Any BMH grads? If you're one or if you know someone who graduated from this course, please post your/their current job/career, or if the person is taking up graduate studies. I heard that BMH is one of the best courses in AdMU and that it's very difficult to graduate from BMH. I have been accepted into this course for next schoolyear and I've been wondering what the difficult aspects are (math? marketing strategies?).
Thanks in advance!

graduated in 96. worked in manila for 3 years, took masters in finance at london business school, finished in aug 2000. have been working with ubs warburg in london ever since as an equity analyst in the tech team (yes, believe it or not, there are still some of us around) in UK and continental europe. bmh was a great course -- subjects provided direct relevance to what i do now, and was blessed with good classmates. it has a reputation of being hard only because of the high turnover of students from start to finish. No one course that stands out as being tough, but clearly need to balance everything to get minimum B requirements in the major mgt subjects - i am presuming, of course, that the requirements have not changed. Thing is, exams are graded on a curve so it might seem a bit competitive, but don't think that was a real problem in our class -- but as i said, i was lucky. we were fourteen in class who graduated -- one girl currently works in HSBC, another one took her masters in education (career change) and now lives in amsterdam with husband (looking for job to teach in IS there). victory_fils was also in our class and prob in touch with the rest more than myself so i'll leave it to him to continue! College is a fantastic time of your life, don't stress too much about it esp. as you're a freshman, don't forget to enjoy it! Good luck!

Hi tintin96,

I wonder if you would still remember me, but you were on of my best management teachers in Ateneo. Sayang lang nga I didn't do better in your class. I hope you're having a great time there!

I too like my beloved classmate tintin_96 graduated from BMH and I share her opinions, particularly when it comes to how a lot of the coursework turned out to be directly relevant to what I ended up doing. After graduating from BMH in 1996 I worked as a full-time teacher in AdMU for two years and put up and ran a couple of small businesses -- BMH is supposed to train you to in entrepreneurship, after all. I took my MBA from 1998-2000 and am about to finish my Ph.D. here at Wharton in the US.

I also don't think that our particular BMH batch was competitive -- I met some of the most fantastic people in BMH and all of my blockmates I consider to be among my closest friends.

As far as "difficult courses" are concerned this really would depend on your own preferences and skill sets -- some subjects will be easier for you than others (accounting was never easy for me; statistics was a lot more intuitive). But on a relative scale you will be taking exams that are around two to three times more difficult than the exams given to Management students in the standard program: That's part of the deal of being enrolled in an honors program. More often than not you will be assigned to some of the best teachers that the SOM can offer for your management subjects (there are, of course, exceptions to this, as tintin_96 and I are always fond of recalling, heh heh).

Historically, most people who have had to shift out of BMH are asked to do so after the 1st semester of sophomore year; that's also the time when you take your first BMH subjects (accounting and statistics). After that semester only about one or two people might not make it to graduation day. The historical "attrition rate" for BMH is 70% -- which pretty much held true for our class (in our 2nd year we started off with 45 students, and there were only 14 of us come March 1996).

Off the top of my head I can name several BMH students who ended up doing particularly well for themselves post-Ateneo. From BMH 1997 you have Pong Ponferrada who graduated at the top of his class from UP Law School and topped the bar exams as well. Ainsley Quiohilag is taking up her MBA at NYU and Christine Ongking just finished her MBA at Darden. From BMH 1998 you have Jerome Uy who is one of the first hires of Bain & Company in the Philippines, and who is now taking his MBA at Harvard. My own beloved sis-in-law Shelly Yeh graduated Summa Cum Laude from BMH in 1999 and is now choosing between Wharton, Harvard and Kellogg for her MBA studies this Fall 2003.

Of course, at the end of the day I am hesitant to attribute any of these individuals' successes to their BMH training and experience: You probably could have placed them in any course (and school, for that matter) and they would have done just as well for themselves. At the end of the day, though, if the course or school attracts this kind of talent for whatever reason, count that as one benefit of joining the pool: You'll want classmates who are talented and hardworking to help you raise your own standards and develop your own potential.

I know life in BMH would not have been the same if it weren't for classmates like tintin_96. Naks!

