Tag: kellogg

5 Secrets to Maximize Your MBA Investment

It’s been nearly 5 years since I graduated from Northwestern (Kellogg)’s MBA program; I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on business school and consider its true importance as I finally get close to paying off my six digit student loan.

(Image of the Global Hub building taken from Kellogg’s web site)

Here’s what I would tell anyone looking to start on their own quest for huge paychecks, debt, and a life of constant comparison to your peers:

1) Go as early as possible.

I started at Kellogg with 10 years of multinational work experience, 7 years of people management experience, and a few years of true (small startup) executive experience. All that does not matter in the context of business schools, however. MBA programs are optimized to give students opportunities into template big corporate roles such as product manager and consultant. If you want one of these roles, fantastic. Big brand-name companies will be coming on campus with these roles to recruit you. If you do not, however, you’re on your own. Since so many people come to business school looking to change careers, this makes sense – if you couldn’t work in tech without a background in tech, for example, business school would lose most of its appeal.

Thus, since everyone going to Business School can compete for the same jobs, regardless of their pasts, extra experience does not matter. Conventional wisdom suggests the more you experience you have, the more you can get out of the education. Theoretically, that’s true. But Business School…is a business, and the first step into having a business mindset is understanding return of investment and opportunity cost. Like reading a book, you’re not going to retain much of what you learned over the program. If you can hold on to 10 lessons 5 years after graduation, I would be impressed.

You are in Business School to rebrand yourself as a top-tier business professional. When I went to school, there were a number of younger candidates who were only a couple of years out of undergrad. However, they competed for (and got) the same jobs versus others with much more work experience. If you can work two years and get a $150K offer, that’s much better than working five years for the same offer. You’ve accelerated your career faster and spent less time making less money. In my case, I learned that all my extra experience and stress-honed skills weren’t worth even an extra dollar for the typical MBA role.

Schools including Stanford even have programs to allow you to apply as an undergrad.

2) Go to the most famous school you can…..

In the most recent rankings of U.S. business schools, Kellogg is ranked 2nd by The Economist,[56] 3rd by U.S. News & World Report,[57] and 3rd by Forbes.[58] In addition, Kellogg MBA has consistently been ranked 1st in Marketing by U.S News & World Report.[59]

Oh, is Kellogg ranked (quote from Wikipedia) so high? That’s in the world you say? Oh wow. I must be super good at this “business” thing then. Plus, I majored in marketing. #humblebrag

The reality is rankings don’t matter. No one knows what the rankings are unless you’re applying or currently in the program. It’s really about brand. Ask a random person where you should go to Business School – Harvard or Northwestern. Everyone will say Harvard. If you have a chance to go to Harvard, I don’t care how much you care about Marketing, go to Harvard. Plus, just because you focused on Marketing in your MBA, that does not mean you won’t gravitate towards something else down the road.

Here’s my personal sense of school brand prestige, your perception may vary.

Tier 1:

Stanford / Harvard

Tier 2:

UPenn (Wharton) / U of Chicago / Northwestern (Kellogg) / MIT (Sloan)

Tier 3:

Columbia / UC Berkeley (Haas).

If you’re an M7 fanboy and want to move Columbia or add some Ivy League schools to Tiers 2 and 3, go ahead. I won’t even be offended if you think Kellogg is tier 3 – a friend once told me that Kellogg is only known by people who went to business school. Go to the school, not necessarily the Business School, that’s most famous / in the highest tier.

In pure brand, I admit I’d rank Northwestern possibly in Tier 4, perhaps because I’m from the West Coast. Northwestern could outrank Harvard in Business School for the next ten years straight, but there’s a different longstanding perception (in academic pedigree) of someone who went to Harvard vs someone who went to Northwestern. Challenge me if you disagree. I went to UC Berkeley, perhaps the best public school in the world, but I still can feel a bit intimidated if I’m in the room with someone from Harvard. Tying your personal brand to the school brand helps you to anchor someone that you meet that you’re someone important. If you have to explain why you’re important, it’s too late.

