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ninetales's review against another edition
4.0
Peter Robinson decides to give up his job as speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan so that he can attend Stanford School of business in 1988. From the start, he has his doubts as to whether he has made the right decision. I am sure that this is a feeling most MBA students, especially those who are leaving a job to go back to school, would have had. I sure did. Such people have to shell out not just the high tuition fees at B-School, but also forego the opportunity of making money on the job (the so-called opportunity cost). But then, Robinson tries to justify to himself that there is no growth opportunity in his present career and the market for a presidential speechwriter is limited. He mulls over other career options, such as law and journalism, and asks friends with MBAs for their advice. having finally made up his mind, he packs his bags to go to San Francisco.
Having little trace of mathematics in his academic background, Robinson is a 'poet' and has to attend a compulsory prep course for mathematics and computers before the Fall term starts and the 'non-poets' arrive. At the beginning, he is clueless about either maths or computers. But, he gets along, meeting friends like Conan from Ireland and Zen from Japan. He also records all his experiences in a journal that he keeps, which eventually helps him write this book. He has quite a few words to say about the teaching faculty. Even at hallowed institutions like Stanford, only a third of the Professors are truly outstanding, the next one-third are OK and the rest are mediocre. The tussle between research and practicality is an ever-present one, and I suppose it applies to all good B-Schools across the world. Robinson makes it to the next term with good-enough grades, with a minor scare in Trees. Winter term is the term of Summer placements. Unlike his flatmates Joe and Philippe who have clear ideas of where they want to be, Robinson is willing to try different options, because he has not figured out what is suited for him. He lands a summers job at investment banker Dillon Read. The elation of the placements week is followed by the gloom of BusinessWeek magazine downgrading Stanford from second position to ninth in the Annual List of Best B-Schools. The students feel betrayed. The authorities try to smooth things over but the students are dissatisfied.
The Spring term is pretty uneventful except for the Marketing classes taught by an awesome professor who brings in people from the field to give students like Robinson the feel of actually doing things on the ground. Robinson and his batchmates then leave for their summer jobs. Two months at Dillon Read convinces him that he is not cut out for this job. For the final placements, he accepts a job with Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp only to be fired a year later due to the recession. Then, he discovers that he can blend his passion for writing with his newfound knowledge of businees. And that's the story of this book.
A very enjoyable read for those who have passed through, are passing through and plan to pass through the rigours and pleasures of a B-School.
Having little trace of mathematics in his academic background, Robinson is a 'poet' and has to attend a compulsory prep course for mathematics and computers before the Fall term starts and the 'non-poets' arrive. At the beginning, he is clueless about either maths or computers. But, he gets along, meeting friends like Conan from Ireland and Zen from Japan. He also records all his experiences in a journal that he keeps, which eventually helps him write this book. He has quite a few words to say about the teaching faculty. Even at hallowed institutions like Stanford, only a third of the Professors are truly outstanding, the next one-third are OK and the rest are mediocre. The tussle between research and practicality is an ever-present one, and I suppose it applies to all good B-Schools across the world. Robinson makes it to the next term with good-enough grades, with a minor scare in Trees. Winter term is the term of Summer placements. Unlike his flatmates Joe and Philippe who have clear ideas of where they want to be, Robinson is willing to try different options, because he has not figured out what is suited for him. He lands a summers job at investment banker Dillon Read. The elation of the placements week is followed by the gloom of BusinessWeek magazine downgrading Stanford from second position to ninth in the Annual List of Best B-Schools. The students feel betrayed. The authorities try to smooth things over but the students are dissatisfied.
The Spring term is pretty uneventful except for the Marketing classes taught by an awesome professor who brings in people from the field to give students like Robinson the feel of actually doing things on the ground. Robinson and his batchmates then leave for their summer jobs. Two months at Dillon Read convinces him that he is not cut out for this job. For the final placements, he accepts a job with Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp only to be fired a year later due to the recession. Then, he discovers that he can blend his passion for writing with his newfound knowledge of businees. And that's the story of this book.
A very enjoyable read for those who have passed through, are passing through and plan to pass through the rigours and pleasures of a B-School.
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