Simon School Admissions Blog

A City Worth Living in!

2009-11-27T09:00:00-05:00

By Greg

Newsday.com recently ranked Rochester, NY among 6 college towns worth visiting: http://www.newsday.com/travel/6-college-towns-worth-visiting-1.1569515

While those of us who live and work in Rochester, NY know about the great quality of life we enjoy here, it is nice to see the city continue to be recognized by national media for the gem that it truly is. Students routinely tell me how they find so many cool things to do in Rochester. I tell them my family moved here ten years ago and we are still working through our list of things to see and do.

Capitalizing on how easy it is to get out and about in Rochester, a group of Simon students has decided to make the most of our world famous winters. They have formed the Winter Sports Club and intend to organize trips to local ski slopes and skating rinks. Growing up in Canada, I have experienced more winters than I sometimes care to remember. Yet, I have always enjoyed watching some of our students react to snow for the first time.

Admissions tips for the 2010 Application cycle

2009-11-24T16:00:00-05:00

By Rebekah:

While gaining admission to a top-MBA or MS program is challenging and selective, there are some general "do's and don'ts" that will hopefully help you to successfully achieve a favorable outcome.

First, the "Do's"

Be yourself - be honest and remember that the application is going to help the Admissions Committee (AdCom) to get to know you. Be realistic about strengths and weaknesses.
Have Career Focus and clear reasons for your graduate school plans - know what you want and have a plan for how the Simon School can be a partner to help you to get there.
Proofread your essays - spend the extra time to look over your essays and catch typos, stay within the word limit, check your grammar and most importantly make sure you have answered the essay questions for the Rochester application.
Plan to check the status of your application online - decisions are released in real-time as they are finalized by the AdCom.

Now the "Don'ts"

Don't wait until the last minute to ask recommenders to assist in the application process. They need plenty of time to write your recommendation. Also, give them a helpful reminder at least 7-10 days prior to your targeted deadline.
Don't forget how/when to use the optional essay - it truly is optional, but if you have a weakness in your application, be sure to use that area as an opportunity to proactively address it. Please be sure that you are only presenting information that is truly relevant to the B-school application.

Good luck - we wish you the best in your application for MBA or MS study and look forward to reviewing your Simon application!

Entrepreneurship at Simon

2009-11-20T17:30:00-05:00

By Lilly

One of the fastest growing concentrations at the Simon School is in entrepreneurship. For alumni and current students in the program, this comes as no surprise as alumni have been leaving the conventions of corporate America to open and succeed with their own businesses for years. Notable alumni who have gone on to great success are Mark S. Ain with Kronos, Inc., Robert E. Rich with Rich Products Corporation, and Paul A. Brands with American Management Systems, now known as CGI, among numerous others.

Current students are fortunate enough to know that the Center for Entrepreneurship is actually located in one of the main Simon buildings. The proximity of the faculty and staff who work there, as well as the professors who teach the numerous entrepreneurship courses available is helpful as students work on their unique business plans and seek guidance.

In addition to the Center for Entrepreneurship, there are numerous other opportunities for current and prospective students on campus. There is the Mark Ain Business Model Workshop Series and Competition, the Simon Entrepreneurs Club, additional regional business plan competitions unique to the Rochester area (http://www.htr.org/2009_rochester_regional_business_plan_contest.asp) and numerous roundtables, panels and seminars available to learn from successful entrepreneurs in the local or regional community.

Additional Value in a B-School Network

2009-11-17T12:10:00-05:00

By: Tony

There are several factors that will play a role in the choice of what school to attend for your MBA or MS graduate business degree. We have all heard about the importance in a program’s curriculum, faculty prominence, career placement, size and many other points. One of these other important features to consider is one that you may not receive a benefit from until a few years into your career… the alumni network. The intangible benefit of a school’s professional and alumni community is an additional value that will provide you lasting power on your resume and your professional network.

The Simon School’s active and well-connected alumni network is primarily a benefit from our personal culture at the school. We boast alumni networks across the US and across the world. Not only are these alums in several cities, industries and companies; but also eager to provide advice and assistance in promoting the Simon School. You can find some examples of Simon grads and what they are doing now on our Alumni Profilewebsite along with some recent evidence of the commitment of our alums to the Simon School here.

