The Tutoring Program

This year, I have had the privilege of serving as one of the Co-Chairs of the Tutoring Program.  The Tutoring Program is a student-led program where second year students work to support the core curriculum by reviewing conceptual frameworks and fundamental mechanics as well as providing an intimate forum to ask questions.

While working with the Tutoring Program this year, I have come to see it as a really great example of the strength of the Darden community.  One of the reasons I was attracted to Darden was because of its close community.  When I was looking at MBA programs and talking with current students, everyone I spoke with at Darden talked about its collaborative community.  (Seriously, when I asked students what made Darden unique, 100% of them mentioned the community fostered at Darden).  As a second-year at Darden, I see why this universally discussed.  There are myriad events that illustrate the strength of the Darden community, and I’ve come to realize that the Tutoring Program is another great example.

This year, the Tutoring Program has roughly 70 tutors who have signed up to volunteer as tutors.  To put it into perspective, that’s approximately 20% of the second year class volunteering their time to sit down with first years to clarify course material.  Perhaps more important than the sheer quantity of students supporting the academic success of the first year students is the attitude of the second years.  Many of the second year tutors have approached me to indicate their willingness to be more involved in tutoring.

The strong Tutoring Program is just one of many ways in which the second years are actively engaged to foster a strong community between the two classes.   I guess the motto is No Darden Student Left Behind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Saturday, my first year section reunited for a Thanksgiving feast.  The Thanksgiving potluck was a great way for some of us to share our culture with the international students, particularly after they put so much effort into the International Food Festival earlier this fall.

It was a beautiful fall day filled with four of my favorites Fs.  Friends, Food, Fire, and Football.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hanging out by the fire pit

 

AJ, the turkey king!

Section B

 

The Thanksgiving spread

Two five-month-old-puppies!  The black lab is named Edgar, after Edgar Allen Poe, who lived on the historical Range and attended the University of Virginia.  The yellow lab is named Ginny, another reference to the University of Virginia.

 

Delicious food

Dessert.  A Virginia apple pie and a Section B Bird!

 

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!  The University of Virginia is a historic institution steeped in tradition.  One of my favorite traditions is an event known as Trick-or-Treating on the Lawn.  The Lawn is living history.  It is the original University that still houses students and faculty in the rooms and pavilions that line the terraced grassy court.

For Halloween, student organizations typically sponsor a Lawn Room and distribute candy to eager children, dressed in adorable costumes.  This afternoon, I walked around the Lawn with many of my classmates and enjoyed the atmosphere and of course, a Reese’s Cup.

 

From Friday to Monday

Is it already second year?  For the past few months, I have been interning with a consulting firm in Washington, DC.  The experience was challenging, but I felt fully equipped from day one to be a contributing member of the team all thanks to the preparation of the Darden first year curriculum.  My summer engagement was heavily analytical and I found myself thankful that I was paying attention during the quant-heavy cases of my first year.

The last day of my summer internship ended on Friday, so that evening I packed up my apartment and prepared to hit the road to Charlottesville on Saturday.  I was in a hurry to get back to Charlottesville because I wanted to attend the Darden Community Picnic that Saturday afternoon.  I remember being a first year at the Picnic, feeling only moderately overwhelmed.  I was in a new environment, making new friends, meeting new faculty.  Most of that afternoon as a first year was a blur, but what I remember more than anything was how excited the returning second years were to catch up with one another after a summer away from Charlottesville. 

Remembering that was motivation enough for me to make it back to Charlottesville.  And it was well worth it.  It’s hard to describe how I felt at the picnic; excited to be reunited, thrilled to hear about my classmates’ successful summers, and afraid that this year is going to pass too quickly. (Is this what my second year has succumbed to? Am I really talking about my emotions at a picnic?)

If Saturday was all about catching up, Sunday was all about ramping up.  Sunday was my day to get organized.  I figured out what classes I was taking and made sure to prepare the cases for my first day as a second year.

Monday afternoon, my class assembled in Abbott Auditorium for a Welcome Back address.  The strangers I sat among at my Welcome address as a first year are now some of my best friends and principled leaders at our Welcome Back address to start off the second year.  What a difference one year can make.

Here's to Section B

During the core curriculum at Darden, students are randomly assigned one of five sections, lettered A through E.  For the first seven months at Darden, you will attend three classes a day, four days a week (that’s 300 cold calls), with the same 60-65 peers in the same classroom, while the faculty rotates in and out.  Your section becomes your family.  Your section becomes your life.  I remember when I first arrived at Darden, a wise second year forewarned me that I would quickly fall in love with some people in my section.  Over the course of the year I would fall out of love with some of them, but by the end of the entire shebang, I would be enamored of them once again.  And sure enough, the year unfolded just as predicted.

