Monday, February 25, 2008

Traveling before your MBA

I've heard from many admits that they would like to travel before their MBAs but that the cost of an MBA and the lost income are already enough burdens from a financial perspective. Then there's also other issues faced such as health insurance coverage, leases for your apartment, etc. Hopefully this post will change your minds though.

Cost/lost income: Say you decide to travel for 3 months before your MBA. And let's say you earn $4K a month post-tax. So you'll forfeit $12K for the 3 months - that's about the same as the average sign-on bonus after our MBAs! Also, the cost of traveling is probably about the same as the living expenses during that time. The money you save on rent (say $2400 for 3 months) can be used for a round the world ticket. The remaining living expenses (utilities, food, car, nightlife) you save will get you quite far when you back pack! Btw, this is also a great way to use all those frequent flier miles since your travel dates are most likely very flexible.

Update: At LBS, you can also expect to make about $30K through your summer internship and the Second Year Project. Check the stats for 2008 here (expand "Tuition fees and funding").

Health insurance: Yes when you quit your job you'll lose your benefits (in the US at least). But you can either enroll in COBRA, which is quite costly (was $350/month for me). Alternatively, there are travel insurance packages that cover you while on your trip (outside of the US only though!). I paid $260 for a 5 month coverage (no deductibles) with very good coverage (e.g. $1M in medical benefits). The insurance company I used was HTH Travel (picked TravelGap Voyager - plan for those without domestic insurance during travel). There are also a bunch more listed on The US Department of State website. The website also lists non-US providers.

Apartment: Ok if you own your place, then I can't really speak to this. But if you rent, then sublet your place or ask your landlord/landlady if you can terminate the lease 3 months ahead (depending on your terms). If finding someone to sublet is hard for your luxury penthouse then consider subsidizing it with a couple bucks.

Most importantly I believe that the time before your MBA will be your last chance in your life to just take off 3 months (yes I sound so dramatic :-). After your MBA, you most likely have to start that new job soon, then one day you'll have family, and soon you'll rather go to that all-inclusive resort with your kids. So even if you forfeit $20K in total during those three months - it's little cash when considering the amount we'll make over the next 30 years as corporate slaves.

Ok, enough of my crap - but hopefully I could convince some of you :-).

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Last class at my non-profit

As mentioned in my first post, I have been an ESL teacher at BEAM in Boston for the past 2.5 years. Since last year I've also served as a board member. As I'm preparing for my departure from Boston in March, another BEAM teacher (who is also going to b-school this fall) and I held a little farewell class this Sunday. I always love when students bring foods from their countries. Yummy!

Anyways, the reason I'm posting this is to find replacement teachers. If you enjoy teaching ESL classes on a voluntary basis and are still looking for a solid extracurricular activity to boost that resume then let me know! BEAM is only in Boston (Allston). The past 2.5 years at BEAM have been a lot of fun and a great way to meet interesting people and learn more about other cultures.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

LBS R1 stats

So as you noticed in my previous post on the LBS yield we can't publish any hard figures obtained from the LBS portal. Some admits from previous years have done so (not knowing that you probably shouldn't do so - we greatly appreciate it though!). Below is a chart with the R1 yield % for this year and the past two years (class of 08 = 75%, class of 09 = 72%). As you can tell, the yield has been going down slightly, which is surprising considering the increase in application volumes over the past years. It can be explained though looking at the number of admits in R1: For the class of 08 it was 140, then the year after 179, and this year it is again higher. Maybe LBS is changing its strategy and accepting more people in R1 (and less in R2) since R1 admits in general are more likely to attend (class of 08 R1 yield: 75% vs. R2 yield of only 59%). Maybe more top students now apply who end up choosing Harvard or Stanford over LBS. Or maybe I just have no fu?king clue :-). Anybody have an idea? Anyways, here is the chart (the yield has gone down only slightly).

Another beautiful chart I made (can you tell I'm getting bored now that the application process is over for me?):

Update: Out of curiosity I checked the yield by the nationalities shown above. All nationalities had higher yields than the average - except for zeee Chermans!!! Hardly anyone left! As a German myself, I can say that this is "Scheisse"! But on the other hand, good news for other Germans on the waitlist...

Haas Ding

I guess I'm a bit late with this post since I got the ding two weeks ago :-). Of course I was a bit disappointed when I read the message, even though Haas moved to my #3 choice of schools after LBS where I was already in.

So that is the end of my admissions experience I guess - there are no more schools where I'm awaiting a decision. I should probably consider myself very fortunate to have gotten two offers in a competitive year like this one. It's funny, during the application process I was desperately awaiting the end of this strenuous time. Now there's no excitement left. Instead I am bored at work (sometimes checking the BW forum though :-) and can't wait until my last day. Ok, I should probably stop whining since I only have 3 weeks left! And then I'm off to travel for 5 months before I finally move to London.

To all other applicants waiting on R2 and R3 (or even R4) decisions, I wish you best of luck!

As for me, this blog will slowly turn into an LBS blog I guess. LBS just released its R1 stats yesterday, which I will comment on in my next entry.