Power Yale

As we finished the Orientation, it is incredible how well the entire schedule was organized. Kudos and thanks to entire SOM staff for this. And what a way to finish this. The 20th of August simply talked about the powerful Yale brand and how we have to live up to its expectations. We started the day yesterday with a reception at the Yale Club. Christopher S. Granger'99 spoke about his experiences and how SOM had shaped his life. It was wonderful to listen to him while he gave us pointers on how to carve a successful MBA for ourselves. I personally value these kind of experiences by our Alums a lot. These experiences act as a very good feedback loop that keeps checking if we are on the right track at least! More importantly, they keep inspiring us.Next on the schedule were the company visits. Yeahhh.! Company vists. We had company visits yesterday and this is even before the School has started! There were roughly about twenty companies. We were seated according to the company we were visiting. It is a great initiative for the incoming students to get a feel of what the real picture is. It reflects our seniors’ perspective on what we may/may not do to tackle things two years from now and during our MBA. It compels us to think harder on what we want out of our MBA. I headed to Mckinsey after this. Ivan Kerbel, our CDO director, led us. He is an amazing person with tonnes of energy. He is a great motivator. I think this is one of the greatest qualities in an individual that actually makes things work, makes people work. He even took down some notes for us! Thanks Ivan! We met up with two SOM grads who candidly talked about what consulting & Mck is all about. The greatest take away I got from here was that one has to be really really really passionate about consulting. The inbuilt 'curiosity' level in an individual has to be very high for one to survive, enjoy and succeed in consulting. The next on schedule could blow some heads. I called up some of my banker friends and told them where I was headed to. And there was approximately a minute of silence in awe and disbelief. The New York Stock Exchange! My eyes were wide open. My head did multiple 360 degree rotations in disbelief. The multiple computer screens, the various tickers, the numerous desks stunned me. The complexity and the technology that drove this complexity left me perplexed. I sat at one of the desks to get a feel of what it would be like at NYSE. I noticed lots of notes, quotations, phones, computer screens and one other thing that brought back the human element into this highly mechanized, computerized place. It was a small picture of a cute kid tucked right beside the computer screen! I was still coming in terms with this amazing place. I grabbed a beer and started wondering about how the place actually works when I heard the 'bell'. It was Dean Oster right there on an upstage balcony. "Welcome to Yale", She said while raising a toast. “Woww!”, We felt within ourselves. And, I got doubly sure that this 'Wow' feeling would stay with us forever!