Anatole Faykin on How to Assess Fit Applying to Grad School Mid-Career

In Chapter 14 of 16 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "How Did You Assess Fit When Deciding Where to Apply for Bioscience Graduate Programs?" As an internet entrepreneur now mid-career, Faykin looks for bioscience grad schools who support entrepreneurial thinking and blend learning science in labs with applying science in business. Ultimately, he identifies three graduate programs that fit his criteria and applies to each of them.

Anatole Faykin is an Internet entrepreneur and digital marketer exploring new career options. A passionate world traveler and problem solver, Faykin plans to return to graduate school to earn a biosciences masters degree. Previously, Faykin has started multiple companies, including Tuanpin, a Shanghai startup he sold in 2011. He holds an MBA from NYU and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Bryan Law on Going Back to School for a Kellogg MBA

In Chapter 7 of 23 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, business strategist Bryan Law answers "What Informed Your Decision to Return to School and Earn an MBA?" After working several years working in human capital and HR consulting, Law goes back to school to get an MBA at Kellogg. The Kellogg MBA experience helps him develop skills in business strategy and student government leadership that open an opportunity for him to work in management consulting.

Bryan Law is a Principal in the Global Business Strategy Group at Google and a board member at Angola University. Previously, he was a manager at Monitor, a management consulting firm. He has worked in consulting roles at Watson Wyatt and Mercer. He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business and a BA from Georgetown University. 

Mark Graham on the Career Benefits of a Liberal Arts Education

In Chapter 7 of 15 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, media executive Mark Graham answers "Where Has Your Liberal Arts Education Been Most Valuable in Your Career?"  Studying liberal arts at the University of Michigan exposes Graham to a wide array of subjects. Graham takes this approach in his career, building a broad set of experiences working in marketing and digital media before transitioning into television and editorial publishing jobs. Mark Graham is currently a managing editor at MTV Networks. Previously Graham worked in editing and writing roles at New York Magazine and Gawker Media. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English. 

Jon Kolko on How a Supportive Family Can Open Doors in Your Education and Career

In Chapter 1 of his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, educator and designer Jon Kolko answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" Kolko shares how his wife has helped him achieve work goals by making sacrifices so he could grow into new phases of his career. Moreover, Kolko shares how his parents always supported his education and rarely challenged his choices. As an educator, Kolko sees how students make higher education and career choices and challenges the status quo and the need for a college degree. Jon Kolko is VP of Design at MyEdu and the Founder and Director of Austin Center for Design (AC4D). He has authored three books on design and previously has worked in design roles at Austin, Texas venture accelerator Thinktiv and global innovation firm frog design. He was a professor of Interaction and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mike Germano on Building a Talent Acquisition Business Strategy

In Chapter 13 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, Carrot Creative social media agency CEO Mike Germano answers "How Are Your Recruiting Priorities Changing As Your Company Grows?"  Germano discusses the recruiting, interviewing and hiring processes his social media advertising agency has developed over time to recruit top millennial talent and managerial talent.  He shares how initiatives such as online interviewing tests and dedicated college campus recruiting - for example the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) - has helped the company find the right Gen Y and millennial talent.  Moreover, he shares how he presents a value proposition around engaging and rewarding work when recruiting managers from larger digital ad agencies. 

Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO Brooklyn-based social media agency Carrot Creative.  Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut.  He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. 

How Father Inspires Son to Pursue Public Service Career - Ken Biberaj

In Chapter 1 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, New York City Council candidate and public relations executive Ken Biberaj answers "What is the Source of Your Passion for Public Service?"  Biberaj shares what he learned from his parents' immigration story, including his father's public service as a radio broadcaster for "Voice of America" in Albania.  This teaches Ken that public service matters and informed his education and career decisions to fulfill this intention.  Ken Biberaj is currently a 2013 Candidate for New York City Council for the West Side of Manhattan.  He is also a public relations executive for the Russian Tea Room restaurant at One Fifty Fifty Seven Corporation, a family business focused on real estate development, investment sales and retail leasing.  Previously he was Florida Research Director for the Kerry-Edwards for President Campaign. He holds a JD from New York Law School, a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Political Science from American University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen: What is the source of your passion for public service?

