The MBA Student Voice

Learning about the economic crisis

I've been meaning to post for quite some time about one of my classes that I am currently taking, called The Crisis. Taught by one of my very favorite Anderson professors, Romain Wacziarg, this class has focused entirely on the economic recession of 2008-09. The class has been taught in a workshop style, so that it is more of a conversation between the professor and students than a 90-minute lecture. Another unique aspect of the teaching style is that Prof. Wacziarg has maintained a blog with links to current events surrounding the crisis, using this to complement the class discussions and also stimulate further back-and-forth outside of class.

Interestingly enough, this is one of two classes I'm taking this quarter that is being taught for the first time, that was essentially created for us, this year. I'll write about the other one -- "The CMO Experience" -- in another post soon.

The Fire Hose Continues to Spew

The fire hose of opportunity that we drink out of here at UCLA Anderson continued to spew at a brilliant pace this week. 

Last weekend, a few of us from school went to the MIT Sloan Sports Business Analytics Conference in Boston.  It was an incredible thrill to meet and hear speak some of the people in the sports industry that I greatly admire.  The icing on the cake was that we had the chance to meet with them after the panels and at the networking reception.  Just to name a few: we had the chance to meet Brian Burke (Toronto Maple Leafs), Adam Silver (NBA), John Collins (NHL), Daryl Morey (Houston Rockets), Mike Forde (Chelsea FC), Bill Simmons (ESPN), and Rich Gotham (Boston Celtics).  They were all really accessible and engaging.  I learned so much about the industry just from the conference.  Simmons recapped the conference on his blog. 

And then just like that, another Finals Week came upon us.  

To recap our progress: there are ten classes in what we call the Core, which are the classes that everyone has to take and that everyone takes within the same section.  We took five of those classes last quarter (I placed out of one and got to fill it with an elective).  Heading into this quarter, we were halfway through the Core. 

So here's what is upcoming (Capitals fans like me will recognize this as the Mercedes Benz of Alexandria Road Ahead)

Starting tomorrow, we have three straight days of finals, all of which start at 8 AM and all of which end at 11 AM.  This quarter, it's been Operations, Corporate Finance, and another session of Marketing which has been more focused on the quantitative side. Thus, on Wednesday at 11 AM, we will be 80% done with the Core.  

Then, Mrs. V and I will spend Spring Break in Japan with 90 of our classmates.  We start in Kyoto, then hit Hiroshima and then a few days in Tokyo.  Very exciting!  This is probably the only chance I will have to travel to Japan with a bunch of classmates and organized by Japanese people. 

Next quarter, we will have two more Core classes, plus we will all for the most part be taking two electives. To be honest, as good as some of the core classes are, the point of business school from a classroom perspective are the electives.  I'm excited about my two: Entertainment Strategy, which will give me a broader background on the global entertainment industry; and a class called Leadership and Ethics which is taught by the former mayor of Los Angeles, Richard Riordan, and which has a fantastic roster of guest lecturers and speakers.  

So essentially, this week resembles my time at business school - drinking from a fire hose and yet never getting enough! 

-- Sreesha