There were various questions from the audience but the ones that I was interested in was Kevin’s opinion on whether community wifi or wmax would eventually replace the necessity for consumers to use standard mobile phones. He didn’t seem worried about it at all.

May Day
On Tuesday we all awoke at 4.30 so as to attend the May Day celebration in Magdalen college. Kitty (a Magdalen member) kindly sneaked us into the quad so that we could get the perfect view of the choir singing madrigals from the top of the tower.

All of us gathering in Magdalen College

The tower from which madrigals are sung
This really was an incredible week.

Week 1 Trinity

2007-04-29T22:13:00.000Z

Week 1 started well and despite not attending all lectures (due to an interview) I am happy with my choice of electives. The Media Studies for a Networked World elective looks particularly interesting; the first lecture tracked the structure and history of the internet. Fixed income was very good considering the subject matter (it is, after-all, an elective on bonds). Business in China was a fascinating romp through the Chinese political system and a case study on why a joint venture (in a beer company) failed. In Private equity (which is co-taught by Humphrey Battcock, a Managing Director in Advent Internation), we delved deeper into the world of management fees and carried interest... And learnt that only the top 25% of funds actually beat the stockmarket.

On Wednesday, we were treated to a lecture by Dr Erk Thorsten Heyen from Infineon (used to be Siemens Semiconductors) who talked about "Fundamental structural changes are transforming an industry – Semiconductors". I attended due to a passing curiosity and thoroughly enjoyed it. Actually, as I was leaving the lecture theatre, Murtaza commented that within the space of an hour and a half we had gone from knowing nothing about the industry to actually having a pretty good grasp of it. I couldn't agree more!

This weekend my brother, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Daisy, came to visit us. As we do with all visitors, we subjected them to the Oxford tour which included: A trip through my college (and brunch there), New College, Said Business School, Blackwells, The Covered Market and Christchurch College (everyone wants to see the Harry Potter Dining room!).

Daniel, Daisy and Namiko inside the bridge of sighs

Daniel and Daisy in New College

And now the bad news, after the training an heartache we did not manage to beat Cambridge in rowing this weekend (see a dejected me below). I suppose that the good news (as if it could compensate us) is that we smashed them at every other sport! Never-mind (erm...) we have a rematch in Paris in a couple of weeks time.
Both the crews together Just the Oxford Crew Mark showing his dodgeball prowess So that was it for this week. Next week is mostly taken up with my Texas trip...wish me luck!

Week 0 Trinity

2007-04-23T20:25:00.000Z

So the final term begins (forgive me for being a day late with this posting).

Actually, this week has been particularly interesting in so much that I received my first job offer! As you can imagine, the party following this new information is one that I probably should forget (although, to be honest, I can't remember most of it anyway). As to the company, I will not write any of the details for the time being as I now have two other offers and so will need to work out which one to choose.

Its amazing. Like waiting for a bus. You wait and wait, and then three come along all at the same time.

Other activities this week included submitting my first assignment for Trinity term (the Private Equity case study), doing a lot of rowing and attending the Said Business School Private Equity Conference.

Rowing
On Saturday 28th Oxford MBAs will be hosting a sports day against Cambridge MBAs during which we also have a rowing race. Obviously we have no desire to lose to the other place and so have been putting in some water time so as to ensure that this doesn't happen.

Private Equity Conference
On Wednesday the school hosted its annual Private Equity conference. I attended the early afternoon session and was fascinated by the topics under discussion. For me, the most interesting session was the one during with John Moulton (Managing Director of Alchemy Partners) gave a speech entitled "Have Private Equity Returns Reached their Peak?". With all of the new players in the market the answer seemed to be an emphatic "NO".

So that is about all. Other than the above, the week ended with a family get-together in London. It was nice to see everyone.

Spring Break

2007-04-15T09:59:00.000Z

So its spring break and I have had a couple of weeks off. I must admit, though, it hasn't felt much of a holiday. So what have I been up to?

Interviews - during the break I have flown to Germany, visited London a couple of times, had a few phone calls and a video conference. Watch this space for updates.

EP - The deadline for the written document is Tuesday 17th April (a couple of days time) and so some of the break was dedicated to making sure that we do as well in the written submission as we did in the presentation (we also have to submit a similar document for the Moot Corp Texas competition, so there was some added pressure).

PE - The Private Equity class that I am taking next term required a load of reading and one assignment to be completed before the first class. Nice.

Other than that, Namiko and I have used the opportunity to catch up. Its funny, the MBA really can suck you in and absorb all the time that you have available. So it is nice just to hang out. We had a couple of day trips. One of which was to Leeds Castle in Kent. We picked a great day for it and spent several hours there.

Leeds Castle (I took this picture...)

Namiko inside Leeds Castle

We also went to London to watch the Oxford Vs Cambridge Boat Race. Our boys, who were the underdogs anyway, didn't manage to come from behind to beat Cambridge. Never-the-less, it was a nice day out and (again) the weather was kind to us.

Oxford, losing by a length (or so)So, that is it. The sum total of my holidays (well, it was only 2 weeks this time). Work begins tomorrow with the finalisation of the EP paper and the term is lining up to be a busy one with the Texas trip, a Oxford Vs Cambridge MBA sports day (on 28th April) and the Paris MBA Tournament in May. Can't wait!

Hilary Term MBA Video

2007-04-03T09:11:00.001Z

As per last term, I have used the break to go through the hundreds of photos taken during the term and have put some of the best ones together to make this video. Enjoy.

Week 10 Hilary...Exams and Texas!

2007-03-25T20:56:00.000Z

And that's it! Exams over. As was the same in Michaelmas Term, six exams in four days is physically and mentally draining. They are now over and except for an Operations Management assignment (due tomorrow) and a Financial Management assignment (due Friday) the term is over. Its amazing to think that 2/3 of the MBA is done. Where has the time gone?

Whilst the exams seemed harder than those in Michaelmas, I feel reasonably confident that all went OK.

As usual we were dressed in sub fusc and adorned with a carnation, whose colour fitted with how far we were along with the exams.

Mikhel, Niall, Me, Barry and John on Tuesday

Mark, on the realisation that he wrote the answer to one question on the QUESTION SHEET, and not the ANSWER SHEET. Its good that he can laugh about it.

Swapandeep and Wayne in deep conversation in the Hertford College Library prior to the Finance exam on Wednesday

In the title of this post I also include the word 'Texas'. It would seem that following last week's presentation, my EP (Entrepreneurial Project) team has been selected to represent Oxford at the Moot Corp MBA business plan competition in Texas during May. As I explained last post, we knew that the presentation was well received, but didn't expect to win. It is a great honour and if I were to say that the 5 of us are excited about the trip, it would be a tremendous understatement.

The winning EP team

Li Yuanchao

On Friday, here at the business school, I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by Li Yuanchao, Chairman of Jiangsu Province and expected future President of China. The title of his presentation, 'New Concepts in Socialist China', seemed a little strange, however the results in Jiangsu combined with the passion with which he presented seem to suggest that he really is the future of China. To be able to sit in a room and listen to people like Mr Li is one of the things I love about doing my MBA in Oxford.

Li Yuanchao and a packed Said Business School Lecture Theatre

Golf

On Thursday (and following my last exam), and for the first time in many months I managed to play a round of golf... erm as expected, the time off from the game was very visible and I was horrible. Hopefully I will get the change to practice next term.

The after golf dinner at Browns. Matt, Andrew, Chris, Me, Dan, Brandon and Kaysa

After Exam Party

The usual crazy after exams party. Less said the better about that one... No photos, to protect the innocent!

Japanese Dinner

On Sunday, Namiko and I attended a dinner hosted by Tomo Suzuki (a lecturer at SBS) and his family at Shanghai 30's restaurant. The object of the evening (apart from having dinner with friends) was to strengthen the 'Said Business School Japanese network' and I felt privileged to join. It has been a while since I spent an evening speaking nothing but Japanese, but it seemed OK and Namiko and I had a great time.

Namiko and Hiro at the partySo that's it. Another term bites the dust. Last year's class warned us about Hillary, and they were right. On the up side, they also stated that Trinity (summer term), is the best so I suppose that if they were correct about this one, I can trust them on the next one.

Week 9 Hilary

2007-03-18T16:30:00.000Z

The theme for this week was revision and a very (very) well received EP (Entrepreneurial Project) presentation.

It was amazing. On Thursday afternoon my EP group and I presented our business plan to a panel of potential investors. All of the investors were friends of the school and the idea of the exercise was not so much to get funding but more gain experience in presenting to these types of people. Never-the-less, we started with a little skit (a risky strategy) followed by the presentation proper from Esther and I. Throughout our talk (supported by powerpoint slides) I had the feeling that it was going well as we seemed to hold the panel’s attention, but I was only aware how much they liked our idea when we asked for questions at the end. The following 10 minutes was spent not answering questions but listening to the panel debate amongst them-selves how to grow the business. Whilst I have presented a lot in the past, I have never received such a response from respected individuals. Due to the enormous enthusiasm and offers of help (including introducing us to some very big players in our chosen industry) the team and I are now discussing the best way to take this forward. I will all depend on our partner and his idea of the future. Exciting!

On Monday (prior to all the EP excitement), I attended a presentation by Eric Knight (from Knight Vincke) about activist shareholders. His company invests in large-cap public companies that aren’t doing very well with an aim to get the board to improve the way it runs them. His methods involve gaining consensus among other shareholders and using the press to pressurise the management team by writing ‘open letters’ detailing where the incumbent management are failing. Despite having relatively small stakes in these large companies, I got the feeling that it was Mr Knight’s ability to form these consensuses as well as his understanding of the best way to manage to press which has lead to his success in this field. His comment that financial analysts look at a company as it is today, whereas he looks at a company how it may be in the future was well received (especially by Esther who compared it to the famous Bobby Kennedy speech).