Ken Biberaj: Well, my parents emigrated from Albania and we ended up in the Bronx. And my dad worked 3 jobs while learning English. He was the oldest of 8 kids. He worked as a pizza man, a doorman, and a cab driver, and went to Columbia. And he got his PhD at Columbia and then came back to get a job for the government in DC at Voice of America. While he was there, he was the head of the Albanian service so he was on-air broadcasting into a communist country and we had no idea if anybody was ever listening to it.

As communism began to crumble in Albania, turned out that everybody was listening to my dad on the radio, so we kind of grew up seeing our father as somebody who had had such an impact on an entire country. So what he was able to do as just one person has always been a source of inspiration for me in understanding that public service matters. You can actually have a real impact on people’s lives.

And because of his work and you know, he’s my dad, and I’m the oldest of 4 kids, I always wanted to kind of emulate what he had done. So I went to American University in DC and tried to get involved locally there. Went on to the Harvard Kennedy School and then worked on a presidential campaign and all the while trying to do what I could to make my community better, but always in the back of my head understanding that we all kind of have an obligation to do public service.

How to Overcome and Learn From Disappointment - James McCormick

In Chapter 9 of 18 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, legal career advisor James McCormick answers "What Role Has Failure Played in Your Career Development?"  McCormick shares how short term failures - typically those that happen in an instance - become longer term positives when reflected upon over time.  He discusses this in context of job search and recruiting as well as in terms of his own college choice, specifically not getting into Northwestern and coming to terms with embracing an alternative, The University of Michigan.  James McCormick is a Partner at Empire Search Partners in New York City.  Previously, he practiced law as an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney for Proskauer Rose and Jones Day.  He earned a JD at Tulane Law School and a BA in History at the University of Michigan. 

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  What role has failure played in your career development?

James McCormick:  Well, it’s interesting because of – because of what I do, so much of the success or failure, and I almost lifted my hands to put them in quotes, but it is really a multi-dimensional project, it involves a lot of individuals playing different roles at different points in time. So it’s not simply helping one individual get a job. Something I’ve learned a lot about in this role has been really experiencing the successes and failures of not only the individuals that we represent but also the clients that come to us for assistance and helping them fill roles. And failures can be seen on one day as just that -- a failure, a failure to get a job, a failure to find the right individual, a failure to execute on an interview, a failure to meet the demands of a particular candidate, and then what’s fascinating is on day 365 or day, you know, whatever, down the road, a failure may be viewed in a very different light. I had a conversation this evening with an individual right before I came to this interview about a role that just about a year and a half ago, he did not get.  And at the time was utterly deflated that he didn’t get it.  And a year and a half later, the way things played out, I think he found himself saying, pretty glad that I didn’t get that job. So failure on day 1 may look very different than failure, you know, a year, a year and a half, two years later.

Erik Michielsen:  And reflecting back on your career and education, you know, what experiences have you had that are – that have taught you lessons?

James McCormick:  That’s a very good question. I would tell you that the first I go to is that when I chose to go to University of Michigan that was not my first choice. It was far from it. I wanted to go to Northwestern more than anything else and I did not get in, and I was crushed, it was really viewed from my perspective as an 18-year-old or 17-year-old, or however old I was at the time, as a complete failure. And in hindsight, boy, I couldn’t have been farther from the mark. My life would be, you know, nowhere near where it is now, you and I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair or at least highly unlikely that we would be and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. And I think the fact that I had to go through the experience of failing as I viewed it then, and be mindful of how it resulted is a good example.

Parenting Advice on Motivating High School Kids - Kyung B. Yoon

In Chapter 5 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, non-profit executive Kyung Yoon answers "How Do You Measure Success in What You Do as a Parent?" Yoon contrasts her approach to what has become known as the "Tiger Mom" approach.  With her two sons, Yoon makes it a point to embrace their individuality and tailor supportive parenting approaches to motivate each of the boys.  Kyung Yoon is the executive director of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF) in New York City.  An award-winning journalist and documentary film producer, Yoon earned an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in History and Political Science at Wellesley College.

Transcription:

Erik Michielsen:  How do you measure success in what you do as a parent?

Kyung Yoon:  I know there was a lot of brouhaha around tiger moms and as being an Asian mom and actually having a son who just started college this year and having gone through that excruciating process, acceptance and so on.  And, he's, you know, he's in a very happy place.  He's doing great.  And then I have a younger son who is a high schooler.  And, I think, when I look at both of my boys and they are really very similar in some ways but also very, very different, that it's not about one size fits all.  And, I guess, it's not about something you can read in a book and you wish that there was somebody who could tell you all the answers.  But, I think, a strategy that would be very motivating to one child could be crushing to another child. 

