January 2008 - Posts
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I just have to give a shout-out to my Class of 08 Section C classmates who will represent UCI in the ACG Cup competition. C4 Capital Partners is made up of Dimitri Krikelas, Vishal Mehra, Bill Ryan and John Xie. They beat out six other UCI MBA program teams to represent us against USC, Chapman, Pepperdine and Cal State Fullerton. The winning team will take home a $10,000 prize.
The ACG Cup challenges students to create the best solution to a realistic financial problem for a fictional company. The contest also allows MBA students who are eyeing a career in finance a chance to network with ACG members who are investment bankers, hedge fund managers and mergers-and-acquisition specialists.
We're all really proud of you guys. I know you put in a lot of time, effort and hard work, and it paid off. Now go kick some butt!
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I'm just here to second Barbara's post about numbers. Sometimes when I read yelp.com or some other review site, just one review or comment doesn't always sway me. So, here I am, the English major who hasn't taken a math class since HIGH SCHOOL calculus, agreeing with the fact that the numbers are manageable at Merage.
When I was a little kid, I used to love numbers. I have synesthesia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) , which means that in my brain, letters and numbers are inherently colored. Just like the sky IS blue and the leaves ARE green, to me, 5 IS yellow and 9 IS red. So - numbers were fun because they were pretty, and I understood them really quickly (I memorized the times tables with lightning speed because it was really easy to remember that 7x7 = RED).
However, when it came time to do things like sine and cosine, things weren't as fun. No, I take it back. They sucked.
Fast forward two decades and you have the English nerd blankly staring at the whiteboard during the first day of Econ. And Stats. And Accounting. And Corporate Finance. "This is going to be awful," I thought. But a couple of things saved me during each of these number-heavy courses. First, the instruction in several classes was phenomenal. Professor Trevino helped me through Econ in a way that I never thought was possible. In Stats, using Excel for the first half of the quarter made it completely understandable. Even more helpful was that a fellow teammate of mine with a degree of the numbers-type spent hour upon hour helping me understand the concept. That someone would voluntarily help me so much in the program was a great feeling. It is because of the professors and the students that I have succeeded in all things numbers at Merage.
For you math-types out there, don't worry. There are plenty of writing lovers like me in the class who would literally rather write the entire 10 page paper than complete the accounting, stats or finance case. It all balances out. So, don't worry. Take the GMAT, and take a week or two to study up on the mathematical concepts beforehand. It's just one test, and the real learning is done once you become a FEMBA.
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Whenever people find out I’m in UCI’s MBA program, the question I inevitably get is “How do you do handle the math?” For years I was scared of numbers. They didn’t interest me and I didn’t understand them. I picked communications as my undergrad major partly because it required virtually no math.
So as I began my quantitative prep for the GMAT, it had been a long 15 years since my last math class. At first the process was brutal. I struggled with a lot of frustration and wrong answers. Then, one day I was showing my big GMAT prep book to my very smart neighbor Suzanne, who was in ninth grade at the time. She flipped it open and began solving problems. As I watched her, I remember being amazed that she didn’t know to be afraid of math – she just dove in as if it were a challenging puzzle. After that, I changed my outlook. I practiced and learned algebra, geometry and data sufficiency for months on end. I took the GMAT, and while my quantitative scores didn’t break any world records, they were decent enough. I started class at UCI with a new confidence, but there was one hurdle left— a required statistics class. I had never taken stats before, and in my mind it was just a bunch of indecipherable charts and graphs that would mean nothing to me. I was convinced that it would be the most dreadful, hardest class I’d ever taken.
And boy was I wrong! Professor Eppel was a brilliant instructor. Not only did he have a passion for teaching and showing us how to use stats in everyday life (on Excel even!) he made the class valuable and fun. Of course I relied on my team to help me through some things (especially Josh, who every week made sure I understood the concepts in the individual homework assignments). I remember being so happy when I got my midterm exam grade back: a 94%! My final score in the class was an 89%, good for a B+. Yes, I was very close to an A- but that B+ grade still makes me proud almost two years later. Today at work, I have no problems with extracting numbers from financial documents and putting them into my written marketing communications pieces. I’ve even been known to bust out a few Excel charts from the functions I learned in Professor Eppel’s class. Thanks to my experiences at UCI, I have confidence to work with numbers and use them to my advantage.So when people ask that question, “How do you handle the math?” I simply smile and say “Just fine.”
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I could have been almost-famous a la reality tv – maybe – if I had been at Merage three years ago.
A couple of nights ago, I watched the debut of “The Millionaire Matchmaker” on Bravo (it was on after my secret reality tv vice, The Real Housewives of Orange County. Please don’t hold that against me). Basically, the show chronicles a boutique matchmaking firm that pairs wealthy albeit socially awkward millionaire men with younger, hotter women. The name of the Matchmaker herself, Patti Stagner, seemed eerily familiar, but I couldn’t fathom how I would have known this woman.
So, being the email junkie that I am, I searched my inbox for her name. Lo and behold, a series of conversations popped up from early 2005 (thanks Gmail!) that I had with Patti, the new reality tv maven of millionaire love. Three years ago, I had applied with her company to do freelance PR and writing. She and I seemed to click via email, but one of her staff members didn’t return several of my calls and then accused me of being “flaky” both to me and to Patti, my prospective employer. Needless to say, I was quite peeved.
Instead of handling the situation with grace and professionalism, I bit back and informed Patti that I wouldn’t be able to work with her right-hand-staffer (who was about 19 at the time, mind you) if she was going to act this way. Well, that went over like a lead balloon, and needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
Working in a team environment at Merage, as well as taking part in numerous cooperative activities and excellent Organizational Behavior classes, has taught me a thing or two about working with others in a collaborative environment. Sometimes, working with people that have different backgrounds and knowledge than you is scary and intimidating – but it’s a necessary reality of life that teaches patience, listening, and respect. In fact, opinions and thoughts contrary to my own have been the foundation to some of the best projects and assignments that my team has completed at Merage. I have been humbled and have gained respect for differences that have made me a much better manager today.
So Patti (and yes…second-in-command-girl who called me “flaky,” you too…) – I wish you luck on your show. Sorry for being defensive. I guess you aren’t looking for any PR services now, are you?
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We've only had one class in Finance this quarter, but I've already been able to apply some basic knowledge to my everyday tasks.
Aside from being the Marketing Manager for Irvine Spectrum Center, I also help run my husband's software startup. We produce private corporate social networks to encourage tacit knowledge sharing. We're small yet strong - this year has resulted in explosive growth that's seen revenues increase by a factor of 10 since April. Of course, this has also resulted in long nights and weekends for me, since my role has grown to assume all HR, PR, A/R, A/P, and just about all other two-letter acronyms you'd find in a company. Between my marketing job, my Merage studies, and my "second" job with the startup - I have been one busy lady (the cashier at Chipotle across the street from our house knows my name now - we buy way too many meals there when we don't have time to cook for ourselves).
So where does my first Finance class come into play (aside from realizing that eating at Chipotle too often has a negative effect on my bank account)? Last week we had a crash course in the Time Value of Money, something which I've always understood conceptually but have never put it into play. After doing the homework, I decided to input actual the startup's finances into multiple formulas...just to see what I could understand. After a few attempts, I was quite impressed at my amateur finance handiwork.
I calculated the current value of a client's account who pays monthly, devising other payment options at lower costs to them but in up-front annual and quarterly lump sums. I calculated the interest that we could have received from one particularly late client's fees, using it to stress the importance of getting paid on time to others. I marvelled at the wonder of compound interest that will be earned if we invest $100,000 even in the most basic ING savings account for a few years. Money can be a very powerful asset to a small company - you just have to put it to work for you.
Finance isn't really my forte (I was an English major, after all) - but if I have become this much more proficient in one week's time, I am excited to see how much more effective I'll be at the end of the quarter.
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It was kind of a rollercoaster. I started out very confident in my own ability and in the capabilities of my study group. Around midterm time I was pretty sure I was not going to pass! In the end everything worked out fine, but that fear of failure made me work really hard (and memorize a lot for the finals).
I love my small group. One of our first exercises in Organizational Analysis was to draft a team contract. Relieved to find that we had similar goals and motivation for being in the program. During the opening residential we felt we were a very strong team and had high expectations going into our first quarter at Merage. Org Analysis takes you outside yourself -- you are studying how people behave within teams and organizations and start looking at how the course concepts apply to your own study group's performance within the course. My group agreed to study my company for the term project. I recommend this to everyone -- use your own company for class projects if you can. There's security in knowing that you can access as much information as you need as late as you need it. Especially if your company is helping pay your tuition, you can show your boss that the program provides real benefits. It also makes the pressure/motivation to perform higher because your reputation with your boss is also on the line!
When I was applying I really wanted to know how big a time commitment the program was. When they say that you shouldn't count on having much spare time at the opening residential, they are right -- we worked pretty late every night and even during meals and breaks we were very focused on the program. At the beginning of the quarter we were meeting regularly before class but by midterm time when we started in on our Org Analysis term project we were putting in about 8 hours a week as a team and I was doing another 8 hours by myself on reading and doing microeconomics problems. The quarter went by very fast, and the time commitment didn't seem onerous (even with day job, husband and two kids).
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I’m not really sure what I’ve done with my newfound free time these past four weeks during winter break. My Monday nights were free. My Wednesday nights were free. Suddenly, the empty refrigerator had a reason to be filled – there was time to cook and to eat a homemade meal. I took a week off work and my husband and I spent seven semi-relaxing days with family over Christmas. I read for pleasure, played the Wii, interrogated my sister’s new love interest, cleaned the house and repeatedly checked my email to make sure that I hadn’t missed some UCI function or pre-class reading assignment for Winter quarter. My inbox stayed empty. I slowly learned to relax and enjoy my first real break since Christmas 2006 – my final pre-FEMBA holiday.
Going to Grad School was a decision made on a whim but was actually years in the making, quietly simmering somewhere in the back of my brain. I’m a learning junkie – one of those rare kids that actually LIKED going to school. I had graduated college, worked a few jobs, and knew that I wanted more. I just didn’t know what that really meant. Nowadays, it means long days of work, then class, then back home to spend a few precious moments with my husband before I pass out exhausted. It means learning tools and tactics that I get to apply every day at work. It means lots of reading, lots of writing, and lots of group work. But it also means pride and satisfaction, both of which I feel when I experience tangible results in my everyday life because of my FEMBA courses. This is the “more” that I had wanted.
Yes, free time is less prevalent in our lives. Yes, we are tired at the end of a long day of meetings, emails, homework, and lecture. But we’re a different breed than most. We thrive on constant movement. We’re used to juggling jobs, families, school, and a social life. We can’t imagine going back to school full time – because this planet won’t slow down for 2 years while we get an education. We want it all, and more importantly, we know we can achieve it all, even at the expense of a little sleep. We know our lives and careers will be infinitely better because of our actions today. This is what being a FEMBA student is all about.
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