On Saturday night a few of us (me, Namiko, Andrea, Akiko, Allan, Haruyo, Brandon and Caroline) went to see the Luminox display on Broad Street. It was quite a surreal event with the whole street seeming to be a mass of displays of fire in one way or another. The main sight was the large ball of fire dangling above us. It was a very enjoyable break from revision.

Luminox PosterVery Large ball of fire dangling above us

Namiko and Akiko

Namiko and I

Andrea getting too close to the fireThe guy controlling 'The Volcano'Speaking of revision (and seeing that it was that which filled most of my week), I now have pages and pages (and pages) of notes which attempt to summarise all that I have learnt in the past 8 weeks. As I sit here now, I am looking over the ones necessary for the Financial Management and International Business and Global Governance exams that I have tomorrow. Tonight all of the Hertford MBAs will sit in our common room and debate the issues in order to make sure that we understand them all. Following that we will go through a few previous years' exams. Wish me luck!

Week 8 Hilary

2007-03-11T20:08:00.000Z

So there it goes, another term over...only Trinity left. This MBA is really flying past.

There are still, however, exams to sit (6 in total) which will take place in the week commencing the 19th March (a week from tomorrow). This gives me 7 days with which to revise.

Week 8 was dedicated to churning out assignments. As I look at the the list on my wall, I can see that since Hilary Term started, I have handed in 21 assignments and that I still have three to go (EP, Financial Management and Operations Management). These, however, are not due until after the exams....thank heavens.

To mark the end of term, there was a party held at the business school on Friday night, however it was Namiko's birthday and so we slipped out to go for a romantic meal at edamame (a very good Japanese restaurant on Holywell St. in Oxford).

Seeing as next week will be spent doing revision, I decided to take the weekend off, and Namiko and I used the time to do a little more sightseeing in Oxford. We had been meaning to have a walk around Magdalen College for a while and seeing as the weather was nice, proceeded to do just that. We also managed to have a walk around Deer Park (the park which sits inside Magdalen).

Namiko and I next to the Magdalen Plane
On the way to Magdalen, we also managed to pop into Merton College (another one of the really old ones) and looked between the railings to Dead Man's walk. Which is so named as it was the route taken by funeral processions from the Synagogue to the Jewish burial ground (which is now the Botanical Gardens).

Namiko striking a pose in Merton
On Saturday night was Andrea's Birthday which turned in a joint party between him and Namiko. It was great nice party where Akiko prepared a mountain of Italian food and we tucked in for hours.

The Birthday Boy & GirlSo, that was this week. As I look back on it, I realise that there were no guest speakers or other such extra-curricular events, which I suppose is a first for me. I recall spending alot of time on our EP presentation, which is due on Thursday next week.

So, now its head down for another couple of weeks before the holidays... Where does the time go?

Week 7 Hilary

2007-03-04T19:55:00.000Z

Erm, Torpids didn’t happen. Despite the training, preparations and last minute panic about getting the kit on time, the weather made it impossible to even row one day. Oh well, Oxford Vs Cambridge MBA, MBAT and Summer VIIIs to look forward to.

Of course, the lack of rowing meant that I really had an opportunity to chomp through the work and barring the cold that I caught, I proceeded to do just that.

Unfortunately, this week I had to deal with a freeloader (someone who doesn’t pull their weight) in one of the groups I am in. Luckily (for them), the very real threat of removing their name from the author list seemed to do the trick and the work was (finally) forthcoming. I didn’t enjoy having to man-manage a fellow MBA.

On a brighter note (and on the whole it was another good week), the Japanese party went very well with about 40 or so people turning up. Due to the numbers, it ended up being a ‘half-Japanese’ party as the non-Japanese brought food from their own nations. The interesting competition between Swapandeep and Simon’s curry kept the betting public interested for a short while, however within a few minutes it was clear to see that Simon’s valiant attempt (despite Mark's request to the tasters) was struggling to keep up with Swapandeep’s chick-pea extravaganza.

Random Party Photo

Simon's Curry and attempt to get someone to eat itThis Saturday we had a lunar eclipse here and following the Japanese evening a few of us stood outside to watch it. The compilation photo at the top of this entry tracks its progress.

Chatham Financial Recruitment Presentation
On Tuesday Chatham Financial were here explaining the company and encouraging us to apply. It was a fascinating presentation by a relatively small company whose customers include all of the major investment banks, PE firms as well as a multitude of real estate companies. Have a look at the website if you have any interest.

Dick Cantwell P&G
Dick is the VP in charge of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) at Procter and Gamble. He came to chart the reasons for RFID (supply chain visibility), how it was developed (at MIT and sponsored by Gillette and P&G), what happened first and where it was now. The fact that this technology can now actually pay for itself in consumer products (through shrinking reduction etc) is amazing

Venture Fund Launch
The big event that many have been working on took place on Thursday. This was the launch of the SBS Venture Fund where four teams of current/former Oxford MBA students presented their business idea to Sir Philip Green and David Bonderman. Just to put it perspective, last year Sir Philip and David donated £500k each to this new venture fund. From 83 teams originally, four were selected to present to these gentlemen so as to get their advice as to whether the fund should invest in them or not. The result was that two were successful with David Bonderman keeping the audience entertained with his opinions as to why he would not invest in the other two (he didn’t pull any punches)

So, this week had no rowing and a bit of an argument but on the whole a load of work got done, and I enjoyed the presentations and party. I now go into 8th week of Hilary in a good position to have all the assignments done so that I can concentrate on revision in 9th week. Exams are then in 10th week. Here we go again!

Week 6 Hilary

2007-02-25T19:38:00.000Z

This week allowed less frantic work than that of the recent past and so I had the ability to sit in the library and do some decent research into my large projects.
I had planned for the ability to row most days however with the Isis being amber or red flagged that didn't really happen. On the subject of rowing, next week is supposed to be Torpids however there is much doubt as to whether it can take place at all. Not so good...

This weekend, Julie, Lisa and I did a large portion of our Operations Management project which involves modeling the queuing system in a well known coffee shop. We then interviewed the store manager to gain further insights into an amazingly fast moving business.

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday
On Tuesday I was introduced to Mardi Gras by some of my American friends. Seeing as they couldn't be in New Orleans they decided that the Jam Factory in Oxford would have to do. Seeing as it was a school night (and having been caught out by this gang previously) I joined Dan Adams at Jesus college at 8pm for their pub quiz.....

Dr Patrick O'Connell
Dr O'Connell is the managing director of BT's Major Programmes. He is the man in charge of BT's portion of the new NHS computer system and came in on Wednesday to explain the concerns with running such a large programme. He explained the differences between project, programme and major programme management and detailed the famous failures in the area of such major programmes (i.e the Hubble Telescope not working first time around and requiring a manned space mission to fix it).
This was a great talk from someone who really knew his stuff.

McKinsey Recruitment event
On Thursday I attended the McKinsey Recruitment event at the school. As the biggest employer of Oxford MBAs, there were high expectations of this presentation and we weren't disappointed. It was a very well prepared and brilliantly delivered event hosted by a partner who happens to be an alumni of the school. Very impressive.

22% Club Dinner
For Valentines day it is tradition for all the male Oxford MBAs to buy roses for all the female MBA's. These were presented last week following the Operations Management lecture on Wednesday and this dinner was arranged by all the female MBAs as a way of saying thank you.
In case you are wondering, the course is made up of 22% females...hence the 22% club.

Open Mic Event
An event arranged by Ean Hernandez (he's on the drums) where it is a free for all for all the amateur musicians to express their 'musical identity'. It was a great event that followed the 22% dinner and gave us some great music to listen to as we attempted to relax before a weekend of work.

Pamela's Birthday Following both the 22% club dinner and Open Mic event a few of us went to Ashton and Wayne's house to help Pamela celebrate her birthday. It was a fun night of 'truth or dare' and generally relaxing
Simon, Jacqueline, Sonny, Fred, Kaz, Swapandeep, Pamela, Kian, ShinjiArash's Surprise Birthday

On Saturday night at 11.30 we all piled round to Rewley Abbey Court (Templeton's college housing) common room to celebrate Arash's birthday (which was on Sunday). Earlier in the evening a few of us had been for dinner with him, however seeing as the main party was to be a surprise we had all said goodbye following the meal. He seemed to walk home having expected a party.... He got one an hour and a half later....

Arash with his cake

Tonight Namiko and I went to see Blood Diamond at the cinema. For anyone that has not seen it, we strongly recommend it. I remember all the news feeds and so it was all the more real.

So this week has been one of birthdays and research. Week 7 is looming large with the standard strategy assignments as well as operations management and another (yes another) finance paper due...And its only 3 weeks until exams...

Week 5 Hilary

2007-02-18T21:54:00.000Z

This week was dominated by the Oxford/Cambridge MBA recruitment fair which took place on Thursday (see below). It is little wonder then that my (now) well established work routine was thrown a little by taking a day off. In addition, a finance assignment seemed to dominate my every waking moment. I don't normally talk about specific papers on this blog, however this one absorbed me completely. We were tasked with valuing a company that was to be spun off from its parent. That is to say, value an initial public offering (IPO). What a task! Lets just say that I spent a considerable length of time on it and instead of my normal 'hand it in a day or so early', only managed to finish this evening (deadline is 11pm tonight).

Of course the standard 2 weekly strategy assignments also managed to get slotted in somewhere in between.