And so, I think, what I've learned about how to be a successful parent, and I'm not saying that I'm there at all, but is that, when I see my child, I see that beyond everything else, he has a beautiful, sort of, little fire going on inside him.  And to me, I think that my job as a mother is to keep that fire lit and just to fan it.  And, if it means that he's so passionate about the bongo drums then I'm gonna fan that, you know, because he's really, like, he loves it and it gives him confidence and meaning and that's great. 

And so, I feel like it's not my job to say that's not important, that you should be doing this.  Of course, there are things that they have to do.  They have to, you know, stay, you know, on top of their school work and they have to do, there are things that we have to do, but it's not a hard and rigid rule in my book.

How a College Education Increases Lifetime Earning Potential - J.T. Allen

In Chapter 16 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, education entrepreneur J.T. Allen answers "What Has Your Work in Education Taught You About the Value of a College Degree?"  Allen references a study detailing how a college bachelors degree, independent of major, creates significantly higher lifetime earnings than simply being a high school graduate.  J.T. Allen is the CEO and co-founder of myFootpath, a company that provides higher education online resources and call center services to help high school and adult learners choose academic programs in line with career goals.  Before myFootpath, Allen worked in strategy consulting for Ernst & Young.  He earned his BBA and graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  What has your work in education taught you about the value of a college degree?

J.T. Allen:  A recent study just came out that a bachelors degree, you’ll earn in your lifetime 80% more than you will if it’s you know if you just have a high school diploma and it’s over a broad set of people, it’s – so the sample size is big enough where it’s really meaningful.  The study actually went further on to say, it doesn’t really matter what you major either, right?  It’s sort of all kind of plays out in that, it’s really either bachelors degree or not, right?  There are certainly pockets within that study where and you know how you can get to careers where you’re earning more and that type of thing but in general it doesn’t matter that much. 

So I’m a believer and I believe that study, there are probably six other ones that predate it, that say the same thing, you know in some form or another.  Bachelor’s degree equals more money and I think that that is a critical distinction that it is – that really accounts for the market, right?  Meaning you know the averages, right?  Sure there’s going to be people who will -- don’t need to go to college you know Bill Gates didn’t go to college, right?  You know he dropped out, guess what?  He’s exceptional.  Most people are average.  Face it and you know you want to give yourself the best odds, right?  So the way that you can kind of improve your odds in a known way is to go to college and get your degree.

Why Applying to College is About Fit and Not Rank - J.T. Allen

In Chapter 17 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, education entrepreneur J.T. Allen answers "If You Had to Apply to College Again How Would You Do It?"  Allen, a Michigan graduate, shares that he has learned college is about fit and not just ranking.  He notes that even if he didn't get into his favorite school, he would have had a great college experience.  He notes it is about focusing on who you are and presenting yourself transparently to a prospective university.  J.T. Allen is the CEO and co-founder of myFootpath, a company that provides higher education online resources and call center services to help high school and adult learners choose academic programs in line with career goals.  Before myFootpath, Allen worked in strategy consulting for Ernst & Young.  He earned his BBA and graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  If you had to apply to college again, how would you do it?

J.T. Allen:  That’s an interesting question because I think a lot of people look at competitive colleges and you know the hoops that everybody’s got to jump through these days and you know the favorite phrase that I hear is you know “I never would have got in to fill in the blank you know Harvard, Yale whatever,” wherever they went, right, their alma mater. I wouldn’t get into that. And you know I think what I’ve learned is that you know college really is, for many people it’s about kind of finding the fit you know. 

I mean look I’m the biggest University of Michigan fan around when it comes to college football and fantastic experience and you know wouldn’t trade it for the world.  The reality is if I didn’t get in to the University of Michigan I still would have had fun in college, it still would have been a great experience. 

So you know now when you look back at that you’re like you know you just have a different perspective on it.  You just got to know it’s going to work out and know as I think about applications and you know if there are any advice to tell people to do, really focus on who you are, right?  And if people don’t you know sort of want who you are, you don’t want them, right?  Because you’re going to have a bad experience, you know, you want to go where it’s a good fit for both sides and if you kind of have that in mind I think it makes it easier you know.  It takes the pressure off a little bit and you can just sort of focus on, “Alright, what am I all about?”

