pre-mba: "The McKinsey Way" (book 1 of 3)

Students entering the top-MBA programs quickly learn how to multi-task, and prioritize their time. Beginning with the actual application process (which often starts a year in advance), and continuing along with finding financing and arranging accommodations, MBA students must be quick out of the gate. They learn to focus and formulate their personal goals early. Whether the goal is to do well in school, or to build an MBA network of friends & colleagues, all these goals ultimately boil down to getting a good job.

So, what constitutes a good job? This really depends on the unique needs and desires of each student. Traditional post-MBA career options include consulting, entrepreneurship, finance, industry, and marketing. The ideal job for someone interested in marketing might be to work for a top public relations firm on Madison Avenue. Other students would love to start their own tech venture in Silicon Valley. Nevertheless, most MBA students would agree that the most competitive jobs, which also pay the highest salaries, are those in consulting and finance. Top consulting firms include McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Booz Allen.

Those seeking careers in finance must make a further decision on whether they want to work in asset management, brokerage/private banking, investment banking, private equity, or venture capital. Top finance firms include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America), and Citigroup. Kudos to you if you manage to score a job in consulting or investment banking! Your odds of landing one of these jobs is less than the acceptance rates at most top-MBA programs (less than 10%). Yet even more rare (and prestigious) are the jobs in private equity and venture capital.

Those of you interested in consulting careers might consider reading the McKinsey trilogy of books written by ex-McKinsey-ites, Ethan Rasiel and Dr. Paul Friga. Within ten years of writing his first book on McKinsey, entitled "The McKinsey Way," Rasiel has witnessed "the Firm" double its number of professional consultants to 9,000, and increase its number of locations by almost 20% to 89 offices globally. McKinsey continues to thrive in up and down markets that included the tech bubble bursting, 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the worst economic recession since the 1930's. If you want to join this illustrious firm, then according to Rasiel, getting hired by McKinsey is simple:

"Be of above average intelligence, possess a record of academic achievement at a good college and a top business school, show evidence of achievement in all previous jobs, and demonstrate extraordinary analytical ability. [And] If you manage to clear all those hurdles, the key to joining the Firm may be the case interview" (p. 161).

But you don't have to work for McKinsey to benefit from applying its approach to your own business problems. The cornerstone for getting inside the McKinsey mind is the MECE (pronounced "me-see") mantra - an acronym that stands for "mutually exclusive, completely exhaustive." And this doesn't refer to the hours you'll be working as a consultant. Although they will also be mutually exclusive AND completely exhaustive!

The process begins once the client comes to you with a problem. You must first dissect the problem into its simple constituent parts. For example, if the client says, "We need to make more money," then you should immediately respond, "Well, how do you currently make your money?" When the client answers that they make money by selling product X, then the obvious question becomes, "How do we sell more of product X." Next, to make this initial root question conform to MECE standards we exhaustively look at ALL the factors that might effect sales of product X, including production costs, distribution channels, and marketing. Then, re-phrase the question(s) into "action statements." For example, "We can increase product X sales by: reducing our unit costs, changing the way we sell to customers, and improving the way we market to customers (this construct can be teased out further by constructing an "issue tree").

Once organized into this framework, we can form our initial hypotheses on how to solve the problem(s). Finally, we test our hypotheses by verifying them against the facts ("trust, but verify"). Facts trump all else. Ethan Rasiel warns us, "Hiding from the facts is a prescription for failure - eventually, truth will out" (p. 5). The McKinsey system relies heavily on the availability and accuracy of these facts, some of which are gathered through its proprietary "PDnet" system - a collection of recent "client engagements," as well as internal research and publications, such as "The McKinsey Quarterly". Such an analytical framework that breaks propositions down into their "atomic facts" would make the logical positivists of the 1920's that occupied Oxbridge very happy. Having studied philosophy during college, it seems that a background in philosophy would be great training for being a consultant, because you must be a generalist, yet also possess the analytical ability to delve into the nitty-gritty. Rasiel quotes one Engagement Manager who said, "You have to be fundamentally skeptical about everything" (p. 2).