This week the river was red-flagged until Friday which meant that most training was either in the erg room or in the Iffley Road Tank Room (an indoor boat). Today however we discovered that we had been inadvertently entered into a race and seeing as it meant valuable river time, attacked it with gusto. The result was probably better than expected and we managed to hold off the St Peter's boat all the way to the end, however as I keep saying, we have an rather large amount of work to do to be competitive at Torpids. Never-the-less, I really enjoy the whole rowing scene and would go out on the water regardless of of our standard.

High-Tech Panel Discussion

On Monday, the school hosted a panel discussion on the high-tech sector. It was attended by representatives from Google, Adobe, Ofcom, IBM, PRTM and offered an interesting insight into the fast moving nature of both software and hardware developments.

Tech Mahindra

My good friend Pawan arranged for Tech Mahindra to come in on Wednesday to discuss their MBA intake programme for this year. It seems that they (so like the other Indian IT companies) are expanding at an incredible rate and are thus taking on staff very very quickly. They came in to discuss the opportunities for September and seem very keen on taking on a few Oxford MBAs.

Oxford/Cambridge Recruiting Fair

This was a great event, this year hosted by Judge Business School, Cambidge. It attended by 27 companies in total, including: KPMG, IBM, Accenture, Capgemini, Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Fitch Ratings, PRTM, Roland Berger, Deloitte, Ocado, London Asia Capital, TTP Group, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, Convergys, Altran, Fidelity and a host of others. As usual, this event was a good way to gather more information on the culture and practices of the company (I believe that you can tell a lot by the person that the company chooses to attend these things) and I spent several hours chatting with their respected representatives.

I also managed to get some time to have a tour of some of the colleges in Cambridge as well as having a walk around the town. The main event was closed by a buffet reception and a select few of us then joined some of the Cambridge MBAs for a pint or three in their locals. It was a good day.

Me in Trinity College Cambridge

For those that have seen the film Chariots of Fire, one scene recreates a race in which the runners attempt to run round the perimeter of the Great Court at Trinity College Cambridge in the time it takes the clock to double strike the hour at midday. In the film one sees the runners run through the cloisters pictured above. I have since found out that the scene was actually filmed in Eton College...

The Chapel at Kings College Cambridge

Templeton Valentine Ball
On Friday Templeton hosted a Valentine Ball, to which it seemed that most of the MBAs and their partners attended. Templeton is reputed to have the best food of all the Oxford Colleges and they did not let them-selves down for this party. Following the food there was a party in the JCR (Junior Common Room) where we danced the night away.

Andrea and Akiko Pawan and Mahima at the after-party

Dinner at the Di Martinos

On Saturday, Bruno and his wife Rosie hosted an intimate dinner for 7 at their home. Also present were Eric, Christina and Julie. The food was out of this world and we were treated to a series of Latin American specialities (Bruno and Rosie...you guys can really cook!). As expected the MBAs present spent the beginning of the evening in a corner talking about the finance assignment, however as the delicious food was served we pulled ourselves out of our self-inflicted pain and enjoyed a wonderful evening together.

The week to come...

Week 6 looks like its going to be another busy one. Projects on a famous retailer, Hybrid cars, an Indian 'emerging giant' and further progress into the EP are on the cards. And its only 3 weeks until the end of lectures for this term! Last year's class weren't wrong when they said that Hilary was a tough term...

Week 4 Hilary

2007-02-11T13:33:00.000Z

Snow and cold was the theme for this week’s weather. The temperature dropped on Tuesday and on Thursday it actually snowed! Not altogether expected for a February in Oxford.
View from my window on Thursday morning
As far as work was concerned, this week was one of consolidation. After the mad panic of last week and its multitude of assignments, this week’s two were easily planned and executed. It therefore allowed some time to do work on our EP (Entrepreneurial Project) and discuss another group project entitled the ‘TMO’ (Technology, Market and Organisation) for which we need to write a commentary on a recent technological innovation. We are deliberating over online share trading, hybrid cars and the YouTube phenomenon and will decide which one during the coming week.

Also, this weekend I returned home to try to erect a new fence in our garden. The old one apparently took exception to the recent strong winds and decided to blow over (see photo). After several hours, we managed to get the broken post out of the ground however due to the miserable weather couldn’t put in a replacement as the ground was still too wet for the cement to be able to dry. Take two will be in a couple of weeks.
Our dead fence
I managed to get out in a boat again this week, this time with the Hertford College 2nd VIII. Hopefully if I train enough I should become a permanent fixture in the squad and be able to compete in Torpids (see rules), which is only 3 weeks away. There is a lot of work to do!

Other than that, there were many other activities this week:

Consumer goods panel discussion (Monday)
An interesting panel discussion attended by Tesco, Masterfoods, Carrefour and PTO Group (branding and packaging consultants). It made a change from the focus on the consultancies and banks that come here and offered a great insight into the consumer goods industry.

Citigroup Recruitment Presentation (Tuesday)
A presentation from Citigroup’s commercial banking division. They came to the school to present their associate programme, into which they recruit MBAs from the best schools. A good presentation giving a different view to the banking sector (we have mainly received presentations on the Investment Banking function so far). Interesting, but maybe not for me….

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants Recruitment Presentation (Tuesday)
On Tuesday I attended a recruitment presentation from another prestigious firm of consultants. Roland Berger (Berger for short) is the only European based elite consultancy firm and came here to explain why it is different and thus why we should apply. It was a good presentation by a charismatic partner of the firm and very well attended from our side.

Luis Cantarell, Nestle (Wednesday)
Luis Cantarell is Executive VP, Nestle SA and responsible for the European area. He came to give a talk on “Responsible and sustainable competitiveness: wishful thinking or business reality?” and talked about Nestle’s efforts to grow the business through sustainable and responsible practices. There were some interesting comments from the audience about the baby formula scandal however the speaker managed to deal with them with the skill of a diplomat and stressed that it now represented less than 1% of world-wide revenues and was firmly in the past. I believe that the school recognised that they may have been problems and thus made sure that security was tight (the attendance of security personnel didn’t go unnoticed).

Martin Varsavskv (Friday)
Martin is CEO of Fon.com (the largest Wifi network in the world) and a serial internet entrepreneur. He gave a talk on why people shouldn’t always assume that Silicon Valley was the only place that internet innovation took place. Martin is the epitome of the internet entrepreneur and gave a thoroughly engaging talk about his successful European investments.

Hertford Guest Night (Friday)
Namiko and I invited Akiko and Andrea to join us as our guests for this event in Hertford College. It was a joint event between the SCR (senior common room, i.e. Lecturers), MCR (Middle Common Room, i.e. post-grads) and JCR (Junior Common Room, i.e. under-grads) and started with a champagne reception in the Principals lodgings. There were many other MBAs there and it was a fun night.
Akiko, Maho, Takashi, Namiko and Andrea in Hertford HallMe, Nami, Kian, Akiko, Andrea and Takashi in the Principal's LodgingsLe Menu
Tonight, Namiko and I are going to have dinner with the family somewhere in Newbury. It will be a nice opportunity to catch up as we have not seen each other since Christmas.

That is about all for this week. Its funny to think that we are already half way through this term. It goes by so fast...

Week 3 Hilary

2007-02-04T21:11:00.000Z

The week that everyone was dreading has now passed. This was the one on the schedule that made everyone blanch as 4 (yes 4) assignments were due in. One large group assignment (40% of the total module's marks), one medium individual (12%) and then two smaller individual ones. It was a tough week.

The large group assignment was for Marketing, and despite being a new group (we are not in the same groups that we were in for Michaelmas), we seemed to work really efficiently. We will see how good we were when the marks come out... Actually, on the subject of marketing, I have to admit that this was one the reasons that I came to B-school as this is a subject that until 3 weeks ago I knew nothing about... amazing the progress one can make in just a few weeks.

This week, I discovered Google Analytics; a product that allows you to reasonably accurately see who has visited the blog, from where, what domain, etc. It also tracks the number of new users vs existing ones... its great. Due to this, you will notice the new piece of advertising on the top of the blog. Please click on this as I would like to track the 'ongoing links'. I may even make a little money on it.

Also, this week, I found out that an old university friend of mine is about to do the Round Britain Rally. Check out his blog as he prepares. Round Britain Rally, Goodwill 4 Charity

That's it. This week's extras were as follows:

Rowing

Yes, finally, I was out on the water this term. The river has been amber/red flagged for quite a while thus restricting any training to the erg (rowing machine) room. Which is not fun! As expected, I was hopeless (having not been on the water for a couple of months) which was made worse by the fact that we rowed in a 4 (as opposed to an 8). You cannot hide your poor performance on a 4! Oh well. It can only get better.

Cognizant Lunch

An informal lunch with Sanjiv Gossain, VP of Technology for Cognizant Europe, to discuss forging a relationship between SBS and Cognizant for the future. It appears that they may take on some MBAs this year. It would be great for one from SBS to get in!

Booz Allen Hamilton

A recruitment presentation from Booz Allen Hamilton consultants designed to give us the personal touch (like the Bain one last week). This was another great event and I was really impressed by people and culture presented.

Semi-Mid Term Party

Another party organised by John Stanton, this time at the Bridge and Anuba here in Oxford. Unfortunately, despite it being Saturday night, many of the MBAs were still tucked away in the library finishing their Marketing/Finance assignments and so turnout was not so good. Never-the-less, it was fun and I include some photos below.

Haruyo, Akiko, Namiko and Sophie

James, Julie, Me, Archit, Ashish, Patrick

Yoga

Namiko and I tried our hands at Yoga today at the business school. One of our MBAs (Diliana) is a qualified Yoga instructor and holds 1.5 hour sessions on a Sunday afternoon. Having completed my assignments, Namiko and I decided to go along. It was a fairly rigorous workout however we really enjoyed it and will probably go back again.