Stacie Bloom on Choosing a Science PhD Program Over Medical School

In Chapter 4 of 19 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "What Variables Did You Consider When Deciding Between Graduate School and Medical School?" She notes how we are conditioned to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc. and not a molecular neurobiologist. As she started to apply to medical school, she become more exposed to what it meant to get a PhD. She finds the personalized study and sense of discovery more compelling than studying a standardized set of material.

Stacie Grossman Bloom is the Executive Director at the NYU Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City. She earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What variables did you consider when deciding between grad school and medical school?

Stacie Grossman Bloom: I thought I wanted to go to medical school because I think it’s a very typical career path that you think about. From the time you are a little kid, are you going to be a lawyer, are you going to be a doctor, are you going to be a fireman, are you going to be this that. Nobody ever really sits down as a little kid and says, am I going to be a molecular neurobiologist.

I would say as I got closer and closer and closer to actually going into the medical school track, my eyes were opened up to what other possibilities were out there.

When I was applying to graduate schools and medical schools and I still wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do and as I spoke to more and more people who had PhDs. I didn’t know anybody with a PhD when I was a kid. There is nobody in my family with a PhD. My friends, and their parents. I just didn’t have anybody in my circle.

But as I was starting to apply to medical school, Georgetown had a big PhD research arm and I started having conversations with people there and learning more about it. And as I was exposed more and more to it, I was more and more attracted to it.

And when I learned what it meant to get a PhD and what it entailed, that was something that I was more interested in. I thought, rather than sit in a room and learn everything that everybody else is learning, I’d rather be off in a lab discovering something that nobody else knows yet.

How Childhood Passions Lead to Design and Technology Career - Jon Kolko

In Chapter 3 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer and educator Jon Kolko shares the stories behind his childhood interests in art and technology. Early studio art ceramics work pushes Kolko to be creative. As a child, Kolko plays with early Internet computers to call pirate bulletin boards and hack RIT password files. Collectively, these shape Kolko's education, leading him to Carnegie Mellon University and catapulting him into his career. Kolko is the executive director of design strategy at venture accelerator, Thinktiv (www.thinktiv.com). He is the founder and director of the Austin School for Design (www.ac4d.com). Previously, he worked at frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has authored multiple books on design. Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  Where did your passions for technology and art originate?

Jon Kolko:  My passion for art originated through a ceramics – ceramics mentor of mine named Alec Haislip.  He’s one of the premier potters in Upstate New York. He studied with a number of the folks that were responsible for Bauhaus and things like that and – so I studied wheel thrown ceramics for as long as I can remember. 

I think I started when I was 5 or 6 and that was like a thing to do and then it became a release and then it became – now, it is a, ‘Wow!  I wish I had more time on Saturdays to spend in my studio.’  Very much art driven.  It’s functional ceramics but it’s also, let’s make it the way I want to make it.  There’s no constraints.  There’s no clients.  There’s no deadlines. 

On the technology side I’ve spent a great deal of time playing with the early foundations of the internet and I was using dial out remote BBSes on remote voxes at RIT when I was 7 or 8 years old to call you know pirate bulletin boards and stuff like that.  Like, we got a cease and desist, my dad actually still has this letter, we have cease and desist from one of RIT’s heads of technology ‘cause we’ve – we’ve hacked their password file back then.  It was like you run crackerjack overnight and it brute force hits it with anything, what I am gonna do with a bunch of accounts to RIT’s vox but I do remember you know getting my first Magnavox 28612 and going to town on it, also the Apple 2c and all that good stuff so I know both of those – were – were pretty prevalent in my life growing up and then it sounds like it was well designed but it was in fact very arbitrary that I ended up going to Carnegie Mellon. 

I remember I got a brochure to attend pre-college there for design, I thought it was cool.  I went - I went to undergrad there, I continued to do my Masters there and years later, you do some research and you’re like, ‘Wow!  That’s like the epicenter of everything technology leading up into what is now normal culture.’  So, you know I think I got super lucky with all of those things, sort of leading to what is now my – my job, my career, and my passions.

