Babson and Creativity

Module 1 is over before we realized that we have been here in Babson just for a month. In contradiction to many who think first year to be very difficult, lot of work etc., I think I can take more load, only if I get time to do the things I like to do as well. Sometimes we are forced to do things we do not necessarily like to do. For example, attending career counseling "classes" or the ethics course add very little value to me. Getting used to classes, homework etc take a bit time but should not be so hard to scare people away.

I must mention about the Creativity steam in module one. Each student is assigned in a group of 13 and assigned an activity (one of drawing, improvisation, movement, poetry, sculpture or puppetry). I was doubtful about the role of this activity in business education. After attending (and presenting) in the last two days have changed my outlook. Creativity takes a new dimension in a team setup. One can do the impossible, provided the team is up for it. The drawing team presented an innovative and humorous group presentation in an event that is supposed to be show causing individual talent.

Kudos to the artists, the fellow students and those who have included this stream in our curriculum.

The case approach

Well. It is fashionable to teach using case approach in business schools. It gets used, overused and abused pretty much by everyone in the B-school.

Initially, I was very skeptical about this approach. My view was supported in first two weeks of classes. Not everyone added value and quite a few discussions were around stating the obvious.

Something has changed in the past two weeks. The discussions threw new perspectives and often people contradicting each other. The discussions were about the classic case "Konigsbrau-Hellas". It kind of showed the people's characters as well. On the one extreme, some were talking about playing hardball in business and on the other a few pressing for "idealistic" approach to deal with people. Now, it seems people got a hang of this case approach. This is not for everyone and requires significant restraint from the students and moderation from the professor.

Need to mention that the "case" approach used by a non-academic team to teach how students need to communicate with alumni was tasteless.

Introduction from a Babson MBA student, class of 2008

I intend to share my exerience at Babson. I am a first year student of the class of 2008 MBA program.

A brief profile about the school
Approximately 165 students in first year
Three sections.

Other related programs:
1 year MBA
Fasttrack MBA
Evening MBA program.

My reasons behind choosing Babson are
1. City of choice. Having lived in Silicon Valley, wanted to be in a city equivalant to bayarea in east coast. It is a great place (at least till winter hits)
2. Fellowship. Can't complain about the free ride. Can I?
3. Diversity in class. 49% international, people from very distinct professional backgrounds.

About my class:
I am only one of a max five engineers.
We have actors, family business owners, accountants, sales and marketing professionals.
On a side note: I do not think they are many people from finance background at Babson.