While doing your research on possible b-school’s you want to attend, ask about alumni involvement and to speak with an alum. Not only will this be another information source for you find out more about the school... but also a chance for you to find out how you can benefit from the alumni network later in your career.

My Summer Internship Experience 2009

2009-11-13T05:09:00-05:00

By: Ameet Chandak, MBA Candidate 2010

Why do a Summer Internship? One of the top questions which one has to answer as an entrant of the Accelerated 18 Month MBA program at Simon is: “How valuable is a summer internship and should I pursue this option?” The hectic pace of the first two quarters which covers 7 core courses is demanding for most students and was no different for me. However, what began as a struggle quickly turned in to an exciting experience where I mastered core management skills across different business functions. Having worked as an IT Consultant with Ernst & Young prior to Simon, I was keen to progress to a broader role as a business technology advisor and use my newly found MBA skills in the real world. The summer internship presented me with the perfect opportunity to do this, and I joined Deloitte Consulting LLP with their Healthcare industry practice at the Boston office.

Welcome to Deloitte. The city of Boston brought a much needed change after a ‘typical’ Rochester winter, and I started my 10 week internship in the 2nd week of June, just days after finishing the spring quarter. As I walked through the corridors of 60 floor John Hancock tower to make my way to the Deloitte office, I felt anxious about how the internship experience would unfold. My first week was dedicated to understanding the overall business of Deloitte, its various services across different industries, the organization structure and firm culture. I was assigned my summer project in the second week and introduced to my team and reporting manager. I was part of a highly visible team which was advising a Healthcare client in transforming a critical business function.

The Simon Difference. As a summer associate, I was assigned the responsibility of planning and developing an overall testing plan to analyze core business functionality of the newly implemented ‘claims pricing system’. My role required extensive data analysis and I was able to use skills from core courses like GBA and Finance to analyze and interpret data. As the weeks passed by, I was able to easily bond with my project team and contribute as a team member, leveraging vastly on my experience of working with diverse teams at Simon.

My Key Takeaways. The summer internship experience helped me expand my professional network which now includes consultants at Deloitte, interns from schools like Harvard Business School and MIT, and Simon Alumni in Boston. The internship also helped me gain further insight into US work culture and business etiquette. The most important takeaway was identifying areas for personal development of my management and leadership skills. I am now using the internship feedback to select relevant courses in my second year at Simon and take on new leadership positions on campus.

The summer internship has provided me with clarity on the industry and function that I desire to build a long term career after the MBA. My new professional network will undoubtedly help me in my full time job search. All in all it was an extremely fulfilling personal and professional summer internship and I would recommend that you explore this option during your studies at Simon.

Simon Meliora Fund Investment Club

2009-11-10T02:14:00-05:00

By: Crissi

Simon is known as a finance school. Aptly, one of its most popular and asked about clubs is the Simon Meliora Fund Investment Club. It has undergone some notable changes in 2009 for the benefit of all Simon students.

For the last several years, Meliora Fund was a closed club with frozen assets. Only a few selected students had access to the Fund and there was no active trading. Starting last spring the current Executive Board started working on the Fund’s restructuring. The main goal was to open up the Fund to all students, start actively trading securities and make Meliora Fund a great learning environment for everybody. At this time, Meliora Fund doesn’t hold any meetings related to security analysis or portfolio management, except educational events for first-year students. The club will now start having regularly scheduled meetings open to all members. For the second-year M.B.A. students there will be many new available positions within the club including: Analysts for those with no or little experience; and, Senior Equity/Debt Research Analysts for selected students with extensive experience who will supervise the groups of analysts and play an important role in the decision making process.

The Meliora Fund is also hosting campus-wide events open to all Simon students. To learn more about stock analysis, this week the Meliora Fund Club is hosting a Stock Pitch Competition. Simon Students are encouraged to participate or attend in support of their colleagues. The event tagline is: 26 different students. 26 different stocks. 26 different analyses. To learn more about the Simon Meliora Fund Investment Club, you can contact its student leaders directly at: SMFI@simon.rochester.edu.

