Simon School Admissions Blog

Take 21/22 Program

By: Delaena, MBA Candidate, Class of 2009

The Take 21/22 Program allows MBA students to take two additional classes after they complete their graduation requirement of 20 classes.  These two courses are free of charge and designed to allow students to further pursue academic interests as they end their time as a Simon student.

I decided to take Special Topics in Finance (Real Estate) for a couple of reasons. First of all there is no organized and liquid real estate capital market in my home country Ghana. For the most part, if you want to build a house in Ghana, you just buy a parcel of land and develop it on your own. There is a small mortgage industry but it’s at best, a minute part of the economy. I want to learn how real estate capital markets work in the U.S. and then hopefully apply the useful (not the reckless sub-prime mortgage industry or the 125% Loan to Value that mortgage lenders doled out to borrowers at the height of the housing bubble) aspects of it to Ghana's fledgling financial markets.

Secondly, real estate constitutes about 11% of U.S. GDP and it’s a critical component of the U.S. economy. It played a significant part in the credit crisis that led to this recession. Essentially, the inflated property values during the bubble, allowed mortgage lenders to securitize sub-prime mortgages (bundled with other fixed income asset classes with predictable cash flows) into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), sliced them into different tranches and sold them off to banks and investors in order to provide liquidity to issue more mortgages. With the bust of the housing market, home equity vanished overnight, sub-prime borrowers who couldn’t afford mortgages in the first place defaulted on their mortgages and the CDOs went from being illiquid pieces of paper to being worthless. Of course you don’t realize it’s a bubble till it busts so it’s often difficult to see these things without the benefit of hindsight; but I hope to learn from this class the lapses within the industry that led to such loose lending standards and how such a bubble could be avoided if at all possible.

The lecturer, Mr. John Anderson is the President of Northern Capital Group Inc., a real estate development and investment company based out of Rochester, New York. With over 25 years of industry experience, Mr. Anderson was Vice President (from 1985 to 1989) of Citicorp Real Estate Inc., Citigroup’s main real estate banking vehicle providing financing for large real estate developers and owners on a worldwide basis. There couldn’t be a more qualified person than him to bring real world experience in the industry to the classroom.  I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to learn from such an industry leading practitioner, so I took advantage of the Take 21/22 Program.

Simon Career Center hosts "Talk to the Top" events

By Tony:

One of Simon's strengths as a smaller top-tier b-school is the close-knit community among those associated with the school.  This community atmosphere was portrayed again this month as our current students and alumni met on May 8th and 15th for "Talk to the Top."

 

The "Talk to the Top" events hosted by the Simon Career Management Center gave students the opportunity to meet with Simon alums in a 1 on 1 setting. The event pairs a group of 4 current students, 4 alums and one staff host for a lunch discussion about professional advice, career tips and networking.  The May 8th session included alumni from Simon's Executive Advisory Committee and the session on the 15th included Simon's Alumni Council.

 

I had the privilege of hosting a table at both events and experienced how the informal conversations with alumni offered relevant insight.  Students were eager to share what personal goals they would like to achieve through a chosen career path; while alums offered any advice, humor or personal connections to help students pursue their goals.

 

 

Sustainability vs. Bottom Line Lecture

By: Crissi

Sustainability is highly relevant to today’s business world  and many students and prospective students want to know what opportunities the Simon School offers to learn more about this topic.  Professor Harry Groenevelt of Operations Management recently presented in the lecture series Sustainability vs. Bottom Line: The Role of Reverse Logistics.

Reserve Logistics is the ‘after-life’ of a consumer product.  Products are born through the conversion from raw materials to fabrication of parts, assembly, distribution and purchase by the consumer.  After the initial consumption, each stage of the product ‘life’ may have channels to incorporate the product’s used components again, known as reverse logistics.  After a consumer purchases a product, they can then resell the product, say on e-bay, and this is seen as a secondary market for recycling the original product.  The same product may also be returned to the company, for example a product exchange or upgrade, where the initial product is refurbished and placed back in the distribution channel.  Further down the line, a used product can be remanufactured, or cannibalized for its valuable parts which then go back into the assembly line for incorporation into a new product.  The last stop before the landfill is recycling; reprocessing parts of a used product to incorporate into the fabrication of new parts, i.e. melting down plastic components to form parts for a new product.

