Moving Forward
Three weeks of break have gone by in a flash. The Kellogg Ski Trip was epic. Just imagine 750+ Kellogg students taking over Aspen/Snowmass for a whole week. Most of the condos were slope side, so we could ski or snowboard out onto the mountain directly. It was a ton of fun, and definitely a good way to end the first quarter of business school. I think that I will go again next year for sure. For me, the two weeks after the ski trip were spent catching up on sleep, writing cover letters and preparing for interviews for summer internships. Internship recruiting happens during the winter quarter and interviews start as early as mid-January.
One of the many great resources that we have here at Kellogg is the Interview Prep Groups or IPGs. Almost all of the industry clubs organize their own IPGs for the 1st years. There are Marketing IPGs, Consulting IPGs, Banking IPGs, Healthcare IPGs, Technology IPGs, and more. Each IPG group is led by one or two 2nd years that either came from that industry/job function or interned there over the summer. Their perspectives are extremely helpful with internship recruiting because they have been in our shoes last year. These groups, usually between 4-6 1st years per group, will meet every week to practice interview questions, talk about industry trends and learn about the specifics of the companies that people are interested in. They will typically begin from the beginning of the winter quarter until the end of the recruiting season for that industry. The 2nd years becoming mentors to the 1st years has been a long-standing tradition here. People at Kellogg want each other to succeed. This sense of camaraderie is what makes Kellogg so great.
Looking forward to the winter quarter, there are many things that I am excited about. Aside from finding a summer internship, I am involved in the 2011 Kellogg Marketing Conference. It is no secret that Kellogg has a distinguished marketing program, and the annual marketing conference is just as spectacular. The Kellogg Marketing Conference is the largest conference at Kellogg, spanning over two days. This year, the conference will be January 21-22. The theme is Evolution to Revolution: Marketing’s Next Leap Forward. We are delighted to have Bill Rasmussen, the founder of ESPN, as our keynote speaker. We also have some great panelists lined up who will share their expertise on various current marketing topics with the attendees. You can go to www.kelloggmarketingconference.com for more information if you are interested to know more.
Another activity that I am very excited about is the Day at Kellogg weekend for all Round 1 admitted students. The first DAK is coming up on the second weekend of February. I will be one of the DAK leaders this year, so I am looking forward to meeting many of you when you come to visit Kellogg, and hopefully make the decision to come back in the Fall. My next entry will be all about DAK- my experiences with it last year, and some of my opinions and advices of what you should do when you get here. For those of you applying to Round 2, good luck with the rest of your application and hope to see many of you when you come on campus either for a visit or for your on-campus interview. Stay tuned…