Why Choose SCAD to Study Industrial Design - Lauren Serota

In Chapter 4 of 18 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, interaction designer and researcher Lauren Serota shares who she came to choose Savannah College of Art and Design, or SCAD, for college. Interested in industrial design, Serota also considers another top school, the Rhode Island School of Design, or RISD. Ultimately, the curriculum, culture, and location inform her decision to stuy in Savannah. Serota is an interaction designer at frog design - http://frogdesign.com - and a professor at the Austin Center for Design - http://ac4d.com . She earned her bachelors degree in industrial design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  Why did you choose to study at the Savannah College of Art and Design instead of RISD?

Lauren Serota:  So I found out about the Savannah College of Art and Design.  I was in high school.  I really liked making stuff.  I was into sculpture.  I had a fantastic art teacher who pretty much gave me my own – like she made my own class, so she’s like ‘we’re gonna make a 3D design II just for you, and you can go play with clay all day and build things out of wood.  So she knew that I wanted – I knew that I wanted to build things or make things for a living, and she knew that I was probably going down that path as well, and so we had people from SCAD that came to my high school.  And I knew that I wanted to go to art school. 

I looked at like, you know, the local state schools like ASU, U of A, and then RISD was in the ranks, and then the SCAD people came, and I had never heard of the school prior to them.  And I said ‘oh, this is kind of a cool option.’  They have this budding industrial design program.  It seems it’s something I might be into.  I’m gonna go visit colleges, so I’ll visit RISD and I’ll visit SCAD.  So I went to RISD first, and, you know, it’s a beautiful campus.  It’s in Providence.  It’s hilly.  They have this great program at Brown where you can go take classes at Brown.  It was really compelling, but I just didn’t like the northeast.  I never gelled with the people, and the industrial design program my perception then was that it was really more based on form giving and style and making things beautiful in the sculpture of product. 

And when I went out to SCAD, first of all, I fell in love with the city.  Savannah is beautiful, warm, with weird stuff going on, the Spanish moss, it’s kind of spooky, and so I loved that.  And then the industrial design program was focused on process.  So it was like ‘oh we have a problem that we’re solving by – you know, we’re going through this process to solve the problem, at the end of it is a product,’ and now I know that at the end of it is a product, a service, a reorganization, or nothing, but I really appreciated that there was this – the kind of regimented, scientific thing that they went through that made a lot of sense, and it started with the people. 

So I started learning about the people, that were going to be using the thing that they’re making, and they explained it really well.  And the program was growing, they were moving into a new building, and it just seemed like something I wanted to be a part of.  It just seemed like the right fit.

Fabian Pfortmüller on How Columbia General Studies Educates a Nontraditional Student

In Chapter 2 of 19 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller shares how getting into Columbia University comes about after not getting into his first school. Applying only after taking several years to work after high school, he finds comfort at Columbia University's School of General Studies. The program is designed for nontraditional career paths, including incoming students coming from performing arts and the military. Pfortmüller is co-founder of Sandbox Network (www.sandbox-network.com). He also co-founded an innovation think tank, Incubaker (www.incubaker.com), and is part of the group's first spin-off, Holstee (www.holstee.com), an apparel brand for people who would like to wear their passion. Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University and its School of General Studies.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: Why did you decide to attend Columbia University?

Fabian Pfortmüller: The honest answer is I originally wanted to study in the UK and no school accepted me, that’s the honest answer and I started applying in the US kind of as a consequence of that and suddenly schools started to accept me and really good schools started to accept me and I just realized that I was not an extraordinarily good student from my high school grades but I had something to show, not good grades but I had a lot of extracurricular activities.

And apparently that can be clearly seen with the process of my applications, this was valued much more here in the US than it was in the UK. But in the end it was very clear New York was the place to be, I’m a big city person, Columbia seemed like a really amazing place and Columbia has a special program which it calls the School of General Studies, which is a normal college degree you do but you have all kinds of, they call it atypical students. Students who have been entrepreneurs, students who have been in the army, who have been professional artists or have been in sports to have a college for those people to go back and make a degree and I couldn’t be happier than being there really, like it’s a fantastic place.

Erik Michielsen: Tell me more about the general studies program and how have your peers in that program inspired you?

