Tips for Class of 2008

Class of 2008,

The more information you have to prepare for your first year in business school, the less painful it will be. Yeah right!! Okay, so we all know that no one is ever TRULY prepared, but here are the top 5 tips the Class of 2007 would like to share with you as you start your journey.

5. Don't underestimate the power of group work. You will benefit from the synergy both in the classroom and in your groups, so speak up and learn something.

4. If you ever feel like you are drowning in your course work...immediately reach out for assistance. There are several resources available to you - professor office hours, BBSA academic support, and MBA2 tutors. Your classes will be over before you know it and the knowledge builds incrementally. Chances are if you were lost day 1, you will continue to be lost on day 2. Seek help!

3. Leverage the strengths of your classmates. Many of your section mates will come from industries that required extensive use of some of the information you are trying to absorb in your core courses. Make sure you ask them for help. Similarly, if you are an expert in a given field, be willing to help others who may be having a hard time.

2. Balance. Business school is the ultimate balancing act. It will do you well to prioritize everything in your life. Now.

1. Offload. From time to time, it will help if you offload by going out, joining an intramural team, or doing some volunteer work. Don't get stressed out. Again, don't be afraid to reach out to BBSA MBA2s.

BONUS TIP! Network. While this term is seriously over used the underlying principle still holds value. The relationships you build during these first several weeks will prove invaluable in the years to come.

MBA 2007 | S.C. Johnson Racine, WI - Intern, Erica Butler

Synopsis: I had a great experience and learned more and was challenged more than I ever expected to be…I also found out that a mini-vacation in the middle of the summer is a necessity in order to recharge during a long internship.

I started my twelve week internship experience at S.C. Johnson May 30, 2006. I had a full month off after school ended and before I had to start my internship and boy did I end up appreciating it. I had a great experience but I think that any of us second years will agree that an internship - particularly if you're a career switcher - takes a lot out of you.

A little background on me: I have an undergraduate business degree from the University from Kansas. I studied marketing and did a marketing internship at Hallmark cards but ended up taking a consulting position at Deloitte following graduation. I focused in change management when I was with Deloitte so when I showed up at SCJ I can't say that I had much marketing experience to aid me during the internship.

Some info on S.C. Johnson: SCJ is a family owned company based in Racine, WI. They make all types of well-known brands from Ziploc to Glade to Raid to Scrubbing Bubbles. Despite all of these great brands people unfortunately still get the company confused with Johnson & Johnson all of the time. If you ever plan to interview with SCJ make sure you know they're two completely different companies!

I worked on the Scrubbing Bubbles brand during the summer. More specifically, I worked on new products within Scrubbing Bubbles. All of my four projects were focused on the new Automatic Shower Cleaner, which was great because I love the product. My first week or so was spent just trying to decode all of the marketing/SCJ jargon that was coming out of my co-workers' mouths. Once I figured out what people were talking about I had to tackle my project descriptions, and really figure out what I was supposed to be doing over the course of the summer. I have to say that I had a great range of projects. I worked on everything from a financial analysis to an online media assessment to a complete analysis of the test market for our new shower cleaner. I also worked on developing the FSI (Free standing insert - basically the coupon ads that you see in the Sunday newspaper) for the month of December. I even was able to sit in on several advertising campaign planning meetings.

I won't go into every detail of every project, but I will say that overall the challenging part of the summer was trying to figure out how to be proficient in a whole new area of business within a few weeks and then having to apply that new knowledge to various projects in a manner that showed that I knew what I was talking about and that I also added value. It was honestly not an easy task. I was lucky in that I had a couple of great managers that really were able to help guide my thinking without forcing me completely into their way of doing things. One of the first lessons I learned and what I wished someone had told me before I started the internship was that in marketing you deal with a lot of ambiguity. You'll never have 100% accurate information about every variable so you need to be able to make educated assumptions and come up with smart decisions based on those assumptions. Of course there are tons of experts in various functional areas there to help you make those decisions but ultimately there is no perfect data that can give you all of your answers. I spent more than a few days spinning my wheels trying to come up with the perfect solution on various projects before I could accept that there would be no "perfect" solution. When I came to terms with that I was able to get what I needed from data much more quickly and move on to creating actionable solutions without getting bogged down in the data.

Overall my internship experience was great. I will admit that I started getting worn down half-way in. I was lucky enough to have a fun weekend away with my boyfriend that helped to revive my energy half-way through (I now highly recommend to all interns that you plan a weekend mini-vacation during the internship to give you a second wind). As anyone will tell you, the last four weeks of the internship were definitely the busiest. Even if you try your best to spread out the work its inevitable that in a project based internship you'll end up busy at the end, when you actually feel like you know something.

In comparing marketing to my consulting experience, I have to say that the breadth of knowledge required in marketing is probably larger than in consulting. In consulting I eventually specialized in one area that I focused on during the majority of my projects. In marketing you're literally dealing with completely different business issues from the morning to the afternoon. The variety makes the job fun and unique. An advantage I will give consulting over marketing is that in my experience its definitely less bureaucratic. There is of course a hierarchy in both professions but in consulting your project teams are often fairly small and the work delineation is not always hard-defined. SCJ is a actually great in this regard because there are not proclaimed processes for every aspect of your job as there are in other well-known brand companies. Of course there are still clearly defined expectations at every level within the brand management career path, which could be frustrating if you're the type of person that wants to focus on broad strategy issues at all times.

I won't go on and on about my experience and what I learned over the course of the summer, but I will say that I learned more than I ever expected and was challenged more than I thought I would be. I'm definitely a better business person now and the knowledge I gained over the course of only 12 weeks will be hugely valuable to me no matter where my career takes me.

If you'd like to hear more about my internship experience please feel free to contact me at eebutler@umich.edu.

Welcome Class of 2008!

The class of 2007 is thrilled to have you join us at Ross. We've been working hard over the summer to ensure that the BBSA has another outstanding academic and social year here at Ross! As you've hopefully noticed during GBR and OP, the BBSA prides itself on being a tight-knit family organization that is also thoroughly and deeply involved with the greater Ross community. Over the 2006-2007 academic year we're planning on becoming even more inclusive in our events and programs throughout the year.

We'd like to use this blog to share our experiences with one another and with other current and prospective students. If you'd like to contribute to the blog, please send an email to Tashira Gibbs at gibbst@umich.edu and she can provide you with instructions.

Thanks for viewing our blog and have a great first year at Ross!

Erica Butler
Vice President, Ross BBSA

Welcome to the blog of the Black Business Students Association (BBSA) at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business!


The purpose of the blog is:

* To share BBSA club news and events
* To share club member opinions of and experiences at b-school
* To bring a frontline view to prospective students by providing insight into MBA life at Ross

We welcome your feedback and will try to respond in a timely manner to any inquires. Please enjoy your time on our blog and also be sure to visit us at our newly designed website.

Warm Regards,
The Ross BBSA Family

About the Ross BBSA
The Black Business Students Association (BBSA), founded in 1970, is one of the largest student-run organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, located in Ann Arbor, MI. The BBSA is dedicated to the recruitment of Black business students and the professional and academic development of its membership.

Mission
The Ross Black Business Students Association is dedicated to the professional, academic, and personal experiences of its members and the recruitment of black business students into the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.