Customer Reviews

Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA

5 star:		(16)
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3 star:		(7)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read this book just as I started B-school and it scared me well and good. Like Robinson I was a "poet", meaning I was a liberal arts major among financial and engineering types. I can certainly empathize with Robinson's struggles to grasp the more quantitative disciplines of business, since I went through my own miserable times. But I think the review right before me makes a good point, that getting IN to business school is the hard part, especially for an elite program like Stanford. The school certainly doesn't want students to flunk out or struggle too much, since all that does is hurt the school's precious statistics. While business school ain't a picnic, it isn't the trial of tears that Robinson makes it out to be.

But the book is entertaining enough, and even though Robinson was a speechwriter for President Reagan and writers for Republican presidents tend to be an especially odious sort, he seems a decent guy. One problem that Robinson identified and I heartily agree with is the lack of, well, overall intelligence and awareness in business school students. I'll readily admit that I can't crunch numbers as well as many of my former classmates, but I was amazed at how ignorant many of the folks in school were. They had no idea who Larry Ellison was. Discussions about government policy rarely went above a 10th-grade level. My ethics class was a revelation. I don't think anyone else in my class ever studied philosophy and it seemed like they looked at ethics as an obstacle to be hurdled rather than as a code to define proper behavior. Depressing stuff.

But Robinson made it through B-school, and so did I (in my case, barely. Going part-time and working full-time while planning a wedding was a pain the rear. Can't imagine folks who go to school when they have little kids. Insane). The only problem with this book now is how dated it is. Robinson went to B-school in the heart of Silicon Valley, yet the words "e-commerce" and "dot.com" are nowhere to be found in the book. Robinson and his fellow students interviewed with the usual investment banks, which today almost seems quaint. What, no one dropped out to found a company that had a multibillion dollar IPO six months later?

All in all a good read, but if you're thinking about getting your MBA I don't think this is a totally accurate picture of what you're going to endure. Still, it's well worth a read.

Being a first year full-time MBA student is tough, demanding, and rigorous. This little gem summarizes the fact you'll have little left of your life when you start the program.

Words of advice to MBA wannabes:

1. READ THIS! It's funny and too true. You'll see that he (like me) was unprepared for what was unleashed upon him.

2. Take an accounting and statistics class before you go! You'll save yourself some major headaches!

3. It's as tough as he describes but we're supposed to get through it...I hope!

Go Maryland!

The book gives you an impression that even though the first year of your MBA from a top B-School (in this case Stanford) might seem like a hell - though this might only be the case for so called poets - one has a high probability of doing well after an MBA form one of the top b-schools. Though, author has done a lot of complaining, he later concludes that is MBA was fun, interesting and rewarding.
This book is more like a diary, which also provides some (I said some!) insight into a b-school. Overall, this book is fun and worth a read.
On the lighter side, if you are a so called poet, planing to go for an MBA, take up some Maths and Statistics courses before you actually start your MBA :-)

This book should be read by anyone contemplating business school. For the rest of us, it's an interesting snapshot of student life in California during the 1980s. The most amusing chapters were those describing the most difficult parts of the year, such as Math Camp.

I read this book at the half-way point in my program as an Evening MBA at the University of Michigan Business School. This is a funny book that also rewards with insights about what getting an MBA feels like.

While Robinson describes the experience of a full-time two-year program, my experience is going through the same type of full MBA experience but over four years while holding down a full time job, holding a marriage together, and raising several children. So, maybe our experience of exhaustion, anxiety, and struggle have different sources, but they are similar enough.

I haven't found b-school to be hell. In fact, I have enjoyed it a great deal and have learned many things that I am already applying to my day job. But there is no getting around the fact that an MBA, especially in one of the top programs, isn't a picnic. Good reading, good writing, good fun. Read it if you have any interest in the b-school experience.

"Snapshots From Hell" provides an inside look at Stanford, in the heart of Silicon Valley, which along with Harvard is one of the two or three top business schools in the world. Since the author's background was words, not numbers--Robinson was a White House speechwriter--he struggled with the course work, and he makes you both laugh and feel for him as he sweats his way through the work. At the same time, Robinson reports on classmates who found the workload easier than he did, providing a balanced look at what business school is like and giving you a feeling for the range of characters you'll meet there. Informative--and always entertaining (I read it in one day). The book to read before going to B-school!