Yes, work hard, push yourself and learn a lot. But at the end of the day, though, take tintin_96's last sentence to heart: College is a wonderful time in your life, a time for exploration and for much fun. For every hour that tintin_96 and I spent in group projects and study groups really working hard I can count three to four more hours that we spent just laughing, talking about joys and problems in life outside of BMH, often stuck in traffic between Quezon City and Las Pinas, singing songs from popular movies at the time and just having mucho fun. The same holds true for every friendship we developed with our blockmates.

Hope this helps! Good luck and have lots of fun!

my batchmate jacob cabochan (BMH 2002) works for BCG, i think in jakarta. Me? i'm just a lowly teacher in SOM hehehe (though Im not BMH, im from ME)

Thanks a lot for your responses! BMH seems like a very challenging course. I have a friend who had a sister who graduated from that course. Pag BMH daw wala nang time to do anything else. Puro aral na lang, kahit summer, kahit x'mas break, all the time. rarely na lang daw makakalabas ng bahay (except for school) dahil sa dami ng trabaho.

BMH is definitely a step up from the kind of work most people are used to doing in High School -- but then again, so is College all in all. It is not at all true that you need to spend so much time studying and working in BMH na wala ka nang oras para sa Xmas or summer break. Even during the busiest semesters all of us found time to do what we wanted to do: People in BMH are often very active in various leadership positions in school orgs and yes, maraming oras para sa gimik! On a relative scale I would suppose people in the standard program have more time to relax and party than people in BMH -- but then that's part of the deal when you enroll in an honors course. I had a GF while I was in BMH and my wife had a BF when she was taking up both M.E. and Eco-H (yes, we're batchmates); we both feel we had more than enough time to do stuff we wanted to do outside of coursework.

Of course, at the end of the day it all boils down to what you want out of your College experience. Will it be a time to goof off and party and get passable grades in a stress-free course? Then BMH may not be for you (unless of course, you're a genius -- and then any course will be stress-free). Will it be a time to blend hard work and fun and learn skills like time and project management as you try to balance different things you want to do, skills that will be very useful to your career after College (at least relative to "passable grades")? Then BMH might be for you.

Best of luck in your decision-making.

sir victory,

am I correct in saying that the level of difficulty of being in BMH is far far different in the difficulty of being in ME?

sir alikishi, lowly SOM teacher --

It may not be the level of difficulty per se that is different ("BMH and M.E. people find their courses generally tough") but the kind of work required that generates perceptions of "difficulty."

In BMH the difficulty stems from having to go through more challenging problems in business-related subjects, relative to the standard program. As a general rule you are expected to complete an exam that's two to three times as difficult than the exam given to folks enrolled in the standard program, in the same amount of time. If you're talking about regression analysis, for example, it's the difference between getting full points for simple linear regression with one dependent variable and one independent variable, and having to go through multivariate regression and possibly having to consider violations of CLR assumptions to get full credit. Same "general topic," higher standards to get full credit. And since you're graded on a curve you're expected to at the very least keep up with your BMH blockmates' performance.

In M.E. the standards are for the most part "absolute" ("Ateneo standards for A, B+, B, etc.," more often than not there is no explicit grade curve), but you need a high level of mathematical analysis and intuition to get through the exams in the first place. For some exam questions you either get it or you don't, and unless your teacher has a penchant for giving partial points it is quite possible to get a zero. Proofs and derivations of mathematical identities and relationships are more common (virtually unheard of in BMH).

As for the question of "which is harder," this is hard to determine. Given self-selection, those who end up staying in BMH and those who end up staying in M.E. most probably have both a liking for, and competency in, the different kinds of work required and the standards imposed. Will M.E. students do just as well if they are transplanted to BMH, and vice-versa? We really can't tell.

But you're totally on the right track with what I think you're trying to say in your post: Iba talaga ang trabahong kailangan para pumasa at makatagal sa BMH at sa M.E.

-- victory, lowly SOM teacher

lol... yun nga yung gusto kong iparating... tama nga.

