SCM Student Voices

If someone had told me 3 years ago while my team and I were poring over an SAP Warehouse Management requirements document at 11 PM at night in a conference room near Stuttgart, Germany, that I would take a hiatus from my job to complete my graduate program in Supply Chain & Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I would have probably laughed them out of sight.

This blog post was intended to show different perspectives on bringing families with children to Cambridge while studying. However, during its writing and discussion with classmates, we had a lot of good arguing going on behind the initial subject. We talked about role of men and women in families, the difference between moms and dads in children’s eyes, gender equality, and social perceptions of it, and so on.

Planning my trip to MIT Talk of MIT and I visualize a place of academic rigor where knowledge is created every moment, a place where top minds come together and work hard to contribute and deliver. On the other hand, talk of Boston, and, as a sports freak, I instantly recognize New England Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, Boston Marathon and so on. When I got the admission offer from MIT and I realized I was going to Boston, I wondered if I was going to a place where both worlds of academics and sports co-exist, and whether I would have time to experience both at the same time.

What are the similarities among these companies: Dropbox, Intel, iRobot, Kiva Systems, Bose? Well, they all seem unique with different business models that solve different problems, right? For example, Dropbox enables file synchronization and sharing; Intel designs and manufactures chips; iRobot, well, sells cleaner robots; Kiva, now Amazon Robotics, is an industrial robot company that automates warehouse operations; and Bose is well known for its high quality audio devices. How could these companies be similar? It turns out that they are founded by MIT alumni.

What do you want to do if you feel exhausted after a hectic day? Do you want to do something to kill your stress? Our suggestion is to seek a sport that interests you at MIT.

Wait! Wow! Is this how it feels to be a student at MIT? No projects? No assignments? No stress? Well, yes, being a student is a richness by itself; moreover, a semester at MIT is a stupendous luxurious journey. All that time I had a luxurious feeling. You want to know what triggered this feeling. Join me for a week of my life at MIT.

The MIT Supply Chain Management’s Blended Cohort for the year 2018-19 is a pretty diverse group of individuals. I use the word ‘Individual’ to emphasize that each person as an individual committed over one and a half years of his or her life doing the micromaster’s credentials, managing work/life balance, and spending over 12 hours a week going through the course material. It was an individual achievement of each and every one of the thirty-six people in this year’s batch.

After being admitted to MIT and celebrating with your friends and family, it is time to prepare to move to Cambridge and plan for the SCM program. If you are coming from a different country (as we both did), some tasks can be tricky and several elements will be fairly new.

I’m a 40-year-old proud father of two boys. I’m a Belgian and work full-time job as an operations manager in a Chinese factory. I like to go play basketball and hang out with friends. So, what would drive me to spend about 8 hours a week on on-line learning?