Now before I run out of “big school vs small school” topics and start on more generic “sell-Rotterdam School of Management-as-an-exchange-destination” J topics, let me talk about an “urban myth” of sorts that I haven’t been able to really conclude on.
Question : Are students in big US schools snobbish?
Stiffer upper lips?
Hoity toity-er?
Hmmmm….. Don’t look at ME for any answers or insights; I’m just a staff reporter! I just report. Neutrally, I may add.
But I could divulge what some people have told me in greatest confidence; a brief summary of their observations.
Answer: Yes, students in big US schools are definitely perceived to be “colder” than their smaller school counterparts. Less warm. Less inclusive.
Now let’s assume for a bit that that is true. Looking at the macro scenario, is that then simply a function of the size? I mean we’ve got 800- odd students in one class. One student can barely get to know all of his or her colleagues. Why should he or she care about some exchange students who are here for not even an entire semester? I completely buy that.
Now let’s look at the micro scenario.
Team interactions, parties, classroom interactions, bump-into-each-other-in-the-hallway moments etc . Unless the exchange student, in these situations, makes the first move to be friendly, he or she largely will get looked right through by others or at best subjected to short-term professional behavior (for whatever reason).
Okay let me be fair here. Why on earth would you intercept someone in the hallway or escalator and start a random conversation right? I mean really. There’s loads to do as it is. But what if you sit next to someone in class you haven’t met before or seems like a new face? Is it natural for you to strike up a conversation to get to know that person or not? From a small school perspective I know you’d probably be going out drinking with that person by that evening or you’d end up introducing that person to all your close friends and making other plans. Ok it doesn’t have to get THAT extreme (the drinking bit), but you know what I mean.
Inter-personal interactions need not be governed by the size of the class right?
Exchange students from my school who’ve been to bigger schools in the US in the past have “warned” me that people may not be so forthcoming and that I’d have to make all the effort if I were truly interested in getting to know people. That’s fine!
My colleagues who are currently on exchange in smaller schools (American or European) quote completely different experiences. Inclusive, warm and friendly new colleagues who go out of their way to make sure they’re comfortable and included in events and other goings on. One important aspect of their behavior I think is humility. You can take me up on this, but a smaller school crowd is largely humble in nature. And I think it’s this humility that makes it easier for them to come across as, to put it simply, nicer. How does this humility come into place you ask? From personal experience, since I’m part of a class that’s 98% international, we’ve been literally brain washed (in a nice way) to demonstrate the “right” inter-cultural behavior and “trained” about inter-personal sensitivity and behavioral issues. I don’t know whether that’s true for other small schools though.
Conclusion: Given my experiences in Wharton so far, what do I think? Let’s just say I did come here with little expectations and much to my delight have been pleasantly surprised so far! :)
(If you think you have a point of view and would like to comment, feel free to email me at smeetha@wharton.upenn.edu)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
This is how we be!
With the samba beats still ringing in my head from last night’s Brazilian party, I thought it interesting to contrast how we party back “home” in the Netherlands with what I see here. Simply, how do MBA students spend the most important part of their program in a small school versus a big school?
Having attended two of the most popular parties (so I’ve been told) in the program thus far, The White Party and the Brazilian Party (yes I missed the Foam party and I regret that deeply!), I must say I’m impressed! Not just with the operational components of the parties- the location, music etc.-but also the huge turnouts. These parties perhaps give good reason for all the eight hundred in one class (sixteen hundred with both classes) to gather at one place in search of that common goal I mentioned in my last article (goal: could be anything. Here it’s probably getting drunk and dancing the night away). These are the moments where I guess the class isn’t divided into cohorts and you all are just ONE class. What’s even better is that as you attend every party, and assuming you attend pretty much all of them in your first year, you’re still getting to know more and more people. You can look forward to something new and (hopefully) exciting every time.
Partying in a small school environment is definitely different! Since we don’t have the huge student numbers to benefit from, yes our parties aren’t big. But does size matter?