OT: victory - lowly SOM teacher with an masters degree and a Ph.D. in wharton. Me? possibly a culinary arts and technology management degree only in about 2 years... hehehe

Being in BMH is a choice. You can be an average student in an above average class or an above average student in an average class. In my case, I chose the former. Did I have a social life? I think I did, although not as active as some friends in the standard class. I did have a great time during breaks (christmas, sem, summer) and did NOT study at all at those time.
Your BMH experience will also depend on the group that you are with. There are some which really exhibit "crab mentality". On the other hand, you can meet people and form friendships that last a lifetime.
What I am trying to drive at is that each experience is unique. Being in BMH is not taking A and B and ending up in job C, taking grad studies in school D after X years. I believe getting to stay and graduating in BMH is a choice. What you do and achieve after is your choice too.

I graduated last year ('02), and here is the roster of people whom I know are in BMH and their present location:

Jacob Cabochan is now in Boston Consulting and is based in Jakarta. Stephanie Lim is now working for Unilever; Claire Syson for at P&G; Rowena Lim for Suy Sing; Rochelle Bianes for Accenture; while Christian Dy I believe, is now at Citibank. Matet Apiado, given her entrepreneural spirit, is now doing well setting up her own business.

I hope that you stay through and stick with BMH. I was a former BMH-er myself, and was able to last until the last semester of my junior year.

The experience that I got in BMH was UNBELIEVABLE! I would never exchange my experience at BMH for the world! There would be weeks that I wouldn't sleep just trying to finish up a marketing AND opman project, on top of a Philo finals and a super Finance exam the next day. Weeks where we would work ourselves off till we were dead tired, and STILL get a C. You also get the most terrifying and demanding teachers (They're usually the best teachers in SOM) who squeeze everything out of you, scare you to death, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, dare you to do MORE THAN EXPECTED. They'll continually dare you to raise the bar, asking you, "Is this the very best that you can do?" And you just can't help but do your damn best to live up to their high expectations.

But guess what? It was WORTH it! Even though I never really had the social life that others had (Never really partied every weekend... I would usually do Accounting problems at home), I was still able to make it up by being active in organizations and other extra-curricular activities (It just depends on where your priority lies). Plus, the people you work with are INCREDIBLE! It's true, you are who your friends are. And the friends that I've had the fortune to meet in BMH was able to influence me to become a better person, and made me realize that mediocrity is NEVER OKAY. One has to continually raise the bar, and do more.

As a friend had told me before, "Which would you prefer? Being the big fish in a small pond, OR a small fish at a big pond." Stick with it while you can. Make the most out of it, and develop good time management skills. Good luck!



[ March 04, 2003: Message edited by: raven ]

Based on your posts, I noticed that BMH graduates tend to choose the following fields:

1. Employed by P&G, Unilever, multinational companies.
2. Studying in Wharton, Kellogg, etc.
3. Taking up law.

Only a few ever venture to create their own businesses. Only a few become true entrepreneurs - why is that?

Kuya Danny, one of the lead partners in PEX and the owner of several businesses, is an Mgt-H major. victory_fils, another Mgt-H grad, was an entrepreneur before going to the US. One possible reason for the "fewer number of Mgt-H entrepreneurs" is simply bec. it produces fewer grads than most other Ateneo programs.

Hi, Dealy. Thanks for asking this question. It's relevant because BMH is supposed to be geared towards "training students in entrepreneurship." Aside from what reyesaa above mentioned, here are a few points you may want to consider:

1. The sample we noted above are also those who graduated in recent years (1996 onwards), partly because we know them personally but also partly because I thought you might be able to relate with them a bit more because they are younger. It is their personal decision to pursue whichever professional path seems best, given their options at the time. Aside from the folks that reyesaa mentioned above, you've got Rudy Ang (BMH'83) who runs a handful of his own businesses, Alex Tan (BMH'96) who put up a nutritional and health supplements company, Dave Quiec (BMH'96) who just started his own business recently, and many more.

You'll want to look at the entire sample of BMH graduates, relative to the number of BMH graduates in total, to determine whether "there are only a few who ever venture to create their own business." KuyaDanny was actually part of the very first BMH class in the late 1970s. So if you compare the number of BMH grads who started their own businesses divided by the total number of BMH grads, to the number of entrepreneurs divided by the total population of the Philippines, I am almost sure that there is a greater proportion of BMH grads who start their own ventures.