And finally (maybe most importantly), this week I found out that I had passed all of my Michaelmas exams (and some of them quite well). What a great feeling! 6 down 12 (or so) to go.

Week 2 Hilary

2007-01-28T18:59:00.000Z

It is week 2 and I have managed to readdress the balance between work and play. That is not to say that the work has reduced, (in fact it has increased), I just seem to have remembered how to prioritise again.
Surprisingly, Mark, Swapandeep and I are also running in the mornings which is a start to ward off the effects of eating too much/at strange times. Its funny, as much as it pains me to wake up early (having not gone to bed until the wee hours), once the run is over I am ready to take on the lectures...
Also this week, in a spot of good fortune, I managed to get all of the Trinity term electives that I bid for and so am extremely happy. There is one course that was heavily over subscribed and in this week's Dean's Q&A (which is a great way for the students to air their feelings about the programme) it was the hot topic. He seemed keen to resolve it.

This week's other events:

Sir Martin Sorrell
Sir Martin is CEO of WPP and came to SBS to give a talk about 'why making money is not about making money'. During his talk he talked about the founding and subsequent spectacular growth of WPP (company with a market capitalisation of £18 Billion), his mistakes and his predictions for the future. He believed that there were 6 points that one should consider when thinking about the future of their respective business:

Globalisation: Shift of wealth from West to East
Over capacity of production: i.e automotive industry
The web: I think that we all got that one
Internal communications: What to do about companies that have grown by acquisition?
Distribution: Part and parcel of globalisation. Mentioned Tesco and Wal-mart as examples
Corporate Social Responsibility: Now a prerequisite for doing business.

Having no knowledge of the global media industry, it was a fascinating learning experience and a great opportunity to hear someone who has been successfully involved in it for 40 years.

Bain and Company Consultants
A recruitment event designed to give a personal touch to the explanation of what Bain does and why we should apply. Oxford is now getting more and more well known as a leading MBA school as is demonstrated by the number of top firms like Bain coming to get us. I enjoys these types of events as website and here say can never accurately convey what a company is like to work for. I find asking their employees a much more robust way of understanding what it is like to work for that particular company. Bain was no exception, the people were extremely bright and enthusiastic about what they did.

BT OneIT event
Another recruitment event, this time from BT (that's British Telecom). They have a highly respected leadership programme into which they only admit MBA graduates. The programme is relatively new (3 years or so) and during that time Oxford has only managed to get one person onto it. This year (through that Alumni) they are making a concerted effort to employ more. It seemed from the presentation that they may get more applications than they expected.....

Templeton Party/Indian Party at St Anthony's
Templeton College kindly arranged an open house at their Rewley Abbey Court site on Friday night. It also coincided with Shoko and Aston's birthday so turned into quite a bash. Following this many of us made the journey in the cold to St Anthony's College to get down to some Indian tunes (I never thought Bhangra could be so much fun......and so painful the next morning)

Japanese evening
An informal Nabe party arranged by Maho and I took place yesterday. It was just another excuse for a few of use to get together, eat Japanese and generally hang out. I like doing these things as it gives us an opportunity to socialise outside of school/noisy pubs.

The Participants of the Japanese evening

I feel that I am now back into the swing of things and am ahead of the game when it comes to assignments (3 were handed in this week). The EP project is going well and our supervisor seems as enthusiastic as we are....must mean that we are on to a good thing. As a further sign of our improved organisation skills, us students are now even finding the time to do some 'interview practice' between ourselves. Should put us in good stead..

Week 1 Hilary

2007-01-21T16:52:00.000Z

Week 1, and I am back into it. Its funny, I was expecting a slow ramp up period, but I just seemed to to have reestablished the work rate from last term without too much distress.

As to the lectures, some are a continuation from last term, where others, like marketing, are completely new and involve a whole other set of skills. One thing that is common across all subjects is the vast quantity of reading that one must get through every single week.

As I wrote last week, I have to submit my elective choices for Trinity (summer) term by tomorrow. They use a bidding system here (due to capacity on class size) involving each student being able to use a maximum of 120 points with which to bid for 6 subjects. I hope my spread of bids is successful in securing the subjects that I want - which are as follows:

Private Equity
Restructuring and Implementation
Business in China
Media Strategies for a Networked World
Real Estate
Fixed Income

My idea is to have 3 finance modules, and 3 strategy modules and from the presentations it seems that the 6 above will challenge both my quantitative and qualitative capabilities and also be very interesting.

In addition to the lectures, the Trinity decisions, the EP meetings and the Oxford Business Network (OBN) meetings, I managed to complete 3 assignments this week and so unfortunately there was no partying. There were, however, a series of extra curricular events as follows:

Panel Discussion with Recruiters
On Tuesday we had a 7 people from different recruitment agencies come to attend a panel discussion. During the session they all agreed on the buoyancy of the employment market at the moment and that we were much more fortunate that our predecessors. They did however, reiterate the same as has been coming from the careers service; no matter how good the market is there is still no substitution for a good CV and plenty of research to get the good jobs

Dr Roger Cliffe, Quality Director Vodafone
As part of our Operations Management module, Dr Cliffe came in to present about his transformation of the Vodafone way of thinking about quality. He began by explaining the youth of the mobile telecommunications market (apparently the first mobile phone call took place on 1st January 1985) as a reason for the lack of inherent quality (plenty of money, no need to worry about waste). He then went on to explain the effects of the introduction of 6 Sigma into Vodafone and the new emphasis on quality. It was an interesting talk.

Booz Allen Hamilton
On Wednesday Booz Allen Hamilton, strategy consultants, came in to teach us how to 'crack a case'. For many consultancies, the job interview contain a case study where the candidate is posed a problem and asked how they would go about breaking it down in order to offer a solution. Booz Allen has recruited from the Oxford MBA before and wanted to make sure that we were as well prepared as we could be for their 2007 interview round. The evening went well, with over 100 people turning up to hear the presenters and witness the roll play.

Anniversary
Yesterday was Namiko and my 2 year anniversary. We spent a lovely day together rounded off with a good meal at Quod in Oxford.

It would also seem that I have been made captain of the MBA rowing team for this year with the target of winning the MBA Olympics in France hosted by HEC during May. Luckily (this being Oxford) there is no shortage of rowers and so from now the training must begin...

I must admit that I feel that this week has been all work and no play. Maybe because it is week 1 and I was unsure what to expect. I will attempt to re-address the balance next week

Week 0 Hilary

2007-01-14T18:53:00.000Z

So the waiting is over, Hilary Term has started. Actually over the break many people have asked the meaning of the term names and a little research has produced the following:

Oxford terms follow the ecclesiastical calendar of the Anglican Christian year.

Michaelmas (winter term) is named after the feast of Michael which takes place on the 29th September.
Hilary (spring term) is named after Saint Hilary of Poitiers (c315-367) who was the a bishop in the church from 350.
Trinity (summer term) is named for Trinity Sunday which is celebrated as the first Sunday after the feast of Pentecost. This is important in the Christian calendar because it signifies when the Holy Spirit first came and the Christian church was "born".

I hope that the above helps to clear things up.

This week has been one of Entrepreneurial Project (EP) preparation and Trinity Term elective presentations. As I have explained before, MBAs are required to prepare and present a business plan for the start up of a company as part of our Hilary Term marks. Oxford is very keen on Entrepreneurialism and so in order to help prepare us for the project, scheduled 2 days of presentations from lectures, Isis (Oxford University company dedicated to spin-outs), and Entrepreneurs.

Stewart Niblock

Stewart used to work for Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the 'Easy empire' entrepreneur, as part of his board. Stewart's main responsibility was in the start up of businesses and he came to give a presentation entitled "Classic Start up: Mistakes and Challenges". During the talk he described his experience at Easy whilst focusing on the formation of Easycar (which started life as Easy Rentacar) and why it didn't really work.

Torsten Reil,

Torsten is an Oxford Alumni who started Naturalmotion with the help of Isis. It is now a company with 45 employees and offices in the UK and the USA. He gave us a talk about how the business had begun in 2000 and the stages that it had been through since then. He also talked about business angel funding as well as venture capital. This was a thoroughly enthralling speech by someone who was living and breathing the entrepreneurial experience.

Trinity Term Elective Presentations

In contrast to last term (where we were only required to choose 2 elective subjects for the following term), this term we have to choose all of the subjects to we wish to take in the next term. This, therefore, involved 2 full days of presentations from lecturers peddling their wares and enticing us to choose their subjects. The list is far to long to include in this blog and to be honest, I have still not fully decided which ones to take. Watch this space and I will post my final choice next week.

In addition to the academic subjects this week, I also managed to attend Daniel Adams 30th Birthday as well as getting out and about in Oxford and the Cotswolds.

Namiko and I at the Oxford Natural History Museum

The Shakespeare Hostel in Stratford-on-Avon

Andrea, Aki, Namiko and I in Stratford-on-Avon
Aki and Namiko in Stow on the Wold

That is it for now, I am sure that I will have a fair amount to post next week... Until then.

Winter Break

2007-01-05T19:03:00.000Z

Winter break is almost over. Its amazing, the 3 weeks has flown past.

During the break Namiko and I flew to Japan to spend 'Shougatsu' (New Year) with her family. This is something that we have been been doing every year for the past 5 years, however this time my parents and brother (+ girlfriend) decided to also join.
This was the first time since the wedding that the 2 families had met and it went very well.
We spent a traditional Shougatsu evening having dinner at home followed by a visit to the local shrine at midnight to ring the bell. In accordance with Buddhist teachings the bell must be rung 108 times as the date changes between 31st December and 1st January. The 108 strikes represents each person's 108 passions or desires. By ringing the bell one is meant to get rid of these so as to start the new year afresh.