Fortunately for me, I was assigned to Section B.  It is one steeped with tradition.  We have a song that we sing after the final class of every week; a song that has been passed down through the section for decades.  But perhaps the most unique tradition in Section B is the bird.  Each week, as a section, we award the bird to the classmate who made the most ridiculous comment that week.  Bird-worthy comments include:

1.     During an Operations case that focused on improving the effectiveness of a hospital, a classmate suggested that the hospital upgrade to bunk-beds for the patients.

2.     When asked during a class on Managerial Accounting what was the most important four letter word, our classmate’s response was “Love.”  This at least garnered him a hug from the professor.

But Section B doesn’t stop in the classroom.  Each year, Darden sections compete in athletic and philanthropic events in an attempt to win the annual Darden Cup.  This year, Section B won in Softball, Soccer, and Cricket.

And of course, there have been no shortage of social events.  When all is said and done, Section B has helped define my first year experience.  We’ve learned a ton, we’ve struggled through tough cases together, we’ve pushed one another, and most importantly, we’ve laughed a lot.  So here’s to Section B!

Learning to Think Like a Manager

Darden is well-known for its focus on developing general managers.  Darden is also well-known for having arguably the best teaching faculty among MBA programs.  Combining these two elements results in a curriculum that really challenges students to think like managers.  But what does that look like?

Take my accounting class as an example.  I could spend hours working on, say, determining what the differences in accounting were for inventory using FIFO or LIFO accounting methods.  Yes, I would feel a sense of accomplishment, but in truth, this is only the start.  After reviewing the math in the first ten minutes of class, the majority of the time is spent discussing the managerial implications of the different techniques.  In my finance class, it was very common for the professor to come in and lead with the cold call Brian, what is your recommendation?  This is a very different question than Brian, what answer did you get?  To make a recommendation, you have to put the numbers into context and, like a manager, use the analysis to shape strategies and recommendations.

More recently, the faculty have been teaming up to facilitate a more robust class discussion.  The Ethics and Decision Analysis faculty led an energy case on hydraulic fracturing.  By team-teaching, the class is forced to think about how decisions-making actually plays out in the real world.  The Marketing and Operations faculty co-taught another class.  They did a great job of demonstrating how managerial decisions can have competing consequences for marketing and operations personnel, and again, forced students to think more broadly through a decision.  Another example is a finance negotiations case led by the Finance and Decision Analysis faculty.  In each of these classes, you are challenged to bring together material covered in each class independently to make more informed strategic decisions.

Having just completed the first-year core curriculum, I am convinced that it is the faculty's dedication to continually push students to think about the managerial implications of our decisions that is one of the largest catalysts for our future success.  By teaching in a style that closely mimics the decision making process for general managers throughout the world, I am not only developing essential functional skills.  I am also applying techniques for decision-making and communicating these decisions three times a day.

Brazil: Global Business Experience

Each spring, Darden students have the opportunity to enroll in a Global Business Experience (GBE). This year's opportunities led Darden students to India, Spain, South Africa, China, Brazil, and Argentina and continued the strong Darden tradition of experiential learning.

I had the privilege of travelling with thirty of my peers to Brazil. With stops in the Amazon, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, it was definitely learning-by-doing-and-seeing at its finest. Layer thirty inquisitive and bright minds on top of face time with academic professionals and corporate executives within Brazil and you have a recipe for a wholly unique global experience.

While the GBE was distinctive in many ways, it was during this trip that I really recognized the value of the Darden core curriculum. In one day in Sao Paulo, we had a discussion on Brazil's opportunities and challenges that aligned perfectly with what I learned in my Global Economics and Markets class, followed by a dialogue on cultural differences reminiscent of my Leading Organizations class. This was capped off by a tour of a manufacturing facility, bringing to light many of the kaizen concepts we'd covered in our Operations class. The Brazil GBE provided a great avenue to synthesize the core curriculum.

Of course, education doesn't always have to be visiting companies and sitting in classrooms. I've included just a few of the items from the Brazil itinerary below, but suffice it to say words (and pictures) are a horribly inadequate substitute for the experience.

Meeting of the Waters (confluence of Amazon River and Rio Negro):

Municipal Market Negotiations Activity:

Exploring Rio de Janeiro (view from Christ the Redeemer):