A fascinating example of this process is disposable cameras.  Companies like Kodak and Fuiji reuse the components - circuit board, battery, lens, plastic shell – of single-use cameras redeemed to develop the film.  The cost to the companies to produce a single-use camera from scratch is around $10 or more, yet they sell for around the same amount in retail stores. How does Kodak or Fuiji turn a profit on these products?  By developing a return process for film developers to mail used cameras back to their plants, Kodak/Fuiji can refurbish the same camera – or reuse its pieces – up to ten times.  Unusable parts are melted and reformed, thus recycled at the fabrication level.  At this rate the cost per camera goes down by more than 50%, making a seemingly unprofitable product, a good business proposition. 

If you find these topics as interesting as I do, take a look at Simon’s classes in Operations Management, or email the Admissions Office to get in touch with a Simon professor or current student at admission@simon.rochester.edu.

Simon Mentorship Program

Allow me to share a new extracurricular program at the Simon School that is quickly gaining momentum. 

The Simon Mentorship Program was launched this year to facilitate the development of mentoring relationships between students and business community members.  Led by three 2^nd year students, responses from prospective mentors have been very encouraging and formal mentoring matches are underway.  The relationships being developed are helping current students think more critically about industries they are considering as well as to look differently at industries they may not have considered yet.

While Simon’s small size does easily allow for mentoring relationships to develop, this program demonstrates the importance we place on mentoring and the willingness of Simon alumni and friends to serve the school in this role. 

 Greg MacDonald

Executive Director

Admissions & Administration

Simon Graduate School of Business

University of Rochester

585.275.3533

www.simon.rochester.edu

Broaden Your Horizons: The Caribbean

By: Tonya

Hot, sandy beaches and palm trees gently rustling in the breeze - just a typical April day in Rochester?  Yes!  If you attended the Broaden Your Horizons: Caribbean event! 

Over a delicious lunch of jerk chicken, rice & beans, and green beans, five of our students shared the culture, history, and traditions of their Caribbean roots with 200 fellow Simon students, faculty, and staff.

Roger Cordero Mueses, MBA '10, kicked off the event with the Dominican Republic.  He talked about their rich musical history and the island sounds of Merengue and Bachata.  Baseball is the national sport and the Dominican has exported such baseball greats as Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, and Juan Marichal. 

Byron Barnes, MBA '10, taught us a little Haitian Creole and shared some beautiful mountain scenery from the "Pearl of the Antilles," also known as Haiti.  Will Reynolds, MBA '09, taught us about the national products of Guyana (sugar cane, timber, rice, fish, gold, and diamonds) and reminded us that Guyana is not the same country as Ghana!

Puerto Rico was up next and Myrdna Vargas, MBA '10, shared beautiful photos of her home country and explained how the people there are made up of Spanish, Taino, and African heritage.  Salsa, Merengue, and Reggaeton is the music you will hear in Puerto Rico.  Last, we got to experience the bright colors and excitement of Carnival in Trinidad & Tobago.  Sean Senhouse, MBA '10, showed us pictures from Carnival and told us that "liming" (the art of congregating with friends and would-be-friends) is a favorite pastime there.

We are truly very fortunate, here at Simon, to have over 33 countries represented in our MBA program.  The Broaden Your Horizons events give us the opportunity to learn about these different countries and regions and expand our knowledge and perspective.  I want to give kudos to the students who presented the Caribbean to us and I look forward to the next BYH at Simon!

“Thinking-outside-of-the-Box” Simon Alumni Panel

By: Nidhi, MBA Candidate, Class of 2009

The Simon School held an amazing panel last week. Actually, there were two panels with 18 alumni from industries and cities all over the map. This “Thinking-outside-of-the-Box” Event, organized by Net Impact, Simon National Black and the Career Management Center, made me think, and open my eyes to the fact that all industries are not dead in today’s economy.

Simon does have a smaller alumni network compared to the Ivies of the world, but we are pretty diverse and well represented in terms of the industries we cover, and the functions we are employed in. For instance, this panel had alums working in industries as varied as fashion, healthcare, not-for-profit, retail, real estate, technology and law firms!

The panelists were very open and eager to give Simonites’ the benefit of their struggles and triumphs. All of them provided great insights into the ins and outs of their roles and careers, what makes their particular industries tick and how the economy has affected their worlds.