We also managed to do a little sightseeing, going to Kanazawa Jo (Castle), Takaoka Kojo Park and Kanazawa Kazue-Machi Chaya district (the old Geisha district).

Me, Namiko, Mum, Daniel, Daisy, Dad at Kanazawa Jo

The trip was concluded with a pseudo/late Japanese wedding party. It seemed a little funny that now (2 years after getting married) we were having a wedding party, but seeing as our actual wedding party was in the UK and Namiko's extended family couldn't make it, her father decided take advantage of my family being in Japan to host a traditional style party. Despite the language problem, the evening went very well and finally allowed Namiko's extended family to meet my parents.

Namiko talking with her Uncle and Aunt (her Father, Mother and Brother are in the background)

Mum and Dad at the party

Daniel and his girlfriend Daisy

The whole trip went really well and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

So that's it, winter break over. Hilary Term starts on Monday with the following subjects:

International Business and Global Governance
Finance 2
Strategy 2
Marketing
Operations Management
Financial Management

In addition to the subjects listed above, it is also time to start applying for jobs.... And so it starts again. Great!

Michaelmas Term Video Compilation

2006-12-20T10:28:00.001Z

Seeing as it is winter break, I thought that I would go through some of the hundreds of photos taken this term and put them into some sort of compilation. Here it is.

Week 10 Michaelmas...Exams

2006-12-17T11:20:00.001Z

The exams are finished and I can't believe that Michaelmas term is over...

The predictions were right, it was an incredibly intense week with long 'last minute' revision sessions in Hertford College and subsequently very little sleep. I think that everyone on the course agrees, 6 exams in 4 days is quite a feat.

Of course it is required that all students taking exams must wear sub fusc and it is tradition that one should also wear a carnation. The carnations are meant to symbolise the blood from a scholar's heart as he bleeds all that he knows onto the exam paper. As such the colour should change through-out the exam period as follows:

White: On the first day of exams

Pink: From the the second to the penultimate day

Red: On the final day.

Unfortunately, we will not get the results back until February as they have to be double marked. The idea being that if the two markers disagree, they have to explain to each other why they believe the student should get a certain mark, enter into arbitrage and then settle on the final mark. Obviously this takes time.

So watch this space for the results...

Mark and John displaying their weapons of choice on the first day

Me on day two

Faryal, Ela and Tass in the ladies version of Sub fusc

Swapandeep getting in some last minute revision for the final exam (Finance)

Maho, Mark, Swapandeep and Simon after the last exam

Following the last exam the Hertfordians followed tradition and had a pint in the turf before preparing for the afternoon's de-stressing in the form of a pub golf competition arranged by Andrew Jury.

Kaysa, Dan, Renee and I at the '3rd hole'

So about 1/3 of the course is now over, its amazing how quick it goes. It is now the winter break and the students scatter to the four corners of the globe. As for Namiko and I, we will have Christmas here before flying off to Japan for new year 'shougatsu'.

Alternative Approach to Motivation Revision

2006-12-12T23:41:00.001Z

During this term we have taken a subject called 'Developing effective managers' which concentrates on motivation theories, culture, leadership, change management and personality. This video is an alternative take on office motivation provided by Terry Tate. I wonder whether it would work...

Week 9 Michaelmas...Revision

2006-12-10T21:20:00.000Z

As expected week 9 has been mostly focused towards revision (and very little else). Actually, the week has really allowed some of the core concepts to be properly 'internalised'; that is to say that I now feel that I understand and can use them. It has really hit home how much we have learnt in such a short space of time and whatever the outcome of the exams, I feel that this week has been remarkably valuable.

There was a small get-together of MBAs on Wednesday to try to dissipate some exam stress which was very subdued and I also managed to attend Namiko's Christmas party at the Ivy Hotel in Wroughton on Saturday and so include a photo of us there.

Right, tomorrow brings exams....must sleep well.

Week 8 Michaelmas

2006-12-04T17:20:00.001Z

So that's it, all 8 weeks of lectures over. 8 weeks of intense learning, 13 assignments and 1 mock exam. It was an interesting week with everyone pushing hard to hand in the 2 large group assignments as well as their own individual one. I must admit, it was a tremendous relief on Friday morning when the last one went in.
We now have a week of revision followed by a week of exams so I fear that for Week 9 Michaelmas I may not have very much to write about.

Hertford Boat Club 'Christchurch Dinner'
This was a dinner for all of the Hertford boat crews to let their hair down after a season of training. All of my crew were there and we managed to spend a very civilized evening together. The food was quite good and we moved to the college bar afterwards. It seems that many of them will row next term; I hope that at least part of this term's crew end up in the same boat next term.

The crew
Presentation by Tomo Suzuki
Tomo is one of our accounting lectures and is very keen on 'Sustainable accounting'. He believes that by changing the way that companies report will in-turn affect the way they run their businesses. As such he is pushing for accounting standards to include reporting requirements for social and environmental items. He is looking for a way of funding some research which models the effects of adding these requirements to the balance sheet/income statement and presented some of his funding pitch to us on Wednesday.

Dinner at 'Teddy Hall'
On Wednesday I was invited to a dinner at St Edmund Hall (affectionately known as 'Teddy Hall'). This was the first time that I had been there; it is quite a beautiful little place. The evening was made all the more special as we were allowed to eat on the top table, which is normally reserved for fellows of the college (lectures etc). One of the privileges to eating on the top table is that after the meal you can retire to the old library to have port and cheese... Another amazing experience.

End of Term Party
As expected, this was a big one. With all assignments handed in and a couple of weeks until exams we felt that we have the opportunity to congratulate ourselves on surviving the 8 weeks. We started with a Hawaii theme party at the business school and then progressed onwards from there.

Psuedo Christmas party with my family
On Sunday my sister, brother-in-law, mother, father and grandmother gathered at our place for a psuedo Christmas party where Namiko and I cooked Japanese. It has been necessary to have this party as most of us either travel or work over the Christmas period. It was great to see everyone and relax.

In addition to activities this week, a meeting with the MBA director lead to the approval of our plans for the entrepreneurial project (EP) due during next term. We have to write a full business plan for our chosen project and can now kick off the research during the holiday.

That was it for this week. A bit of a crazy one with maybe one too many parties for the work that had to be chomped through. I am glad that I now have a week to revise. I don't really fancy resitting any of these subjects..

Week 7 Michaelmas

2006-11-26T19:30:00.000Z

The penultimate week of Michaelmas term's lectures. It has gone amazingly quick. As usual it was assignments galore with 2 handed in and one (big one) ready to be handing in tomorrow. Actually, the mood is very subdued with everyone concentrating on the final push.

On another note, it is also nice to see that some of those interested in banking have already been offered jobs which is a good indication that the market for MBAs is as promising as quoted in the press.

Silicoln Valley comes to Oxford
This was an excellent event where some important people from Silicoln Valley best (Google, Linkedin, Facebook to name a few) came to Said Business School to sit on a panel, give masterclasses and generally spend time with Oxford MBA's.

I attended the masterclass with Reid Hoffman, founder and CEO of Linkedin, a business network website. He talked about Web 1.0 (the original internet boom), the current Web 2.0 (internet post dot com crash) and how the future will be the power of networks. He also articulated the "Brand of you" where (due to job mobility) each individual is (in fact) their own small business and should treat themselves as such.

Presentation from Kent Brittan
On Wednesday a select few had a Q&A session with Kent Brittan, former VP and global head of Purchasing at United Technologies.
This was a talk on the changes (internet auctions etc) that he had implemented prior to his retirement. He is now at Exeter College studying Theology.

Paul Klempler
During our Managerial Economics lecture we were treated to 1 hr with Paul Klempler, Edgeworth Professor of Economics, Nuffield College, Oxford. Professor Klempler was the architect of the UK 3G licence auction and has forgotten more about economics than most of us know. A very interesting Q&A session followed.

Christchurch Regatta
What we had been training for all term. We had even grown stupid handlebar moustaches for the event to go with our "Top Gun" theme (blame the undergrads for choosing that one). We lost against Brasenose on Wednesday, but beat Trinity on Thursday to go through the the 2nd round. Unfortunately, due to extreme weather and poor river conditions the whole Regatta was cancelled on Friday morning. At least we managed to row (I heard that some crews didn't even manage to do that) and "retired" among the winners.
To be honest, it was great fun. So much so, I have decided to continue rowing next term.

The crew. I am at "bow" (the front of the boat)
The Top Guns
Hertford Guest night
Another black tie evening at Hertford. This time, we managed to arrange a decent collect of MBAs and had a very pleasant evening.

The 3 Graduate Rowers (Brandon, Martin and Me) with our fetching handlebars. You will be happy to hear mine has ceased to exist.
Brandon being adored by Faryal and Tass
Risa, Namiko and Maho Tony and Claire here
Tony and Claire came to Oxford on Saturday and it was lovely to show them around the school, take them to the college and walk them over the Bridge of Sighs. I really enjoy it when people come to visit, its gives us an opportunity to show them the parts of the university that they wouldn't normally be able to see.

I am still amazed that the term has gone so fast. Recently I have been involved in panel discussions and open days for the next class. I realise how much I had to do just to get here. As one of my new friends puts it "I never had to work so hard to get to the first day of school". I couldn't agree more. Good luck to all those thinking of taking MBAs next year.

Hertford College Virtual Tour

2006-11-22T23:28:00.001Z

Amazing what you find when looking on YouTube. If any one is interested in seeing a virtual tour of my college please click.
It is taylored for undergrads, but shows the major sights.