Another way to think of it is that when people hear you work for Google, they’re generally impressed. “She must be the best of the best – I’ve heard how many people want to get in there and about the great compensation + benefits they have”.  There’s even a special term for ex Googlers. Even though there are plenty of mediocre people that work and have worked at Google, that association gives you the benefit of the doubt most of the time.

The bigger thing to remember about rankings is that no one knows if you would be better educated going to X school versus Y. There is no objective test, no clinical trial. The only thing you can rely on is a school’s brand and its history of maintaining its brand.

As another friend told me, brands are a filter to help someone appraise you in a few seconds. Pick the best brand, screw the best fit.

Unless you can go to a school that’s in the geographic area you want to be in post-grad…

Northwestern sends many people into tech now. They’ve had to adapt to what their students want, and thus they also opened an immersion quarter in San Francisco recently, similar to Wharton’s own program.

That said about tiers, if I wanted to work in tech, I’d be willing to sacrifice a tier to go to school in the Bay Area. That means I’d choose UC Berkeley > Kellogg, particularly if I’m not from the Bay Area or don’t have a background in tech. To find special opportunities, not the same MBA role that’s offered at every top tier school, you need to be close to the people that are going to hire you. Being in the local market gives you more time to expand your network, impress people, and gain access to those opportunities.

Then re-shift and make your own tiers based on your target factors (location, industry, etc.).

I’m not sure if this is still true, but during my time, Kellogg’s brand was really weak in Asia, especially in China. UCLA, however, was extremely famous there. UCLA’s Anderson School of Management might be a couple of tiers below Kellogg in any ranking, but if you’re looking to work in China, you should seriously consider UCLA instead.

It doesn’t matter how many links to rankings you share with a hiring manager, they’re not going to care. That’s why you’re investing in the school’s brand, to get you through gates faster.

3) Go part-time, it’s easier.

Most MBA programs, top tier or otherwise, are well over six digit investments. Is that worth it for a school that’s not known (will not help you anchor someone with the perception that you’re great) outside its region? I’d argue you that once you get out of the top 15, surely top 25 business schools, there’s a serious question of how much this degree will help you.

That’s why I suggest going part-time. Sure, you won’t get to party the same way and working while going to school for at least three years requires extreme focus, especially if you have any semblance of a family. However, it is much easier to get into the part-time programs and your long term financials will be better since you will still be working. I haven’t looked into this in detail recently, but I believe the difference of getting into part-time is at least a magnitude of one tier, and perhaps even two. That means the choice could be between full-time at the University of Texas, Austin or part-time at Northwestern.

There is no career penalty, bias, or stigma against part-timers.

4) Don’t bother with an MBA if you’re focused on early-stage startups.

Want to start something new or join an early stage (Seed, Series A with less than 30 people) startup? That’s basically the story of my entire career.

Working at an early stage startup is about understanding how you start from zero with little resources, support, or best practices to guide you. I do not suggest Business School for this, particularly if you’re going to come out of a program with student debt. Large debt can quickly damper any excitement you have to take on more career risk.

Speaking from someone who has experience at the early stage startup and an MBA, if an MBA came to me looking for work, I’d have two concerns:

  1. Can this person thrive on their own?
  2. How much money does this person expect? We can’t pay them that.
  3. I do not want someone looking at my company as a two year gap to something more prestigious.

5) Don’t bother going to Europe.

I thought about INSEAD and London Business School once upon a time. Having grown up in the US, and then working in Asia for many years, I thought it would be fun to check out Europe.

For my career, I am glad I didn’t. European companies do not value MBAs as much as their American counterparts and European schools simply aren’t known in the US – go ask a normal person if they know INSEAD.

I’ll reiterate: get your MBA at the most famous US school you can.

