Everyone could use a Bob in their life

As I mentioned in my last post, there are tons of ways to go about deciding what’s best for you. One guy who has been invaluable to me in my decision making process is my friend Bob from the gym.

Bob is about 50 something. He’s the local head of a foreign marketing company in Tokyo. One of the most down to earth people you’ll ever meet. We run into each other in the gym once or twice a week.

When I met the Director of Admissions of Smith for dinner in early February, I wasn’t sure what to wear as it was a Friday night and I wanted to be able to go out afterwards. Plus it was the first time to go to a dinner with such a person, so I figured why not ask Bob. He seems to know his stuff. Bob said to wear a blazer, dress shirt and that I could go with jeans as long as they were nice. I went with that recommendation and it seemed like it was okay. My offer wasn’t rescinded at least.

Turns out Bob went to Harvard to get his MBA. You would never know that by the way he carries himself, at least if you’ve met someone else from that b-school. Since then he’s given me tons of advice regarding my search. The day of the dinner he gave me some great questions to ask and just a few days ago he told me why Marketing was such a popular MBA concentration (you’re basically not pigeon-holed as much as with other concentrations). Bob also had a son that went to USC so he knows a little about moving to the area like don’t register your car in California. The insurance premiums are crazy expensive. He also happens to know the person in Tokyo handling alumni relations for USC so hopefully I’ll get a chance to get introduced.

This week has been quite busy and will continue to be until the end of the week. I started a temp job at a company trying to create software that helps inexperienced investors currency trade. My job is to research similar companies in the US and gauge interest in potential partnerships.

The director of the MBA program I applied to at the University of Hawaii is also in town. I met with him for lunch today. He’s an Economics professor although he only teaches MBA students. Very nice, smart man. We met for lunch and I asked him as many questions as I could in the short time we had. I am scheduled to attend the program’s graduation ceremony in Tokyo tomorrow before returning to the night shift at work.

On top of that my sister and fiancé are in town. I went from unemployed to super busy in a span of a few days. Not complaining though. If you couldn’t tell, I am a happy boy.

Oh, and one last thing. Here are the 2010 grad school rankings from US News.