Day In The Life: A New Kellogg MBA Student Goes Through Orientation
This week we are pleased to feature a special guest article by Angela Cheung, a first-year MMM student at the Kellogg School of Management. The MMM program is a special joint program between Kellogg and the Northwestern School of Engineering, where graduates earn both an MBA and a Masters of Engineering Management. Angela is in the midst of the Kellogg Complete Immersion in Management program--a two-week orientation for new MBA students. Despite her ultra-busy schedule, she has agreed to take time to share some excellent insider information about what goes on in this program. Here's Angela's day-in-the-life profile:
Orientation At Kellogg
For most new students at Kellogg, their orientation unofficially starts during KWEST (Kellogg Worldwide Experiences and Services Trip) -- weeklong trips planned by 2nd years that go all over the world. These trips are mainly social -- a change to get to know some 2nd year students and 20 other 1st years. Each trip also has a community service activity. Significant others are welcome to attend as well. A tradition on the trips is that participants are not allowed to talk about where they're from, where they went to undergrad, or what they did before school -- to force everyone to talk about other things and get to know each other on a deeper level. The trips end with a "big reveal" where everyone guesses and then divulges their info.
Right after KWEST, the real 2 week orientation starts on campus -- it's called Complete Immersion in Management (CIM). Students are divided into 8 sections (~70 students in each) -- these sections are their groups for orientation and they will also take some of their first quarter classes together. CIM focuses on section competition, getting to know basics about Kellogg, and getting to know your classmates.
Here's an example of day 3 of CIM:
8:00am-9:00am
Continental breakfast at school. The days start early but you get fed a lot.
9:00am-12:00pm
Diversity & Inclusion Workshop. A few professors speak to the group about the importance of diversity and how the next 2 years will be a unique opportunity to get to know people very different from you (different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, etc.) so take advantage of it. We then break into our sections to do the "Iceberg excerise" that teaches you to delve past surface characteristics to get to know the things that really make a person who they are. In groups of 5, we share two key elementsof who we are (e.g. family, location, gender, values, etc.).
12:00pm-1:00pm
Lunch. More free food!
1:00pm-2:30pm
Case Method Introduction. We were given a case with prep questions the day before. A Kellogg alum with work experience from the same industry as the case comes to run the case discussion and share her personal experience. We geta taste of what classes will be like, since Kellogg uses cases as one of itsteaching methods.
2:30pm-5:30pm
The Amazing Race. Sections compete in a scavenger hunt that covers the Jacobs center (where Kellogg classes are held), the Northwestern campus, and Evanston (thesurrounding city). You start with one clue and have to decipher the location to find your next clue. At some of the locations you also have to accomplish small tasks. It's a fun event that also gets you better acquainted with key locations. This is part of the overall section competition that lasts the two weeks of orientation.
7:00pm-9:30pm
Small group dinners. Groups of 7 randomly assigned students within a section go to dinner to get to know each other in a smaller group setting. Significant others are also welcome.
9:30pm-12:00am
Section Showcase Practice. One of the biggest parts of the section competition is the section showcase. Each section gets 7 minutes on stage and performs a series of skits, songs, and dances that mustreference Chicago and Kellogg culture. A panel of professors and administrators serve as judges. We only have a few days to put it together so it can be a little stressful but it's one of the many times during orientation your section has to figure out how to work together -- e.g. who's going to take the lead, how we're going to organize, etc. You also get to see the random talents of your sectionmates!
Overall CIM is really busy but also a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the school and your classmates. And as everyone tells us, it'll get much busier when school actually starts!