I first heard about the Club from an Oxford EMBA alumnus (and now a friend), whom I originally met at an Oxford “Open House” event in New York back in February 2008. One day he invited me to the Harvard Club to go over my MBA application. I was surprised to learn that as a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club, he was also entitled to visit the Harvard Club (founded in 1887). Then, before coming to Oxford, I read an MBA blog that mentioned an annual Club presentation in Oxford. At this point I was fairly convinced that I would join once the invitation came. But I almost missed the opportunity.

There was a 6-day lag between the time my college received the email from the Oxford and Cambridge Club, and the time it was forwarded on to the Exeter students (important to note that the invite comes from your college and not the business school). Even though I tried to RSVP the same day, the reception at Rhodes House on May 21st was already over-subscribed. Thankfully, the Club also hosted an event in London on June 2nd, which I attended. You must attend at least one of these events to find current Club members who will sign your application as your “proposer” and “seconder”.

The Oxford and Cambridge Club has well over 100 reciprocal agreements with Clubs from over 35 countries (visit their “reciprocal clubs” page). When I return to New York this summer, I plan to visit not only the Harvard Club, but also the Yale (includes University of Virginia, Dartmouth), Princeton (includes Columbia, NYU, and Williams), Penn (includes University of Chicago), and Cornell (includes Brown, Stanford) Clubs. As a precautionary measure, I emailed each and every one of these Clubs mentioned, and they confirmed the reciprocal arrangement. In general, they will allow up to 30 visits each year. I don’t believe this will be an issue, though, because with five clubs in New York, I certainly won’t be visiting any one club more often than twice a month.

To join the Oxford and Cambridge Club you must pay an annual fee, which is based on your age and geographical proximity to the Club. The cheapest rates tend to be for overseas. For example, I would have to pay £460 every year. Now this is definitely more expensive than the £198 “Life Membership” fee to join the Oxford Union, but I think that if you can afford it, then it’s definitely worth it. One way to look at is as an investment. All of the most exclusive “gentlemen’s clubs” are located next to the Oxford and Cambridge Club on Pall Mall – within earshot of Westminster and Trafalgar Square – yet unlike the other clubs, no amount of money will buy you entry intoOxbridge, which let’s face it, makes it even more exclusive than the others.

So, what can you do as a member? I think that the main benefits of joining the Oxford and Cambridge Club are the chance to dine there (breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served 7 days a week), the squash courts, the library and reading rooms where you can recline in an old burgundy red leather armchair with a nice glass of scotch, and the overnight accommodations, which can cost as little as £100 per/night for a single bedroom. To compare, I’ve paid that much to stay at a budget Premier Inn in the London hinterland (Tube Zone 4).

It’s still hard for me to understand why only 10 out of 238 MBAs (4%) decided to attend either of the two receptions. To use my old stockbroker lingo, I would say that MBAs tend to “underweight” the networking potential of joining an elite gentlemen’s club, and “overweight” the price tag. I think, however, that just like Long Term Capital Management in 1998, that they might be on the wrong side of the trade. Of course, it’s also necessary to address the persistent image of a stuffy old club of pretentious Oxbridge grads. To dispel this rumour, it’s interesting to note that nearly 20% of the Clubs 4,000 members are under 40 y/o, and an increasing number of women are also joining. I think that the Club is undergoing a positive transition to more accurately reflect the greater diversity found in Oxbridge< today. Hopefully when you come to Oxford you’ll choose to be part of that change, too.

I cannot say this enough…that the strength of our club depends on the quality of its membership, and in each and every instance, our guest speakers have come from referrals from fellow MBAs. During Michaelmas term we hosted Usman Hayat, director of the CFA Institute’s division on Islamic Finance. For Hilary term, we brought in Zeeshan Tayeb of Element Six (De Beers), who generously helped us organize a “Strategic Consulting Project” (SCP) for Trinity term.

For Trinity term, Emily (from my Michaelmas studygroup) arranged to have Dr. Ramin Khadem, Chairman of Odyssey Moon Limited, give a speech entitled, “Reflections on the Root Causes of the Current Economic Crisis.” Pretty typical fodder for an MBA audience following the “Great Recession of 2008-09,” but what made this speech unique was that Dr. Khadem took an ethical approach to solving the root causes of economic excess.

