Doing an EMBA in Calgary

First Step on the Last Path

2009-01-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

The first weekend of the last semester is underway. We are all looking forward to finishing and getting our lives back, but we have been mentioning to each other about how we will miss catching up with each other every couple of weeks.

Old courses have all been wrapped up and (most) grades received. For the most part I believe that people were happy. There weren`t any final exams, so all of the marks were based on essays. This has it`s advantages and disadvantages, but I believe that most students preferred this method to final exams.

New courses will be starting this weekend, although everyone has started making their predictions based on course outlines.

8 weekends of school work left - Corporate Strategy, Information Systems, Mergers and Acquisitions or New Capitalism and Major Project.

The semester culminates with the class trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo. It will be a bittersweet as it will be a lot of fun, but it will also probably be the last time we will all be together (save for graduation). Lots to look forward to.

How Frozen Pizza Is Made

2008-12-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

An interesting video on how frozen pizza is made.

(via kottke) A blog well worth reading!

Leadership

2008-12-05T08:50:00.001-08:00

The class is coming to the conclusion of it's first semester of year 2. As the calendar year comes to a close, thoughts turn to our trip (see previous post) and graduation.

Some of the benefits of non-core courses in the second year is more emphasis on class participation and less on finals and midterms. I really prefer this way of instruction. This encourages students to prepare, to participate and the think more out-of-the-box about concepts rather than learn them by rote and write them down on an exam for marks.

Leadership is the first class that we have finished this semester. I really wanted to enjoy this class, but unfortunately I didn`t get out of it what I wanted. The amount of reading was quite voluminous with at least six HBR articles to read each class. I don`t mind doing the reading, if it is beneficial, but doing the readings and not following up in class was frustrating for me.

This is a subject matter that is difficult to cover in just 32 hours. Hitting the high points and delving into a few important points would have been more beneficial than trying to cover it all and then expecting the class to go into the depths on their own.

Overall, I enjoyed the class, but I don`t think that I got out of it what I wanted. This feedback has been provided to the instructor and I hope that the class improves for the next class.

International Trip - The Decision

2008-12-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

Before there was 1 - there was 4: Hong Kong/Beijing; Hong Kong/Tokyo; Santiago/Buenos Aires; Dubai/Bangalore.

The Dubai/Bangalore trip was popular however there were two drawbacks: the time to be spent in the air and the school was finding it difficult to find a tour operator. However, the school said that if the class voted for that trip, the would work something out. This trip got a boost earlier that day when a manager from Emirates Cargo came to talk to us about his company and what it is like to travel to and visit Dubai.

The Santiago/Buenos Aires team brought in a case of wine to help "smooth" the voting. The Hong Kong/Tokyo team had a member that was willing to pay for all drinks on the flights! All is fair in the voting process apparently.

The rules were set out - simple majority of votes wins. There were 35 students casting votes - first group to 18 votes wins.

ROUND 1
Hong Kong/Beijing dropped out of the voting. There was a general feeling that this trip was two cities in one country although vastly different.

ROUND 2
Dubai/Bangalore dropped out.

Down to South America and Asia. The bidding war went up when it was pointed out that there may be free drinks on international flights and promises of fully paid nights out were flying all over the place.

FINAL ROUND

Hong Kong/Tokyo is the WINNER!!!

Everyone is very excited and looking forward to the trip - not just because it is the culmination of two years of seriously hard work.

Those poor investment bankers.

2008-10-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Great video!

EMBA Information

2008-10-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

If anyone would like information about doing an Executive MBA - particularly at the University of Calgary, I would be happy to have a conversation or provide information about either the program or anything else surrounding the requirements.

Leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you an email. I can delete the comment afterwards so that your email address isn't visible online for long.

I look forward to hearing from people!

No shortage of fodder

2008-10-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

With the current financial "crisis" going on, there is no shortage of people being affected. From the young (RESP) to the old (RRSP) to the middle-aged (both).

Every class that we are in is talking about it - from International Business to Leadership. A lot of questions, but not a lot of answers.