My wife went to IE Business School in Madrid, which is consistently ranked among the top 10 business schools in Europe. Remember what I said about sharing links to rankings to hiring managers? That would have been the case here in the US – no one knew about IE, thus her MBA was no better than any other generic MBA. Making things worse, there was a limited alumni network she could tap into to land a good role as everyone was too disbursed.

When schools talk about how great it is to have diversity in nationalities in student classes, this only pays off for you if most of the those students stay in the same area post-MBA. Otherwise, how else can you depend on alumni for help if they go back to the 100 different countries they came from? I have found that top-tier MBA students want to stay to work in the US because it’s the country that best compensates them for their new skills.

Bonus: About those networks.

I always hear how people go to business school to build personal networks. I think what that means is “I want to make new friends as an adult”. That’s perfectly fine, but I feel that almost everyone is missing out on obvious opportunities during the process. The alumni you interview with to get into the school, the ones you reach out to to learn about the school, or the ones you ask for connections and referrals into your desired companies – these are all people you should stay connected and give updates to. These people are already years ahead of you and can give information and insight far beyond anyone in your class. I always encourage people I talk to to let me know how they’re doing in the future, but no one ever does. Instead, it’s a cycle of “let me use this person for what I need now and just ignore building that potential relationship”. If people didn’t care, they wouldn’t talk to you in the first place, and as long as someone isn’t making demands of me, I’m always happy to hear how someone is doing. Older alumni needs friends too….

Alright! 5 steps and I even threw in a bonus too. I’ll end it here and hope I was able to help you frame your decision about Business School in a different way.

Secret Pro Tips for International MBA Students who Want to Work in the United States

As a former Northwestern Kellogg MMM (MBA + Masters in Design Innovation), I’ll tell you something that you want to know but that no one at Kellogg will ever tell you:

Secret Pro Tip:

If you’re an international student who REALLY wants to work (and  / stay) in the United States (USA) after graduation, invest in the MMM program.

Here’s why:

  • As an international MBA student in the US, you will be on a F-1 Student Visa for full-time students (if you are an exchange student, you will be on J-1). You are allowed to work up to 1 year in the USA on OPT period (Optional Practical Training), given that you find a job no later than 3 months after graduation.
  • In the unfortunate situation you have not found a job three months after graduation, you must leave the United States.
  • If you find a job with a company that is willing to sponsor your H1B Visa, you enter a one-time lottery for the H1B Visa. The probability of winning this year (2016) was just 40% for those holding a Master’s degree from the US. The odds were lower if you only held a Bachelor’s degree. Generally, this percentage becomes lower with each passing year due to increases in demand (from people like you who are reading this).
  • If you lose the lottery (odds are you will), you go back home.
  • Now, with MMM, the M.S. in Design Innovation is an engineering degree (that does NOT require an engineering background) from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern. This engineering degree allows you to stay in the US an extra two years (3 total) and participate in the lottery a total of 3 times.

It can be said that the MS DI program is not really an engineering program, in the way that most people think about engineering (hardcore math & science). Nonetheless, it’s classified as an engineering program.

Beyond that are the more traditional reasons to be part of Kellogg: long-time elite business school brand, the amazing new all-glass lakefront building, rise in the rankings, leading percentages for diversity in gender and internationality, continued emphasis on tech, and my articles on the experience). Plus the MS in Design Innovation offers a great core of classes that will help you understand problems from bottom up (“what is the user/customer thinking?), rather than just top-down (“well, it’s clear from the financials, we have too many employees, let’s just fire them”).

All that sounds sound great, but let’s be real. The reason you go to business school is to fulfill your professional goals. If your goal is to be in the United States long term, apply for Kellogg MMM.

The simple math: at today’s acceptance rates, you have a 60% chance of getting rejected and having to leave the country after one year. With MMM, you can stay at least three years and the chances you will end up having to leave the US without a Visa is only 21.6%.

Is this worth an extra quarter of tuition? Of course it is.