As a member of the European Baha’i Business Forum, Dr. Khadem was uniquely qualified to speak on the role that moral and ethical values can play in business to enhance overall prosperity. Another twist on this presentation, is that Dr. Khadem has been involved in the commercialization of outer space for the past quarter-century, previously as the CFO of Inmarsat, a global satellite network company that was sold to private equity firms Apax Partners and Permira in 2005. Who better to combine business experience with the “big-picture” perspective?

Following on his success, Dr. Khadem now serves as Chairman of Odyssey Moon Limited, where he aims to develop a “sustainable commercial transportation system to deliver payload services to the Moon in support of science.” We’ve certainly come a long way since Frank Sinatra’s 1964 rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon,” recorded just 5-years before the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission. In the wake of Goldman Sach’s Congressional testimony regarding charges of fraud last week, perhaps Dr. Khadem has the right idea, that when we search for ethical guidance we should look skywards where a more enlightened global perspective can be found.

Thursday was our first full-day in Boston. We were scheduled to visit our MBA counterparts, and some Oxford alumni, at the Harvard Business School. As President of the Oxford Finance Club, I reached out to my counterparts at HBS, Co-Presidents Melvin and Larry, who were kind enough to host us during our trip to Cambridge. In return, we offered to host them during their London Trek in late November (during the Thanksgiving holiday). It was a great opportunity to compare notes on what activities our respective finance clubs had planned for the year. Melvin met us outside the Baker Library at 10am, and walked us over to attend our first HBSclass. Professor Matthew Weinzierl kindly introduced himself to us. A wunderkind who focuses on taxation issues, the ProfessorWeinzierl is a hands-down student favorite who teaches the BGIE(Business, Government and the International Economy) required class to first year students.

After class we ate on campus at the Spangler Food Court. Then, we spent the rest of the day discovering Harvard University. I walked down Oxford Street, and found my way to the Harvard Law School where I sat for a while reading under the warm sun, taking everything in – it had been a busy Trek so far! Later in the evening, we met with some Oxford alumni, who were now studying at HBS and HLS, and enjoyed a nice dinner, courtesy of Oxford Alumni, at a highly-recommended restaurant, called “Upstairs on the Square.”

Following a nice day of rest-and-relaxation, we visited the last two companies of our Trek on Friday. We started the day at the international headquarters for Fidelity Investments at 245 Summer Street in Boston. Founded in 1946, Fidelity grossed more than $12 billion in sales last year. The nation’s largest private mutual fund company, Fidelity rose to prominence when famed mutual fund manager, Peter Lynch, averaged a 29% annual return during his tenure between 1977 and 1990. With over $20 billion in assets, the Magellan fund has now been eclipsed by the Fidelity “Contrafund,” which has nearly $60 billion in assets. Each year, Fidelity brings in roughly twice the total number of assets of Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Citi Smith Barney combined. In addition to its retail activities, Fidelity also boasts a very strong asset management business. Our host Alison invited Matt from institutional research to talk with us about the exciting things that FRM is doing. Thank you both very much!

Finally, I would once again like to thank Harvard University, Fidelity Investments, and State Street for making our New York/Boston Trek an unmitigated success. I hope that you were as impressed with us, as we were with you. I very much look forward to helping next year’s MBA class visit again, and to include other Boston financial firms, such as Putnam Investments and MFS. Now it’s back to Oxford to start Trinity term (ends July 3rd), provided this Icelandic volcanic eruption stops already! 

Oxford Comes to Wall Street
MBAs on business trek to New York and Boston

9 – 18 April 2010

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

A team of MBA students from Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford will be visiting the USA on a business trek organised by the School’s student network for Finance. The team will be visiting New York and Boston to meet with key companies from the financial sector in order to gain an insight into how business in the sector operates.

With participants from Europe, North and South America, and Asia the trek is an opportunity for students to increase their understanding of the financial markets and business developments in the US, to see firsthand how the financial sector is recovering, and to network with Oxford alumni and corporate contacts. The students also plan to meet with MBA candidates for the incoming class.

One of the organising students Justin Belkin said: ‘‘The MBA class at Saïd is very diverse with participants from around 50 countries worldwide and from a wide variety of different sectors. The School has an excellent finance faculty and many of the class, keen to pursue a career in that sector, expressed an interest in getting firsthand experience of American culture and trade so I decided to organise a trek focusing on different organisations on Wall Street and beyond. We could not have chosen a better time to visit. As the economy recovers, more employers are looking to recruit from the top business schools, and Oxford is a natural choice. This will be a good opportunity to highlight the USA as an attractive destination for a fulfilling post-MBA career.”