Theme parties, drink-till-you-get-wasted parties, national-theme parties (like the Brazilian) etc. Yes we have all of that. Operationally, the only difference would perhaps be that these are held in pubs and small clubs. As the parties wear on, one notices that one is seeing the same faces every time. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Since I prefer partying with people I’m close to and know well, this helps me enlarge that circle every time. Yes we do have our own cliques as well in a small MBA program and with a smaller class size, I know I don’t need to hang out in my clique or even have them at every party to have a great time.
Enough said about people. What about the other stuff?
Well, these parties are largely beer-oriented and much emphasis is placed on food. I guess with a class size of a hundred that’s not impossible to organize. We generally cycle up to the venue in all our finery (yes we even pick up dates on cycles!), and begin (like normal party people everywhere) around 11pm. It’s not uncommon to bar/pub hop in smaller groups and increasingly with time the trend was to finish off with a nightcap (read beer) at a ‘regular’ pub. Very homely, very ‘Cheers’-y. Barbecues (weather permitting) and house parties are very common too and with smaller numbers again, it isn’t difficult to accommodate most of the class. Too seek newer venues and perhaps new kinds of beer, we met up in pubs/clubs in the neighboring (and charming!) towns like Delft, Utrecht, Den Haag and of course, Amsterdam! And of course if you feel like you need a change in the party scene one weekend, Paris or London is, at best, a few hours away!
So am I going to say that I prefer small-school parties over the big-school ones. No. And it’s not because I’m a fence-sitter. It’s because they’re both completely unique and different experiences. Those only we lucky exchange students get to go through!
Having attended two of the most popular parties (so I’ve been told) in the program thus far, The White Party and the Brazilian Party (yes I missed the Foam party and I regret that deeply!), I must say I’m impressed! Not just with the operational components of the parties- the location, music etc.-but also the huge turnouts. These parties perhaps give good reason for all the eight hundred in one class (sixteen hundred with both classes) to gather at one place in search of that common goal I mentioned in my last article (goal: could be anything. Here it’s probably getting drunk and dancing the night away). These are the moments where I guess the class isn’t divided into cohorts and you all are just ONE class. What’s even better is that as you attend every party, and assuming you attend pretty much all of them in your first year, you’re still getting to know more and more people. You can look forward to something new and (hopefully) exciting every time.
Partying in a small school environment is definitely different! Since we don’t have the huge student numbers to benefit from, yes our parties aren’t big. But does size matter?
Theme parties, drink-till-you-get-wasted parties, national-theme parties (like the Brazilian) etc. Yes we have all of that. Operationally, the only difference would perhaps be that these are held in pubs and small clubs. As the parties wear on, one notices that one is seeing the same faces every time. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Since I prefer partying with people I’m close to and know well, this helps me enlarge that circle every time. Yes we do have our own cliques as well in a small MBA program and with a smaller class size, I know I don’t need to hang out in my clique or even have them at every party to have a great time.
Enough said about people. What about the other stuff?
Well, these parties are largely beer-oriented and much emphasis is placed on food. I guess with a class size of a hundred that’s not impossible to organize. We generally cycle up to the venue in all our finery (yes we even pick up dates on cycles!), and begin (like normal party people everywhere) around 11pm. It’s not uncommon to bar/pub hop in smaller groups and increasingly with time the trend was to finish off with a nightcap (read beer) at a ‘regular’ pub. Very homely, very ‘Cheers’-y. Barbecues (weather permitting) and house parties are very common too and with smaller numbers again, it isn’t difficult to accommodate most of the class. Too seek newer venues and perhaps new kinds of beer, we met up in pubs/clubs in the neighboring (and charming!) towns like Delft, Utrecht, Den Haag and of course, Amsterdam! And of course if you feel like you need a change in the party scene one weekend, Paris or London is, at best, a few hours away!
So am I going to say that I prefer small-school parties over the big-school ones. No. And it’s not because I’m a fence-sitter. It’s because they’re both completely unique and different experiences. Those only we lucky exchange students get to go through!