After Millions of Dollars, Microsoft Bing is Just as Smart as…Las Vegas [When Data Fails]

At Kellogg, we learned that people in aggregate tend to be quite correct (for example, say you have a random amount of jelly beans inside a big jar. Ask people to guess the amount of beans. When you average all the guesses, it will come out quite close to the real number, even if the real number is large and random, like 1,724).

According to How Microsoft got so good at predicting who will win NFL games, Microsoft Bing is an awesome prediction guru of human intelligence, machine learning, and big data:

Bing Predicts is run by a team of about a half dozen people out of Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters. It uses machine learning and analyses big data on the web to predict the outcomes of reality TV shows, elections, sporting events, and more.

How Microsoft got so good at predicting who will win NFL games

In 2014, Bing was 67% accurate predicting NFL winners.

In all, the Bing Predicts model considers hundreds of these different signals, or data points, for each event, like an election or game, Sun said.

So far this year[2015 to game three], Bing is about 60% accurate in predicting NFL matchups.

Sounds great, right? However, my first thought was, who cares about winners? I can’t bet on winners, this is why the spread exists, to create (theoretical) 50/50 bets that bookies can make stable revenue from.

My next question is, in this awesome model built from millions of dollars in labor and computing power, are the prediction results better, hopefully at a statistically significant (p = .05) level, than information I could get free from a public resource? How little can I spend to get reasonably close results to aid in my for-profit wagering?

Let’s look at Las Vegas betting spreads.

Booking Odds

According to Inpredictable.com and its 2013 article Is the NFL Betting Market Getting More Efficient?, the answer is NO, Bing’s modeling is no better than me looking at the latest odds online.

From 1989 to 2013, Las Vegas favorites were correct 66.8% of the time. With a sample size of 15 years, and looking at the chart above, I can say that Vegas is pretty good.

1 signal – Vegas odds – versus hundreds of signals – Microsoft Bing = the same result.

Great work, Microsoft.

The Kellogg Student’s Food Guide to Impressing Your Friends in Chicago

Visits in ChicagoWhether you are visiting friends, or have friends / family visiting you in Chicago, I have done the work (food, dessert, hang out) so you can have a place to recommend and go.

As a big fan of sites like The Wirecutter, which chooses the very best item in a product category (ex. what is the best TV for me?), I wanted to create a similar guide for Kellogg students traveling into Chicago.

All the places below are those that I have personally eaten at over the last year (vast vast majority over the summer of 2015). There is also at special bonus Hanging Out guide at the very end of this post.

Some things to keep in mind: I am no food expert, and for the most part, I cannot tell good food apart. To me, it’s all just good. However, I will try my best to pick winners (denoted in bold, the first place mentioned in any category) in each category, though I likely have biases towards food that just tastes different and stands out to me. In terms of what to actually order at each, I will make notes when I remember something noteworthy, but for the most part, refer back to Yelp or explore!

How I chose places: I researched information from (mostly) Yelp, friend referrals, The Chicago Reader, and TripAdvisor, as well as guides like the Thrillist and just…Google search for “best of…”. Everything place here will be $25 per person or less unless explicitly mentioned. I preferred going to places that were less than $15 per person ($$ on Yelp).

Meals

BBQ / Ribs / Brisket

Smoque BBQ is the considered the best (including by Kellogg MMM and BBQ expert KJ Plank) by the general public. In addition, it’s cheaper than most places but conversely, it is not easy to reach by public transportation. I like the ribs here a lot, but not the brisket so much. Blackwood BBQ, on the other hand, offers tremendous brisket for a great price – you can even pick the fat level of the meat (I choose maximum), but that is all they sell. The location I visited in the Loop is only open for lunch, but there is another location that is open for dinner. Ha (my wife)’s favorite place in the category is Blackwood. Chicago Q sells all the BBQ meats you expect but is a bit expensive and the venue is a bit on the fancy side. Green Street Smoked Meats is a solid BBQ place in the West Randolph area, and while it has solid brisket, it is not the best option for any specific item. Twin Anchors Restaurant & Tavern (Old Town) is my wild card. It is actually quite famous and has a long history in Chicago. It does not look particularly fancy, and is where where Two Face shoots Officer Wurtz in The Dark Knight. Ha and I enjoyed our ribs (great sauce) at the bar and it was great thinking about that scene just a few feet away.

