Graduation - Class of 2008

Here are they are! Thanks to those who've sent me these photos of our graduation.

What a wicked ride the past two years were. Everyone, thank you again for being there, and please stay in touch.

tetsu

3-week intensive program in Montreal

Highlights

At School

Art of Leadership

Extracurricular Activities

End of Program Party and Thereafter

BBQ@Fred's, Weekend@Tetsu's, Supper@Ladi's

3 weeks of both pure hell and pure pleasure from July 16 to Aug. 4. That was the story of our intensive program at the McGill main campus in Montreal. The 3 courses were: Strategy (Corporate Leadership), Business Simulation, and Art of Leadership. A dozen of us came from Tokyo and another dozen or so were main campus MBAers. Then there were also a few who came from other parts of the world. But despite our global origins, we ALL bonded and had fun as if we had known each other forever.

In retrospect, I think that just going through the intense course load was enough to drive anyone insane. But we actually managed to schedule in some major parties along the way! …um…actually…come to think about it…maybe THAT’S what kept us from going mad… yeah, yeah…maybe. Oh well, whatever the case, it was magical. Anyways, I’m sure you understand what I’m taking about from the above photos!

In the end, I only have one thing to say to everyone involved in that program: a huge THANK YOU to all the students, profs, administrators, and others.

And as many have already said so far, this is not a “good-bye”, but a “see you later”!

tetsu

I-Core Day

This past Saturday, May 12, was I-Core day for the Class of 2008. For non-McGill folks, I-Core (Integrative Core) is essentially a great big project in which you build a business plan from scratch, applying concepts you learned in class throughout the year.

We've worked hard all year in this 6-credit course and I think we've all learned a great deal. Every group had to give a mid-term presentation in January, with varying degrees of success. But this time around, it was simply amazing to see at how much everyone improved. The whole day of business presentations was very informative and highly entertaining.

After the presentations, we all went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate. There, the winners of I-Core Day 2007 were announced. Congratulations to Kazoku Navi and Home Shoring for winning first and second prizes!! You were great!

We also thank Clinton and the 5 judges who kindly spent the whole day with us and gave us valuable feedbacks.

Finally, for those who have lived through I-Core or have had similar experiences in writing business plans, we would greatly appreciate it if you could write in a comment/thought/advice for the benefit of our readers.

Here, I'll give it a start. Personally, I think that experiencing I-Core allowed me to develop a basic/overall understanding of what this overwhelming document called a business plan should be like and how one should go about presenting business ideas, both orally and in writing. It's a great exercise to allow us to internalize concepts that we learn in class and to make them become second nature.

It was a lot of fun. Given a choice, I'd do it all over again...(of course, I had a great team, so that definitely helps).

tetsu

P.S. Thanks Phil for the great photos!

Class Scenes and Tips

Wow! First post in 2007 and it's already March!! Well, lemme tell ya, we first year students went through a pretty rough period in the last 2-3 months, culminating in a deadly Finance exam.

Yeah, my initial plan was to write this article much earlier since I know that many potential students would probably have found this information useful. In fact, the hit counter shows that there has been more activity on this blog in recent months. I know that I would've liked to have known what a typical class was like before embarking on my GMAT and all the lengthy application process! Anywho, it's a bit late for most students this year, but I'm sure there's still a couple of late candidates that may just be drawn into this program thanks to this post (or of course, the opposite is equally likely to happen). Well, it can also serve as information for candidates in subsequent years!

So there you go, a little clip of a lecture scene and many photos of typical class scenes, discussions, group work, presentations, etc. Yes, you will see ample of each throughout the program. If you dislike presentations or group work and have no intentions whatsoever in learning these skills...now's the time to back out! You will NOT survive.

Also, as of right now, I can say that the way I see it, the worst of the program is over. We had two intense peaks, one big peak for the Stats course at the end of the summer (the first course), and one huge peak that just went by with Finance and a few other courses that overlapped with it. Stats and Finance are not extremely hard per se, but there's a LOT of studying to do. Luckily we've had wonderful professors for both of these courses.

Hope this was useful.

tetsu

Christmas Party 2006

What a great way to end 2006! A terrific party at Aoyuzu, in Ebisu. Excellent food, fun games, wonderful friends, and of course, lot's 'n lot's of drinking! ...all night long for some of us...

Big thanks to everyone who came! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

It's encouraging for the SC when events turn out to be as successful as this one!

hmmm...let's see what's comin' up in 2007...

Happy holidays to all, and a wonder and prosperous 2007!!!


tetsu, on behalf of the Student Council

Learning Languages

Since the beginning of the program almost 5 months ago, I have had many interesting discussions with my fellow classmates on language learning, including a few just this past weekend. With such a culturally diverse group of people, I guess it's only natural that this is a hot topic in this MBA program. Plus, the famous Japanese language proficiency test (Ikkyu) is scheduled for this Sunday and some of us are taking it.

