Week 47: Electives - Block D (t-minus 4 weeks)

Week 47 is over. Only 4 weeks to go. It is absolutely awesome outside and there are so many other things I would rather be doing. Therefore this will be a short entry.

Managing Innovation ended today. The class wrote their final exam at noon. This class had a series of individual memos for each class in addition to the final. I got the impression that people enjoyed this class, but that it might not have been as useful as it could have been. Also, the professor was not enthusiastic.

Consumer Research had the class complete an in-class assignment where the students analyzed survey results using the Systat12 program mentioned previously. The final is next Thursday.

International Finance covered more on exchange rates, hedging strategies and a little on accounting methods. The professor has been summarizing the chapters assigned for reading as well as providing updated readings and articles. A lot of the time students are not quite understanding what the professor is expecting of them when we review in-class examples. Also, groups have started presenting their cases. This is part of the marking scheme. Each group is responsible to analyze and present a case that represents a particular topic in the course. Furthermore, there is a problem set due for each group next week and a final next Saturday.

This weeks point four was trivia night at the grad club. One of the exchange students is leaving tomorrow and several others will be leaving in a couple of weeks. It feels like they just got here. Also, some of our fellow classmates will be back from their Mannheim exchange in Germany this weekend.

Scott Carson, the director of the full-time MBA program, hosted a wine and cheese event to talk with the class today. It has been confirmed that an extra lecture hall will be added. It is looking like there will be 17 teams of 6 to 7 people with a total class size of 110 (55 students per lecture hall).

With only 4 weeks left people have started to discuss their plans to move away. Also, there is some discussion on the upcoming transition week for the incoming class. I wonder what kind of hazing our class will decide to put them through...

Week 46: Electives - Block D (t-minus 5 weeks)

Week 46 is over and spring has pretty much arrived. There is barely any snow left, but the temperature still continues to hover just above or below zero. This week I heard the familiar sound of Canadian Geese returning from their hiatus to warmer climes, which has always been a sign of the changing seasons for as long as I can remember.

With only 5 weeks left a lot of us are trying to coordinate our move out of Kingston and some people have started to pack-up their desks. The end seems to be coming way to quickly.

This week saw the class complete the first week of the penultimate block of electives. The courses offered are International Finance, Consumer Research and Managing Innovation.

The International Finance course this week has covered foreign exchange rates and international trade. Topics included how countries measure trade, decide on currency exchanges and the underlying arbitrage laws that keep everything in check. Although the math is very simple and the concepts are fairly straight forward, it is amazing how complicated this topic can get very quickly. The professor is pretty dry, but very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic. The workload is quite light compared to other finance courses. Couple of chapters and some cases to read for every class.

Consumer Research started off with a lot of bland theory, but has since picked up now that the class is focusing on the analysis of the data. Initially the course focused on how to design questionnaires (ie yes/no questions vs. pick one of five options vs. 1 to 7 scale for strongly agree to disagree questions). Then it focused on applying statistics to this kind of information with a lot of statistic theory. Now the class is bringing laptops to class and using a program called Systat12 to analyze the data. The professor is entertaining and has a dry sense of humour that the class is finding engaging.

Managing Innovation also started this week. I haven't been able to get an update from someone in this class, but I will and either edit this post or just include it in next weeks posting.

This week the point four was at Tir Nan Og, an Irish pub, for karaoke night. This was also the last evening with one of our classmates who is headed to France on exchange. A lot of the exchange students have taken this block off and have decided to travel. Some are going out to the west coast to Vancouver and others are headed to New York City. This weekend the MBA hockey team has their first playoff game and fit-to-lead has arranged a trip and tour of a "sugar bush", which is a maple syrup production site.

There are still a few prospective students coming for interviews. It is close to the start date, but apparently there is still room for a few more students. Strange to think that all of us in the program were in their shoes only a year ago.

On the job front, I am aware of two of my classmates that have received offers and are in the process of negotiation the final details. Both are good offers that represent a step-up from their previous positions with good compensation. This has been encouraging to a lot of us and is proof that even in economic conditions such as these there are opportunities to be had.