Breakfast

Wildberry Pancakes and Café is definitely our favorite for pancakes. It’s next to Millenium Park on Randolph, and if you try to get there after 9AM on a weekend, you will definitely wait over an hour (no reservations allowed). I really liked the Fat Elvis Waffles (peanut butter, er.. butter and banana) at Little Goat in West Randolph and the The Local Chicago is more of a standard, but good quality place that is a block away from the John Hancock Center.

Burgers / Hot Dogs

There are many burger options in Chicago, and adding an egg on top seems like the cultural must-have for any burger nowadays. If you want a true expert’s opinion, do ask Ray Su of Kellogg MMM, but my favorite is bopNGrill. People seem to love Au Cheval in West Randolph, and I have had it twice to confirm my suspicions. The burger there is good, but I think of it as the best possible version of a Big Mac (without the middle layer of bread). If you do go to Au Cheval, remember that the single burger is actually two patties. Ha’s favorite burger is the SmokeShack from Shake Shack in River North (opposite of Eataly). I felt that 25 Degrees’ burger was pretty standard, despite the reviews.

As for Hot Dogs, Chicago-style ones are served all over, but the one that I remember going to for that and its famous Italian Meat sandwich is Portillo’s Hot Dogs & Barnelli’s Salad Bowl. I have learned that I am not a fan of either Chicago-style Hot Dogs or the sandwich. The sandwich is served very wet and is thus, hard to grab onto and eat.

Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for you, I did go to the famous Hot Doug’s before it closed last year.

Chicken Wings

Usually when I see a place crown itself as best something, I think it is BS. However, Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap in Downtown Chicago really does have great wings. I was pleasantly surprised from my waiter’s recommendation. However, both Crisp (Lakeview, shown below) and Dak make excellent Korean-style wings, and you will not be unhappy with any of these three picks.

Chinese / Dim Sum

MingHin Cuisine (Chinatown) is generally considered the best reasonably affordable dim sum in the city; expect a 30 minute wait during peak times on the weekends. Its regular menu is perfectly fine as well. Furama Restaurant (Argyle) is closer to Evanston but not particularly good and despite strong reviews for Sun Wah Bar-B-Que (also Argyle), I did not like it at all (Ha disagrees). Lao Sze Chuan on Michigan Ave is the same place that exists in Evanston – great Sze Chuan (approved by Kellogg MMM and Sze Chuan / Sichuan province native Daniel Xu) cuisine.

Diner

Do people ever say, “I really want diner food today?” I am not sure, but Dove’s Luncheonette (the Fried Chicken is fantastic – it’s more like a fried chicken steak than a KFC bucket piece) is a great option in Wicker Park. The previously mentioned Little Goat is a good option as well.

Fried Chicken

I love fried chicken. There are plenty of places to get it, but I am actually fond of supermarket fried chicken, such as at Jewel Osco. 8 pieces for 7.99. But for a real establishment, check out The Roost Carolina Kitchen in Irving Park. There is also the Harold’s Chicken Shack chain throughout the Chicago area, which Derrick Rose loves. I have heard quality is inconsistent by location, which happens with any fast-food chain. The one I went to was just okay.

For those in Evanston who never venture outside the Downtown area, make sure to check out Chicken Shack before you leave Kellogg.

Indian / Nepalese

Cumin in Wicker Park has great food, but I also liked Ghareeb Nawaz. The former option is great for a night out, while the latter is great for no-frills, very cheap food. Bombay Wraps is a solid, fast-food style option in Downtown.

