End of Pre-MBA, start of Analytics
August 12th, 2007
The third and last week of the Pre-MBA International program just finished. These three weeks flew by so quickly…
A few highlights from last week:
Sushi & Hummus
August 5th, 2007
The second week of HBS International Pre-MBA program has finished. It was really busy (more than the first one) and went by so quickly. Next week is the last one of this program, and is expected to be (relatively!) relaxed.
Few highlights from this week:
Pre-MBA First Week & MicroFridge
July 30th, 2007
The first week the Pre-MBA International Program has finished. It was fun and intensive, and I feel like I’ve been studying here for a month, not a week.
A typical day here looks like this:
First days at school and Operation: Apartment
July 24th, 2007
Pre-MBA First Days
Friday was the first day of the Pre-MBA international program at HBS. It was lots of fun! We hadn’t started studying (perhaps that’s why I had so much fun…), and it was a registration and introduction presentations day.
The main thing I enjoyed was the people. I always thought that’s a cliché, but the people really make the difference! Everyone I talked to was extremely friendly and intelligent. In just a few hours, I had insightful, interesting conversations with other students from Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Japan… I already know more about these countries than I’ve previously known – for example, did you know that the Philippines is a nation that loves singing?
The day itself included registration and several presentations by HBS administrative staff. Everything was superbly organized; for example, the presentation of the healthcare representative was so engaging it almost made you want to go to the doctor, just for fun. In HBS classrooms, every student has in front of her 4 voting buttons marked A-D; the lecturer can ask a question with multiple answers, the students then vote and the results are immediately shown on one of the screens in class – it’s really neat. So the health presentation consisted of many such questions, which made it really interactive and amusing.
In the evening we already went out together as a group. That was also an experience in itself – Cambridge was practically full of people of all ages and sizes; apparently that night on midnight was the official release time of the last book in the Harry Potter series. So people were forming huge lines in front of open bookstores (in the middle of the night!), dressed like characters from Harry Potter and taking pictures of themselves dressed like characters from Harry Potter. We had to go through ten different bars till we finally found a place that accommodated all of us.
Hello from Boston!
July 17th, 2007
I’ve been here for less than a week and have already:
- Opened a bank account (in Bank of America)
- Got a new mobile phone and number (Verizon)
- Registered with Harvard International Office
- Moved in to my new apartment
- Started filling it up
- Met a dear friend in Atlantic City and spent a night there
- Ate twice at HBS (was pretty good!)
The main efforts are currently concentrated in the “filling up the apartment” section. Here’s a representative example:
My Bath – the “Before” picture:
My bath – the “After” picture:
The first semester at HBS starts on September 4th. I’m here early because I’m participating in two pre-MBA courses: the Pre-MBA International program and the Analytics program.
The Pre-MBA International program starts next Sunday and lasts three weeks. It consists of four modules: Learning Business through Case Method, Case-Based Exam Writing, Effective Speaking Workshops, Living and Learning @ HBS. Its goal is to prepare international students to studying at HBS (with emphasis on the unique case method learning) and living in the US.
I look at it as a good opportunity to meet many other international students and start studies in a more relaxed environment, while getting acclimated to living in Boston. And I’m sure that in addition to studying we’re going to have lots of fun…
I’m really looking forward to it, should be much more fun than shopping at Ikea.