Simon Super Soccer!

2009-11-09T13:13:49-05:00

By James Russell

Last week, your Simon Soccer Club travelled to New Haven, Connecticut to participate in the 20th Annual Yale Cup Soccer Tournament. The tournament brought together graduate student athletes from top educational institutions for a two-day tournament just off the Yale campus. Participating schools included Harvard, Chicago, Duke, North Western, Wharton, Columbia, NYU, MIT, Babson, Carnegie Mellon, IPADE, Dartmouth and Yale. Based on size alone, Simon was placed at an immediate disadvantage before even leaving the University of Rochester parking lots. The size and talent pool of the larger schools could have intimidated a lesser squad, but it only served as a motivator for the Rochester faithful. Severely underestimated by the organizers, competition and spectators, the Simon team approached each contest as an opportunity to show the B-School community the pride, passion and quality of the Simon brand.

The group stage started early Sunday morning where Simon would meet Duke, Columbia Lions, and NYU in Group A match play. Three of the four teams in the group had advanced past the group stage at the Tuck MBA World Cup this past spring (Columbia Lions, NYU, Simon) with Simon and NYU advancing to the semi-finals respectively. Needless to say, this was the proverbial “group of death” breathing fear into the other teams as they waited to see who would advance from this power group. In the early match up against a very athletic Duke crew, Jason Reminick (MD/MBA) used his long throw-in to hit Mike Webb’s (MBA ’10) head deep in the Duke zone. Mike flicked the ball on, surprising the keeper and putting Simon up 1-0. In hopes of preserving the lead, Simon fell back into a defensive mode as Duke pushed for the “equalizer.” Late in the 2nd half their efforts paid off and the game finished 1-1. In the 2nd match-up, Simon took the field against NYU who was coming off a loss to Columbia. NYU came out physical and tough, living up to their “Stern” namesake as they played for their tournament lives. Midway through the 2^nd half, Barry Poechmann (MBA ’09) sent a through-ball over the NYU defense to James Russell (MBA ’10). A step inside the box was all Russell needed to strike home a half-volley to the far post providing an early candidate for goal of the tournament. Again Simon weathered the NYU storm falling into a defensive strategy, but yet another late push by NYU forced a second 1-1 draw.

Simon entered the third game in a “must-win” scenario. Win or go home. The Columbia Lions entered the game attempting to advance as the group winners; little did Columbia know Simon had plans to earn the #1 seed themselves. In true Simon fashion, the club surprised the Lions from The City and with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Reminick slotted home a strike from 20 yards out; giving Simon a familiar 1- 0 lead. Learning from their previous two matches, Simon kept their foot on the pedal and pushed offensively. Webb made another appearance on the score sheet by netting yet another header off a well executed corner kick providing Simon with some much needed insurance, 2-0 Simon. Breaking the Lions spirits and sealing the victory for the Simon faithful, Brazilian Felipe Samico (MBA ’10) broke through the Columbia defensive core and finished the teams third of the afternoon, ending the game in comfortable fashion, 3-0 Simon. With the victory, and undefeated record, Simon qualified as the #1 seed from Group A, slotted to play the hosts from Yale in the quarterfinals. Despite near freezing temperatures, pouring rain and gusts of wind that were knocking spare nets over, the tournament carried on Sunday morning. After surviving a few Rochester winters over the years, the Simon squad laughed at Mother Nature as she tried to deter the team from getting the job done.

In the quarterfinals against the hosts from Yale, Simon followed the same pattern as they did the day before by scoring early. Leon Pijpaert (MS ’10) netted a screamer from 25 yards out, off a brilliant pass from Sergio Fernandez (MBA ’10). Within minutes Yale had equalized off an unlucky bounce inside Simon’s box. The remainder of the game was played mostly in the Yale end where Simon attacked ruthlessly, yet unsuccessfully. To decide the deadlock at fulltime, the teams went directly to the penalty shootout where Simon’s hopes were placed on the humble shoulders of Vinayak (Vin) Behl (MBA ’10), Simon’s trusted goalkeeper. Vin stood tall in goal (stopping two Yale penalty shots) providing Mike Annechino (MBA ’09) opportunities to eliminate the hosts and bury the winning kick, sending Simon into the semi finals. Goal scorers in the shootout were:

Sergio Fernandez,

Severin Price (MBA ’11)
James Russell (MBA ’10)
Mike Annechino.