Italian

Picking Eataly Chicago in Downtown (opposite Shake Shack) is a bit of a cheat. It has a number of places within to choose from. While he preferred the NYC location, Italian (and Kellogg Exchange Student from IE Business School) Valerio Patrizi vouches for Eataly’s authenticity. For more of a sit-down restaurant, Ha and I enjoyed Quartino, which is also Downtown.

Japanese / Ramen / Other

Go to Wasabi in Logan Square if you like some serious Ramen. Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ in Downtown is a great option for cook-it-yourself BBQ, but gets quite expensive for dinner. Ha and I took advantage of its lunch deal.

Japanese / Sushi

While not a sit-down place, Osaka Sushi Express & Fresh Fruit Smoothies is Ha’s pick – it has the best cost / quality value proposition and is located near Grant Park, Downtown. For more of a true social dinner experience, Sunda in Downtown is a great alternative, but will get pricey. Ha and I could only do the lunch special there. Kabuki Japanese Restaurant in Lincoln Park was just ok for me, but is BYOB (Bring Your Own Beer).

Korean

Gogi is the winner in this category by default (although I guess I could have included Dak and Crisp from the chicken wings section), but it is an excellent choice for Korean BBQ, having tried it myself and with it frequently visited by my Kellogg KWESTIE Jihyung Kim.

Mexican / Tacos / Burritos

L’ Patron Tacos is my favorite Taco place in the city – its taste really stood out for me. La Pasadita is a Chicago tradition and was well regarded in Five Thirty Eight’s Best Burrito in the United States competition, but I wasn’t a big fan – I felt the burrito was a bit salty. Ha loves Big & Little’s Restaurant (Belmont) for its fusion tacos and soft-shell crab Po’Boy (below), and also likes Taco Joint, especially for its Chile Mango Margarita.

Middle Eastern / Mediterranean

Sultan’s Market (Wicker Park) is fantastic and cheap; Alhambra Palace, however on West Randolph, is the opposite – students went there during our first week at Kellogg, CIM Week.

Other

Here are some other places that I cannot quite categorize, but want to mention anyway, good and bad. The ones I recommend are in BOLD.

  • Beatrix – a good “American” restaurant. I do not know how else to describe the food, but very solid.
  • Bruges Brothers – despite the commotion and long lines over its Duck Fat fries during Taste of Chicago, I was not particularly impressed.
  • Dia De Los Tamales – tried a tamales during Taste of Chicago, nothing special.
  • Feed (Southern) – great roasted chicken.
  • Cafecito (Cuban Sandwiches, Downtown)
  • The Purple Pig – this place is very, very, popular, but I think it’s overrated and a bit expensive ($30 per person before drinks). Everyone loves the bone marrow here, but I suspect that these are people who did not grow up eating much bone marrow. I did, however, thus $15 for a bit of bone marrow seems excessive.
  • Garrett Popcorn Shops – shops are all over Downtown, very good popcorn, a Chicago treat!
  • Pierogi Heaven (Polish, Downtown) – Ha really liked this. I am more neutral but would give it another try.
  • Chick-fil-A / McDonald’s – I do not think I need to comment much on these. You likely have an opinion already.

Pizza

Although we seem to be in the minority on this, Giordano’s is both Ha and my favorite deep dish pizza. You do not need to go to Chicago for this, of course, as both Giordano’s and Lou Malnatti’s have locations in Evanston. The Art of Pizza is another good option, and for thin crust pizza, Ha and I are big fans of Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza, which again, has a location in Evanston.

Thai

Kellogg friends Nancy Lee and Matt Shin introduced us to Aroy Thai Restaurant and even after trying out other city favorites in Opart Thai House Restaurant and Sticky Rice, I feel Aroy Thai to be the best.