Week 6 Michaelmas

2006-11-19T22:11:00.000Z

A busy week! 2 assignments handed in, 2 others being worked on and a mock Financial Reporting exam. I also managed to go home for a night so there is little wonder that the 'extra curricular' section seems a bit thin this week.

Actually everyone is now talking about being able to see the first finish line (the end of Michaelmas term) and I have to admit, it is not far off (lectures finish at the end of week 8). The problem is that once lectures finish, exams begin. Speaking of which, the timetable was released this week and includes:

Monday 11th Dec, 2 exams (Financial Reporting and Decision Science),
Tuesday 12th, one exam (Developing Effective Managers),
Wednesday 13th, 2 exams (Strategy and Managerial Economics),
Thursday 14th,1 exam (Finance).

So revising should be fun. I am glad that we have all of week 9 off to get it done.

As to those 'extra curricular activities', there is only the evening out with the rowers from Lincoln (no photos unfortunately) and rowing a couple of times. I did, however, row in part 2 of the Winter League today (which I was unaware existed). We performed much better than last week and managed to find a decent rhythm for quite a while. The icing on the cake was overtaking the Worcester crew with a good margin to spare. I include some photos taken last week.
The crew. Left to right; Martin, Scott, me, Brandon, Dave, Henry, Tom & Ben
Me, Brandon and Dave

Next week promises to be as busy as this one (if not more). Although we have a guest dinner next Friday in Hertford, so I will upload the photos in the next post.

I am happy to see that there are now over 1300 hits on this blog. I really hope that the people reading it are enjoying. If you would like to contact me directly either Skype me (and if I am not on line can pick up the message later) or send me an email.

Week 5 Michaelmas

2006-11-12T11:59:00.000Z

During this week it seemed like the pressure abated a little. After a couple of weeks handing in two assigments, this week's one meant we had the ability to relax a little (not a lot). We now only have 3 weeks of lectures left and many many assignments. Next week we have a mock financial reporting exam, 2 assignments to hand in PLUS 2 big assignments to start working on. I think that sleep will be placed far down on the list of priorities.

Anyway, as usual please see the list of activities for this week (unrelated to assignments or lectures)

MBA Group Photo

All 216 of us dressed in sub fusc (see earlier entry for explanation of this dress code) for a formal photograph.

I even managed to get one with my study group...go group 25!

James, Pawan, Julie, Me, Tass and Vijoy

Rowing Social

An informal pizza and vodka evening designed to assign silly names to all rowers for the Christchurch regatta in week 7. Erm, we have gone with a Top Gun theme and I am 'Jester', although I am not sure whether it is because of my age or sense of humour.

EP Dinner

During our time at Oxford we have to complete 2 big projects. One is our SCP (summer consulting project) and the other is the EP (entrepreneurial project). For the past few weeks all students have been going around trying to build their teams (of 5) and mine is excellent. Whilst I don't have a photo yet, I will post one as soon as I can. The dinner was for all of us to thrash around some ideas for projects and get to know each other a bit better.

Japanese night

This was great. Nami and I arranged a dinner (with the help of Maho and Hiro) for anyone with a Japanese link; be they students, partners of students, children of students, friends of students etc. The format of the evening was 'bring a dish' and over 40 people turned up. There was an amazing sellection of food ranging from Gyoza, Nabe, Oden, Nimono, Green Tea Tiramasu, Sushi (and the list goes on) and it was so good that we have all decided to do another one next term.

Maho, Me, Allan, Andrea, Martin, Shoko

Someone's child, Swapandeep, Me, Simon, Emily and ShokoNamiko among a crowd

Soul night at Hertford

Another MCR (Middle Common Room) party at Hertford College. The theme this time was soul and the 70's. Whilst I wasn't 70's I did have soul as you can see by the pink boa.
Rowing Winter League

Today we had our first regatta as the Hertford Novice B's. This was a 1.5Km time-trial and it took us about 6 mins. To be honest, it was the first time that we had actually rowed at full pelt for that period of time so whilst we were far (far) from perfect, we gained valuable experience which should bode us well for the Christchurch Regatta in week 7.

This is it, another week through a my MBA. Its now push push push to get the assignments in, find the time to row and do some background study. Until next week...

Week 4 Michaelmas (Halfway through)

2006-11-05T23:34:00.000Z

Yes, its true, this Friday marked the halfway point of Michaelmas term for us. Where has the time gone?

It was another 'double assignment' week which made it rather busy, however the good news is that next week there is only one to hand in. We may actually get a chance to start some of the other larger assignments (due by the end of term).

So as usual, in addition to work, there were a few events (but not as many as last week)

Midterm party (Thursday)
A great party organised by John Stanton which most of us used to celebrate mid-term. After a reasonably stressfull week of group work, it was a great opportunity to de-stress over a beer or two.
Shoko, Swapandeep, Simon, Takashi and me

Rowing
I managed to get out on the river for the first time this weekend in the Hertford Novice B's crew. I rowed on both Saturday and Sunday and realised that I quite enjoy it. It seems that we are going to enter into the Christchurch regatta next week, so that should be fun...

I don't have a picture of us on the river, so this will have to do for the time being

Post Halloween party (Saturday)
A Hertford MCR run party where we decided to go in silly hats,

Me, Swapandeep and Mark

In addition, this week I discoverd Facebook. A great online community website which seems to be mainly used by students to keep up with friends, share photos and plan events. A very impressive site.

The week ended up with my parents, grandmother and sister/brother in law coming to Oxford for Dinner tonight.

Another great week.

Week 3 Michaelmas

2006-10-29T15:32:00.000Z

Another busy week. Its a repeating theme...I am wondering whether I am a glutton for punishment; I am actually enjoying it.

This week in addition to handing in 2 (yes 2) assignments I also managed to do/attend the following:

Trip to Deutsche bank in London
An opportunity to meet a load of OBA (Oxford Business Alumni). It was a great to actually meet people who had gone through this MBA & come out the other side. They gave some great insights into what they did then, what they do now and what they should have done at SBS. The coach ride down was also good fun.

Left to right: Subrata, Puneet, Tass, Me, Janis, Saheel, Kevin and Kara

Presentation from Dominic Casserely, UK MD of McKinsey.
This was a fascinating presention on his vision for companies in 2020. It was also followed by an select informal dinner where he continued on with his question/answer session.

Other presentations
From IBM, Diamond and Mark Precious, formerly of UBS equity research.

Hertford Guest Night
Another black tie dinner at Hertford college. Actually this was the first formal dinner that Namiko had managed to attend. It was a great night.

Namiko with Pawan and Shoko
Pre-Halloween party
This was held at St Hughs college and turned out to be a mainly MBA event. It was great to have the time to speak with MBAers who I hadn't really seen since the induction week.

Erm, some people dressed up!

Faryal with Janis and Tass

In addition to the lectures, group work, assignments, and parties, I need to decide which elective modules to take next term. Actually SBS has a great systems where the lectures actually come and market their subjects. We all sit in a very large lecture theatre while they try and convince us why we should take their's.

The list is as follows (from which I need to choose 2)

1. Organisational Analysis II: Developing effective organisations
2. Finance II: Technology and Innovation Strategy
3. Macro Economics
4. Strategy II
5. Marketing, culture and society

I need to decide by Friday 3rd Nov and have only managed to narrow it down to Finance II, Macro Economics and Strategy II. Well, I suppose that I still have a few days to think about it.

Thats it, another week bites the dust. Next week will be the half way point of Michaelmas term. Its going so fast...

Week 2 Michaelmas

2006-10-24T16:33:00.000Z

Week 2 passed well and everything seemed that little bit simpler. Don't get me wrong, there is no let up in the work load (actually, I think that it has actually increased), it is just that we all seem to better understand what is expected of us.

The weekly (and now bi-weekly) submission of assigments has now formed its own routine and the team that I am in is working well. Actually testament to this fact is the result from our first assignment (which we got back today...we scored well!

In addition to the academic activities last week, there were many other events:

Meet the Principal
An informal dinner meeting between 10 Hertford Freshers, the Hertford College Principal and his wife. A really pleasant evening talking with mostly non MBA students. It really gives another perspective on things and I enjoyed it very much.

Meet the Sector Consultant
A slighlty harrowing meeting where the Sector Consultant I had chosen, proceeded to rip apart the details of my CV; which was probably the best thing that could have happened. I walked out of the meeting with many pointers which should (I hope) improve the way my CV reads and thus improve my prospects of getting an interview.
Bye-the-way, a Sector Consultant is someone who has been sucessfull in their relative field (be that banking, consulting, industry etc) and decided to give some of their time so as to help us in our quest for good jobs. Its a great system SBS employs.

Freshers Dinner
A formal dinner in Hall (with gowns) with MCR (graduate) students and faculty. A great excuse to meet yet more non MBA students and have a night of good food and good conversation.

And this week (yesterday to be more precise), I attended a talk by Steve Wozniak...the inventor of the Apple 1 and 2 and the original 1/3 shareholder of Apple computers. He was here promoting his book and it was a fascinating hour as he took us through his life.

Steve Wozniak (Right)

And to close this post, I have to mention that I also managed to get to London last night to meet with 9 Oxford Business Alumni (OBA). It was kindly hosted by Deutche Bank and several of us attended to hear them talk about their experiences whilst getting their MBA as well as those post MBA. It gave me quite a lot to think about, especially that of job choice and the recruitment process.

Right, its back to the books. I have another Strategy assignment due at the end of the week...

