World Business Forum - Day 1

Today was the first day of the World Business Forum at Radio Music Hall. Myself and a bunch of other CBS students were selected to assist with registrations, speaker coordination, and other logisitical tasks. So far it has been OK - we have to get in incredibly early (by 630am) to help register new people, but besides that, as long as it is not a break period, we are free to see the various speakers.

Today I saw Alan Greenspan, Jack Welch, Craig Barrett (Intel Chairman), and the CEO from Archer Daniels Midland (sorry, the name escapes me). Jack Welch was my favorite - very direct, great sense of humor, and from Massachusetts to boot (complete with Boston accent).

Tommorrow should be more of the same although hopefully less registrants. I am co-hosting a pre-happy hour happy hour for the Betters Halves club (significant others club) up at school so I'll have to leave a bit early (and unfortunately miss Carl Icahn - although as I said in a previous post, I did meet him 2 weeks ago :)

great alums

Had lunch w/an alum who is working in the VC industry yesterday. Had a great time and it turned out we had very similar backgrounds - same undergrad, same graduation year, both worked in IT consulting, yadda yadda. Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch - and who knows, maybe we will be doing deals together in a couple of years :)

Overall, I have been very happy with the level of interest and contact that the recent alums keep with the school. They are great about sending along job opportunities, and I have found them almost always willing to take a call or meeting. Regardless of where you end up going to school, I suggest you do the same. It makes your degree that much more valuable. In fact, I would argue that the vast majority of the value (for any MBA from any school) is in the alumni network and how much of that you are able to leverage.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and don't work too hard on those applications :)

Mid-semester party

What a zoo!

The mid-semester party was last night, and CBS came out in (not surprising) full force. It took me about 45 minutes to get a drink when I showed up, which was not fun, but on the other hand, I got to see alot of people from J-term and also some September term folks who are in my classes but who I haven't had the chance to hang out with.

Tonight I'm going to a non-CBS friend's party in Park Slope. He's turning 31. Which isn't that old any more, considering I just turned 30 :)

Housing in New York City

I recently received a question from a reader regarding the ease or difficulty of finding an apartment in NYC. Well, frankly, it's not easy, and is probably more difficult than any place else in the US.

Some recommendations as a current renter who has had to do the NYC apartment hunt a couple times now:

1) Have your affairs in order before you start looking. In other words, make sure you have enough money for your security deposit, and a couple months rent. I know it sounds like alot, but there are plenty of landlords who require this much money up front. You could easily expect to pay upwards of $2000/month for a rental 1-bedroom apartment, and certainly more in some neighborhoods. Columbia housing will likely be cheaper than options on the open market, but I know it's tough to get.

1a) Have copies of bank statements, etc ready so you can show the landlord (if they ask) that you have a decent financial position. If you don't they may ask for someone to act as a guarantor. This is why #2 can potentially be appealing, because you won't be dealing directly with a landlord or management company.

2) Think aboout hopping on someone else's lease who already lives in the city. You could try to find someone who has a roomate moving out and try to move in with them. Craigslist is a good source for this sort of thing, and there are probably others.

3) If you use a broker, try to get a recommendation from someone in the city. Also, expect to pay them 12-15% of your first year's rent.

4) If you don't use a broker, be prepared to make a decision on a place literally when you see it. Apartments that are listed direct-from-owner tend to go within a couple days of the listing. I have heard numerous stories over the years about apartments going same-day. You snooze you lose. This is another great time to bring a friend from NYC around with you (if you have one here already) who can help you evaluate if a place is decent or not.

The good news is, eventually everyone does find a place. So don't sweat it too much, but be prepared to hustle around, see lots of places, and spend some money. After all, it's not your money you're spending, it's loan money :)

J-term social stuff

This weekend there are a couple of good things going on. First, tonight is the mid-semester party. That means that there is no Happy Hour, but a huge party at an off-campus venue instead. Tonight's is downtown, which is nice, because I live downtown :) On Saturday night, two girls in Cluster Y are having their birthday party (downtown!) and I plan on hitting that as well.

two tips

1) If you are sick of food at Uris Deli, there is a good hot/cold buffet at the Fu Foundation building (the engineering school, behind Uris). It's not a price break from what you'd find elsewhere near campus, but the food is decent, and you can always get a seat.

2) If you visit a school, take it easy and don't be pushy with the admissions staff, especially when asking to see specific members of their team. There was a guy in the admissions office the other day who was emphatic that he wanted to see Linda Meehan (dean of admissions) because he met her at an event, and continued to press even after he was told that she was really busy. As a bystander, it didn't look good, and I imagine that if the people in admissions remembered anything about that candidate, it was that he was obnoxious. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Cliche, yes, true, yes.