2. You also must consider the definition of "entrepreneurship." Are you an entrepreneur if you started your own business with the help of funds from your family? Are you an entrepreneur if you inherited a family business? Are you any less "entrepreneurial" if you worked in the corporate world but started many different initiatives and projects that propelled your company to new directions? What if you worked as a teacher and helped create new courses in entrepreneurship? What if you're a museum curator who helped raise massive funds for your nonprofit institution, for the benefit of many constituents?

To the extent that BMH helps teach you things like balancing self-reliance with teamwork, discipline and fortitude amidst tough competition, and the constant analytical search for new ideas, you are taught "entrepreneurial values" that you can carry with you to any endeavor you pursue. I don't think it needs to be confined to "new business ventures" per se.

After all, to the extent that my heroes in Star Trek "boldly went where no one has gone before," I thought it very appropriate to name their ship "The Enterprise" -- quite in line with their "entrepreneurial ventures" in space (and time, and other dimensions, etc.).

Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot everyone, for your comprehensive replies. It helped clear up some MISCONCEPTIONS I've had about the course. When I first heard about BMH, I thought that it was just another 'Commerce' course, and I never really had any interest in Commerce courses since a graduate doesn't get a title when he graduates, nor does he get to learn a new skill (e.g Computers, engineering, languages, communications, etc). I always told myself, "Tinuturo pa ba kung paano magkaroon ng magandang negosyo??"

But based on your replies, you emphasized that BMH pushes one to do his best, to perform beyond his capabilities and to think of innovative concepts/strategies. These are the qualities that I wish to learn in a college program. And I will most probably enroll in this program. My only apprehension now is whether or not I will survive in BMH. To the alumni, any suggestions what books I could read to prepare myself? I'm not doing anything this summer and thought I could review in advance.

[ March 23, 2003: Message edited by: Dealy ]

For preparation, first year has all core curriculum courses (English, Filipino, Math and History), i guess you wont have problems there.
Second year is where the "sifting" process starts, you take accounting and statistics in the first sem. Accounting and law in the second sem. As for preparation, you might want to browse through textbooks, meet the AMA people since they will have old texts and more important, old exams that you can look at.
Good Luck!

BMH is really not for everyone.

As stated in earlier posts, it depends on priorities.

I was always a firm believer that your grades get your foot in the door, but it's the totality that gets you hired.

I chose to continue playing varsity ball, taking active positions in school organizations and socializing/meeting new people (both in an out of campus).

I lasted in BMH for only a short period, one year to be exact. Though I can't say anything bad about my classmates, the atmosphere was too cut throat (grades being curved). We'd have quizzes where I would wind up with a D or an F despite making 85/100 since several classmates would be getting 115/100 (due to the bonus questions).

In the end, out of an initial class of 40+, I think only 5 graduated from BMH in my time. Where are they? Don't know, I never saw them much around campus anyway. They were too busy studying.

I reserved my strength for post graduate studies, where I studied for 8 hours a day, six days a week for two years. Saturday 5 pm to sunday 12 noon was all about athletic endeavors, easing tension, getting drunk and getting laid (not necessarily in that order). The last two years, I kinda coasted along . . .

Average student in an above-average course or above-average student in an average course? You've got to follow your own road.

Why these two choices in particular? Why not go for being an above-average student in an above-average course?

Everybody can try but not all can be like Victory!

Thanks a lot to everyone who replied to this thread! I just couldn't make up my mind. I was really unsure for quite some time, so unsure that I first made my reservation in another school before finally pulling out all my documents today to reserve my slot in BMH. Fortunately, the Ateneo Admissions Office still allowed me to confirm even if it's already way past the April 11 deadline.
I know the road ahead will be long and harsh, with glass shards along the way.

Just curious, which is the other school?

Good luck in the Ateneo. You chose wisely.

But if people who could have done better than Victory (and I am sure there are many) settled for being "above average students in average courses," how would they ever know how much further they could have pushed themselves?

You'll have lots of fun, Dealy. Don't think of BMH as being sent to a concentration camp (although it may feel that way sometimes)! Masaya yan. The opportunity to study under guys like Rudy Ang makes time spent in BMH more than worth your while.