Week 1 Michaelmas and Matriculation

2006-10-15T16:25:00.000Z

What a week!
They weren't kidding when they said that it would be a lot of work. To explain a little further; from Monday to Friday, I would wake up at 7 (normally with a book on my chest), start working (through breakfast) at 7.20 and then work through until midnight (having time off for lunch and dinner on some days). Its an amazing pace.
The lecturers are extremely tallented and can seem to make even the most dry of subjects into an involving discussion.
You will be happy to hear that the assignment (mentioned in the last post) was completed and submitted on Friday, thus giving us the weekend to enjoy Matriculation and catch up on other work.

Speaking of Matriculation (the official ceremony granting us access to Oxford University), I am including some photos. It was a very interesting event which included us having a roll-call in hall at 9am, followed by being ushered into the ceremony (which lasted 15 mins). Between the ceremony and our official photo shoot, and in true Oxford Tradition, piled into the Turf Tavern for a pint before standing for our official photo.

The Sheldonian Theatre crammed with new Oxford students just before we hear the welcoming address in Latin

The MBAs at Hertford. From left to right, me, Uzra, Takashi, Shoko, Brandon, Simon, Dexter, Mark, Pawan, Swapandeep

With Swapandeep and Mark just after having our Hertford Matriculation Photo taken.

And on the evening of Matriculation, Herford MCR (middle common room) hosted a ball for us and our guests. It really was an excellent evening with jugglers, belly dancers, sushi, face painting (yes, face painting), a disco and a live band. Not to mention; loads and loads of alcohol, the effects of which, I am still feeling today.

Namiko, Pawan and Mahima all looking very smart

Dexter, Me, Mahima, Pawan, Carson and Martin

All in all an exhausting week, followed by a fantastic weekend. And Week 2 starts in only 14 hours....

End of the First week

2006-10-09T21:08:00.000Z

So the first week (or "week 0 of Michaelmas") has now passed, and most of us have made it through to the other side.
They weren't kidding when they said that it was going to be alot of work...Prior to all lectures there is compulsory reading and assignments which can certainly wreck a weekend.
Anyway, not to be put off, Namiko and I seemed to strike a nice balance between me working (and her meeting friends during that time) and quality time spent together. We even managed a nice walk through New College, which is not only extremely large, but also breath-takingly beautiful.
New College Namiko at the New College Inner wall My parents also made a flying visit, so I had the privilige of showing them around SBS before going to dinner at the Chiang Mai Kitchen for some delicious Thai food.

So that was the weekend. Today was the first actual day of lectures (Week 1 of Michaelmas) and we started with Strategy 1, during which we discovered the subject of our first assignment...which is due in by Sunday at 11pm (yes, 6 days time).

Well, back to the books. I am also attaching some photos of Hertford College (my college) OB Quad as taken on Saturday morning. It is also quite beautiful.

Hertford College OB Quad

Wow what a start

2006-10-04T13:04:00.000Z

So this is day three of the MBA and most of us are already exhausted. We have had lectures on everything from OBN (student run Oxford Business Network) to Careers to IT (and everything in between). We have also had a talk from Kevin Sharer, CEO and Chairman of Amgen (the largest biotech company in the world), about what it means to be a CEO which was as entertaining as it was insightful. We have met, eat and talked with as many people as possible and I cannot but be impressed with the calibre of student this year. What a place to be.

A photo taken from the top of Said Business School's amphitheatre

Me pretending to make a valid point whilst having lunch in Hertford College hall. Andrea is next to me.
Brandon, Swapandeep and Dexter also at lunch in Hertford

The drinks reception with Namiko, Tass and me

My partner in crime, Pawan with his wife Mahima

The famous Takashi (middle) with Ashton

All photos are published with kind permission from Takashi, the unofficial MBA photographer

It has begun

2006-10-01T15:44:00.000Z

After all of the waiting this weekend it all started. Having moved into my room on Friday (which took about 5 hours in total) Namiko and I decided to join some other MBAs for a drink at the Living Room pub which was great fun and a great way to meet more people.
Saturday followed with the 'Oxford Pursuit Event' which involved a group of 4 of us racing around Oxford in-order to find the answers to a series of questions. The team members were Shree, Kian, Harpal and I but despite the 'high clabre' of the team we were unable to secure victory. Never-the-less, the activity fulfilled its purpose of encouraging us to meet people on the course. This mad dash was then followed by a reception which further encouraged us to mingle. It was a great event.
Not the winning team

Following the reception at SBS a group of us decided to go out for dinner before joining some others for a drink at Freuds in Jericho.

All in all it has been an amazing weekend. Now, if I could only remember everybody's name...thank god for name badges

A couple of weeks unemployed

2006-09-25T19:07:00.000Z

So, the 29th September is only 4 days away. For that is day before the Oxford Pursuit (Orientation) event and the day that I finally (finally!) move to Oxford.

Since leaving work on 15th September, I have had to go to Oxford a few times in order to:
1. Pick up books (bought from outgoing students),
2. Register at my college,
3. Measure up my room,
4. Get my PC networked with the University,
5. Meet some of the incoming students at a social event,
6. Attend a careers forum/workshop (well, actually this is not until 27th).

Being without a car (for the first time since I was 21) I have been using the bus to commute, which I have to admit, is an interesting feeling as before last week, I cannot remember the last time that I used a bus. The experience is quite novel, and so I include the photos taken of the bus station (no, not pretty) and the view from the bus as I pass SBS on my way home.

Last Day at Honda

2006-09-17T10:44:00.000Z

8 Years. That is how long I was at Honda. Friday 15th September 2006 was my very last day. The send-off was truely touching and the work that went into the 'This is your life' presentation was enormous. Whilst there have been many milestones since I decided I was going to do this MBA, none have effected me quite so much as the last day at work. I will truely miss the place and the people.

And so this leap into the great unknown continues. I now have a week or so to collect my thoughts, pack my bags and move up to Oxford.

The photo below is Honda of the UK Manufacturing. Where I spent 5 out of the the 8 years.

Outgoing and incoming Students

2006-09-14T07:56:00.000Z

Last night Mike from the outgoing batch arranged a get-together in the Radcliff Arms Pub in Jericho. Whist there were only a few incoming students in attendance, there must have been 40 or so outgoing ones letting their hair down and willing to offer much of their hard-won advice to us 'newbies'.

One of the things that interested me was the split in the group between those that had already been looking for (and found) jobs and those who were only now thinking about starting their search. Apparently the split is roughly 50:50, which is not the impression that I originally had. I expected many more to have decided where they are to be working by now. That being said the attitude of those without seemed relaxed and all were extremely confident of getting the work they wanted.

Another great thing about the meet was that I could discuss with both Mike and Vaniah, whose blogs have been a great source of research into the Oxford MBA, and in essence, the catalyst which pushed me to start writing my own.
A great evening.

College Registration

2006-09-11T16:23:00.000Z

Today, on a daytrip to Oxford I managed to register at my college (Hertford) and with that came my Oxford University ID card, plus all 1,140 pages of the 2006 Exam Regulations book. No, that is not a typo: there is a book (which every student gets) with over 1,000 pages of exam rules and regulations. Note the thickness in the photo on the right.

Actually, there is a lovely story in a blog which I read a while ago about a student who (having read elements of the book) turned up to an exam and 'demanded the mug of beer that he was entitled to'. After much scurrying around and checking, the invigilators stated that they would (of course) agree to his demand, just as soon as he laid down his sword. Thats what you get with 800 years of tradition... I think its great!

In addition to this registration, Janet, at the Hertford College Graduate Centre, kindly showed my around the room which is to be mine for the comming year. It is larger than I expected, ensuite (which I had hoped) and seems perfectly adequate. The view outside is also very pleasant. I also saw my kitchen (shared between 7 people), a laundry room, a common room and a computer room. One thing that is great is that not only do all the rooms have LAN there is also WIFI as well. I must admit, it really is a class above the accomodation that I had when I was studying for my first degree, I am looking forward to moving in.It was a great day, and to top it off, I took my sister along to give her a feel of what I am going to experience. I really hope that she and her husband manage to come and visit when I am established. It would be great to show them around properly.

New York and a light breeze

2006-09-07T09:30:00.000Z

So we are now home. That's it, the last trip prior to starting the MBA...honest.
Namiko and I have just come back from visiting family in Greenwich, CT but actually spent most of our time in New York City.

Unfortunately we happened to be in Downtown Manhattan when Ernesto (a tropical storm) decided to visit, however the days that followed had beautiful weather and we didn't mind trading 3 days of good for 1 day of bad. Actually, when we got back to Greenwich that day, it was carnage...big trees felled causing widespread blackouts. Luckily we got the power back later on in the evening, however others in town were not so lucky and had to wait up to TWO DAYS.

Other than that one day of interesting weather, the trip was great and, seeing as it was Namiko's first time, we managed to see all of the necessary tourist attractions. One that particulary impressed me was the 'Top of the Rock' (top floor of 30 Rockerfella Plaza) which only opened late last year. Much better than the Empire State for all round views and (most importantly) no queing.

The two photos are of me atop the rock (one day I will learn to smile) and Namiko at the Met.

So, the trips are done, the money is paid (gulp) and Oxford is only 3 weeks away...

Only 1 month to go...

2006-08-31T10:05:00.000Z

OK, so thats it, almost there...This morning it occured to me that I now have only one month to go before the start of the MBA.

On 3oth September (Sat) we have our first 'official' MBA event; The Orientation Day. This involves all students coming together at midday for an afternoon of meeting people, discovering Oxford and general MBA awareness (is how I understand it). There is a 'meet the Dean' event in the evening for which families are also invited.

And so the countdown continues. My last day at Honda is the 15th September, so I should have a full 2 weeks to prepare for the move.

Michaelmas Subjects

2006-08-21T20:06:00.000Z

Last week SBS sent through a link and password to the intranet site which contained a whole host of information from procedures & IT to schedules & course outlines.

