Update on Kellogg seminar
Got back home last night at 12:00 am after the Kellogg seminar. The seminar dint last that long but the three of us who went together (Swoop, Depack and me) had dinner in the city before heading home. Swoop kindly volunteered to drive with me as the navigator while Depack quietly suffered motion sickness and the heat in the back seat. It took us some time to find parking but once that was done we made it to the seminar with time to spare.
A few observations and notes from the seminar:
1. The conference room was a little small for the number of people there, with very little space for people to talk and walk around to participate in different conversations.
2. The alums were really friendly, I have to mention Daniele Ghioti who was incredibly helpful, he really took the time out to answer questions without once appearing to brush us off. Specially after a bunch of people kept asking him some damn fool questions (me included). After we discussed my career choices he whipped out his card and asked me to give him a call after I was done with my MBA, regardless of the school I went too, since he knew a number of people in that field. I really liked that attitude. I also noticed another Alum (Stuart) who was handing out his card to the group he was speaking with. So I rated Kellogg high in terms of people skills.
3. Curiously though, one of the impressions I got was that Kellogg had a slight bit of insecurity with regards to applicants they admit picking other schools over them. Probably because everyone was insistent on accepted applicants visiting their campus BEFORE sending checks to other schools.
4. The alums present were all pretty sharp, with a couple having outstanding communication skills, but this was more like an everyday Joe kind of group. Where you could be comfortable and not be worried that the guy next to you probably worked on the theory of relativity, and the girl behind discovered the cure for Cancer.
5. The main theme at Kellogg definitely is team work and team spirit, but the marketing strategy has changed slightly with other schools jumping on the bandwagon. Now there is more of a focus on Team-Work AND Team building/leadership. So something you might want to highlight on your essays.
6. The Kellogg representative did mention that there is no font/size restrictions. The only thing she said was that it should be easily readable. So if you are like Swoop and can squeeze in 1000 words in 2 pages with font size 10, it will do just as good as an essay with font size 11 with 700 words. I am sure that answers a lot of questions.
Now for the critique:
1. WHERE was the cheese? I am not kidding, most of the people coming for the seminar seemed to be coming straight from work. The seminar was to last a couple of hours, and there was no refreshments other than some soft drinks. It totally sucked. The three of us were hungry the whole time.
2. Another impression that all three of us concurred on (after comparing notes over dinner), was that the Kellogg representative seemed a little tired from the touring. Not that she wasn't efficient or anything, but just a feeling we got that it was more of a chore than this warm, fuzzy, gung-ho COME TO MY SCHOOL IT IS SO COOL! But can't blame her I guess, after answering the same questions on such a tight schedule as the MBA tour, she was probably at the end of her tether. But definitely not something you want your prospective students to see.
3. The seminar did not allocate more time for the Q & A. I am sure the Alums were all tired and exhausted, but so were the applicants and this is probably the best opportunity for them to sell their school and for us to soak it in.
All in all a solid B+ effort. Waiting to see how Harvard and Chicago stack up in comparison.
I did receive an email from Graham with regards to the Kellogg essay guidelines. His preference on the matter of sharing the guidelines would be, if the people interested contact him directly at info@clearadmit.com. To collect it directly from the source so as to speak.
A few observations and notes from the seminar:
1. The conference room was a little small for the number of people there, with very little space for people to talk and walk around to participate in different conversations.
2. The alums were really friendly, I have to mention Daniele Ghioti who was incredibly helpful, he really took the time out to answer questions without once appearing to brush us off. Specially after a bunch of people kept asking him some damn fool questions (me included). After we discussed my career choices he whipped out his card and asked me to give him a call after I was done with my MBA, regardless of the school I went too, since he knew a number of people in that field. I really liked that attitude. I also noticed another Alum (Stuart) who was handing out his card to the group he was speaking with. So I rated Kellogg high in terms of people skills.
3. Curiously though, one of the impressions I got was that Kellogg had a slight bit of insecurity with regards to applicants they admit picking other schools over them. Probably because everyone was insistent on accepted applicants visiting their campus BEFORE sending checks to other schools.
4. The alums present were all pretty sharp, with a couple having outstanding communication skills, but this was more like an everyday Joe kind of group. Where you could be comfortable and not be worried that the guy next to you probably worked on the theory of relativity, and the girl behind discovered the cure for Cancer.
5. The main theme at Kellogg definitely is team work and team spirit, but the marketing strategy has changed slightly with other schools jumping on the bandwagon. Now there is more of a focus on Team-Work AND Team building/leadership. So something you might want to highlight on your essays.
6. The Kellogg representative did mention that there is no font/size restrictions. The only thing she said was that it should be easily readable. So if you are like Swoop and can squeeze in 1000 words in 2 pages with font size 10, it will do just as good as an essay with font size 11 with 700 words. I am sure that answers a lot of questions.
Now for the critique:
1. WHERE was the cheese? I am not kidding, most of the people coming for the seminar seemed to be coming straight from work. The seminar was to last a couple of hours, and there was no refreshments other than some soft drinks. It totally sucked. The three of us were hungry the whole time.
2. Another impression that all three of us concurred on (after comparing notes over dinner), was that the Kellogg representative seemed a little tired from the touring. Not that she wasn't efficient or anything, but just a feeling we got that it was more of a chore than this warm, fuzzy, gung-ho COME TO MY SCHOOL IT IS SO COOL! But can't blame her I guess, after answering the same questions on such a tight schedule as the MBA tour, she was probably at the end of her tether. But definitely not something you want your prospective students to see.
3. The seminar did not allocate more time for the Q & A. I am sure the Alums were all tired and exhausted, but so were the applicants and this is probably the best opportunity for them to sell their school and for us to soak it in.
All in all a solid B+ effort. Waiting to see how Harvard and Chicago stack up in comparison.
I did receive an email from Graham with regards to the Kellogg essay guidelines. His preference on the matter of sharing the guidelines would be, if the people interested contact him directly at info@clearadmit.com. To collect it directly from the source so as to speak.
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