Fabian Pfortmüller: You know I always felt little bit like a freak, especially when it comes to education but as a young entrepreneur I guess at large you’re a little bit like a freak, you decided not to go for that classical career and that’s a hard decision to take if everyone else goes straight to university becomes a banker or a consultant goes off he makes his career, does an MBA goes into middle management and then he has kids and family and that’s pretty much it and not doing that feels kind of cool but at the same time it also needs quite a lot of courage.

And I felt a freak until I came to Columbia and I saw that there’re lots of people like me and it feels really good to see that it’s absolutely normal to have an atypical education way and I would recommend it to anyone. And I think that gives me self confidence, that gives me self confidence with saying ‘I’m twenty-eight, I’m just graduating with my bachelors in May’ and it’s totally fine, it’s totally normal, you know? And I think that’s great.

Fabian Pfortmüller on Why to Work in Between High School and College

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, community builder and entrepreneur Fabian Pfortmüller shares why he chose to work after high school and wait until turning 25 to enter college. Upon graduating high school, Pfortmüller pursues an entrepreneurial passion until he builds an intellectual curiosity in the college experience. Only then does he choose to attend Columbia University while continuing to build upon his passion for bringing startup ideas to life as an entrepreneur. Pfortmüller is co-founder of Sandbox Network (www.sandbox-network.com). He also co-founded an innovation think tank, Incubaker (www.incubaker.com), and is part of the group's first spin-off, Holstee (www.holstee.com), an apparel brand for people who would like to wear their passion. Pfortmüller graduated from Columbia University and its school of General Studies.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: How did holding off a couple years on attending college impact your professional development?

Fabian Pfortmüller: I think for me this has been one of the best thing ever, I tell you what was the source of my entrepreneurial desire: being bored at school, okay? Like the reason I become an entrepreneur was that I was so bored at school and that it drove literally into trying entrepreneurial things and I realize that when I was going out of high school that I was suddenly free and that I could do whatever I wanted that why should I go back to school at this point?

And I believe it was a great experience to use that energy and that curiosity then for doing work and trying out different things, especially coming out of high school you have nothing to lose, right? I mean what do you have to lose? You know I felt that working was a very fulfilling experience but it wasn’t the most intellectually challenging one. It took me to be twenty-five to feel that intellectual curiosity and I felt that it was a much better moment to go then back school.

And the same time also being at school having all that experience, having managed your own company, built complex projects and I don’t know managed teams, that helps you to deal with the hustle and bustle of school life and I’m sure I have no idea how I would have managed through school being twenty and I’ve very impressed with the others who do that, I would have just kind of collapsed probably.

Why Study Computer Graphics at Syracuse University - Doug Jaeger

In Chapter 2 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, designer Doug Jaeger shares the decision inputs that informed his choice to study computer graphics at Syracuse University. He highlights influences across his friends, family, and personal interests. Ultimately Jaeger chooses Syracuse a strong balance between academics - science, history, English - and arts and design. Jaeger is a partner at design firm JaegerSloan - http://jaegersloan.com/ - and is also president of the Art Director's Club - http://www.adcglobal.org/ . Previously he founded thehappycorp and has served in creative director leadership roles at TBWA/Chiat/Day and JWT. Jaeger holds a BFA in Computer Graphics and Art Media Studies from Syracuse University.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen: When you were at Syracuse University, what propelled you to focus on computer graphics?

Doug Jaeger:  That's an interesting question. I went to Syracuse because I growing up had a friend, his name was Pete Berthold, and his father was an engineer at BellCorp. BellCorp was the company that defined all the business operating systems for the phone systems, and had the latest Macintosh computer at his house  all the time. In the basement, never being used. It was like the home computer that dad would use when we weren't around as kids, you know, we got home from school, dad wasn't there, we'd play with the computer. I learned about HyperCard and all these computer software way before schools had them, and uh, my friend Pete, my friend Sean, all these guys I was growing up with, were all playing with basic and basicA and all these crazy, geeky things.

Pete was one year older than me. And he was the year ahead of me doing research  he lived, you know, right down the block and he was doing research on what schools to go to, and he built this list of schools, and one was RISD, another one was, University of Arts in Philadelphia had a computer program, there was RIT, Syracuse was one of them - there were very few number of schools on the east coast I was limited because my parents didn't want me to go too far away. And, there was this idea Pete was just like, I'm going to Syracuse. 

And he came back during his break and told me all about you know the technology, and they had this really great SGI lab they were doing 3D modeling in, and he in a sense convinced me that this was a great place to go. Because Pete was a friend of mine, I trusted him.