I’ve attended a lot of guest speaker events during the course of my MBA and have had the opportunity to hear pretty remarkable people share their life and career stories. Most of them have been incredible and enriching experiences and this panel surpassed them by leagues. I walked away with renewed hope and enthusiasm as well as many new ideas about what options I had and what I want from life post-MBA.

Simon Partners with Teach For America and the Peace Corps

By: Tonya

Simon has recently signed on with the Peace Corps as part of their Fellows/U.S.A. program and with Teach For America as one of their graduate business school partners. 

As part of the Fellows/U.S.A. program, returning Peace Corps volunteers will receive up to $10,000 a year towards tuition to study at the Simon School.  Our Dean, Mark Zupan, sees this as a "win-win," stating that the "volunteers who have given of themselves have earned a break in tuition, and they will bring their wide ranging experiences and leadership skills to our School."

Similarly, the Teach For America partnership offers alumni of the organization a $10,000 annual scholarship to attend Simon.  In addition, a two-year deferral option exists for students who are admitted prior to their corps experience.  "Our recent success in placing younger MBA graduates has exceeded our expectations, and Teach For America alumni will contribute to this positive momentum," says Greg MacDonald, Executive Director of Admissions and Administration.

We are so pleased to announce these two partnerships and look forward to working with the corps and alumni of both organizations.

Differences between an MS & MBA degree

By: Tony

A growing area of study within Simon School’s rigorous graduate business program is the specialized Master of Science concentration.

The MS degree offers the benefit of a specialized degree that delivers the technical expertise within a particular business discipline.  This differs from the MBA degree which will give a graduate the ability to apply technical skills across multiple business areas including Finance, Marketing, Operations, etc.  The advantage of an MS degree lies in the ability to specialize in a particular area of business during a year-long program.

Should your career goals include making management decisions across several areas then the MBA would be an appropriate path.  If your career interests involve conducting more sophisticated technical work in a specialized business area, then an MS is ideal for you.

Simon offers M.S. study in the following areas:

• Accountancy
• Information Systems Management
• Finance
• General Management
• Marketing       
• Manufacturing Management      
• Medical Management
• Service Management
• Technology Transfer and Commercialization

Women Alumnae Share Benefits of Getting a Simon MBA

By: Tonya

This month we hosted our first "Women's Conference," an event for prospective female Simon students.  What a great event!  We had women come from Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City to learn more about the Simon MBA experience.  The women had the opportunity to meet with our current students and alumnae who shared their stories about getting a Simon MBA.  Our alumnae touted the MBA as "a degree for life," and told the women how the Simon MBA has prepared them for the various leadership positions they have fulfilled in their careers.

The keynote at dinner was given by Deborah Soffin '01, Iams Dog Brand Manager, who discussed her 7 years at P&G and her work with Dryel, Gain, and Iams Multi-Cat, as well as Iams Dog Brand.  The following morning the women had breakfast with Denise Fitzgerald '02, Chief Executive Officer, Midlakes Management Corporation, who shared her insights on leveraging the MBA in the field of health care management. 

We are so appreciative of the following alumnae who shared their experiences on the alumni panels: Katie Dudek '05, Financial Analyst, Xerox Corporation; Malati Patil '08, Business and Planning Analyst, Executive Associate Compensation and Benefits, M&T Bank; and Kristin Short '02, Assistant Vice President, The Bank of New York Mellon.

We look forward to this becoming an annual event!

New "InnovatUR" scholarships offered at Simon

By: Tonya

In repsonse to the down economy, Simon is offering special scholarship support for U.S. citizens and permanent residents adversely affected by the current economic situation.  Over the next two years, up to 50 "InnovatUR" scholarships wil be offered annually to prospective students pursuing a full-time M.B.A. degree at Simon. 

"Much like savvy investors, such as Warren Buffet, know that now is the time to buy financial assets, the Simon School realizes that now is the time for leading business schools to take 'equity stakes,' through scholarship support, in top prospective students," says Dean Mark Zupan. 

Those interested should complete the online application and submit an optional essay explaining why you should be selected for the scholarship award (applicants should use Optional Essay #3 on the online application).  In addition, candidates will need to have an admissions interview on the Simon campus or in select U.S. cities.

For more information please contact Gregory MacDonald, Executive Director of Admissions and Administration, at (585) 275-3533 or admissions@simon.rochester.edu.