Optimal Class Size

2008-09-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

The University of Calgary Executive MBA program has just had a new intake for the graduating class of 2010. The class is 51 students strong. The class two years before (that just graduated) was 52 students strong.

Our class has just 35 students. Is that an advantage or a disadvantage?

I think both. Smaller class size allows students to get to know each other better, but also means that you have a smaller network with which to draw upon.

I imagine that the break even point for the course must be close to 35 students. Given the success in Calgary over the past couple of years, we were all surprised at the small size of the group. One would expect the demand for executive education to be quite a bit higher, but we seem to have been a "gap" year.

Does that mean that we will get less to spend on our International Trip? Time will tell.

International Trip

2008-09-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Where to go? Where to go?

As part of our course at the University of Calgary EMBA program (just to increase my Google hits!), we go on a 10 day international trip. The class has established a steering committee and each group (6) has to make a presentation on a trip to two different cities in the world where international business can be examined.

I'm pretty sure that most of the class doesn't want to do Western Europe or the US, so likely it will end up being Asia. Last year's class went to London and Paris. Asia has a large emerging market and there are plenty of opportunities.

First year done....

2008-08-29T11:59:00.001-07:00

1 year. 2 semesters. 16 weeks. Whatever you want to call it - we're all done the first half of our program.

While I think that everyone had a better understanding of the demands that the second semester would have on our lives, the amount of work was still a surprise. Finance, Managerial Accounting, Operations and Economics dominated our lives for a long time.

I struggled with the Economics the most - which is ironic because of my BA in Econ. Finance is the other bug bear for me. I enjoy it, but I think that the "fuzziness" of it, makes me desire the "strictness" of Accounting.

How to Bid for the Olympics

2008-05-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite parts of the course is that every Friday we are in class, a guest speaker comes and talks about their company, their career or one of their projects.

This week we had Roger Jackson come to speak. He is one of the most successful Canadian Olympic athletes, has been instrumental in working with the science of sport in Canada and is currently working on the "Own the Podium" initiative to increase the number of Canadians winning Olympic medals over the next couple of Olympics (something we have not been very good at in the past).

However, he was not here to speak about any of that. He talked to us about working on the bid team for the London 2012 Olympics. There was a huge infrastructural hurdle to get over, getting the public and the media on side as well as communicating what the differentiator for the city would be to the Olympic bid committee. It was very interesting and I can't imagine taking on such a daunting project.

Two things I picked up:

1) Always hire people smarter and brighter than you: I've always known that this is a good idea, one that my last employer was very good at.

2)"You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate" - my new favourite business saying.

They ended up winning the bid (by 4 votes) against Paris. Winning the bid is just the first step, but what a step it was.

It takes 15 years.....to dominate the world.

2008-02-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

Every Friday we have a guest speaker that comes in to talk to our class. Usually it is some captain of industry that has some sort of connection with the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. We've had politicians and entrepreneurs and they usually have an interesting story to tell. It's good to hear from people that have become successful and faced some hardships that they have overcome. All of them have worked hard to get where they are, but it's great to hear them and make a connection.

This is a title quote from our latest guest speaker Benno Nigg, co-director of the Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary.

Benno was headhunted by the University from Switzerland in 1981 to come and start a Biomechanics department in Calgary. He had no idea even where Calgary was and when he accepted, he started with 5 people in an old locker room in the Physical Education building with 2 computers and a whopping 10Mb of disk space. The department has grown to the Human Performance Lab and it has become the dominant centre in it's field.

They only rely on the University for 31% of their funding (perhaps helping in it's success) but gain most of their funding from Industry and grants.

He was quite inspiring to listen to. He has worked hard to build a centre of excellence which helps a lot of Canadian Olympic athletes. He has helped Adidas test new shoes as well as helped David Beckham improve that kick.

Benno has been at it for 15 years and reckons that it takes that long to dominate the world. These days it seems difficult for anyone's attention span to remain for 15 years - everyone seems to be looking for the quick wins and then move on. Benno is 70 and still seems to be going strong (those Swiss and those mountains I bet) but has an absolute passion for what he does.

Do you have the passion to dominate the world?