Many of us (well...probably "all" of us) have had to learn a second or third or fourth or nth language to very high levels. A few of us have even taught languages. So there are many different takes on what the best language acquisition methodology is. Well, personally, I don't think that there is a "best" methodology. My opinion is that you should be exposed to as many different strategies as possible by talking to people who's done it before. Then try 'em out and retain a few techniques that work best for you.

For me, I do a very limited amount of formal and systematic studying at the beginning of the learning process, after which I concentrate on keeping MOTIVATION levels high so that I will practice, practice, and practice. Basically, I do such things as travel, make foreign friends, or translate stuff that interests me (newspapers, magazines, DVDs, etc.). I also do some weird and crazy stuff like using foreign languages to have conversations with myself or to take notes during class. Anyways, if anyone is interested, here is a blog entry on the details of my techniques. I hope that it will be helpful enough to be retained in your toolbox.

I know that many others in this program also have extremely valuable insights in this area. I hope that they will also share their experience with us here, since foreign languages are an integral part of life for all current and future students of McGill MBA Japan Program.

tetsu

Group dynamics

When I started the McGill MBA Japan program, the first thing I did was set up a group page on Yahoo. I thought that, since we "only" have 2 years, it would be important that we get on the same page for various things ASAP. A common tool for communication was what I really wanted. And that worked out fine. Everybody liked the idea and got registered on the page, which has a space for file uploads, a calendar, an area for polls, and of course, a mailing list. It was surprising how smoothly that went, since I know from experience that it's usually very hard to get every member of a large and heterogeneous group to do something, especially if it required a little bit of time and effort like in this case.

Now, as internal VP associate (I think that's my title) for my class, I have the fun job of having people come up to me in class or getting emails from people, asking me various things ranging from homeworks, to events, to managing communication with staff, etc.

I think what I get a kick out of is learning about group dynamics in all these transactions. Throughout the program, we work in small teams and we learn about group dynamics on a small scale, usually 3-6 people. But here, I also get to see on a larger scale, i.e., a group of 32. It's interesting to see that there are those who answer emails right away VS those who barely read emails, those who are good with IT VS those who are allergic to computers, those who actively participate in extra-curricular events VS those who are strictly academic, and most importantly, those who speak their minds VS those who keep it low profile. Developing a feel for group dynamics will be, in my opinion, a crucial skill for my future career, and I am definitely grateful for this opportunity.

tetsu

Drinking. Again.

Yesterday, we went drinking with our Managerial Economics professor Prasad. Too bad our Information Systems professor Liette couldn’t make it.

Half of the class was there, plus staff. We had a blast!

Here are some pictures. However, none show Prasad very clearly (he's beside Jason in the second picture). Sorry. On the other hand, thanks for the jokes and the anecdotes!

tetsu

McGill Experience

What makes an MBA worth all the energy? Let me see…

When I started the program, I envisioned myself marching into the business battlefield, armed with all the sophisticated tools and techniques of MBA. I do not pretend that I have mastered statistics and finance or marketing and strategies. However, after a year in the program, I come to realize that such glamorous armor we put on ourselves merely hide our vulnerability. I realize that we need something more. Something that makes our mind invincible even when we are disarmed. Something you might call a vision or an ideal. Or it may be called passion or simply, guts. Whatever its name is, I believe, that something can only be obtained through "full experience."

Your 24 months in MBA will be over before you know it. You are in a program with some of the smartest and most highly-motivated individuals you will ever meet. So, what I am suggesting is simply this: Let us pay real attention to our world, experience it with ever increasing depth. And share that experience with fellow McGillers so that we could sharpen our mind and become truly invincible.

To me, this “full experience” makes an MBA worth all the energy.

Yumiko

Inaugural Posting

I wonder, what makes an MBA worth all the energy? Where is the elusive "Value" people talk about? Sure, its in the combination of faculty, philosophy, and employment options to be had upon graduation. Of course there is the name, the number and the addendum to your business card. You might just finish with a whole new world view. But there are other reasons that bear exploring.

When ruminating about their MBA years gone by, the thing former students speak of most, besides the gray hair they got from their statistics course, is being part of a "team of learners". In a "team" with multiple perspectives, different nationalities and an assortment of backgrounds, people don't always see eye to eye, and the total definitely defies standard addition. It's that "whole is more than the sum if its parts" experience that makes an MBA valuable to me.

I believe the class of 2008 at McGill Japan is looking forward to that full experience, to learn and question, to study and building something new. This blog is launched with the hope we can share a little of that journey with you as well. It is a collective effort like so much of the MBA. As our paths converge for a time along the same road I sincerely hope the postings this blog elicits are useful and interesting. I am definitely looking forward to hearing your points of view.


Cheers,
Charlie