Musings on exchange
The decision to come on exchange, way back in February, made me feel like I was embarking on a second MBA program. The day I bagged the seat at Wharton and the finer details of the move began unfolding (visa, housing, insurance etc. ), I had multiple experiences of déjà vu that took me back to when I was planning my move to Rotterdam way, way back in September 2007 . I questioned myself at times whether I was making the right choice, not about Wharton, but the move itself. Here I was in Rotterdam, comfortable in the pattern I had carved out for myself, enjoying the fruits of my investments in time, networking and friends. The final semester was the time to not only secure that job I was angling for but also strengthen the human ties I had created there, many of which I know will last a lifetime.
I was never the one to pass up an opportunity to explore the unknown and every aspect of the exchange program at Wharton involved discovering something new. That’s why I’m here and in fact I have something of a mental checklist for my short stay here. Let me tell you about what’s been covered so far.
I arrived in Philadelphia around two weeks before school started and after spending a rather sleepless night, tying to sleep off my jet lag, I decided to scout the school and the University. The rather modern Huntsman Hall flanked by older, more historic looking buildings was a pleasant surprise. The building was rather quiet with almost no one around and using the opportunity to snoop around the building and later the campus at leisure, I was almost in awe. Check. My “big American campus” experience had just begun.
Coming from a small business school with a class strength of around a hundred, the sheer number of students, once classes started, left me a trifle confused. Used to knowing everyone in my MBA program, (even if not really well, but well enough), I wonder how students at Wharton ever got to know their entire class. It would be near impossible and I wondered if people got lost in the crowd? I can imagine that each student is part of his or her own life and a sum of all these parallel lives, criss-crossing through each other, create the one Wharton MBA experience that the students go through. But has there ever been a single moment in the program where all the 800 odd students did something collectively that made them feel that they were all part of ONE thing (be it a life, team, family .. whatever) and that there were no parallel lives in existence. Just curious.
Of course there are many more advantages to having more students than less and one of the things I really love is the enthusiasm and energy with which the social events and club related activities are arranged here. Not only enthusiasm but the quality of work performed by the clubs immediately gives me an idea of how they’ve built and maintained credibility, resulting in high profile events and other activities we could only dream of in a small school.
My courses, in terms of content and teaching, have been great so far. Fortunately I’m used to both, so thankfully no surprises there for me. What is also relieving is the method of teaching and the quality of class participation. In class is where I really feel I could be back in Rotterdam. Check.
It’s still too early in the semester to start talking about the highs and lows of the exchange program as I’ve just only started to get to know people and find my way around. There are approximately thirty students on exchange this quarter and I wonder what they are going through and how their early days have been so far. More on them and my “check list” in future journals.
I’m only two checks down so far.
I was never the one to pass up an opportunity to explore the unknown and every aspect of the exchange program at Wharton involved discovering something new. That’s why I’m here and in fact I have something of a mental checklist for my short stay here. Let me tell you about what’s been covered so far.
I arrived in Philadelphia around two weeks before school started and after spending a rather sleepless night, tying to sleep off my jet lag, I decided to scout the school and the University. The rather modern Huntsman Hall flanked by older, more historic looking buildings was a pleasant surprise. The building was rather quiet with almost no one around and using the opportunity to snoop around the building and later the campus at leisure, I was almost in awe. Check. My “big American campus” experience had just begun.
Coming from a small business school with a class strength of around a hundred, the sheer number of students, once classes started, left me a trifle confused. Used to knowing everyone in my MBA program, (even if not really well, but well enough), I wonder how students at Wharton ever got to know their entire class. It would be near impossible and I wondered if people got lost in the crowd? I can imagine that each student is part of his or her own life and a sum of all these parallel lives, criss-crossing through each other, create the one Wharton MBA experience that the students go through. But has there ever been a single moment in the program where all the 800 odd students did something collectively that made them feel that they were all part of ONE thing (be it a life, team, family .. whatever) and that there were no parallel lives in existence. Just curious.