Quiet - very busy.....but 1 semester down - 3 to go.

2008-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how many people are actually monitoring this blog, but it has been very quiet recently, for which I apologize.

I survived the first semester. Overall, I am happy with the outcomes, however I know that I need to work on my ability to manage my time. One of my favourite adages is "start as you mean to go on". I hope that understanding the workload up front and apportioning my time appropriately will help me feel less "overwhelmed" at the end.

Having said all that - I have decided to change employers. Not only employers, but change careers as well. This will throw my life into a bit of chaos as I will have a steep learning curve at work as well as at University.

I'll muse more on the Winter 2008 semester shortly.

Leading Clever People is Hard

2007-11-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

There is desire by every organization to hire the "best and brightest" to innovate and contribute to the success of the company. In some industries, like drug companies, Research and Development is key the continuing growth of the company; without it, there would be no business and no competitive edge.

Hiring these people is hard; keeping them is even harder.

From HBR:

7 things that make clever people hard to manage:

1. They know their worth. The tacit skills of clever people are closer to those of medieval guilds than to the standardized, codifiable, and communicable skills that characterized the Industrial Revolution. This means you can't transfer the knowledge without the people.

2. They are organizationally savvy. Clever people will find the company context in which their interests will be most generously funded. If the funding dries up, they have a couple of options: They can move on to a place where resources are plentiful, or they can dig in and engage in elaborate politics to advance their pet projects.

3. They ignore corporate hierarchy. If you seek to motivate clever people with titles or promotions, you will probably be met with cold disdain. But don't assume this means they don't care about status; they can be very particular about it, and may insist on being called "doctor" or "professor."

4. They expect instant access. If clever people don't get access to the CEO, they may think the organization does not take their work seriously.

5. They are well connected. Clever people are usually plugged into highly developed knowledge networks; who they know is often as important as what they know. These networks both increase their value to the organization and make them more of a flight risk.

6. They have a low boredom threshold. In an era of employee mobility, if you don't engage your clever people intellectually and inspire them with organizational purpose, they will walk out the door.

7. They won't thank you. Even when you're leading them well, clever people will be unwilling to recognize your leadership. Remember, these creative individuals feel that they don't need to be led. Measure your success by your ability to remain on the fringes of their radar.

Are you smarter than an Executive MBA?

2007-11-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=49591

(Ironically this is on a Calgary Flames forum)

Pretty hard if you are not aware of the world around you.

28th Place

2007-10-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

In the recent Financial Times of London survey, the EMBA program at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary rated 2nd in Canada and 28th in the world. This is up from 45th place in 2006 and 65th place in 2005.

I'm often dubious about these surveys. As my marketing professor was mentioning just the other day (ahem), how you ask the questions and what you are valuing as well as how respondents answer is often key to getting an equivalent ranking.

Regardless, well done team.

Excel 2007 Can't Multiply

2007-09-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

According to AppScout, there is a bug in Microsoft Excel 2007 which produces the wrong answer whenever the product of two numbers is 65535.

Here's the whole story. And here is Microsoft's answer.

What is 65535? Why it's 2^16 - 1. Hmmmm.....pretty significant.

Careful how you use those numbers to make decisions - don't repeat TransAlta's mistake.

Marketing Concepts

2007-09-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

With the start of my first ever Marketing class, I've started to become more aware of advertising and messages that companies are using to communicate with potential customers. I've also become aware of all the scorn that has been inflicted (or justly earned depending on your point of view) on the Marketing industry. I'm sure I'll have more to say on this as I get further into the "Art of the Message".

A quote from Peter Drucker:

There will always, one can assume, be some need for some selling. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available.

A recent Dilbert.

Apologies to Mr Porter

2007-09-25T07:04:00.001-07:00

For those people who have studied Michael Porter's 5 Forces, have a look at this at the Indexed site.

Indexed has some great cartoons - really worth reading on a daily basis.

Where are all the Executive MBA bloggers?