The 15 students undertaking the trek are all keen to forge strong connections and to learn from the companies they will meet on their visit including: Barclays Capital, CB Richard Ellis, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity Investments, Pfizer, Sanford Bernstein, SecondMarket, and State Street.

The Oxford students will also meet with fellow MBAs from both Columbia and Harvard Universities to network and build transatlantic relationships.

While the team is confident that they will hear practical wisdom from these interactions, they hope to reciprocate by engaging in meaningful dialogue and offering consultancy advice on specific opportunities and challenges for some of the organisation’s they visit.

Derek Walker, Head of Careers at Saïd commented: ‘It is good to see the strong interest among our students in working in the finance sector in the USA, and clearly the country presents good opportunities. The students have set up a series of valuable meetings and will also be working closely with our alumni there to maximise their opportunities. The visit is a good way for companies to meet MBA students who are highly motivated to work in the US, are geographically mobile, and who have a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, business specialisms and sector experience. We look forward to a successful visit.’

Owing to its relatively small size of 250 MBAs, the Saïd Business School interviews every short-listed MBA candidate before accepting them. Granted – some applicants opt for the telephone interview, but I was SO determined to get admitted into my top b-school choice, that I left nothing up to chance – and flew to Oxford to meet my maker face-to-face. Following my interview, I waited four painstaking weeks before learning their final verdict.

Similarly, many of the applicants who had come today were approaching the end of their journey, hoping for the same release. As I walked into the Rhodes Trust Lecture Theatre to sit next to some of my MBA classmates, I felt all eyes descend upon us, eager to glean whatever nuggets of wisdom they could find. First question…

How did you go about picking an Oxford College?

The University of Oxford is comprised of 38 colleges and 6 halls, of which 35 colleges currently accept MBA students. This is quite an impressive statistic – higher than Judge at Cambridge– indicating general acceptance of the newly minted MBA program within the larger University.ery college boasts its own history, replete with rich tradition and fabled alumni. Colleges typically provide housing, food, religious service, and a Middle Common Room (graduate community) to MBA students apart from the b-school. You really can’t go wrong with any of your choices.

About one-third of the class becomes members of the de facto business college, GreenTempleton. Colloquially known as GTC, GreenTempleton offers housing right across from the b-school at Rewley Court, making it a popular choice for MBA with spouses, and families. Another 40 MBAs journey to St. Hugh’s where it is rumored to share a border with Scotland due to its geographic distance. Although I must confess it’s difficult to take issue with a college that has its own private-label wine.

For those yearning to become a member of a top sporting college, then you might do well to choose Brasenose. With its entrance idyllically situated opposite the Radcliffe Camera, Brasenose also has new housing near the b-school. In addition, “boaties” proudly display their “black and gold” as they can claim the oldest boathouse in the world (founded 1815).

Referred to as “the House,” few would pass on a chance to join Christ Church where they filmed the Harry Potter dining room scenes. This year we regularly played poker in the same MCR where Albert Einstein spent his time in 1931. But get ready to work. Their novice rowers practice perhaps more than any other college – often 8 times a week! After all, the novice rowing competition held during Michaelmas term is called the Christ Church Regatta.

As you walk down the centuries old Turl Street you’ll discover three very ancient colleges: Exeter (1314), Lincoln (1427), and Jesus (1571). Exeter’s view overlooking the Radcliffe Square has been consistently voted as the “best view in Oxford.” Exeter offers sumptuous en-suite housing, but you have to trek to Cowley to get there. In contrast, Lincoln offers centrally located quarters on Bear Lane (City-Centre). Finally, few colleges can out fillet Jesus and its MBA disciples when it comes to best food.

Whiles it’s impossible to profile every college, I certainly recommend taking a walk down Oriel Square toward the old cobble-stone Merton Street where you will pass Oriel before reaching Corpus Christi and finally Merton. All very beautiful colleges, you can often tell how old they are based on whether they kept to the traditional stone slab quads, which Corpus and Merton have, or whether they transitioned to the ubiquitous green lawn made fashionable in the 1850s. Oriel prides itself on having a strong rowing tradition, and this year they took a surprising number of MBAs (circa 15). Whereas Corpus is cozy, Merton is monolithic.

