differences between home and exchange schools

It has taken a bit long for me to write, because I wanted to post a long, researched article on the differences between home and exchange schools during an MBA. I am enjoying every moment of my time here in New York (who wouldn't!), and I strongly recommend the experience to anybody who is doing an MBA with an international profile. Here is how being abroad compared with my home London Business School:

- since I've accepted a job offer, I can focus on my academics, extra-academics, and the city itself!! This clears your mind from worries, and your schedule from the time-consuming job search. Coming on exchange is a decision that should be meditated (since it's to be taken around march of your 1st year), but if you think you'll get a job offer from your internship, or from the october milkround, go ahead!

- if you take a look at the euro-dollar exchange rate (and bearing in mind that my future salary is in euros!), you'll see why every time Bernanke goes out there and cuts interest rates, I smile...

- New York's weather is different than London's. It doesn't rain so much (although we've had some snow). It's also colder here (but you can easily solve that by wearing another layer, or turning on the heating).

Now, the US MBA experience is a bit different from the European MBA experience. US schools, in general (and God knows I should not generalize, but you can look at the BusinessWeek's rankings to contrast this). For starters, my impression is that students are much younger (maybe it's me who is feeling older in my 2nd year?). Also, they have less business experience, which makes class discussions less rich (still, American students tend to compensate this by being more outspoken). Also, even though there are a few Spaniards, Italians, and French among the students, there tends to be less diversity than at LBS.

Professors, on the other hand, are very good. I'm taking 4 full credit and 1 half credit courses, and I'm very happy with both the topics and the instructors:

- Valuation with Aswath Damodaran. A real valuation, and finance in general, guru. Doesn't get any better.
- Real Estate Operations with Harry Chernoff. An insightful professor and entrepreneur who has made a fortune in NY real estate, trying to share his knowledge.
- Venture Capital Financing with Roy Smith. Professor Smith has been Managing Partner of Goldman Sachs, and has been involved in a great deal of transactions involving start-up firms.
- Advanced Strategy Analysis, with Prof. Gonçalo Pacheco de Almeida, is a great course on some cool strategic concepts (disruption, critical mass, industry convergence, etc)
- Finally, my favorite is Competitive Strategies in the Marketplace, by Prof. john Cziepel. This course considers strategy from a military standpoint (who is attacking, who is defending?), is very applied and implies working on a case and presenting it to the class at the end of the term.

As during the rest of my MBA, you can see a combination of both Finance as well as Strategy courses.

Apart from the academics, the exchange is also an opportunity to do some more networking. The group of exchange students here in NY is very nice, and we do quite a few things together (among them , of course, going out for drinks and dining out!). And there are some interesting conferences and events at NYU, just like the ones at LBS, which allow you to interact with the broader business community of New York.

So, as you can see, there are some differences, as could be expected, but in general, I am very happy with the experience of coming here and living again in the US. And this city is great, I am actually starting to wonder what could I do to come back work here....;)

...the pre-eminent global business school???

I have been researching some flight ticket prices to go to LA in a couple of weeks for my 2nd year project, and came to think about the many places I've visited, and the great international exposure I've had since I came to London to study at the London Business School. In fact, the school pomotes itself as the "pre-eminent global business school", whatever that might be. I must say that I had a lot of international experience before my MBA (a couple of languages spoken, lived in 6 countries, visited extensively 35 countries, etc...). But I must say that the school has exceeded my expectations in terms of internationalization.

So, let's look at the evidence (and to all those from a certain other business school, you know who you are, I know your school is also very international. I'm not trying to prove the contrary, so stop flaming me! :)

- very diverse student and faculty body: Honestly, I had worked internationally before. That, for me, meant working with an Italian, a Pole, and a Dutch on European projects. Or with a Brazillian and a Chinese (suppliers from emerging markets). At school, I had to work with people with double citizenships, people who had lived in 3 different continentes, Indians, Americans, Mexican, Chilean, Chinese, and even a few Brits! Expand your horizons, dude!

- social travelling: allright, I have always loved to travel, and the past year has provided a lot of opportunities to do so. But I've been to so many places!! I went to France to ski, to Barcelona on a weekend with some classmates, to Japan with the Japan Interests Club, to France to play rugby at MBAT, to Mexico for a wedding...and of course quite a few times home, and to visit friends in Brussels, Luxembourg and Paris.

- academic travelling: yeah, you thought biz school was all about the books and the parties? On an academic sphere, I've been to Amsterdam to visit a flower wholesale market, I'm going to LA for my project (and I'll probably go there again in January), and I'm going to spend a whole term in New York, New York (OMG, I'm counting the days...if only I had a job offer already!!!). The opportunities for exchange are almost endless, depending on your interests, with exchange partners in practically all continents.

- career travelling: at London Business School we don't have to do banking treks like other schools do, because the banks do come from around the corner to see us ;). However, the increasing global reach of the school is patent also in the places where students go to visit companies. In my case, I went to Madrid (duh!) and Dubai (huh?). Some other people went to Hong Kong (on an Asia banking trek) and Silicon Valley.

Of course, I could mention also the cases, based on companies from all over the world, the regional clubs at school, that organize activities related to the relevant cultures, and especially Tattoo, the school's yearly celebration of diversity, and which this year took place just last saturday. We enjoyed food from all over the world (I crave for Korean barbeque ever since!), beautiful shows (the Spanish club brought in a flamenco show, but among many other things there were also Chinese dragon dances, Indian dances, Salsa, bagpipe players, and a Brazilian samba carnival parade!!!).

Was the fact that it is a very international school influence my decision of which business school to attend? Yes. Am I happy with the results?? Absolutely. Want more evidence? I have noticed that, whenever you ask any 2nd year exchange student (mostly from American, but in general from any other business school) what has struck them most about coming to London, they will undoubtedly say: "The diversity here at school. You can't compare it with what we have at home".

QED (for those geeks out there who read this blog)

New York, New York!!!

The results of the Exchange programme allocation are out, and I have been awarded a place to exchange in Stern, School of Business at NYU. So, I will be moving to New York for a term during the next academic year!!!

There were many things that attracted me to Stern/NYU, among them:

- high quality academic standing. At NYU there have been Nobel prizes like Severo Ochoa, Paul Samuelson or even the father of modern freemarket theory Frederik Hayek. Not only that, but the business school is the alma mater of Mr Alan Greenspan himself!!
- the possibility to enhance my knowledge in Finance, Marketing and Media, areas where NYU is one of the world's leading schools, and of course
- being able to live in NY, NY for 4 months!!

The school is located in Greenwich Village, in one of the funniest and most interesting areas of the whole Manhattan island. I cannot be happier!!

Of course, it will be sad to leave London, which is a fantastic place, but this will only be a temporary fling and I will stay loyal to my current hometown....I cannot help thinking, however, who would have told me that I would end up living in the city that never sleeps???

I am already meeting some exchange students from Stern next week, but any practical information on the school, the city, accommodation, etc, will be highly appreciated!!

Now there are many decisions upcoming: which term to choose (this is going to be like doing 'encaje de bolillos' with all the open options regarding electives, my flat in London whose lease expires in August, the search for a full-time job and for a second year project, etc). However, it's time to celebrate! WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

BTW, thanks to Patxi for letting me know about tinyurl, a great tool to avoid copying & pasting lengthy links over the internet. I wonder whether and how the guys who created it make money, though...