I'm sure that everyone would go :eek: if I told you.

sorry kung medyo wala sa topic nung thread, i just want to ask if worth it bang magshift from meco to management-honors? i really need advice, kailangan ko ng magdecide...thanks!

It really depends on what you want to do with your degree. I found it worthwhile to shift from MEco to Mgt-H (I was in MEco as a freshman), but as a teacher I've taught a lot of MEco students who were very good. Two current Wharton MBA students are MEco grads and I like their company very much, as much as I like the company of Mgt-H grads through the years.

That being said, the challenge of staying in Mgt-H is much higher than that of MEco, so you will have to weigh the risks versus the rewards of your choices based on what you prefer to do with your training/experience/degree.

Hope this helps!

thanks talaga! pag-iisipan kong mabuti

but what if the person shifting ended up with a freshman yearly qpi of only 3.05? what are the chances that he'll remain in the course after first sem second year?

[ April 26, 2003: Message edited by: warriorGD ]

Dealy I sent you a private message. I need to contact you. I'm an incoming BMH freshman myself.

Questions:

1. From which course did this person who earned a 3.05 QPI come, prior to shifting to BMH? How difficult was this course relative to BMH (to the extent that the quality and difficulty of different courses can be compared)?
2. How effective and efficient was this person in terms of effort expended in earning this 3.05 QPI?
3. Does this person intend to expend the same level and quality of effort now that he or she is in BMH? Or does he or she intend to work harder and smarter than he or she did relative to freshman year?

Answering these three questions will help determine the likelihood of this person's staying in BMH all the way till graduation.

to answer your questions mr. victory,
first- the person came from MIS... just an incoming sophomore so there's really not much yet to be proud of considering freshman year is basically the same for most of them in terms of the subjects taken....

second-perhaps, the person didn't expend much effort, not enough to put him/her in the dean's list as the qpi proves...

third-definitely harder. maintaining the same level and quality of effort might less likely give the person the big chance to stay...

now you evaluate...

Hi victory_fils!
I heard you taught a class at Ateneo last year or two years ago. Is this true? I'm an incoming ME senior right now doing my internship with ING Bank; and for the past few weeks, I'm starting to think seriously about the choices I have after graduation. I was hoping to ask you for advice too; seeing you've given so much help to several folks in this forum. Graduate school is always an option and of course, one of my ultimate ambitions is to get into Wharton. I know you've been ask this question thousands of times... what does it take to get into Wharton? I know grad school for me is still a good 3-4 years from now; but I want to start thinking long-term. Right now, I'm running for cum laude, minoring in Global Politics (it's a new minor offered by the Pol.Sci. Dept), have a few leadership positions, and have been to quite a lot international debating tournaments. What could i do to improve my chances? I the ME program and the training it gives; but at the same time, I have other interests. I'm quite interested in MBA programs that have an international focus like the Lauder Institute's MBA/MA program (and specialize in East Asia); or the Wharton/SAIS program. I think it's my interest in international relations that prodded to look beyond just a usual MBA for my grad studies. Thanks again!!!

basketcase,

Yes, I did teach a class in AdMU back in 2001. You may know some of my former students as several of them just graduated from M.E. last March. Congratulations on your honors standing! I will be more than happy to help you with any questions or concerns you might have about graduate school in general, and the various programs offered by Wharton in particular.

Partly as a response to your question of "what it takes to get into Wharton," why don't you browse through an article I wrote about my experience as a Wharton MBA student, if you haven't done so yet? It's posted here in Atenista.net:

The Wharton MBA Experience

I assume you've done your fair share of browsing around in the Wharton website, given your knowledge of the Lauder and SAIS programs. If you have more specific questions, feel free to e-mail me.

[ May 07, 2003: Message edited by: victory_fils ]

a good article you have there... but i just dont know why you said there on the first page and i quote:



did i get it right?

[ May 04, 2003: Message edited by: warriorGD ]

Sorry for butting in,
I think mr. victory was a Meco student during his freshman yr and shifted to BMH in sophomore year. Hehe

yep i know that... what im trying to point out is, he said he was struggling with his math during his freshman year yet he graduated magna cum laude..