2007-09-18T07:15:00.001-07:00

I know that blogging isn't quite de rigeur in the working set. It's still relatively new in the student set - but it's becoming more and more prolific. There are some great MBA blogs out there and most of them are aggregated at the opencoder.org site for Students, Applicants and Alumni.

There seems to be a complete absence of Executive MBA bloggers. On the opencoder.org list, this is the only EMBA blog and one of only 3 from Canada.

When prospective students are looking for the program to invest their time in and wondering if they can cope with the work/life/school balance, any prior experience that can by provided by current students is greatly appreciated.

I remember the first week at school where we had a panel discussion with some recent graduates and it was fascinating to hear their "coping" mechanisms as well as dirt on all the courses to come. Tips and techniques are always appreciated.

Go on, you can do it. Just start up a blog here at Blogger or at WordPress - they both have good blogging systems that are easy to us. It's really very easy and you have lots to say.

First Week of Classes

2007-09-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

In the Executive MBA program, we attend two full days every other week. So, every second Friday and Saturday we are in the main lecture theater in the Haskayne School of Business at Scurfield Hall at the University of Calgary. We are enrolled in four subjects this semester: Data Analysis and Data Modelling, Financial Accounting, Marketing and Human Resources. Two hard numbers type courses and two "soft skill" courses.

Coming from a fairly scientific background, I'm looking forward to the numbers courses, I expect that I will find them relatively easier, but I'm also looking forward to the Marketing and Human Resources courses as I haven't been involved in them as much and therefore I have a lot to learn.

The downside of the Executive MBA program is the long days. Friday goes from 9:00am to 6:15pm and Saturday goes from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Each course gets 4 hours per weekend, which means the 1pm to 5pm slot on Saturday really starts to drag along. Not because of the content, but because we have been there all weekend, are thinking of getting home (or to the pub) and we are usually full of the wonderful food that is available. Most professors realize this and allow for more breaks during this session.

We have been handed our first assignments. The first ones are individual assignments, with the latter ones being group assignments. I'm happy about this as it allows me to get a firm understanding of the basics of each course, before going into "group" mode.

I've been impressed with the instructors thus far. They are all senior professors and are very good at motivating the class. Sometimes the subject is a bit dry (but necessary) and they know how to keep the class moving along.

I'll be posting about some of the courses as time goes on.

Week 1 - The Intensive Week

2007-08-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Wow - what a week. Some highlights:

* Meeting all my new classmates.
Finding out what they do and what they are like was a fantastic experience. There were a lot of different backgrounds, reasons for doing the course and what they wanted to get out of it. It's amazing how many people want to change careers and are using the MBA as their foothold.

Also, seeing what everyone looks like at 3:30am is an eye-opener. Even more interesting is seeing everyone at breakfast at 8:00am the next morning - well, almost everyone. :)

* Groupwork
Everyone cringes when they have to work in groups. There are usually challenges with different goals, energy levels, motivations and contribution levels. However, it was great to work with some people who were just as motivated as I was. I'm sure I'll be writing more posts on group work in the future.

* Case study method
There is a lot of controversy in the MBA-sphere about the relative merits of teaching by case studies. Harvard Business School famously uses only cases as instructional examples. At the U of C, there will be a mix of textbooks, readings and case studies. In this first week, we were presented a number of cases, each one more complex than the last. We spent time evaluating the case ourselves before meeting with our groups where we came up with recommendations. It was interesting to see what we came up with versus what other groups came up with versus what our instructor recommends.

While I enjoyed the case studies, they provided a lot of real-world problems, I wouldn't want to be using the cases as the only study method alone.

* Food
The food was very good. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided and there were some tasty meals. I will have to work hard to make sure I don't acquire the "Freshman 15".

* Time and energy
One of the most useful parts of the week was a panel session during lunch with some of the recent graduates from the program. It was fascinating to get their insight into how to be successful with the MBA program. They really emphasized how much work there is to do and that time management is the key to being successful. They also mentioned how important it is to ensure that your family understands what is required. 20 hours per week outside of class and work time is a very large investment, but they all agreed that that was realistic.

We have started to receive some of our course outlines, which means that once I am finished the report that I'm currently working on, I can start getting ahead on the reading. I have a feeling that every little bit will help.

