A World Apart

Hey everyone. So I just arrived in Chicago this past week. It's definitely different a world apart from Phoenix, where I spent the summer, and from Boston, where I spent the past two years. The best news is that I won't have to deal with any more 100 degree weather. I also don't have to deal with having a car, since I'm living in downtown Chicago which is definitely a nice convenience.

First off, the area is pretty cool. My apartment sits less than one block away from Lake Michigan, and the picture above is taken right from the window in my room. Surrounding my apartment is all of downtown Chicago, which consists of lots of really nice apartment buildings, Northwestern's 20+ acre downtown campus, the beach, and the magnificent mile. If you don't know that magnificent mile, it's a world-renown shopping district that goes through the city of Chicago. It has all the top shopping spots, nice restaurants, tons of people in the summer, and lots other of things to do.

My building is about a 4 minute walk from the law school campus, which sits adjacent to the Kellogg Executive Campus (downtown) and the Med School campus. Generally, in the morning students are hustling about through the city to go to class and professionals are walking or taking the metro to work. In the summer, people are always outside, either running, tanning on the beach, swimming, or just enjoying the warm weather while we have it, since Chicago does get extremely cold in the winter.

It definitely is a big change to be headed back to school again after a few years off. I've spent a lot of time in the law school since I've been here. Not everyone is here on campus yet, but when you enter into the law school, it's a surprise to see people in jeans and t-shirts and starring at laptops rather than taking in all the city has to offer, especially in the summer. But I'd expect nothing less at law school. The kids seem to be a bit more serious than the b-school kids. They're definitely sharp, but they also seem to want to work really hard. And since law school grading is based on a curve, it seems like we'll all be spending a lot more time in the books than I will be next year at Kellogg.

In terms of facilities, the law school building is nothing like that of Kellogg. Kellogg is actually pretty old for a business school, though fortunately a new building is in the works. However, the law school has some of the most attractive physical facilities of any law school and the best location of any major urban law school, since it has prime real estate downtown less than a block from the lake and beach.

School wise, this week I'm doing a summer preparation program that Northwestern has, which is sponsored by one of Chicago's bigger law firms. The point of the program is to allow a handful of the students to get a head start on how to prepare for law school. Basically, we all had to apply to this program a few weeks ago, and the school accepted about 30 of us. Today was the first day of the program, and we are learning about things such as outlining, briefing cases, performing the Socratic Method, and other similar things. All these things are pretty foreign to me, since I've been in business the past few years. But despite being a world apart, I'm pretty excited to learn a bit about the legal industry. I plan to post a little about my experience in this program later in the week. Stay tuned!

Starting Over

In two days, I'll be packing up my things, heading to the airport and moving to the windy city (i.e. Chicago) to start a new journey in the Northwestern JD-MBA program. Similar to when I went off to undergrad years ago, I won't be taking much with me except a few suitcases full of clothing and other personal things. I'll be starting all over again. While most people don't go as empty handed as I am, I think starting over is a common theme for the majority of business school students. I'll explain.

People apply to business school for all kinds of reasons and with all kinds of goals in mind, both personal and professional. But they can usually be narrowed down into two broad categories, 1) those who know exactly what they want to do upon graduation, and 2) those who have a few ideas in mind but aren't really that sure. The first reason includes people who want to go into a certain industry, work for a specific company, or have a very unique job role that requires specific training to accomplish. Often these folks have a career change in mind but not always. Sometimes they just need the degree before they can start over at work in a new role. The second category is made for career changers. These people know they want to change their careers but they aren't quite sure where they want to go, so they want to use school to explore, learn, reflect, and have access to a variety of careers after school. No matter which category you fit into, you usually come to business school to start over.

Most of the Northwestern JD-MBAs I've met so far fall into the second category. I think this happens for two reasons. First, it's because the law degree, unlike the MBA, is tailor made for career changers, as it opens up the entire legal industry that you would otherwise be prohibited from. As such, students are less likely to put a stake in the ground right away. But it's also because getting a JD-MBA reflects the fact that you have a wider set of career interests, which fortunately the dual degree opens up. Despite writing very pointed essays about our career goals, usually more specific than our MBA-only counterparts, and convincing admissions from both school offices of why we need to obtain both degrees, many of the JD-MBAs still want to make sure they have put their dual degree to its best use. With career prospects in both business and law and in jobs that might otherwise be harder to obtain without a JD-MBA, this is pretty understandable.

I usually consider myself to fit somewhere in between those two categories. Although I have more than one potential career in mind, I have a pretty pointed idea of where I'm headed after school. But like many of the other JD-MBAs I know, I'm going to keep an open mind about it because I don't want to cut off any options until I have time to do more research and experience new things.

Over the past year, I've learned that there are a lot more careers out there than most of us usually consider, and that sometimes it can take a long time to really figure it all out. That's why all of us in grad school will be inundated by career fairs and encouraged to take different personality and career tests. My advice to applicants and students, is don't feel rushed into making decisions early. Explore a wide variety of careers and see how they stack up against your values, personality, and your skills. You'll be surprised at how many options turn up and what different things seem to appeal to you. More than 12 months after beginning the application process myself, I'm still doing some exploring.

Personally, I've come to enjoy the process of looking into careers. I think it has a lot to do with my personal interests in careers, employment, general management, and leadership. But it will be a lot more fun to continue my career research with new classmates, with new friends, and in a new city. In fact, that's part of what the b-school (and law school) experience is all about, discussing your ambitions, values, interests, and career goals with people in the same decision-making process as you are. It's a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to finally getting started after eight months of impatiently waiting. In sum, I'm look forward to starting over.