The Semi’s placed Simon against long time rival The Blues, Columbia’s top team. The Blues have walked away with first place finishes at four consecutive tournaments, entering the weekend as the #1 overall seed. Facing freezing temperatures, borderline hypothermic players and mud covered jerseys; Simon came out with a burst of energy, surprising the Columbia team early. The relentless attack had Columbia’s coaching staff up in arms at the performance of their “Championship Squad”. Late in the first half Columbia stepped up their play and finished a fine goal to put Simon in an unfamiliar position. For the first time in the tournament, they would have to play from behind. With no desire to leave the tournament early, Simon dug deep and pressed on. The team was able to keep the ball in Columbia’s end nearly 100% of the time as they pushed for the equalizer. Late in the second half, Severin Price (MBA ’11) danced around three Columbia defenders before being fouled badly as he headed towards goal. This set up a free-kick 25 yards from the net for Leon Pijpaert. In what looked like a "bend it like Beckham” moment, Pijpaert was able to swing the ball around the wall of Columbia defenders and into the top corner of the net keeping Simon’s hopes alive for its first ever finals appearance. The goal also trumped Russell’s strike from a day prior as “Goal of the Tournament”. Regulation time ended soon after and the game headed to penalty shots again. Vin did his best to pick off the Columbia penalty shots, but the cold, rainy conditions made his life miserable. Columbia was able to seal the victory on their 5th shooter, eliminating Simon in 3rd place. With this great result, combined with the 3rd place finish at the Tuck MBA World Cup last spring, Simon should be ranked the #2 soccer program among North American schools heading into the Texas tournament in February where they hope to improve on their great results and make the entire Simon community proud. Meliora!

Click here for photos Download WATS - Yale Article
Yale Cup Roster 2009:

Roberto Vasquez ’04, Serge Majdalani ’09, Mike

Annechino ’09, Vinayak Behl ’10, Bakhodir Khodjayev

’10, Mike Webb (C) ’10, Rajesh Sharma ’10, Severin

Price ’11, Sergio Fernandez ’10, Leon Pijpaert ’10,

Alia Tabet ’09, James Russell (C) ’10, Jagger Koerner

’11, Barry Poechmann ’09, Felipe Samico ’10, Jason

Reminick (MD/MBA), Ricardo Medeiros ‘10

What's IN Rochester, anyway? The Company Edition.

2009-10-30T09:00:00-04:00

By: Ariane

When we tell people we're located in Rochester, NY, immediately, some don't know what that means. Many people have heard of it. Some know where it is. A few have been here and know only a little about the city. So, over the course of my next few posts, I've decided to answer the question - what exactly is IN Rochester?

I'm going to start this series with The "Companies" edition. Rochester is home to many amazing businesses, large and small. I promise you, you've heard of more of them than you think!

Let's start with the big guns. Rochester is widely known as a major center for imaging and optics, thanks to three corporations: Eastman Kodak, Xerox and Bausch and Lomb. This has since been supplemented with excellent imaging and optics programs at both the Rochester Institute of Technology as well as right here at the University of Rochester.

Yet, we aren't all flashbulbs and lasers. Interested in Consumer Packaged Goods? You can manage the Robert Mondavi, Svedka, or Corona brands at Constellation Brands. Or, if you're not much of an alcohol drinker, how about the Bird's Eye brand or Heluva Good cheese? You could even try a different vice with the massive caffeine buzz from Jolt Cola, created at Wet Planet Beverages. Come from a science background? You might want to check out Thermo Fisher Scientific, the makers of the Nalgene bottle and Camel Baks.