Another feature of McKinsey that can benefit other organizations is their "free-flow of information" philosophy that is nurtured through a lateral hiearchy. While there exists a clear pecking order: Director of Client Services (DCS), Director, Partner, Senior Engagement Manager (SEM), Engagement Manager (EM), and Associate, McKinsey adopts an open-door policy. You MUST keep others "in the loop." Sometimes the best ideas come from your teammates, Rasiel advises, "Keep an open and flexible mind. Don't let a strong initial hypothesis become an excuse for mental inflexibility" (p. 21). There will be times, however, when even the best ideas (no matter who comes up with them) just cannot be implemented for the client due to "political reasons, lack of resources or inability."

Rasiel also discovered several other useful rules while working as an associate at McKinsey (from 1989 to 1992) that might help you. For example, for some unknown reason the 80/20 rule - that 20% of the work is responsible for 80% of the results - seems to apply to many facets of life, including business. As alluded to earlier, it is also important to consult your co-workers, rather than have to re-invent the wheel. And if you're chatting it up with your EM, then you better be familiar enough with the client solution to be able to articulate it in the 30 seconds it takes to ride down in an elevator with him. A final useful point to remember is that on your quest to discovering the holy grail (big picture) be sure to go after little victories by "picking the low-hanging fruit." While you don't need to work at McKinsey to develop this analytical frame of mind, the Firm is filled with such people, and the lessons are universal in their application.

pre-mba: freshers' pack (and bank account)

With less than a month to go before classes start, I was getting nervous that I hadn't heard much of anything from either the B-school or Exeter College. My nerves were partially relieved when I received a "Freshers' Pack" from Exeter College. This package, which is sent to all new incoming students (by their respective College), took about ten days to travel from Oxford to New York. It listed an itinerary of mandatory, as well as optional events, that I would attend once I arrive in Oxford. Unfortunately, the first optional event designed to introduce students to their new college, called the "Postgraduate Induction Session," is being held on September 30th, which conflicts with my mandatory B-school orientation. Nevertheless Exeter made up for this by offering to meet their incoming Freshers at the Gloucester Green Bus Station (if requested), which I thought was very nice of them. Exeter is also hosting their "Graduate Freshers' Dinner" on October 6th where the dress code is "Formal & Gown" as new students dine at the High Table by candlelight! Lucky for me the packet also contained an advertisement from "Ede & Ravenscroft" on where to buy such Oxford garb and at what price.


The Freshers' Pack also contained two copies of my housing contract ("Graduate Tenancy Agreement"), which is VERY important when you want to prove your UK address to the immigration officer when you first fly into Heathrow. By and large, the university does not send you an inordinate amount of paperwork, so it's natural to sometimes feel a little worried when you haven't heard from them in a while - especially because they're overseas, making visiting them or calling them difficult. As I poured over the Exeter materials I also read through the red-colored "Handbook for Students" that provides you with useful things, such as a staff directory, and when meals are served in Hall. I was also terribly relieved to find a "Letter of Introduction to UK Banking Facilities," signed by Exeter's Academic Secretary. The one thing I read over and over again in other peoples' blogs is that you want to have your bank account, and cell phone account, set-up as soon as possible. Otherwise you'll fall behind in class while trying to go through this frustrating process. *Important note* One needs a bank account BEFORE they can get a cell phone.

The four main UK banks in Oxford include Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and Natwest. An excellent chart comparing the banks is available here. I favor Barclays and HSBC, because I think they are more international, having several locations in New York. That being said, you can only open the account in person in Oxford. I believe that HSBC, however, allows you to start the account opening process online, but you must still visit a branch in person to finalize the account.

As an international student you will also find yourself limited to the type of account that you can open. For example, when attempting to sign-up for a Barclays Student Account I was told that I only qualified for their iBank Student Account, because I was a "non-permanent UK resident" defined as "a person who has lived in the UK at least three years before starting higher education studies." Essentially this means we're stuck paying higher fees. The HSBS Passport Student Account charges £84 per year with a one year firm commitment. The Barclays iBank Student Account charges £60 per year. You can print a short application from the Barclay website and pre-fill it out before returning it to the Oxford bank branch located on Cornmarket Street. I'm sure that there exists other banks in Oxford that charge no fees, however, the bank may not be as large or international as the ones I have mentioned.