Adult Learning

2007-08-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Getting feedback on tests and essays is almost always rank based. Marks are received in either a letter grade or number or percentage format. This allows the student to compare themselves against other students as well as project how they will do in the long run. It also allows the instructor to find out where everyone is ranked and whether or not the concepts they are teaching are being understood.

In a Masters program, that is entirely different. The Managing Director at my EMBA course was the one to tell me that grades don't matter as much when you are in "Adult Learning". Completing the work satisfactorily and actually understanding the concepts and being able to apply those concepts in the real world are much important than the grade.

That is a wacky concept to me. Throughout high school and university, achieving the highest grade possible was the primary driver for spending the extra time and effort to complete course work to a higher standard. Work hard and you will get higher grades which will lead to more opportunities.

I suppose that I can't imagine any interviewer asking me "What grade did you get in Marketing during your MBA?". So, ultimately it does make sense but it will take some time for me to get used to the idea. I hope that people in my group feel the same way.

Now all the rules are broken. This is going to take some getting used to.

Business Cliches

2007-08-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

Seth Godin lists his top ten business cliches:

1) Best practices
2) Synergy
3) At the end of the day...
4) Thinking outside of the box
5) Low hanging fruit
6) Going forward
7) Win-win situation
8) Maximize leverage
9) Web 2.0
10) Giving 110%

Why do business people speak like this?

...the vast majority of buzzwords exist for one reason: to hide. By obfuscating, lying, confusing or just plain avoiding the issue, business people can avoid communicating. Do you have the guts to stop using cliches?

Priceless.

"The journey begins here....."

2007-08-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

That is what Jack Kulchitsky, the Calgary EMBA Academic Director was supposed to say in his inaugural address to the EMBA class of 2009. He didn't. That's not his style. I'm not sure what his style is - but academic is not the adjective. More marketing and entrepreneur.

Some quotes:
* Just like when you were 6 years old, this is your first day of school. Except your mother isn't just oustide that door.
* Some former students say it was like "Running a marathon in bare feet". 99% say that it changed them
* You have asked us to stretch you. I promise that we will stretch you.
* The journey is going to affect you professionally and personally.
* This years class has 37 students: 76% male, 24% female
* The average age is 37.
* The average work experience is 14 years.
* 78% have previous degrees.
* Average GMAT score is 576.
* There will be 20 courses: 1st year contains core or foundation courses, 2nd year is about leadership, strategy and globalization
* Two promises: 1) commitment to your success 2) your hat will be funnier than mine at graduation

It was good. He's also around for meals and drinks. He is candid about what happens in the classroom and is adamant that any academic problems will be solved. He gushes about the instructors and how much they care. From the two that I've met, that certainly is true.

Baby steps.

Thinking Strategically

2007-07-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some research for the Strategic Thinking week that I'm going to be doing in August. There is a week-long live-in at the University for first years and lots of work on thinking strategically.

I'm a tactical thinker. Always have been. I'm a computer geek. I solve the immediate problem with a solution that is concrete. Thinking longer term on non-concrete issues is a challenge and much harder for me.

I have a lot to learn and am looking forward to it.

Also during that week, I will be meeting my new classmates. That will also be exciting.

Accepted!

2007-06-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! You have been accepted.

Finally received the letter that I'd been waiting for - I've been accepted into the Executive MBA program at the University of Calgary starting Fall 2007. The first contact is a week long in-house study on "The Manager as Strategist". Everyone will be living on campus for a week in August.

While I am eager to meet my new classmates and the topic is a particularly interesting one to me, I'm not sure that I want to be away from home from Sunday to Saturday. I'm sure that I might be able to sneak off for a meal with my family some time, but we'll see.

Maybe writing this post has let the "cat out of the bag".

Very excited and can't wait.

Choosing one school over another

2007-05-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

For me there were 5 overriding considerations:

1) Cost - Can I fund this myself without forfeiting my retirement?
2) Quality of content - Good instructors? Good learning environment?
3) Access to information - How friendly are the admissions people?
4) Type of delivery - Internet versus on-campus versus tele-conferencing
5) Cost - it's that important to me....