Arguably the oldest college in Oxford, Merton (1264) basks in resplendent glory of having developed the first archetypal “quad,” which was later adopted by the other Oxbridge colleges. Following one of the stranger Oxford traditions, Mertonians observe the “Time Ceremony” every October where they hold hands and walk backwards around the Fellows’ Quad while drinking port in order to maintain the space-time continuum. You might think that after all this revelry it would be difficult to walk straight, let alone think straight. Nonetheless, Merton regularly outperforms its peers academically by finishing toward the top of the Norrington Table every year.

If you believe in the Golden Rule: that he who has the gold makes the rules, then you might want to consider St. John’s, which is the richest of all the Oxford Colleges. This is also where former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair went to school. They are rumored to have the largest wine cellar in all of Oxford. With a rather large endowment in its own right, New College has trained several Hollywood actors including Hugh Grant and Kate Beckinsale. The New College Cloisters, along with its giant oak tree, were featured in the movie, Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire.

Meanwhile the more judicious among us should deliberate the merits of Magdalen College, which has educated two US Supreme Court Justices. Famous for having its own deer park, Magdalen was rumored at one point in its long history to keep the number of deer equal to the number of teaching fellows. This undoubtedly placed enormous pressure on faculty not to defect, lest they be served a never-ending staple of venison.

Although the answer I provided during the actual Q&A wasn’t so in-depth, I do believe that I communicated the same basic point. There is not one perfect Oxford College. They all possess a unique charm. The larger point to be made is that this collegiate system is what separates the Oxford MBA from other b-schools. And if you find this enchanting, then choose Oxford!

The term certainly flew by quickly – just as they said it would. I remember having just arrived in Oxford (for the first time in 10-years) this past September 24th. As an undergraduate, I had studied abroad here under the tutorial system. But now, as an MBA, I would come to know Oxford in a whole different way.

In the short span of 10-weeks I fully immersed myself in Oxford life. I rowed for my Exeter College Novice B team in the Christ Church Regatta. Before coming here, I would have thought that sounded like some obscure religious ritual. And in some ways it was, because Oxford is crazy about their rowing! I also became Treasurer of the Student Government, and completed my lock on finance by becoming Chairman of the Finance-OBN. My schedule has been so full this past term – not to mention the 6 core courses we all took – that attending the end-of-term Gala proved to be the best way to conclude Michaelmas term. Click on the video below to see some photos from our Michaelmas term 2009 Gala.

But perhaps most enjoyable has been my time spent rowing for the Exeter College Novice B team. Along with my fellow ‘boaties’, we row three times a week on the Isis – the stretch of the Thames that meanders through Oxford – sometimes as early as 6am in pitch blackness. Rowing at Oxford is a big deal, in fact, 1 out of 3 students row at some point during their Oxford studies! And although the penultimate manifestation of rowing revelry is the annual ‘Boat Race’ that has been taking place between Oxford and Cambridge since 1859, students of all ages and abilities participate.

New students take warning. When you are invited to a BBQ at the College boat house during ‘Nought Week’ you will be put on an erg machine and tested for 1-minute to see how fast you can row. After wolfing down my hamburger, I managed to get on the erg machine and row about 38 strokes per/minute. Later I found out that this was good enough to put me on the Novice B team. Exeter had four boats this Fall: A, B, C, and D. It works similar for women’s rowing, as well. Most of the graduate students rowed on the C boat.

For those of you already familiar with Oxford you may remember that the School year is broken up into Michaelmas (Oct-Dec), Hilary (Jan-Mar), and Trinity (Apr-Jun) terms. Michaelmas terms is dedicated to Novice rowers; those who have never rowed before. You train all term for the ‘Christ Church Regatta’, which is a 800 meter sprint where you row side-by-side with another boat trying to overtake them. The event takes place over four days (Thu-Sun) – weather permitting – beginning around November 27th. The more ambitious rowers can participate in the warm-up event, called ‘Isis in Winter’, which our crew participated in on Sunday, November 14th. The big difference between the two events is that Isis in Winter is 1400 meters long, and you are only racing against the clock.

If you have rowed in the Christ Church Regatta, then congratulations – you are no longer considered a novice! Now you can go on and compete in ‘Torpids’ during Hilary, and finally ‘Eights’ during Trinity term to complete the Oxford rowing trifecta. But it’s an incredible commitment of time and energy, so maybe I’ll see how my job search pans out before the end of Michaelmas before I decide whether or not to continue on. Although I have lost 10lbs so far rowing, so maybe I’ll stick with it a little longer after all!