UK Student Visa

Happy to report that earlier today I secured my UK student visa at the British General Consulate in Los Angeles. As many others have reported, the process was very easy and hassle free. I wasn’t asked for near as many documents as I was prepared to show and the entire “interview” took less than 10 minutes. I now have a multiple-entry UK student visa valid through November 2008.

With this major checkbox finally ticked, I can finally plan the details of my move. As it stands, I plan on arriving in London on August 6th and staying at ‘University of Westminster Halls-Maryleybone Rd’ for up to 2 weeks (US$30-40/night for single room). During this time, I hope to find 2-3 likeminded flat mates with the help of LBS’ Flat hunting Pub Crawls and to explore the city and surronding countryside a little bit.

I’ll write more later, but in hindsight, the most difficult part of this process was dealing with my own anxieties and LA’s notorious traffic.

After only two weeks…

…I’ve sold most of my belongings at or near what I paid for them using craigslist (perhaps I should take a longer look at sales or marketing). I’ve only got a sofa/chair set and my car left and those are well on their way out. I’ve gone back and forth on selling my golf clubs and am likely going to leave them behind with my girlfriend to see if I will have enough time and money to play while in London.

…I’ve filed my UK student visa application online and made an appointment with the UK embassy in LA for next Friday, July 21st. The mostly positive experience of others has quelled some of my anxieties and I hope to report a similarly positive experience soon. For those just starting down this path, the documents requested for my appointment are:

* completed application form VAF1 and application fee (US$162) * current and old passport or a copy of it * current immigration status papers * evidence of available funds * a certificate confirming you have continuing studies (this is the LBS TWIMC letter) * a letter of enrolment from a recognised UK University giving details about the proposed course. * your educational qualifications or copies of them. * One recent passport photo. *

I’ve scanned most of the above and emailed them to myself, my sister, and my girlfriend incase I ever lose my passport and need proof of them while abroad.

…I’ve gone on a trip to Wyoming and seen many friends for perhaps the last time. It was a good time, but man was the 6 hour drive north from Denver boring. I got a real kick out of one of the bride's brothers who is a professional bull rider (see right side of 2nd picture).

…I’ve had a going away party in Dallas with 30-40 of my closest friends. It was actually for four of us who are all moving for school (2 MBA, 1 Law, and 1 spouse) in the next month and it was a ton of fun. Thank you LD : )

…I’ve met my first of 326 classmates. We met up for a happy hour near my apartment and had a great time. It will be nice to see a familiar face in London, which if all else goes according to plan, will come into view on August 6th. Fortunately, the anxieties that naturally come along with making a major life change are outweighed by my excitement.

B-school or not to B-school?

I’ve pondered this question many times and continue to do so despite being well on my way to LBS. A good way to figure out whether this BS is right for you may be to attend (ie, watch) some of FT's Business School classes. Classes are 6-7 minute video discussions led by London Business School Strategy Professor, Don Sull, and are free (unlike attending the full versions at LBS).

If you find yourself interested enough to watch all the videos and find yourself thinking about how the content discussed applies to the businesses you’re involved with, then b-school may indeed be a worthwhile adventure for you to pursue. On the other hand, if you’re bored hearing about one of the fundamental and overarching subjects at b-school, strategy, then perhaps you should focus your energies and monies elsewhere.

Word

Being multilingual is such an asset in our global economy that it surprises me that all b-schools don’t make it a requirement for graduation. LBS, INSEAD, and the countless top companies that recruit at both places clearly see the value, so why don’t all b-school administrators? I guess it would be too great a marketing challenge for them to attract their future “global” leaders to campus??? Who cares, I guess, as long as my classmates and I have the upper hand by being able to directly engage in business in different parts of the world. For my part, I am currently bilingual (Farsi & English), but I am working on improving my Spanish enough to meet LBS’ language requirement (ie, I’m watching World Cup games on a Spanish channel). Once my Spanish is up to snuff, I want to leverage the Latin base to become conversant in French and Italian. My father spoke 5 languages (Farsi, Turkish, Russian, German, and English) so it’s kind of a goal for me to match that. LBS’ exchange program may actually take me to IESE for just this reason. For those unfortunate enough to wonder about what I wonder about, I checked and securing an HSBC loan does not preclude you from leaving the country for 3 months to do an exchange.

Weekend: I’m off to the great and nearly barren state of Wyoming tomorrow. I’m actually traveling with my girlfriend to Denver for one night before making the 6 hour drive north. A good friend is getting married to the ’03 Miss USA contestant from Wyoming, which may be the only reasonable argument for having a wedding in the middle of nowhere.

Now: I’m now signing off to watch the Portugal v France game that I went out of my way not to find out the score for while at work so I could have another chance to learn Spanish.

Prospects

I love reading about the resurgence of MBA recruitment over the past two years, especially when it relates to London: London leads drive to hire MBAs.

In related news, I had a long conversation with a friend doing a summer internship at a major NYC bank earlier today. He gave a good account of his experiences so I decided to post a brief recap:

Work

• Associate work involves more coordination of activities (manager) than modeling (analyst)
• Work on 1-3 projects at a time overseen by the group's director/vp that got the work
• Working in an industry coverage group has provided exposure to many departments and corporate client managers

Schedule/Hours

• Working 90-100 hours per week: 9a-2a M-F, 11a-9p Sa-Su
• A lot of face-time late night/weekends
• Over the past six weeks, only had two days off

Other thoughts

• Specific groups within most banks are well known and respected on "The Street"
• Schedule remains the same until VP promotion in 3-4 years, at which point becomes 80 hours per week
• Networking at school/bank helped to get a second year internship at Carlyle Group