I did a lot of research on the interweb. I read a lot of online brochures and talked to people who had completed their EMBA. I ruled out online classes as it requires a lot of motivation to set time aside and keep to a schedule. As the reigning King of Procrastination, that would never work. I narrowed my selection down to two schools - Queens University and the University of Calgary.

Queens University has two EMBA programs: their "National" program and their dual EMBA program with Cornell. In the latter program you end up graduating with 2 MBA's! Queens' programs are consistently rated as some of the best programs in the world. The content is also delivered via tele-conference which didn't appeal to me. The end result of the tele-conference setup, is that you really bond with the 6-10 others in your home city, whereas local programs allow you to network with ~50 people.

It seemed attractive, but in the end it was just too much expense. When it was all said and done, the Queens National course came out at $20k more and the Cornell program at over $40k more (than the local varieties). If money were not an object in this decision, then Queens would (likely) be the choice.

The University of Calgary has a good program and has a lot of advantages given that it is local to me. The program has received a lot of press lately as an 'up and coming' school and is getting a good reputation. It was listed as one of the top 50 EMBA schools by the Financial Times of London. It also has a lot of alumni who are local business leaders running large (very large) oil and gas companies. Since the program is local to me, I get to interact with other students and professors in person, which means a lot to me. I was able to sit in on an afternoon of classes with minimum disruption to the class, talk to some current students and get a "vibe" from the environment.

The admission people are VERY nice and helpful. I'm not just saying that - they really did help me. In one case, the company that was running the GMAT exams in Calgary decided that they weren't going to administer the exams anymore so there wasn't anywhere to write the exam. They were very patient and gave me options. It's so funny how the little things really add up.

The winner: The University of Calgary EMBA

EMBA's have a very different application process - you don't apply to a million schools and go through several rounds of interviews to find out if you are accepted. For me at least, it was one application, one essay and one set of references. This made my life a lot easier.

My application is complete and sitting with the Admissions Committee of the U of Calgary - I hope to hear soon. Fingers crossed.

GMAT Done - Books for Sale

2007-04-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

All of these books are good. See my post below for details.

New Business Dean at the U of C

2007-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

The University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business has been without a Dean for a year or so (since I've been researching them anyway) and they have just announced that Leonard Waverman will be joining the faculty in January 2008 from the London Business School.

On April 2nd an interview with him was printed in the Globe and Mail. This is the first time that I've been able to hear about his views on business in Canada. The interview didn't touch on too much about on business education per se, but mostly upon his age and his research.

Dean Waverman will be 66 when he takes his post. This may seem to be the time in one's life when they are thinking about how many rounds of golf they can fit in per week rather than attending faculty meetings. However, I actually support someone who is older and wiser as a leader of business education. Sure, there may be issues that are "new" that they may not have faced before, but I'm sure that there is a lot of business grounding that can be passed on to the Business students and then it is up to them to take it and apply it to the "new" problem set. I'm sure that Dean Waverman would also argue that most of the current problems aren't "new", just variations on existing themes.

The other interesting quote was the one about the productivity gap concerning IT between the US and Canada:

But aren't management practices the same on both sides of the border?

I don't think IT is embedded as a strategic way of reconfiguring the firm on both sides of the border. There could be a lag in Canada and that could be one thing to explain the productivity gap. We buy these IT systems in Canada and they become shelf ware. They're not really implemented. I want to study this.

Coming from an IT background, where I have helped businesses to implement their IT solutions to enable their business processes, I was quite surprised by this statement. I have built a lot of large systems that have changed the way that businesses act and have felt quite proud of the fact that doing so has helped the business be more efficient.

One day I'd love to be able to dissect this argument with him or maybe help with his research.

GMAT Done

2007-03-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

After several months of study (broken up by a stay in hospital and subsequent recovery) it was time to write the GMAT.

Books I used:
* Kaplan 2006
* McGraw-Hill 2007
* Kaplan 800 2006-2007

The Kaplan 2006 book was the first book I used and it gave me a good introduction to the overall structure of the exam as well as some good tips and tricks. Kaplan also has reputation for one of the most difficult Practice Exams which I reserved for much nearer to the exam.

I bought the McGraw-Hill 2007 primarily because it comes with 12 (yes, 12) Practice Exams. This was most valuable in the 4-5 days before the exam. Practice and more practice was really helpful. Working out the timings of each section was crucial to ensure that I had time to answer each question. The end result was the strategy that I had to ensure that I was watching the clock during the Quantitative and I could take my time on the Verbal.

The 800 book allowed me to pick up a few tips and tricks to help me spot trends in questions. It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase but ultimately it made me think TOO much rather than just going with my instincts.

I didn't do any training as I was reasonably confident that I could learn what I needed from a book.

Websites I referred to:
* MBA.com (of course)
* Beat the GMAT - lots of good questions in the forum when you become a member
* GMAT club

Software I used:
* GMAT Prep from MBA.com

The practice exams from MBA.com are by far the most authentic. The paper tests are good but they can lull you into a false sense of security when you are actually on a computer and have to click twice to ensure that you "really really" mean that answer.

I struggled with a lot of Data Sufficiency questions as I predicted I would. My scientific mind takes an adjustment to understand that not solving for the answer to a question could still answer the question. The number properties questions also gave me a lot of headaches. Remembering the rules of exponents and odd/even numbers is very confusing for me for some reason.

I found the Verbal part of the test by far the easier. In all my Practice Tests I got 95% of the Sentence Correction problems correct. This is probably because I read a lot and being able to guess "what sounds right" comes quite easy to me. I'm sure that it would be a nightmare for anyone who has English as their second language.

I didn't practice the AWA very much at all. If you memorize the structure of the answers that you want to give (lots of examples at the Beat the GMAT forum) and you are confident in your ability to come up with ideas, then you shouldn't struggle too much. Plus, you have to really do poorly with spelling and grammar to do horrible here.

Exam Experience:
I arrived at the test center about 20 minutes before the scheduled time to find myself number 11/12. The proctor was very exact about checking people in and out and explained everything to each individual one after the other. This just heightened my anxiety as I wanted to get going as soon as possible.

Once I had dumped all of my stuff into a box and checked in, it was time to begin. I found five schools to send my scores to even though I know that there is only one that I'm going to apply to. The rest were "just in case". I began by putting in the supplied earplugs. I had used them in when I wrote my practice tests, so I was used to them but I could see how they would be distracting to someone who hadn't used them before - often they make things too quiet.

Off and running with the Writing Assessments. Both went pretty well (I haven't seen the scores yet though). The argument essay concerned a subject that I had read a book about just recently so that helped me to come up with some strong and compelling arguments both for and against.

I know that the GMAT starts by giving you a medium question and depending on how you do on that one, you get an subsequent hard question or easy question. It seemed that I kept getting questions that were harder and harder. I know that this is a good thing, but it also means that my chances of getting the answer wrong go up as well! I had to rush the last three questions and likely guessed at them - my brain was fried by them. After the Quantitative I took a 5 minute break to clear my mind for the Verbal.

As I said earlier, I find the Verbal much easier but spent a lot of time on these questions (because I knew that I had that luxury). It seemed to go well and my score reflects that.

Then it was over. There is the screen that gives you 10 minutes to figure out whether you want to cancel the whole exam or see your score. I clicked "See Scores" and waited.....waited.....waited.....waited.....waited x n......stared at the little Windows hourglass and then there it was. I tried to remain calm as I knew that others around me were still writing.

I was soooo glad to get out of there. I got the print out and rushed out of there as fast as I could. I had a huge headache (probably due to lack of breakfast and my regular coffee) but I felt like weight was off of my shoulders.

My score?

680 Q40 V47

Not the highest that I've seen - I was hoping for more than 700, but 680 is good enough for me and ultimately (hopefully) good for admittance to the EMBA program.

Good luck.