You read it right. Yes, I struggled through a lot of the courses I took. I wasn't one of those guys who could just sit and look at the teacher and blackboard (or not go to class at all) and walk away with high grades. I took copious notes, I went through extra reference books for review, I did two to three times the work that others were willing to do so that I could not only get through the course, but also do well.

So yes, I did have to work hard to get good grades!

it has always fascinated me to know that there are people who struggled during their freshman year and yet they managed to graduate with honors...

I struggled in every year in College! Not in a painstaking, demoralizing kind of way but pound for pound I put in lots of work hours. I put in lots of work hours for my MBA and I now put in lots of work hours for my Ph.D. (try average working hours of 60 to 70 hours a week).

But I like what I do -- so the "struggle" was and is like "concentrated play" for me. Therein lies the big question that you should answer for yourself: Whether the work you do in BMH, or post-College, is what you really want to do. And then work won't be such a burden.

not a bmh--zero acumen on business....but i just encountered an H1B batch '93 (allado-fuentes?) during my immigration pre-clearance duties. she works for kpmg in nyc. she's quite successful but looked too haggard and stressed (prize of success). so far all bmhs i've encountered are sucking in 6 figures and there's too many of these animals in kpmg, lehman bros, accenture, smith salomon & barney, etc...boy, national security is the wrong business to be in (smack the forehead!!).

The problem w/ starting new threads is getting to be very frustrating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GLAD TO BE BLUE - The 2nd Annual Ateneo Homecoming in Cebu

The Ateneo Alumni Association, Cebu Chapter, will be holding its 2nd Annual Ateneo Homecoming in Cebu on Saturday, January 31, 2004 at the Sacred Heart Center, Jakosalem St. Sponsored by Globe Telecom, this year's homecoming is dubbed "GLAD TO BE BLUE." As part of the celebrations, a symposium will
be held on the same day with Dr. Josette Biyo as speaker. Dr. Biyo is a public school teacher who won the Intel Excellence in Teaching Award in the U.S. besting 4,000 teachers from all around the world. She will speak before the alumni and invited teachers and guests from different schools and business organiztions, on the topic "Glad to be Filipino." The symposium will be at 3:00 to 5:00 pm to be followed by the homecoming proper at 6:00 pm.

All Cebu-based alumni of Jesuit institutions are invited. The alumnus/alumna who brings in the most number of new registrants (to the association) will win an overnight stay at Plantation Bay (courtesy of Manny Gonzales). In addition, a 21" colored T.V. and 3 cell phones will be raffled off. A surprise gift (courtesy of Island Souvenirs) awaits the first 100 registrants. Contribution: P300

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No contact details for questions were given. In the meantime, pls. direct inquiries to the alumni affairs office at alumni@admu.edu.ph

isa sa amin na-hire na ng P&G bago pa kami mag-graduate.

That is common. Are you a BMH senior?

Hmm. We have quite a lot of BMH people here.

Our chief atenista was also part of BMH during his freshman and sophomore year and look -- we have our home on the Web due to his training in that course (and eventually, MCT).

Although administrators of the Mgt-H program should be proud if chief atenista acknowledged the training he received and how it might have helped him in his entrepreneurial ventures, I would give chief atenista the choice of whether or not to tip his hat off to his BMH experience -- or not.

I suspect the chief had more than enough entrepreneurial fire to put up his own ventures, whether he went through BMH, MCT, English Literature, or to some other university in some other country altogether.

In short, I celebrate chief's accomplishments as an individual. And I hesitate attributing any of his successes to institutional affiliation or training. Unless he himself acknowledges such.

Veering off a bit, why doesn't Biboy Calanog apply for the next season of "The Apprentice"? Should be easy since he's in NY. Of course, the winner's package ($250,000 pa pay and office in a windowless cubicle next to M. Trump's assistant) isn't much. But it'll be nice to inject a little Atenean flair during boardroom battles. Uhh.. no, I don't expect Biboy to be in the boardroom that often.

Yeah, gosh, who can live on $250,000 a year these days?!?

I would prefer to watch Biboy Calanog's wife on The Apprentice. I think she could whup Ivana's butt any day.

Then let's have the Calanog couple appear on "The Apprentice"!

(Biboy! Madidiscover ka na! Mwahahahahaha!)