tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248241.post114623904763039648..comments2023-02-16T05:41:44.099-05:00Comments on IMRAN™: In My Humble Opinion: My Days At Columbia University Business & Journalism SchoolsIMRAN™http://www.blogger.com/profile/03919552891874811342noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248241.post-1147335978277300832006-05-11T04:26:00.000-04:002006-05-11T04:26:00.000-04:00You mean there is no CLC (Columbia Losers Club) ye...You mean there is no CLC (Columbia Losers Club) yet?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248241.post-1147211721462576132006-05-09T17:55:00.000-04:002006-05-09T17:55:00.000-04:00Long Lieve The Loser(s) :-) There oughta be a clu...Long Lieve The Loser(s) :-) There oughta be a club. ;-)IMRAN™https://www.blogger.com/profile/03919552891874811342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248241.post-1147211187204357112006-05-09T17:46:00.000-04:002006-05-09T17:46:00.000-04:00All hail Columbia! Many people seem to perceive a...All hail Columbia! Many people seem to perceive an MBA as a degree for money grubbing far right wing conservatives. Luckily, Columbia attracts a diverse student body and has been known to have left liberal socialists. After all, Columbia's location on the upper west side is just north of what many perceive to be the greatest bastion of liberals in the US. It takes all kinds.<BR/><BR/>Liberals, conservatives, and money grubbers... Well, my MBA enabled me to learn some skills while working with the smartest collection of people I've ever encountered in one place. (And I currently work at an world renowned university!). The work we did was difficult, inspired, meted out after sleepless nights, brilliant and sometimes just plain old flat wrong. It was the ability to work with a group of people that made the difference for me, that really provided the education experience to inform my current professional success. I have to admit, Imran, that I can only use an HP12C calculator.<BR/><BR/>And sure, there were some losers. Their egos were overpowering, their insecurities hung in the air as they recounted tales of corporate glory on Wall Street. Often these, but not always, were individuals who had the vision and drive to have a positive effect on the world, whether this be bringing the Internet to a foreign country, being a CFO of a non-profit, or an investment strategist. <BR/><BR/>And for all these MBAs, these money grubbers, these heroes of corporate halls, lets face it, we all have moments, fleeting, that we are also losers.<BR/><BR/>All hail the losers!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248241.post-1146806822581096912006-05-05T01:27:00.000-04:002006-05-05T01:27:00.000-04:00Tania, glad that my encouraging you to consider Co...Tania, glad that my encouraging you to consider Columbia worked out so great for you. And, making great friends, and enjoying the greatest city in the world is a a huge bonus. I call Manhattan the center of the Universe (though, I seem to recall something from some space/time book, technically the way the universe expands, every point can be considered the center.... but, I could be wrong....). Manhattan really is as close to the center of the Universe as a place can be. Which also relates to something you mentioned about Columbia but I feel is also a huge part of coming to, living and MAKING it in New York. New York City is both a ego-boooooosting and humbling place..... it is such an incredible place that if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, so making it in NY gives you that feeling of being something special :-) .... yet, almost every other person who comes to New York City from elsewhere is equally driven, smart or brilliant, it can be very pleasantly humbling to see that though you are such a hot shot incredible unique brilliant person, the city is full of people who can easily exceed your best abilities, thereby helping you keep your feet firmly on the ground when the ego-mania makes your head get stuck in the clouds. :-)<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the comment.<BR/><BR/>ImranIMRAN™https://www.blogger.com/profile/03919552891874811342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248241.post-1146793899493476582006-05-04T21:51:00.000-04:002006-05-04T21:51:00.000-04:00My days at Columbia... a round-about track to busi...My days at Columbia... a round-about track to business school<BR/><BR/>I had originally intended to go to law school. However, a one-year internship while in college at the local District Attorney's office cured me of all desire and motivation to study and later practice the law. So what to do? Well, since not going to law school had never entered my mind until my senior year in college, I graduated with a murky vision of where to go next. So I landed my first real job at a bank in "credit school" and learned the art or science of lending money to those who did not need it (private wealth clients). Not a strategic move, but rather a job I fell into at a time when there was a recession and it was as good a place to start my illusive "career". So while there I agonized over my next step, after all law school had been eliminated as a possibility. So the logical step was business school, I mean where else would I go? <BR/><BR/>I asked others how they decided