Other still might be happy to work at 2005's Best Company to Work For (Fortune Magazine), Wegman's. Since 2005, the store has ranked in the top 5 of that list each year. Or would you rather work for "the #1 most satisfying" grocery store in America? Thanks to Consumer Reports, Wegman's holds that title as well, for the second time in a row. If you're more of a behind-the-scenes grocery type, you might want to check out Daymon Worldwide - the "world's leading Private Brand Broker," creating many of the private label brands you see on shelves everywhere. A bonus? The company is employee-owned.

Or maybe you're interested in the world of finance - you could work at DeltaPoint Capital Management, Federated Clover Investment Advisors, or the Trillium Group. Entrepreneurs might want to look into High Tech Rochester, which specializes in new venture development. For those interested in Health Sciences, look into insurers like Excellus BCBS, Aetna, or MVP, or create a career within our own University of Rochester, home to one of the nation's top academic medical centers.

If you still haven't seen anything you like, you could check out Hickey Freeman, a high-end suit brand, Paychex, a leader in the payroll and human resources industry, or Paetec, a business-to-business telecommunications firm started by a Simon alumnus.

In short - where is there to work in Rochester? Rochester has just about any kind of company where you might want to begin your post-graduate career. For a more complete list check out Rochester's awesome wiki entry.

Public Forum on Healthcare Reform hosted by Simon School

2009-10-29T15:42:29-04:00

Posts by Rebekah:

With an ever-increasing focus on expected changes in the U.S. Health Care industry, the Simon Graduate School of Business hosted "The Challenge of Health Care Reform” Public Forum, with over 300 people in attendance. Our distinguished group of panelists included:

Steven Goldstein, President and C.E.O., Strong Memorial and Highland Hospitals
Ronald W. Hansen, Senior Associate Dean for Program Development, William H. Meckling Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Bradley Policy Research Center, Simon Graduate School of Business
David Klein, C.E.O., Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
Clifford W. Smith Jr., Louise and Henry Epstein Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Finance and Economics, Simon Graduate School of Business
Gerard J. Wedig, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Simon Graduate School of Business
Fran Weisberg ’75, Executive Director, Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency
Mark Zupan, Dean, Simon School of Business, Moderator

Panelists discussed the health care reform bills currently being debated in the House and Senate and their similarities and differences. Additionally, they shared implications and consequences for individuals and the insurance and medical industries, and fielded questions from attendees. To hear this panel, visit the following links: Panel Comments - Part 1 and Panel Comments - Part 2

Technology in the Simon Classrooms

2009-10-23T10:46:40-04:00

By: Crissi

The Simon School provides an Economics-based and analytical approach to business education. This format can be intimidating to someone without a quantitative background; however, one thing I have noticed is the positive impact of technology in the classroom for teaching quantitative and theoretical concepts.

I would like to first preface this with the fact that tenured and accomplished faculty teach at the Simon School. Many have authored and contributed to the core textbooks used to teach M.B.A.s at top schools across the country, and these same people are the professors students interact with daily. I say this because often times it is assumed that there is a generational gap in regards to the use of technology. This is simply not true in the Simon classrooms.

Faculty use tablet notebooks in lectures, writing directly into their presentations to elaborate on concepts and go through practice problems. Gone are the days of chalk and dry-erase. The best part of this setup is that through the Simon student website, after class you can download a full lecture with the professor’s notes. This saves tons of time instead of trying to write down everything during the lecture.

One Simon Professor in Operations Management also happens to be a whiz at writing programs for Excel. I have taken two business statistics courses with this professor; in both classes, the professor created programs to calculate many complicated statistical outcomes with the input of a few simple values. Lecture is spent explaining what the outcomes mean and how to calculate them by hand, and when you get to the homework, you can speed right through it by merely imputing the correct numbers (which were identified in class) into the program. This intellectual property is free to all students at Simon, and has helped me countless times for homework and exams. I also recently learned the same professor created another Excel program for the calculation of queuing concepts in the Operations classes. Again, this professor specializes in Operations, not Information Technology.

An Excel add-in program or the ability to reference the professor’s notes makes a big difference when tackling new quantitative material. I know this has helped smooth the learning curve for all students, particularly those who are not innately gifted in understanding mathematical and theoretical constructs.