Don't buy this book--it seems to be out of print and that's a good thing. It's a wonder that Stanford admitted this guy, considering the difficulties he describes with understanding supply-demand curves. I guess it must have something to do with his connections to the White House that he describes in the Prologue. Unfortunately that's what drives some college admissions.

He admits that he wanted to go to b-school for the money he would earn, so that gives you an idea of where this guy is based. Certainly, everyone likes to make good money but the author of this book is over the top. At one point in the book he actually wonders, about some items he wrote in his application, if "the admissions committee fell for any of that." At another point in the book he agrees with someone's description of him that he has a background of not really doing anything.

It has been said that one benefit of b-school is the connections to your classmates that you make. That's probably about the only thing that the author of this book got from the experience (other than the advance for this book) because he doesn't seem to be too bright and I'm not sure that he understood a lot of what he was taught. He knows how to bs people and he is friendly, skills valuable in the business world but skills that he possessed without going to Stanford.

I assume that he got the deal to write the book solely as a result of the "names" in his background-- combine the White House background with the fame of the Stanford name and the fact that the publisher didn't already have a book about b-school from the student's point of view and it was an easy decision for them to give him the deal. Reading the book is another story. Sure, it's an entertaining little story and if you have some time to kill while you're waiting to go into the OR to have your appendix removed, then you can read it. That doesn't mean you should spend any MONEY on it, though. If you see it discarded on the sidewalk, or if you find it for ten cents at a church used-book sale, then go ahead.

(Just so you know where I'm coming from, I have a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Finance, and have attended Stanford University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, so I've been through the whole process.)

I had to check out this book because the idea of a book about b-school being a "snapshot from Hell" was just so ludicrous. One other reviewer mentions that law school is more difficult; that may be true and probably is. Certainly, b-school is not as challenging as engineering school.

I made many friends while earning my undergrad degree in engineering, some of whom went on to b-school, law school or medical school. Each of us who went to b-school learned a lot, but found it nowhere as near to "Hell" as the engineering education was.

Now here's my advice about getting an MBA, aimed toward those of you still in college or high school: When you get your college degree, get it in something real. DON'T major in business at the undergraduate level. Get a degree that teaches you something so that you are qualified to actually do something. If you can do it, get a technical degree, because that's what the economy values (computer science, engineering, chemistry, biology). That way, you can get some experience in a pharmaceutical company, a consumer-products company, or virtually anywhere else. If you're not so technically adept, get some other degree but don't waste your time learning "business" at the undergraduate level. After you have some years of work experience you can learn whatever "business" topics you need when you get your MBA.

Really enjoyed this book - but don't read it expecting to get facts/numbers/overviews of what b-school is like. It is more of a story about one individuals experiences at a top b-school. I read this right after finishing my undergraduate degree when I was thinking about going back to b-school. It is now three years later and I just shipped off my applications. I really feel that this book helped to give me a better idea of what the work-load, competition, social life, etc are going to be about.

Okay, I just finished the first quarter at one of the top business schools. I come from an engineering background with stellar stats.

I have found business school tough as hell in terms of the number of things one has to juggle. The material itself is not difficult. However, if someone is trying to make a transition to a completely unrelated (to prior experience) field then it will feel like hell. I understand that it gets better in the 2nd year but then the book mainly talks about the first year. Based on my personal experience as well as that of my close friend's, this book gets it right.

The b-school is easy if:
1) You plan on going back to your industry.
2) You are not interested in recruiting for any reason
3) If you are at a top school, and are planning to go into fields like general management, corporate finance or marketing - the kind of jobs that are easy to get, coming from a top school. I find it laughable that some idiots here think that business school is easier than engineering school. They are right only if the above conditions are true or maybe these genuises went to soft schools like HBS, Kellogg, etc.

If you are planning to go into Private Equity, Venture Capital, Asset Management, Investment Banking or Management Consulting, while not coming from those backgrounds, you will relate to this book.

I read this book before b-school (mild interest), tried to read it during b-school (too busy), and then read it after b-school (ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT).

The experience, no matter what year it occurred, is timeless. And Robinson captures the turmoil. Prepare yourself: know basic finance and statistics and business before going to b-school. As the author illustrates, b-school is much tougher if you're a "poet."

Also recommend: Ahead of the Curve, and The Blushing MBA