Vietnamese

I should know Vietnamese food well, having grown up in a Vietnamese household and spending over 7 years as an adult in the country, but I cannot really recommend any specific Vietnamese place for Pho. They are all pretty similar to me, and not necessarily better or as good as anything in Vietnam or in Vietnamese-dense areas like San Jose. That said, I really like Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi) and che (dessert dish) at Ba Le Bakery. Other places I have tried for various dishes include:  Little Vietnam, Le’s Pho, Tank Noodle Restaurant (Tank is the most well known place, with a great corner location), Little Vietnam, New Asia, Pho Viet, and Nha Hang Viet Nam. Ha is a Pho-elite, able to break down how different Pho broths are made and feels that most of the Pho’s in Chicago have too much MSG.

Desserts / Sweets

Cupcakes

Molly’s Cupcakes in Lincoln Park is definitely the favorite in the city, while Ha LOVES the Passion Passion Passion cupcake at More Cupcakes (Downtown). We enjoyed Ms Tittle‘s Cupcakes at The Taste of Chicago, and Sprinkles Cupcakes is known for its cupcake ATM machine, but is not unique to Chicago.

Donuts

Finding the best donuts became my personal passion over the summer, with Do-Rite Donuts & Chicken winning as my personal pick. Do-Rite also makes a highly regarded fried chicken sandwich. Glazed & Infused Doughnuts / Glazed & Infused Doughnuts and The Doughnut Vault are great options that I liked, but The Doughnut Vault almost always runs out before 12PM. Stan’s Donuts & Coffee is a popular stop around Chicago, but I did not like it as much as the others.

Ice Cream / Other Desserts

I liked the unique flavors at Black Dog Gelato (ex. Goat cheese cashew caramel), but Mindy’s Hot Chocolate is where to go if you are “MBA rich” and really want to have high-end dessert. Worth trying at least once. Other good options are Margie’s Candies / Margie’s Candies (there’s two) and Lickity Split Frozen Custard.

Hanging Out

This is a bonus section, as after all, after you eat, there should be something to do! I am not a big bar or club person, thus this section is a bit weak, but I do want to mention two places that I enjoyed, beer arcades, where you can play games and have a drink (without the juvenile experience at Dave and Buster’s).

Both Logan Arcade and Headquarters Beercade River North are highly recommended. Logan Arcade has Killer Queen, of which less than 10 machines exist in the world. It’s a 5 on 5 (required, not optional) team battle game that is hard to describe but easy to pick up. Only .25 cents to play and the community around the game is great. I came with a bunch of friends (not quite 5), and the other players were generous about teaching us the game and letting us play for free. It is very addictive.

Beercade, on the other hand, is Downtown and most of its arcade and pinball games are free. Thus, you can buy a drink and just relax and play whatever you want. Ha loves Pinball and can handle very little alcohol, thus she became a very cheap date here.

If you have questions about any of these places or would like to add your own recommendations, let me know in the comments below. Otherwise, enjoy and I hope this guide helps!

My StrengthsFinder [Kellogg]

Here in my last quarter at Kellogg, I am taking Personal Leadership Insights (MORS-935) with Paul Corona. It is a half-unit course in which a small group of students (we have 9 in our group) explore their work histories together, and how they want to improve in the future. Throughout the journey is an inward look of the people we believe we are and want to be, and feedback from others based on this. Early in the process, each student reads and takes the StrengthsFinder test, which helps identify both your talents but also the things you care about. The reasoning is that these are the things that you can maximize – in basketball I can shoot as many baskets (passion) as I want for hours per day, but I will never be that good (lack of talent) in it. But the things below, ranked from highest potential, are things I can really be special at, with high levels of passion and talent. The five things below show up most strongly among the 30+ possible attributes. Thus, I am a:

1) Relator

People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They
find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

2) Restorative

People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They
are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.

3) Intellection

People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual
activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

4) Developer

People who are especially talented in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in
others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these
improvements.

5) Analytical

People who are especially talented in the Analytical theme search for reasons and causes. They have
the ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation.