Wooing Weekend at MIT Sloan

So I was in Boston this past weekend, flew in on Thu actually, to attend the MIT Sloan admit weekend for Rd 1 admits. We were invited to spend Fri and Sat at Sloan to find out how wonderful and cool Sloan is and all that. Events were organized during the day on Fri and Sat plus some ‘parties’ at nite. Fri nite I was so freakin’ tired I had no chance of attending any of those ‘parties’. I attended the one on Sat nite and it was good.

The day events consisted of testimonials from Sloan alumni on their pre-, during-, and post-Sloan experiences; classroom style discussion-lecture sessions; short lectures by three profs in marketing, finance, and entrepreneurship; career ‘fairs’ with student club members; mini-sessions on academic life, trips/treks, and financial aid etc.

Here are some of the highlights:

Things that caught me by surprise
--Most of the admits were normal and NOT nerdy! That was cool you know it being MIT and all. I got along famously with every single person that I met which was refreshing. Majority of the kids were not alpha-doggy types.

Best part of the weekend
--By far this had to be the short lecture by this diminutive German Prof of Finance. Her lecture on VC/PE lasted about 20 min and I haven’t been in a lecture like that before. She was feisty with lots of graphs and numbers which all seemed to make sense. How great did I think it was? Let me tell you how. Prior to that lecture I had absolutely no interest in a career in VC/PE and right after the lectures ended I walked straight into the career fair on VC/PE!

Lamest thing of the weekend
--This current student, with a prior drama degree no less, ended up making us dance at 10 AM on Sat morning in the auditorium. Apparently his prof at Sloan did it as it was part of ‘peeling your personality’ layer by layer to make you an effective leader. Forget peeling layers brother, I hated having to shake my body vigorously at 10 AM on a Sat morning after a nite on short rest.

Things that were done well
--With the attention span of a 2 year old I hate it when things run over the scheduled time. Much to my surprise every single event ended on or pretty freakin’ close on time. Time Nazis these Sloan kids! Me likey!

Things that could have been handled better
--Lunch on Friday was arranged so that new admits would be seated with current students with relevant backgrounds. While I did end up sitting next to a guy who was getting into a career that I am interested in, I would have liked to speak to a kid who was coming in with my educational background. The career fair sessions could have been organized better too-maybe broken up into smaller groups. The events on Sat about Financial Aid and Academic life could have been handled better too.

“You did what?” things that I did
--The Dean of Sloan walked to our group on Fri eve during social hour. I seized the opportunity to put him on the spot. I told him that I was considering going to Wharton or Sloan and so what would be his pitch to me on why I should go to Sloan (he spent 26 years at Wharton before moving to Sloan). Guys in my group looked at me as they saw a ghost or something! The Dean to his credit humored me and did his spin on how Sloan is all about people and all that. As I was about to leave he winked at me and said “Hope to see you in August”! Right after we walked to another group one of guys in my group said “Dude, not sure if that was balsy or plain stupidity!”

Things that made me warm and fuzzy inside
--Three admits randomly walked upto me and thanked me! I had no freakin’ clue why at first but then they went on to explain that they followed my posts on an online forum during the admissions process at Sloan and apparently my posts got them through nervous times. My online handle at this forum is ‘kondum’ as well so they figure that out by looking at my real name. Hey, I am all for helping people in nervous times!

So what-u-saying? You going to Sloan bro?
--Well to be a smartass Sloan is the only admit I have so far. Seriously though, look, to me the important things about deciding on a school are: will the school open new doors for you career-wise, are the profs accessible, is the class size small enough to get attention, and are your classmates inclined to have fun and not alpha dogs. Sloan is a go on all those fronts. Enough said.

Now, let’s see what Wharton has to say on March 27.