Grand Central

March 12, 2017

The great thing about the Grand Central Terminal is that your train terminal is a tourist spot all by itself. Hence, going to New Haven, I had to take a train from Grand Central.

Things to Know

• You buy the ticket to ANY counter OR from the inspector himself. There is, however, a price difference of around USD5 between these two, with the ticket counter being the cheaper one.
• There’s Peak and Off Peak tickets (based on the hour you’re traveling), with the peak tickets being around USD5 more expensive. The usual rush hour time is the peak period.
• You will present the ticket to the inspector, inside the train.
• I don’t know how to get the track number other than the info off the app I’m using, or asking the information center (the booth with the iconic clock)

The ticket is valid for a LONG time, though of course you’d normally use it within the day. I don’t see the point in buying bulks as I might end up not using some, and the line is really really short.

The Inspector will take your ticket and will put this little slip of paper off the back of the Aisle Seat.

Yale Integrated Leadership Case Competition

April 7-9, 2017

Spoiler Alert: My team lost.

About five years ago, the Yale School of Management started hosting a new type of case competition (they have a lot) – integrated leadership competition. They send an invitation letter to various schools (primarily GNAM schools, I think) to apply. Those who get accepted after the preliminary application get to go to Yale to try on a raw case (freshly written case) and pose their solutions to the judges.

So how does it work?

December. Invitation letter.

You receive an invitation to send an initial application. In our case, the initial application involves identifying a global issue and posing a proposed solution. That’s it. Submissions can be through video, PowerPoint, essay, etc.

Participants have to be students of the invited schools, with a maximum of four per team maximum. Your team can have less. If you’re that good, you can do it alone, even. But come on.

January. Submission and selection of participants.

Applicants receive notice of whether they are accepted to the finals or not.

February to March. Administrative matters.

You pay the USD350 fee online, apply for your US visa (if you don’t have one yet), arrange for accommodations and flights, etc.

The student pays for everything. Well, that depends on the school policy. Bottom line: Yale will not pay for it.

April. Competition.

It’s a three day event. Basically it goes like this:

Friday evening – say hello to everyone! Oh, there’s no food! So eat before you go here.

All participants are divided into “pools”. At this point, you are only competing against your pool. The judges will only be announced during the competition itself, as some judges are from the company.

Saturday – competition and announcement of winners from each pool. They will proceed to the next level. They get a “twist” for their final presentation the next day.

Sunday morning – finalists’ presentation and program conclusion.

So. What do you get? Aside from winning, of course (if you did win)

Experience. The value of this entire thing is meeting the competitive students from across the globe and Yale. It’s a good litmus test of how you are doing, and how much you still have to do.

People. Honestly, just chatting up the people is pretty nice experience.

Yale Visit. Yale, baby!