The basic course outline is available on the SBS website. However in a nutshell, the subjects that I will be taking between Oct and Dec this year are as follows:

Finance 1: "A foundation in finance with particular emphasis on financial decisions taken by firms"
Financial Reporting: Accountancy practices and strategy
Decision Science: Statistics
Managerial Economics: "Application of Microeconomics to business decisions"
Strategy: Strategy?!?
Developing Effective Managers: Organisational behaviour

Also, within each of these outlines (one is 20 pages long), is the recommended reading prior to the start of the course, essential reading prior to each lecture and an accountancy 'preliminary exercise'.

That should keep me busy between now and October.

Oh, as an aside, Namiko and I tried out that Skype translator. It is not bad, but also not brilliant. Anyway, it is still in beta, so I will check it out again in the future.

Skype Automatic Translator

2006-08-19T15:23:00.000Z

Today I found an interesting entry to the Skype Journal Blog (which I haven't visited for a while). The entry talks about a real time automatic translator for Skype chat. Amazing!
I have used automatic translators before (mainly Japanese/English) but never a real time chat one. I wonder whether this will be the next advance for people who use webchat...
It seems that the Japanese/English is still in beta but I will try anyway. If it works, I will try to get my parents (no Japanese) to speak with Namiko's (no English). Isn't technology great!?

The request for payment

2006-08-16T18:56:00.000Z

It has finally come. Oxford have asked for the tuition and college fees to be paid. In one lump. By 8th September. Yikes.
Well, there is no real suprise, I expected it to arrive around this date. It is just quite alot of money leaving my account at the same time...

Now going back now (not that I want to).

France, Spain, Portugal and a nice Airport

2006-08-14T20:16:00.000Z

We have just got back from a great 2 week break where we managed to get to see my parents in Carcassonne, France, a friend in his home town of La Coruna, Spain and Oporto in Portugal.

Instead of writing about the holiday (which we really enjoyed), I thought that I would write about the stop-over that we had in Madrid, or, more importantly, Madrid Barajas Airport's new T4S building. Whilst I don't normally see the need to talk about airports (seen too many), I must admit that this new building is quite breathtaking and made the transit actually pretty painless.

Here are some facts:
Completed: 5th Feb 2006
Designed to handle 35 Million Passengers per year
Total Area: 500,000 Sq meters
Two Buildings T4 and T4S (for Transit)
Length of T4S: 1Km
Ceiling material: Bamboo
Lighting: Uplighting onto glass windows which balances the natural light
Architects: Estudio Lamela from Spain and the Richard Rogers Partnership.

Master Trader...or not

2006-08-03T17:39:00.000Z

SBS have released a 'game' for all accepted students onto the MBA and MFE. The name of the game is 'Oxford Master Trader 2006' and the object of the exercise is to take your starting capital (of $10,000,000) and grow it as much as possible before the 1st of September.

Luckily, whilst the market data comes directly from the LSE, NYSE etc and is accuarte, the money is only make-believe and so there aren't 225 students loosing $2.25 billion of Oxford's money.

I have just spent my first day trading and despite falling into a negative position early on, managed to close up...go Starbucks and ICICI Bank.

The system is excellently designed and very easy to use. The attached screen shot shows the trading page (which I have doctored to spare my blushes).

Research On Colleges

2006-07-25T20:36:00.000Z

I was looking through some files on my PC and came across one that I made prior to deciding which (out of a total of 39) college I should apply to.
I suppose that, like many people applying to Oxford for the first time, I had no idea which college I should choose. So as part of my 'research' I made this very basic summary.

Whilst it is by no means complete, it does give some insight into the 39 and their history. Besides, at the time it was an interesting way to spend a wet Saturday.

Mentors and Weddings

2006-07-23T20:33:00.000Z

On Friday afternoon Namiko and I met with Igor and his wife Hada. Igor is a current MBA student and had volunteered to be a mentor... he got me. We agreed to meet at a local family restaurant/pub and then proceeded to spend a hour and a half discussing everything from Oxford parties to consulting.

It was great to meet a married couple who had lived the 'Oxford Experience' together. Prior to the meet, I was a little concerned that Namiko would not be able to join in with any of the university organised events. However, within the first few minutes of the discussion all of my fears were eliminated. It seems that they both had a great time and participated in most things together (except the studying that is).

I hope that I will be able to offer the same amount of advice when I am the mentor...

The Wedding

Seeing as the blog has now slightly deviated (in that it included some 'non MBA' content), I thought that I would write about a wedding party that Namiko and I attended on Saturday night.

The event was held at Homme House, which is a lovely setting and is still a family home which stands in 100 acres of parkland and 80 acres of woodlandand. It is situated in Much Marcle, near Ledbury.

The party went off 'swimmingly' and we had a great time.

Me with Liz and Paul

Namiko chilling on a step

To top the whole evening off, a rather large cow decided to stand in our path as we were leaving the venue (we eventually had to go off road as it decided that it was not going to move)

Said cow

Truffles

2006-07-17T18:23:00.000Z

I have been writing this blog for a little while now and thought it high time that I published a photo of Truffles (you can also see the link on the right).

I know that this is meant to be a blog tracking my MBA, but seeing as Namiko and I have recently been; guest chef during a Japanese evening (Namiko, not me), wine waiter (skills learnt during my previous university time) and occasional 'emergency waiting staff shortfall countermeasure', I thought that I would give it a mention.

Truffles in fact belongs to (and is run by) my sister & her husband, and is a wonderful place (for customers) to relax. It has won many awards and even got a mention in the Telegraph newspaper food section recently.
Never-the-less, my fear is that if I do not mention it they may not feed us next time we go....
So here it is. A lovely restaurant in Somerset (England).

Mentor

2006-07-12T21:17:00.000Z

What a great idea!
I just found out that I now have a mentor.
It seems that Said Business School allocate current MBA students as mentors to incomming students. It also seems that this is not some random allocation, but a scientific matching (industry, college, age etc) of the two people.
From all of the research that I did into the course, this was one thing that I was unaware of.
More to come soon....

The Fateful Day

2006-07-03T19:25:00.000Z

Today was the day that I handed in my notice (of resignation from my current job).

A strange feeling really; When making the decision to do an MBA, I knew my employer's (that is to say Honda's) stance on external executive education was not favourable, and therefore knew that it would be impossible to both keep the job and do a full time MBA. So I suppose that I should not feel sad that the day has finally come to officially quit. Having said that, it is one thing to decide to leave and another to actually hand over a formal letter.

I have had a wonderful time at Honda, living in both the UK and Japan (sometimes concurrently), travelling and making friends at Honda's and our supplier's sites all over the world. As a company, it is an amazing global family. Unfortunately, once you leave, you leave for good.

I think that I will miss it tremendously.

Accommodation & Clothes?!?

2006-06-18T19:56:00.000Z

Last week a phone call with Hertford College's admissions confirmed that I had been allocated my first choice of accommodation; a room in the Graduate Centre (left). This (along with the library at Said Business School) will be my home from the end of September onwards and seems perfect (and only about a mile away from School).

And so another task gets completed in the lead up to the start of Michaelmas Term (the first term).

Sub Fusc

One of the items that caused a lot of discussion during our meeting in Richmond last week was the definition of 'Sub Fusc'. So after some searching I think that I have a definitive answer:
"sub" means "under" or "beneath" and "fusc" means "drab" or "black".
Got it? No, neither did I, so some further digging came up with the following:
A dark suit, white shirt, white bow tie, black gown and mortar board. Apparently, Sub fusc must be worn for Matriculation (official ceremony granting students entry to Oxford University), all exams, other formal events (I think) and finally (hopefully) graduation. I am actually quite looking forward to wearing it for the first time...I wonder how hot it will be wearing it all when taking exams. Only time will tell.

Gratuitous photo of Hertford College's Bridge of Sighs.

First Meeting of Minds...

2006-06-11T12:46:00.000Z

Yesterday in a pub in Richmond, Namiko (my wife) and I had an opportunity to meet up with some of my future class-mates.
The weather was beautiful and it was not long before we were itching to get outside (despite the England/Paraguay 1st round football match). We left the pub, bought some food and drink, walked to the river-side, found a nice spot and made camp on the grass.
Those present were:
Harpal (+ his wife and daughter), Deep, Clarence, Pawan (+ his wife), Mirela, Shreyas and Maria.
It was a wonderful opportunity to meet, discuss backgrounds and exchange information about accommodation, placements, aspirations, the application process and Oxford itself.
Everyone seemed really fired up about the course and the diversity of experience was wide and varied (I am looking forward to group discussions).
I thoroughly enjoyed the meet and it has further added to my conviction that I have made the right decision to choose the Oxford MBA... bring it on.

Almost there!!

2006-06-07T14:56:00.000Z

This is the first post of what, I hope, to be my blog throughout my MBA.

In this first post, I though that I would list all the activities that I have undertaken so far to get where I am today (that is; 4 months before the start of my MBA).

The journey so far:

Decision to do an MBA
GMAT Prep
GMAT test in London
MBA Fair to talk with the B-schools.
Decision to apply to Oxford
MBA application form
2 references requested and received
2 Essays (1 x 1,000, 1 x 2,000 words)
Interview
Acceptance letter (hooray!)
My formal acceptance of the offer (and financial guarantee)
Deposit payment
College application and acceptance (Hertford)
College accommodation application and completion.

When I look at the list above, I realise how far I have come since deciding that I want to do an MBA. All that I am now waiting for is confirmation of the Hertford accommodation, the summer reading list and then the start of term. I cannot wait.

Oh I nearly forgot. I now have to go and resign from my very nice job. I hope that I have made the right decision...