Value of an MBA

2007-03-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Results of a survey from the Environics Research Group commissioned by Queen's School of Business found:

Eight in 10 (78 per cent) executives say they would choose a candidate with an MBA over one without an MBA if other factors were equal. Fourteen per cent say the degree would make no difference. Six per cent say having an MBA makes a candidate less appealing.

Almost 80% say that an MBA is more appealing in candidates! Among the reasons for choosing a candidate with an MBA are a superior skill set, a greater familiarity and more exposure to a variety of business disciplines, they are more qualified and more committed to their career.

That soooo sounds like a question from the GMAT.

GMAT Pressure

2007-03-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Writing the GMAT is a pressure-filled process. This pressure is possibly enough to weed out those who aren't serious about the heading down the road of hard work - which can only be a good thing. However, as I mentioned in my previous post - it's not the best leveller. Here is what you have to know:

Math - all those algebraic equations that you forgot from high school, all those number properties in equation and word problem format

Reading Comprehension - reading and answering questions on a short 500 word essay

Sentence Correction - selecting options for the correct grammar for a sentence

Data Sufficiency - given two options, do either, neither or both options give you enough data to answer a problem

Critical Reasoning - given a short paragraph of an argument, determine what would strengthen or weaken the argument

The Math and Data Sufficiency part makes up the Quantitative part of the score and the others make up the Verbal part of the score. These two are scaled and make up the final GMAT score.

I've struggled with the Math, but seem to get most of them correct and only struggle on the more difficult ones. The Data Sufficiency problems are, by far, the most difficult for me. The option in that type of question could give you an answer of "no" which also is a correct choice.

The Verbal part of the exam is much easier for me. The main helper there is that English is my first language. I pity the person who has to do the exam when English is not their first language. I would certainly hate to do it in another language.

Exam is on Thursday March 29th. 3 days to go!

Level playing field?

2007-03-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the next step after deciding to go to B-School is when to write the GMAT. Some programs have their own exam (for example, Queens Univeristy in Toronto have their QMAT), but most schools just have you write the normal GMAT so that they can evaluate you and your potential peers against a standardized measure.

I understand the need for a level playing field to evaluate potential students, however I'm not sure that the GMAT accomplishes that goal. I'm also not sure that the school administrators take the GMAT scores into consideration as students would like to think.

Students spend hours, days, weeks and sometimes months studying and sometimes hundreds of dollars on courses and books to study up on the GMAT subjects to ensure that they achieve the highest score possible.

I firmly believe that B-School entrance, particularly Executive MBA candidates, should go through an interview process rather than using the GMAT. I know that some people go to online Universities for their EMBA just because a GMAT is not a prerequisite. EMBA students have lots of experience in the "real world" and based on that experience they will or will not be ready to achieve the study goals required for a successful MBA.

I understand that there are secondary goals for the test - can the person study properly, can they target a big goal and meet it, how do they work under pressure - and perhaps these secondary goals should be more primary.

Meanwhile I have my GMAT booked for March 29th at 8:00am. I have put it off for too long and it's time to get moving. In Calgary, the company that was administering the GMAT exams decided that they weren't going to do it anymore, so there was no place to write the exam. Now they have found a new supplier, so there really isn't any excuse.

Back to the books. Those Data Sufficiency questions sure are the hard.

You wanna do what?

2007-03-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

When I finished University with my Bachelor of Arts (Economics) I swore up and down that I would never ever write an essay or exam again.

I hate writing exams.

I hate writing essays.

That lasted 3 years. When I was in Australia I decided to go back to University to do a Graduate Diploma in Computer Science. More exams, but hopefully the essays would be replaced with coding assignments that I could do at home and then hand in. For the most part that was true, but I didn't factor in the difficult of going to University within 1km of a beach and a beautiful public golf course.

When I finished the Diploma I swore up and down that I would never write an exam again.

*Sigh*

After years of thought and careful financial planning, I'm heading down the road towards an MBA. More exams, probably more essays but hopefully more fun and lots of discussions.

I will write more about what I expect to get out of doing and MBA, the sort of MBA that I have decided on doing, as well as why I have chosen the venue that I have.

Next, to find a MBA Blog aggregator to see if I can get it listed so that someone will read this besides me.