on which schools to apply to. Was it academics, the experience... what? At that time I talked to Imran about his Columbia days and the story he told me and the events that were set in motion as a result of that conversation have changed my life in the most unexpected way. After all, at that time, Columbia was not even on my radar. I was debating whether to return to Europe and go to INSEAD or whether to stay in the US and go to a US school. I decided the latter and had been researching the top 10 schools. Columbia Business School at that time was ranked 11th. But at Imran's suggestion, I visited Columbia, met with professors, met students, sat in on some classes, walked the campus and experienced NYC. I fell in love. It was THE school for me and the greatest selling point - NYC. So I applied to Columbia. I had no backup plan, much to the chagrin of my friends and family who thought I was taking too much risk applying to only one school. But it was the only school I wanted to go to and I was going to make it happen.... somehow. I didn't have some master plan, I just flew by the seat of my pants. Thankfully I got lucky! I got in. So off I was to Columbia, my next adventure.<BR/><BR/>My expectations arriving at Columbia were to study marketing. It seemed so cool, fun and so much more interesting than finance and besides I was dying to get away from my banking experience. Ironically, after taking several classes in marketing and finance, I discovered a lot about myself. I in fact, stink at marketing and am good at finance. Maybe I did learn something about finance as a banker and maybe my landing in a finance job could have been strategic if it had been deliberate. <BR/><BR/>I also found Columbia to be a humbling experience. Most, if not all, of the students at the business school are all top ranked students from somewhere else, but once at the same place you are competing with the best of the best. All my other schooling had been so easy, and Columbia, well it was ... hard, it was work and it was much more competitive than anything I had experienced before. And watching everyone vie for top spot was both interesting and a learning experience that helped me prepare for my next work adventures. Then there was the cultural diversity. Columbia is a school where they say what they mean and mean what they say with regard to cultural diversity. My fellow classmates were from all corners of the planet making for interesting and challenging debates over how much weight local / cultural norms ought to be considered in business decisions. Many a business case was used to drill this concept into our minds. <BR/><BR/>Overall I was very impressed with the professors at Columbia, in particular the finance and strategy courses. My favorite courses, Global Strategy taught by Executive in Residence Ehud Houminer and "Baby Finance" by the legendary Bruce Greenwald. I learned new finance concepts, but most of all, I learned what tools to use in certain situations and how to more effectively use my time by ignoring "noise". This was part of identifying the critical path" a phrase that developed new meaning and became our mantra. A valuable skill in this day and time where we are constantly being bombarded by useless information. There were some finance classes though that the word "challenge" does not begin to describe. Debt Markets comes to mind. Day one of class, the professor tells you that if you do not have investment banking experience you will not do well in his class.... What??? Stubborn, so I stick it out. And the final exam, worst nightmare. I can answer only 3 out of 5 questions, but I guess the majority of other students must not have had investment banking experience either and were obviously just as, or more stubborn than I was, and I end up with a "B" for the course. Yes, I thought it was unbelievable too! And one of my marketing classes, yes I was clueless, but the professor utterly lacked inspiration and was unable to rally the class. Other than these few courses that lacked vigor, the courses were interesting, challenging and definitely stimulated thinking outside the proverbial box.<BR/><BR/>I had also done the analysis early on (first semester really) just like a good economist (my undergraduate specialization) that the incremental effort required to obtain the "A" grades had diminishing or marginal returns versus time spent and therefore I was better off to just aim primarily for the "B" and spend my now freed up time enjoying the greatest city in the US. Columbia was a time of my life where I worked incredibly hard, but also played hard. I was also fortunate in that I made the most incredible friends - so incredible that we still get together annually 10 years later and it is like we never left... And when people ask me, what did you think of Columbia? I answer, "I learned, I met great people, I made friends for a lifetime and I had FUN". The latter, I have found in talking with fellow MBA's, not usually associated with an MBA experience. In fact, I had so much fun at Columbia that I rank it amongst one of the most incredible experiences of my life. To this day, Columbia represents not just an MBA or stepping stone to bigger and better things, but memories of friendships, fun and laughter that will last a lifetime.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com