Of course there are many more advantages to having more students than less and one of the things I really love is the enthusiasm and energy with which the social events and club related activities are arranged here. Not only enthusiasm but the quality of work performed by the clubs immediately gives me an idea of how they’ve built and maintained credibility, resulting in high profile events and other activities we could only dream of in a small school.
My courses, in terms of content and teaching, have been great so far. Fortunately I’m used to both, so thankfully no surprises there for me. What is also relieving is the method of teaching and the quality of class participation. In class is where I really feel I could be back in Rotterdam. Check.
It’s still too early in the semester to start talking about the highs and lows of the exchange program as I’ve just only started to get to know people and find my way around. There are approximately thirty students on exchange this quarter and I wonder what they are going through and how their early days have been so far. More on them and my “check list” in future journals.
I’m only two checks down so far.
Friday, September 26, 2008
I miss you guys!!!!!!!!
Hey all
Can I please start off by saying how much I really and truly miss RSM and you all! SOB!
Ok now theatrics aside, I've been writing my own "blog" of sorts, albeit hard-copy, at Wharton. The weekly newsletter is called the Wharton Journal and I have been given free reign to write whatever I please (of COURSE I have to be diplomatic as well!!!). Nice of them! Keeps me busy on Thursday evenings for exactly 30 mins!
The next three posts are going to be the three articles and I will keep posting more stuff as time progresses. I've already started getting fan mails and am wondering whether the third and latest article is going to get me some hate mails as well.!LOL! Hope not!
Enjoy!
More later!
Can I please start off by saying how much I really and truly miss RSM and you all! SOB!
Ok now theatrics aside, I've been writing my own "blog" of sorts, albeit hard-copy, at Wharton. The weekly newsletter is called the Wharton Journal and I have been given free reign to write whatever I please (of COURSE I have to be diplomatic as well!!!). Nice of them! Keeps me busy on Thursday evenings for exactly 30 mins!
The next three posts are going to be the three articles and I will keep posting more stuff as time progresses. I've already started getting fan mails and am wondering whether the third and latest article is going to get me some hate mails as well.!LOL! Hope not!
Enjoy!
More later!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Adelante!
September has finally come. Summer associateship reports are due today. All done, hopefully the "remote submission" through the classmates in Rotterdam works.
The introduction to fellow exchangers here in Madrid a few days ago was good. Lots of nice people and we all walked around the campus like on a primary school day trip - haha!
The weather is superb. This week's schedule looks fluffy. Sounds good, let's go!
The introduction to fellow exchangers here in Madrid a few days ago was good. Lots of nice people and we all walked around the campus like on a primary school day trip - haha!
The weather is superb. This week's schedule looks fluffy. Sounds good, let's go!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Facebook group for incoming exchange students 2008
Just quickly: here's the link to the new Facebook group "RSM MBA Incoming Student Exchange, Fall 2008".
Friday, May 23, 2008
Who's in Madrid
The MBAT really did it for me: I can't wait to arrive in Madrid! "These people" from IE are amazing. We definitely had a great time at HEC. And I hope I'll find someone who has some pictures of the spontaneous Flip-Cup tournament (every match of which IE won...), maybe I'll post one here. I'm sure these are the right people to spend a few months with :-)
I also hope I'll find an apartment in Madrid soon. But there are some options that are sort of materializing. Good. Because, even though I'm only leaving to Spain at the end of August, I still have the summer associateship from next Tuesday until, yes, the end of August.
Stupid planning. Maybe. But what are you going to tell a company that offers you a summer job...
The only thing is, just like Andres writes, Rotterdam is nice in Summer! Why must I leave now!
-- In this spirit, Cologne, Madrid, here I come!!
I also hope I'll find an apartment in Madrid soon. But there are some options that are sort of materializing. Good. Because, even though I'm only leaving to Spain at the end of August, I still have the summer associateship from next Tuesday until, yes, the end of August.
Stupid planning. Maybe. But what are you going to tell a company that offers you a summer job...
The only thing is, just like Andres writes, Rotterdam is nice in Summer! Why must I leave now!
-- In this spirit, Cologne, Madrid, here I come!!
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