We were doing a lot of the same things, we were both artists and we were making videos and we were using the computer and so he went there, and then as a result, I went there. And, I wanted to go to RISD because I thought it had greater, you know, creative output  in general it is a more creative school, but my parents felt really strongly, they wanted me to have a basis in academics. You know they wanted me to have science and history classes and English, they thought it was just really important. And so, although RISD has Brown as a sidepiece, they thought I would not do that. And so they felt that it's a school that could control me, put me in this little box where I would do all those things. And so, the city was not an option for me my parents grew up in the city, and they just didn't want me to go there and to learn there, they just thought it would be too corrupting and forced.

And so they wanted me to go somewhere protected, and so Syracuse was that place. And the program was computer graphics, which was half computer science and half art. And the art portion was photography, you know, studio photography, filmmaking, non-linear editing, 3D modeling and interaction design. And I also tried to take classes in conventional design  I had lots of peers that were in design courses as well. And so I was really able to kind of, you know, get experience very early on, on the full palate of what media is and its potential.

What to Consider in Calculating Grad School Return on Investment - Gabrielle Lamourelle

In Chapter 10 of 21 in her 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, global health consultant Gabrielle Lamourelle shares the inputs involved in making a decision to return to graduate school and study for a Masters in Public Health or MPH degree. Additionally, she elaborates on key factors behind her decision to attend a full-time program instead of a part-time one. Lamourelle graduated with a BS in Sociology from University of California at Berkeley and a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Sociomedical Sciences from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. 

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen: When you were looking at calculating the  the investment and associated return on investment you would receive with a masters of health degree, what did you consider?

Gabrielle Lamourelle: I considered the economic cost up front and balancing that against what I could hope to earn in future jobs if I have that MPH degree. I also thought about the difference going back to school full-time and going to school part-time and continuing to work.

Erik Michielsen: What made you decide to go back full-time versus part time?

Gabrielle Lamourelle:  One of the major issues in deciding to go back full-time was whether I could really focus my attention on my education.   And I wanted to really get the most out of the time and the money I was putting into pursuing a masters of public health.  I knew that I needed to go full-time to not split my attention and be torn between work and school. I could have continued working at my former job um but because I was very invested in the work that I do there, it would be nearly possible for me to feasibly scale back my work to really do - commit to twenty hours and only work twenty hours.  And that I would end up sacrificing some of the focus on my education if I did go to school part-time and while I worked full-time or vice-versa.  So I decided to go back to school full-time.

How to Apply Macroeconomics to Solve Global Education Problems - Maurizio de Franciscis

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, education entrepreneur and Global Campus founder Maurizio de Franciscis shares how his economist training has proven useful starting a company. De Francisicis uses macroeconomics to understand global education supply and demand issues and the associated transaction costs. He highlights a UNESCO report that $200 million in scholarships go unclaimed each year. Identifying the money left on the table and the high transaction costs finding a college education give him cause to create a business that matches talented international high school graduates with top universities and scholarships.

De Franciscis graduated from Universita degli Studi di Roma - La Sapienza - and earned his MBA from INSEAD.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen: How do you apply your economics education in what you do as an entrepreneur?

Maurizio de Franciscis: I think that the first way I apply it considering what I do with global campus is microeconomics. To me the problem of education looks like a micro economic problem because I see that kids want to study somewhere, a place that is best for them pretty much. And don’t care where it is, in which country.

So it is become from the point of view of the of the buyer, if you want, of education. It’s a global market. And from the point of view of the sellers, they are trying to internationalize but they don’t quite view it as a global market yet. And the mechanisms that enable a global market are not there. And so from my point of view when I looked at the market and said there is a problem here between the kids who want the education and the institutions that offer it, there is no communication. I said okay where is the evidence for this.

And I saw there are about two hundred million dollar of scholarships at the UNESCO tell us are not claimed every year. And that is because people don’t know about these scholarships they may be eligible for. And then there are very high transactions costs because families in emerging countries pay intermediary school agents quite a bit of money and these agents then sell the lead on to universities, increasingly here in the states but even more in Europe for quite a bit of money as well. And so as an economist the first thing you observe is there is money left on the table, the money on scholarships, and there are high transaction costs that is an indicator that the market is inefficient. Even if you didn’t just want to stop at the tuition.