UIC MBA Blog of Jay Lin Past, present, and future plans in the life of an entrepreneur and Chicago UIC MBA student.

I like to thank everyone who came up to me during the new student orientation to tell me that they enjoyed reading my blog.  It’s nice to get some positive reinforcement and it motivates me to write more entries. So…. on to my next topic:

Why it’s a good time to be a student:

• Obvious - the job market is pretty bad right now so it’s really difficult to find jobs
• When companies start hiring again, they’ll wonder why there’s such a large gap in between employment
• Pursuing an MBA is a great way to enhance your abilities during this downtime and fill the gap in between employment
• While in school, take time to networkand enjoy yourself.  Do all the things you’ve always wanted to do (travel in the summer or winter break, enjoy what the City of Chicago has to offer, stay in shape, etc..)
• It will be very difficult to find time to finish your MBA once you have children and other obligations
• NETWORK!!  I can’t emphasis this enough.  The program is a great time to meet like-minded individuals and a great step towards finding a new job

• Incoming MBA students tend to take most of the same classes together.  Joining groups will allow you to meet 2nd and 3rd year students that you would not have had the opporunity to meet otherwise.
• Social events outside of class will bring out different sides of people.  The student you sit next to in class might be completely different outside the classroom setting.  The relaxed atmosphere makes it easier to get to know one another
• Attend the community events.  Working together to help others is both rewarding and a great chance to bond with others
• Most of these social events have FREE FOOD or FREE DRINKS!  Enough said.

By the way, take advantage of benefits once you are a student.  Go workout at the fitness center.  I would compare it equally to a Lifetime Fitness that cost $60-$70/month!  Now go out and have fun!

UIC Fitness

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

UIC MBAA board members at Chicago Care Event

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

This semester, I’ve been lucky enough to attend a cross-cultural class with one of my favorite professors.  Get this (for all the readers of this blog),  the professor I highly recommended from the Depaul MBA program, Christopher Barlow, is now teaching at UIC!  Random luck and fate heading in the right direction by attending UIC.  

Anyways, back to the story.  Barlow teaches a class in which he integrates evening MBA students with Chinese students from UIC’s one year concentrated MBA program, CMBA.  It’s certainly an interesting class since there are different ideas, cultures and prospectives.  During one of the in-class group projects, I was lucky enough to placed in a group with Ed (fellow MBA) and Gavin from the CMBA program.  Gavin enjoyed our group and asked for our numbers.  He said we should definitely hang out sometimes.  I thought nothing of it since it has become a common courtesy in our society to exchange pleasantries.  Fast forward to a week later, I was at home making dinner when my cell phone rang.  I answered the phone and was surprised to see that Gavin and followed through with his suggestion.  He suggested that we eat at the buffet that he had presented in class a few weeks back.  Since I had already started making dinner, I declined the offer and went back to cooking.  As I was stirring my curry, I thought about the offer some more.  Wow, this guy had actually followed through.  It wasn’t just out of courtesy that he asked for my contact information and he seemed genuinely interesting.   Lesson #1:  Don’t ask if you’re not genuinely interested and don’t do something just because it’s the social norm or it’s courteous.  When would I get a similar chance like this again?  I called Gavin back a couple minutes later and accepted his offer.  

As we were enjoying the buffet, I asked Gavin what he did this past weekend.  Gavin responded that since they only have a year here in the states, they try to do as much as possible and enjoy as much of Chicago as they can.  At first, I didn’t think much about this statement.  I finished an enjoyable dinner and left a few pounds heavier.  When I got home, I thought about Gavin’s statement even more.  These CMBA students has one year to try and enjoy as much of Chicago as then can.  I tried to imagine myself in a similar situation and at first, I felt sad for them.  As I thought about it more, I realized that most of these students probably explored more of Chicago than I have in 20 years.  Not only that, they lived their lives knowing they might only have a year here and took some chance and risks.  I realized that I shouldn’t feel sorrow for them.  Instead, I was envious of what they accomplished in such a short amount of time and how much they seem to enjoy it.  Lesson #2:  Live your life to the fullest.

There is a lot to be learned from people with different cultures and backgrounds.  They brought different ideas to the table and seemed to do it with more enthusiasm.  Sometimes, the most important lessons you learn are outside of the classroom.  That, my friend, is what make this program so special.  

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

I recently became a UIC ambassador for the MBA program.  Here are some of my duties:

• Classroom visits: hosting prospects in classes I attend
• Providing assistance at special LGSB events
• Serving on the student panel at informational sessions
• Interviewing new applicants

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

One of my projects for Organizational Behavior Management class was to do a resource brief on anything of interest.  Since “Think and Grow Rich” is one of my favorite books, I figured I would share it with everyone.  

Think and Grow Rich

(Refer the picture above, my powerpoint presentation)

Page 1 - Napoleon Hill grew up poor.  He worked as a reporter during college to help pay for his education.  One of his first interviews was with Andrew Carnegie.  Andrew Carnegie, at this time, was one of the most powerful and richest businessmen in the world.  Carnegie commissioned Napoleon Hill to write a new philosophy.  The philosophy of success and riches.  Carnegie offered NO PAY to Hill to write this new philosophy and offered him only introductions.

Page 2 - These are the chapters of the book as well as the 12 Laws of Riches.  I’m not going to go through any of these subject as this is merely a resource to entice you to read the book but notice that money comes LAST in the 12 Laws of Riches.  

Page 3 - If you look at this list, this is a who’s who of American history.  Many of the companies you work for or want to work for were founded by these outstanding individuals.  

Page 4 - These are a few of my favorite quotes and stories from the book.  

• Merchants of Chicago - After the Great Chicago Fire, a bunch of merchant had a meeting.  Their stores had burned down and it seemed easier to leave than rebuild.  One man left the meeting and pointed to a spot on State Street and proclaimed “on this site here, I will build the greatest store ever”.  All the other merchants left and that man fulfilled his promise by building Marshall Field’s.  Today, it’s Macy’s but you get the point.
• “Opinions are the cheapest commodities on Earth”.  Everyone has a ton of them.  It’s up to you to figure out what you want to do.
• “Keep on keeping on”  Thomas Eddison said he failed 10,000 times.  He didn’t understand why people didn’t keep on keeping on.  He failed so many times that he RAN OUT of things to fail at.
• “Building alibis with which to explain failure is a national pasttime”  Some people are afraid of failure more than success.  I never understood that.  The timing will never be perfect.  The moon will not align.  Sometimes you just have to take a chance. 
• “Life is a checkerboard and the player opposite you is time”  Time runs out fast.  At the end of the game, are you going to be happy with your moves and outcome?

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud