November - Two WACs, 3 reports and presentation.....and much more!!!

November had been very busy on the academic front but also very fulfilling on the personal side. Academically, November is one of the most busy month of the year. With lots of reports, WACS (Written Assessment of a Case - Cranfield way of assessment) and presentations.

The report for OB (Organisation Behaviour), which happens to be the only course which runs for the entire year, was due in the 2nd week of November. It was one the toughtest reports I have written. Never imagined that knowing people and being able to analyse their behaviour would be so different and difficult.

Next was the EOS WAC, my second if I count the practice WAC we did in the Pre-MBA. It is a high stress assignment, given on Friday afternoon and to be submitted within the next 26hrs. WAC's are an integral part of the Cranfield experience. I could feel the team spirit coming through during the team and stream dumps.

The SMS (strategic Marketing Success) - part of the marketing course assessment required us to crictically analyse a product / brand / company which we think has been successful. Our team had selected Arsenal FC. We had the opportunity to go to the Emirates Stadium to meet the Commercial Director of Arsenal FC who happens to be a Cranfield MBA alumni. for me, it is an experience that I will never forget. It also happens to be that I was leading our team on this project and it was just fantastic! Well, the long hours we put in to actually write the report and the presentation are something were not that fantastic though. This ended with our team presenting to the faculty which was quite fun as well. I can't wait to get to do the next presentation.

Then came the Accounting WAC - the bane to everyone on the MBA. Well, may not be everyone but definitely the most of them. I could see the tension, and probably fear, in everyone's eyes. The moment everyone dreaded was here and we all prayed that it would pass without any casualties! Well, after a long night - writing the report until 4:00am in the night and some more work in the morning, I submitted mine around nooon. It just so happens that I was one the early birds to do so. Then, I walked back to the Social for a pint of beer before I get some sleep and then it would be back to the Social for the post-WAC party. This party is a ritual now -the post WAC party where everyone tries to drown in the beer to forget about the horrors of the WAC.

All this mayhem started with the SDS (Strategic Decision Science) report. I didn't do anything in this report completely, Sarah led us on that. So, personally that was a relief.

Looking ahead in December, we have another 3 reports, one presentation and the exams. Who said it was going to be fun?

The O week that was...continued

The O week's 1st party was a fantastic event organized by the Orienters. Here the ex-MBA band played some songs. Sean Rickard, the Director of the MBA also joined them wit his electric guitar, see in the background.

The Sports day was the highlight of the O week. My stream was crowned champion as well!

The O Week that was...

The Orientation week, or the 'O' week as it is called started of with Michael O (short for Osbaldeston) the School Director welcoming us all and informing us that though the rankings don't matter a lot, Cranfield FTMBA has climbed 'The Economist' rankings again this year to 11th place! Only Judge Business School is ahead of Cranfield SoM. He also did not fail to point out that a little school London known as LBS was ranked at 15, 4 places behind Cranfield. Well, surely rankings don't matter if you are among the last!

We had a fantastic orientation team who seemed to have thought of every possible question we could come up with and every possible way of helping us ensure a 'soft landing'. I was asked to join the red stream on the 1st day and then later on introduced to my learning team for the 1st term on the 3rd day. Cranfield emphasises a lot on team work, hence this concept of Learning teams, where one works together with his team mates to study, solve problems, write reports, make presentations, laugh, cry, share. In short you embed yourself into the life of your fellow classmates. For some who are not used to working in teams, this can be quite a shock, but when one realises that this form of learning is used to help you perform better the shock subsides.

When I was told that the MBA is intensive and schedule is very hectic, I was not convinced as I always felt that I was used to it in my working life and so will not have a problem. After the O Week, my perception has completely changed. This MBA has provided me with a completely different meaning of the word 'intensive'. We had all day classes, then evening parties everyday of the week and were expected to read through the O Week casepack and be ready for tomorrow. If this sounds like hectic to anyone, we have been forewarned that the O week is the easiest week of the entire MBA, it starts heating up after this.

We had a Sports day on thursday - 4th Oct, probably the highlight of the O Week. Everone was dressed in their stream colors - Red, Green and Blue. When I say dressed, it includes the faces being paited with their stream colors. Some enthusiasts even painted their hands and legs too! this day captured the spirit of the cranfield MBA. Play hard....play fair....but above all enjoy. It was fantastic to see all of us competing with our fellow classmates, but at the same time it worked as the best 'ice breaker'. We all came so close to each other and made new friends.

On the last day, Orienters prepared to hand over the 'baton' with the Rep elections. The entire week was so well planned (and jam packed!) that we were left wondering on the amount of work the Orienters had put in to make us all feel at home. They left us all quietly on Friday evening, while we were watching the snapshots of the week that had been.

This week has been one of the most fun filled week of my life, something that i will never forget. I have been told that I wont forget the next 52 weeks either! So here's for an eventful, enjoyable year at Cranfield.......Cheers! (Have been drinking lot of beer here at Cranfield, habitual now!)