Queen's expands program for class of 2010

A note from the director of the full-time MBA program, Scott Carson, has been circulated confirming that the class size will be larger for next year along with a few other changes.

Here are the changes that have been made:

• First, Queen's is going to be piloting a three day pre-MBA in the week before the orientation begins. It will take place over three days, one day on each of statistics, accounting and finance. The objective is to help students to become familiar with the subjects and get a head-start before courses begin.
• Second, the MBA Curriculum Committee is going to strike a subcommittee to review the electives section of the program to see what changes could or should be made.
• Third, the class size will be increased to 110 students. The benefit is that some employers who currently don't recruit on campus would find it attractive to come if there were more candidates for them to meet. Also, bringing senior business people to the School to speak would be helped if they could be assured a somewhat larger audience.
• Finally, if the class could be split for teaching purposes, the class size could be lowered. Having 75 students in class is not a problem, but having two classes of 55 could create a more intimate setting. In order not to lose the community feeling that students enjoy at Queen's the administration will ensure that each student and team has the experience of working with all of the others. One way of doing this is to rotate one quarter of the teams between the two classrooms every second module.

Week 45: Electives - Block C (t-minus 6 weeks)

Week 45 ends and so does Block C of electives. There are now only 6 weeks left till the program is finished. Spring is definitely on it's way and the wind never seems to stop blowing, even when its raining. I imagine soon there will be green grass showing in the parks and leaf buds on the trees, but my focus on school, seeking employment and planning my move home seems to occupy all my time and as a result I likely won`t notice these changes.

Advanced Topics in Marketing was concluded with a series of presentations on Wednesday. Each group was responsible for pitching a mode/aspect of tourism in Canada (i.e. air travel, road travel, etc). This was the final assignment and with no final exam, this marked the completion of the course. Overall people really enjoyed this course and most got quite a bit out of the material.

Services Management finished with no really big events. Everyone completed their required papers and projects. My understanding is that people enjoyed the course, but many people who were taking Advanced Topics in Marketing enjoyed that course more.

Investments was the toughest course this block. This seems to be a common theme for the finance courses in the elective blocks. Friday morning was the final exam and everyone agreed that the test was nothing like what the assignments or the lectures had made us believe it would be like. It was very difficult and very demanding. Almost nobody left before the time was up, including the "finance" people who seem to enjoy this topic. Hopefully the professor is kind on the part marks.

This week the Business Career Center set up some one hour sessions on a variety of topics. One was on case interviews with an individual who used to work with BCG pre-MBA and had an offer with Bain post-MBA before turning it down to pursue other career options. Another was with Peter Copstake, the Executive in Residence and former Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Manulife Financial. Peter's session was more centered on how to really come across strong in an interview and more on his take on seeking employment. These sessions were smaller, 5 to 10 people, and therefore offered people more of a chance to get the information they wanted.

Also, the MBA office has arranged a special tax session for the international students in the class. This session was designed to help familiarize people with the Canadian tax system who have never filed taxes in Canada. Many people assumed that if they are not a permanent resident (PR) or citizen that they do not need to file taxes, but that is incorrect. Simply being in Canada for a certain period requires that you file an income tax statement whether you are a PR/citizen or not.

In other news, two of our classmates are in Pittsburgh this week as they were accepted to a business plan competition. So far things are going okay for them as they have made it past the first round. The idea they are pitching involves gold from tailings. 1st place is supposed to be a significant amount of money with part of it in cash and part of it in professional services (i.e. lawyer fees, marketing, etc). In addition, there is another pair of students finishing up a tour of 4 business plan competition through the US. Not sure how they are doing, but I hope it has gone well for them.

The MBA hockey team managed to get a much needed win this week to allow us the chance to make playoffs. People continue to meet-up to play squash and workout. Wednesday the exchange students had a gathering to celebrate a birthday and a good portion of the class showed up. Also, this weeks point four will be at the Merchant. Finally, Brian Adams was in town and some people went to check out his performance at the K-Rock center. As it turns out, Brian Adams was born in Kingston.

