MAP FAQ's

After I posted my MAP locale yesterday, I realized that I had never properly explained what MAP is all about. So, here's the 411.

Michigan's business program is all about "Action Based Learning." The idea is that classrooms are great for theory, but there's more to an education than sitting in a lecture hall talking about business cases. During the first three terms of the MBA program you are automatically placed into 9 core classes so you can get a broad, theoretical view of the business world. Once you complete these nine classes (Financial Accounting, Microeconomics, Business Statistics, Corporate Strategy, Corporate Finance, Marketing Management, Human Behavior and Organizations, Managerial Accounting and Operations Management), they figure you are ready to tackle Real World problems. But, much like learning how to ride a bike, our first Real World experience comes with training wheels. And this is where MAP comes in. The Multi-Disciplinary Action Project is the capstone course to our first year in b-school, tying in all our classroom theory ("Multi-Disciplinary") into a consulting project for a company ("Action Project"). Basically, you get the experience, but it's a lower risk environment than a summer internship because you can rely on your team members and faculty for help. MAP was essentially the reason I applied to Michigan to begin with (because it definitely wasn't the weather that made me want to come here!)

At the end of December they sent out a list of all the available projects, which ranged between Domestic vs International, and Corporate vs Nonprofit vs Entrepreneurial. We had 3 weeks to look over the list and rank our top 10 choices (the only stipulations were 1 domestic in your Top 5, and 3 domestic in your Top 10). After all our preferences were entered into a computer, and some overly complex algorithm, involving project preferences, country of origin, section, languages spoken, gender and shoe size (maybe not, but who knows what they include!), split the class of 420 into 90 to 100 teams.

I am excited for my project, which involves creating a strategy for Borders Gift Cards. I'm not sure what exactly we'll be doing, but given that I only found out what project I was on yesterday, that's not surprising. So, while some of my b-school friends are off to far-flung locations such as Spain, Czech Republic, India, California, I will be staying in Ann Arbor for the project (did you guys know that the first Borders store is located on the U of M campus?) At first I was a bit upset, but I did manage to come up with a list of reasons why staying here is going to be a good thing.

1. I get to sleep in my own bed.
2. If/When (knowing me, "when" is definitely the case) things get heated with my group members, we can each retreat to our separate homes.

3. I don’t have to pay for the doggie hotel.
4. When Tatum gives birth, I can drive down at my convenience to see my new niece.
5. I think the project I’m working on is going to be really interesting, because otherwise, I never would have ranked it.
6. If I’m overly ambitious, I can take another class.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the project. But, if any future MBA1s ask for my advice as to how to rank projects? "It doesn't matter how awesome the project is, if you don't want to stay in MI for MAP, don't rank any project in the area in your Top 10."