The Rosstache Phenomenon
March 24, 2006
I haven’t posted much on here as I’ve been completely caught up in maintaining the Rosstache blog. I posted about this earlier here. When we kicked off Rosstache, we had no idea that the competition would become so popular and that we would end up raising $3,000 for Project Night Night with 70+ contestants. The journey culminates tonight with a party at the Hill House and I should be back to blogging regularly on here next week. If you haven’t seen the Rosstache blog yet, I heartily recommend it for the ‘Separated at birth’ section if nothing else.
Mustache fever hits Ross
March 15, 2006
If you look around the Ross campus these days, you’ll see all sorts of interesting hair growth on the faces of many male MBA students. Along with looking ridiculous, these students are competing in a mustache competition that seeks to raise funds for Project Night Night. The competition has 70 participants (~12% of the MBA2 class) and the club was featured in an MSJ spread this week. You can find more information about the Ross Burt Reynolds club here and see participant pictures here. You also have an opportunity to participate in the competition by bidding on participant mustaches. Don’t forget to put in a bid for yours truly in the caveman category!
Full stops and new beginnings
February 23, 2006
When the Ross class of 2008 gets to Ann Arbor, they will catch a campus in metamorphosis. The Davidson and Paton buildings, and the Assembly hall will be demolished to make way for the new buildings that will come in their place. Already, faculty and staff offices in Davidson have moved to the Executive Residences and I just took what is probably one of the last finals in Davidson hall. MBA students will not be affected too much and will get to take classes in the plush Executive Education facilities. I’m glad that Ross is moving full steam ahead on its plans to revamp the facilities but I’m a little sad that the classrooms where I spent most of my first year will soon be gone forever. Since I’ll be sticking around Ann Arbor till the end of June, I plan to catch the demolition in action and who knows, even blog about it?
Does Ross really need more blogs?
February 16, 2006
The Go Ross! blogging team has been kicking around ideas about applications for blogs at Ross. Our target audience in these considerations has included current and prospective students. For prospective students, Ross blogs offer a unique, immediate and unvarnished window to the MBA experience and could help the school differentiate itself better. As Ankita pointed out, this could be especially true for prospective interested in the several dual-degree programs that Michigan offers. Any current Erb, Public Policy, Public Health or JD dual-degrees up for the challenge?
For current students, blogs could be utilized as a knowledge portal, a medium for conversations or a device for community building. It would be cool if we had Professors at Ross blogging like Dan Drezner or the Becker-Posner combo at Chicago. As Greg and Calista suggested, having a blog for a conference such as Futurtech or the Go Blue Rendevouz weekend would be a great medium to disseminate information and drum up interest. The various clubs could also potentially have a blogger(s). The Healthcare and Lifesciences Club Librarian for example could post links to interesting articles on a blog as opposed to sending it out by email. The SGA and the UMBSA could have blogs about the various events that they put up and add pictures later to close the loop on the experience. On a personal note, I’ve put up a blog for Follies pictures at http://follies06.blogspot.com. On the blog, I’ve posted my own pictures and shared write access with other students to post their pictures. I’m also working on a blog for a charity event that some MBA2’s are putting together. Expect to see a link to that blog in the next couple of days.
In short then, the answer to the headline is yes.
The Original Michigan MBA Blogger
February 15, 2006
When I was applying to Michigan, a blog that I visited regularly was Michigan MBA. Even after I joined Michigan and all through my first year, Zachary’s blog was a great window into the life of an MBA2. Though he has since graduated and stopped blogging at his site, Zachary’s material holds up well. The blog is a treasure trove of information and offers excellent insight into life of an MBA student at Michigan beginning with the move to Ann Arbor and ending with graduation. Enjoy!
Follies 2006: The show that was
February 14, 2006
The Follies shows at Ross happened last week and I had an absolute blast being a part of the festivities. This year, I rapped as Al Cotrone (the Director of the Office of Career Development at Ross) in a skit poking fun at recruiting activities, played a ‘Bus’ dude in a skit modeled after Missed Connections, and helped write, direct and shoot a video skit based on Bollywood movies.
I got compliments from a lot of people about the Bollywood skit and it also received a ‘Rosscar’ from the Monroe Street Journal. A Lion’s share of credit for the Bollywood skit goes to Meera Rao. Meera along with her MAP team came up with the idea for the skit when she was in India and she’s the one who wrote, directed and then skilfully edited (with Mike Sanders) the final product. We used the song ‘It’s the time to Disco‘ from the movie Kal Ho Na Ho and it was thrilling to hear the entire audience for the Saturday show clap along when the song come on in the skit. Kudos also to the entire Bollywood cast – especially for choreographing their own dance moves and for acting and dancing without complaining in 25 degree weather. I’m having major Follies withdrawal right now and as one of my cohorts said this morning -‘ Why can’t we have Follies all the time?’.
I have a picture of my rapping performance with my awesome flygirls and my OCD recruiting medley cast after the post. You can find more Follies pictures here.
It’s Thursday night and everything’s alright
February 5, 2006
I enjoy Happy Hour quite a bit and am glad that this semester I don’t have any classes on Thursday night. Happy hour is the perfect opportunity, especially for us MBA2’s, to catch up with section mates and other friends that we don’t see through the week. My strategy usually is to show up early, grab some Sierra Nevada’s and then mingle. Often, a group of students will continue on after the beer’s gone for a night out on town or grab some pizza at NYPD or Indian food at Madras Masala. Every time I attend a social event at Ross, I feel like commending the admissions committee for a job well done in keeping the ‘Jerk’ quotient amazingly low. I hope the rise in rankings doesn’t mess up this metric. There are 11 more happy hours left according to my good friend Matt McRitchie and I hope to make it to every single one!
Further refining blog business purpose
February 4, 2006
The joy of follies
January 31, 2006
A highlight of my first year in business school was my participation in
Follies. Last year, I was a part of the opening medley and I got an
opportunity to moonwalk across stage as Michael Jackson and then render
a modified version of ‘We are the world’. The experience was a blast as
much for the camaraderie during the practices as it was for the final
show itself. Follies is a great way for the business school community
to poke harmless fun at itself and blow off some steam.
I’ve been looking forward to Follies this year, though it is something
of a bittersweet feeling because it marks the beginning of the end of
my business school experience. I’ve ratcheted up my involvement this
time and co-written and co-directed a skit along with being a cast
member. I can’t tell you more than that for we’re in triple secret
lock down. Seriously. Follies will be staged on February 10th and 11th
2006 at 6:30PM at the Michigan theater. This is one show not to be
missed!
Aashish's Soapbox 