People are continuing their search for full-time employment. Some of my classmates are negotiating the details of offers recently received. Others are taking the next block of electives off to focus purely on their search. In addition, people continue to contact alumni to get advice and see what opportunities might be out there.

There is a rumour that the class size has been expanded for the incoming cohort. This is in response to the overwhelming demand for spots this year. In the next couple of weeks there is supposed to be an official statement released by the program director. I will be sure to post the details so that the incoming students that follow this blog can see the details.

Surprisingly there are still a large number of perspective students coming to the school for interviews. I met a few this week over lunch and will likely meet some more this coming week. Most seem nice and they really appreciate the opportunity to discuss the program with the students.

Finally, a few official administrative e-mails have been sent out. One is for convocation concerning who will be attending and how many seats they want to reserve. The other is for awards as voted by the class for who should be given the instructor award, team award, valedictorian and individual leadership award. Nominations are due the end of March with voting taking place sometime soon after. These awards will them be bestowed during the graduation dinner on Saturday, April 18th.

Next week Block D of electives starts. This weekend will be filled with some much needed RnR, while getting any prep work for the next set of electives out of the way.

100 Best Blogs for MBA Students

Today I received an interesting e-mail informing me that my blog, and many others, had been included in a “100 Best Blogs for MBA Students" list. Looks like I made #35. This looks like it could be a good sources of information for people considering an MBA.

Week 44: Electives - Block C (t-minus 7 weeks)

Week 44 is ending leaving one week left in Block C of electives and 7 weeks left in the program. Also, the weather has started to warm up (e.g. it is currently 6 degrees C in Kingston as I write this), which means spring is on the way. This also means rain and continuously grey, overcast skies.

Investments was focused on Equity Valuation techniques. Specifically, using dividend discount models, free cash flow to the firm and other methods to establish what a good price for a stock should be. Today we have a guest speaker. Brian Shaw, the CEO of CIBC Capital Markets from 2005-2008, will be talking to the class. Also, we are all working on evaluating the company we chose as the assignment is due Monday morning at 8 AM. After that assignment there is just the final next Friday.

Advanced Topics in Marketing continues to be a course focused on marketing more difficult products/services (e.g. hybrid cars, solar panels, etc.). This week the class had a speaker from Proctor and Gamble, who was the brand manager for Olay in Canada. She discussed her efforts for online marketing and various issues surrounding brand management. Today is a class focused on Canadian tourism. One of the main group assignments is for each team to present an aspect of Canadian tourism sometime next week.

Services Management continues to be based on discussions surrounding different cases that present issues surrounding services in a variety of industries (e.g. Hotels, pharmacies, etc.). Throughout the course there are 7 cases. Each student is expected to complete a write-up on any 2 of these cases. In addition, each case is presented by a certain group to the class. Overall people seem to be enjoying this course and the work. A few people completed the very first 2 cases for their individual write-ups and had their group present one of the first few cases. As a result, all they have left to do is to attend class to get participation marks.

This week the hockey team played their 3rd last game. It corresponded with this week's point four, so the stands were full of rowdy MBA students cheering the team on. This weekend will likely be filled with work as people push to get any final assignments complete.

Julia Blackstock has been having a series of smaller sessions to assist people with preparing to continue their search for full-time employment after the program. The good news is that there are still people managing to secure interviews and offers. I just heard of a friend of mine who has been made an offer.

As for myself, I have been taking advantage of the alumni network to continue to learn more about other areas I had previously thought my skill set would not apply. As it so happens, the management consulting companies in Calgary may like my credentials and not all of them focus on IT and telecom, despite my original impressions. This means that I need to begin getting ready for a potential "case interview". At first I was a little hesitant, but preparing for a case interview will make me that much better at interviewing in general. With any luck I will find myself in an interview with a management consultant that values my oil and gas experience and background.