First LGO Challenge: The Move

For those of us who are not living in Cambridge or Boston already, our first hands-on LGO assignment is to arrange all the logistics of relocation.  The process can be broken down into 4 simple steps:

Step 1: Find an Apartment

KBL Apartments in Central Square

The LGO ‘13s and ‘14s were a HUGE help when I was looking for an apartment.  I would highly recommend finding an apartment during the Open House weekend in April, especially if you are from out of town like me.  The current students put out a Housing Guide and an shared Google Doc with all the available apartments which I found to be very helpful.  The biggest benefit of working with the current students is that you can usually bypass the broker fees that are usually required for apartment in Boston (up to a month’s rent in fees!).  During Open House, I found an place near Central Square that was being vacated by a current LGOer.  The best part: they had been renting furniture from CORT and I could arrange to just take over the lease and not have to worry about moving any of the big stuff or dealing with it when I moved out.  

Step 2: What do you actually need?

Storage in Seattle

One month ago, I was living in Seattle in a 5-bedroom house full of furniture and tons of stuff (much of which I didn’t need!).  As soon as I got into LGO, I started looking around and deciding what I would take and what I would sell/donate/toss/store.  Since I’ve been looking for an excuse for a fresh start, I decided to take it to the extreme: get rid of everything that wouldn’t fit in a suitcase.  I was also aiming to complete the whole move for less than $500.  Since I like to plan ahead, I started posting all the furniture on Craigslist and had several garage sales to get rid of the smaller stuff.  The sales went so well that I soon found myself living in a house with no furniture, with over 2 weeks left before I moved to Boston!  Oh well, I soon discovered that plastic Adirondack chairs could be a good substitute for a kitchen table and office desk.

Although my original plan was to leave nothing behind in Seattle, it soon became clear that there was some stuff that I didn’t want to move but that I didn’t want to get rid of (old childhood memories, model airplanes from my grandpa, etc.).  I decided to concede and get a 5’ x 5’ storage unit.  That took some of the pressure off to sell everything and allowed me to keep some of the stuff I wasn’t quite ready to part with. 

Step 3: Car or No Car?

I was really torn whether to ship my car to Boston or for the first time in 12 years go without one.  During the Open House, I talked to a lot of the current students and heard both sides of the argument.  A car would be a lot of hassle and parking is expensive, but it would be nice to have it for shopping trips, weekend road trips, and it may be needed during the internship.  In the end, it came down to a cost analysis.  Between parking, insurance, gas, and maintenance, I estimated that it would cost about $500/month to keep the car.  For that same price, I could use a Zipcar for 45 hours a month, rent a car every-other weekend, or some combination of both.  With that, I decided to take a leap and sell the car.  I’ve always had a car since I was 16, but then again I’ve always lived in the suburbs and never in a city with credible public transit so I’m looking forward to the new adventure.  By the way, MIT students get a discount on Zipcar, so it only cost $15 to join and there is no monthly fee.

 
Step 4: Pack and Go!

It turns out that my plan to fit everything in suitcases was a bit ambitious.  Since I wanted to bring one of my bikes with me, I ended up packing a big box with the bike, helmets, pump, etc.  That box soon grew to three as I finished packing, so I started looking into shipping options.  For the airlines, there’s a minimum $150 fee to ship a bike, plus extra fees for the boxes.  I looked into FedEx, UPS, and USPS and found that the cheapest way to ship from Seattle to Boston was FedEx.  So after a month of cleaning house, I leave Seattle with 3 boxes, 3 checked bags, 1 carry-on, and a backpack.  It definitely feels good to simplify a bit and not be tied down by so much stuff.

Costs of Relocation:

Airfare: $267.90 (Alaska direct flight SEA -> BOS)
Checked Bag Fee: $20 (2 free, 3^rd is $20)

Box Shipping: $185.45 (116lbs in 3 boxes)

Taxi from BOS to Apartment: $30

Total Cost of Relocation:  $503.35 ($3.35 over budget, but pretty darn close!).

Why LGO?

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog where I plan to document some of my adventures throughout the Leadership for Global Operations (LGO) program at MIT.

I thought I'd start out by explaining my rationale for choosing LGO.  For me, it was quite simple.  While I was an undergrad at the University of Arizona, I saw a flyer for the program (then called LFM) and started reading more about it online.  From the start, it seemed like the perfect program for me.  At the time I really didn't have a clear picture of what I wanted to do after graduation, but I knew it would involve some combination of engineering and operations management.  LGO seemed like the perfect combination, and let's be honest, what beats getting two graduate degrees from MIT?  I also liked the fact that everyone in the program had at least some industry experience.  By the time I got into my senior year in school, I was itching to get out into the industry for a while and I knew that I didn't want to go straight into grad school.  After two summer internships at Boeing, I was ready to get out and work.

Once I started to work full-time, I kept LGO in the back of my mind but focused mostly on my job and the new-found freedom I had after 5:00 everyday.  That experience also reinforced my preference for attending a full-time grad school rather than try to complete it part-time while working.  I knew that when I did go to grad school, I didn't want to have to worry about fitting in 40+ hours of work per week at the same time.

After about a year of working, I found out that Boeing had a sponsorship program to LGO through which they sent 1 or 2 students every year.  I started getting in touch with the current students and alumni and learning more about what I could do to qualify for the sponsorship.  Over the next couple years, I took on projects and assignments that would help me gain the experience necessary to apply for the program.  I also visited Boston a few times for campus visits and was blown away by the quality and energy of the students, faculty, and staff.  I knew that this would be the only program I applied for and I really didn't have a backup plan.

After working for an LGO alum while on an assignment in Italy, I decided to go for it and apply for the Class of 2014.  Unfortunately, by the time I decided to apply I was right up against the deadlines set by the company.  I took the GMAT on 3-days notice and scrambled to get all my essays and letters of recommendations submitted by the end of October.  I made it through the initial company screening and then sent the same application into MIT in December.  In the spring, I completed interviews at both MIT and in Seattle and then the waiting game began.  In March, I was thrilled to get the call from Don Rosenfield (LGO director) saying that I got into LGO!  But that excitement was soon quashed by the call from Boeing saying that I didn't get the sponsorship.  I could have gone into the program on my own, but I made the difficult choice to hold off and try again for the sponsorship the next year.

That extra year turned out to be one of the best that I can remember.  After getting feedback from the sponsorship committee, I spent the year taking on a few different management roles and can definitely say that I had the most personal and professional growth in this last year of all my years at Boeing.  By the time I submitted my application for the Class of 2015, I felt much more prepared and more excited than ever.  I went through all the application steps again, but this time with a different result: I got into LGO and would be sponsored by the company!  From there, it was a no-brainer to commit to the program and start packing my bags.