Other than that, my Freshers' Pack contained some forms that I need to return upon arriving in Oxford. For example, I need to return my Graduate Tenancy Agreement, Graduate Freshers' Dinner reservation, Exeter College Student Contract, Exeter College Graduate Freshers' Information Sheet, and some doctors forms. Most of the paperwork only needs to be signed and reviewed so I'm not sweating it too much. For those of you looking for even more information, I would HIGHLY recommend reading through the Student Handbook published by the Oxford International Students' Handbook.

pre-mba: pre-departure planning

I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I remember flying to Oxford with my fiancee Lisa for my Round 2 interview back on February 20th. It seemed to take forever as I waited for their admission decision that was emailed to me on March 27th. After discussing the opportunity with Lisa, as well as with my friends and family, everyone agreed it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. It was also a dream come true, especially because I had studied abroad at Oxford in 2000 while an undergraduate. I remember walking to the train station with my sister to catch a train to Morton-in-the-Marsh in the Cotswolds, and passing by a construction site where the new Saïd Business School was being built. That day I pledged to myself to one day return, and to take a proper degree - that is, to be permanently etched into the matriculation books at Oxford.

Life, however, does not move in a perfectly linear fashion as economics might otherwise suggest. Undetered by what challenges life threw at me, I persevered, and after a lot of hard-work, can now count myself as one of the lucky ones who will earn an MBA from Oxford University. I use the term "lucky" loosely. Of course I believe that: success = preparation + opportunity, but just because you work hard doesn't mean that you're guaranteed anything; you just simply tip the probability for success in your favor.

Even probability is a relative term, however, as anyone who watches ESPN's "Texas Hold'em World Series of Poker" knows. Time and gain you see a player dealt "bullets" down (the best possible starting hand in poker), he bets strategically, and winds up "flopping" yet another Ace for "trip Aces". His probability for winning skyrockets to over 90%. Nothing else is showing on the green felt table except a scattered mess of cards, until the final card is revealed on the "river." Your opponent miraculously makes his "inside straight draw," and clutches victory from the jaws of defeat even though they should have folded at the get-go. Those challenges, and how you react to such an improbable defeat, reveals a person's character. At times like these you have to stick hard-and-fast to the belief that over time there will be a "reversion to the mean," and that your best bet is to continue to play the percentages. And have enough liquidity to see you through!

You might be surprised to learn that I actually don't watch much poker. I had too much other work to accomplish before leaving for Oxford! Most importantly, Lisa and I bought our plane tickets to Heathrow yesterday. Fares were up to $700 each round-trip on Virgin Atlantic from New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR), compared to $500 when we last flew in February. We'll be arriving a week before mandatory MBA orientation, and a full two weeks before the start of Michaelmas term. This should give me ample time to open a bank account and buy a cell phone. We managed to get a reasonable £16 per night room through Exeter College. The next best price I found was £55 at the Saint Michael's Guess House (across from the Oxford Union) for a double room. Fancier places, like the Buttery on Broad Street and the Randolph Hotel on Beaumont Street, charge £120 and £156 per night for a double room, respectively! This should give you a good idea if and when you book temporary accommodations in Oxford (or have family visit).

The only other thing remaining is my Visa. I suggest that everyone stay on top of this early. I proactively requested my Visa letter by emailing the business school administration. I had a wonderful experience. Their turnaround time was top-rate, and they were extremely responsive to me. As soon as my "hard copy" arrived in early July, I booked an online appointment to get my biometric fingerprints taken at the closest US Federal Office to me in New York City. I had to wait nearly one month for an available appointment! I finally had my biometrics taken on August 19th, and immediately overnighted my entire Student Visa (Tier 4) application to the New York British Consulate. And I was thorough! You will want to include the following: Passport (original), Student Visa application (filled out and printed online), Biometric fingerprints (original), MBA Admission letter (original), Oxford College Admission letter (original), Proof of Oxford Housing Address, Student Transcripts (original), and Funding Documents (student loans, bank account balances, etc.). It took the British Consulate eleven days just to confirm by email that they had received my application, and would take a further 5 to 10 business days to process. I suppose this won't be too bad provided I get my Visa by next Friday.

My biggest recommendation would be to book your biometric appointment ASAP, and to put together a very complete and legible application (read above). I don't know how later Round applicants get this done in time since some aren't notified of their admission until July! Good luck, and feel free to write a comment if you have any problems/questions with preparing to move to Oxford.