Night Owl's Revenge

The other day I gave a building tour to a group of prospective students. My goal on these tours is to tailor them to the participants, so that everyone walks away with some sense of what it’s like to be a student at Kellogg. A few people in this particular group were interviewing that day, so they were kind of shy at first. After a little prodding I got them to open up and they asked some really great questions - “what classes are you taking?”, “Do you get into Chicago often?”, etc. And then I got hit with a big one - “What do you like the most about Kellogg?”.

I like to talk…a LOT, but this question left me speechless. One would think that as a tour guide I would have a response prepared for such a question. After flailing awkwardly for a minute, searching through all of the amazing experiences I’ve had at Kellogg so far and everything yet to come I settled on “the people” as my answer. It was a terrible response, and I anticipated the eye rolling of the questioner before he began the action. 

Now that I’ve had some time to really think about this question I can put together a coherent thought about what I really like about Kellogg: For these two short years, I’ve been fortunate to return to an environment where all things are once again possible, and my mind is constantly stimulated and engaged. But then again, a lot of business schools offer this opportunity. The differentiating factor at Kellogg for me is the people I interact with, from my classmates to faculty and administrators. I could describe them as smart, driven, funny, supportive, and engaged but that would be doing them all a terrible disservice. They’re so much more, and my life has been enriched because I’ve known them.