At Babson, don’t be surprised if you have to wear a tie once every week. Probably more often.

That means that you have to tie a tie!

If you don’t know how, or can’t tie a great knot, watch this video on how to tie the perfect tie every time. It’s a video by Tim Ferriss (author of The Four Hour Work Week) and you can read more here.

Now practice that a few times and you should be all set.

Today I am proud to announce that the CrapCampus Gazette, our newspaper, will debut on newsstands in Boston, Cambridge, Natick, and Brookline! Yes, actual paper, ink, and printing presses!

November 17, 2007 is our inaugural issue and features stories about Babson, Boston life, the Red Sox, Business School Rankings, and more. (Note that a new issue will be published every Saturday, because that’s the only day of the week a Babson student might have 15 spare minutes to read the paper.)

If you glance at a shot of our cover, you’ll see the first cover story is about Babson getting a #1 rank in the first ever “Most Aggravating School” ranking. You’ll have to get yourself a copy of the paper to read the whole story.

If you don’t live near one of the newsstands, try shopping online at OCLRuinedMyCampusLife.com.

Did I mention it’s better than The Babson Free Press?

Now that I have left college and become a working stiff, I thought it would be nice to reminisce a little bit about my college experience in hopes that current Babson students can make use of my insights. (In other words, this is my advice on which profs to take and which to avoid.)

It might not include everyone, but that’s mainly because I’m lazy. And I have only included professors that stood out for a specific reason. It will point you in the right direction though.

While I’m writing, I’d also like to encourage any other students/graduates to take a little time and do the same, for the benefit of current/future students. (I guess it’s like those yellow sheets we fill out, except that this time our fellow students get to see what we think.)

Here we go, in no particular order…

Professor Winrich

I had the pleasure of taking both Electronic Technology and Natural Disasters with Winrich. He’s an all around great guy, in and out of the classroom. Winrich can teach well, both of those classes are actually interesting, and it’s even stuff you could put to use in real life.

Professor Lester

I haven’t seen her since freshman Business Law, but that class really stands out. Probably because I did a ton of work for it! It was certainly hard, but I learned a lot in that class thanks to her.

It was like a “get ready for real life” class. Lester laid down the law, so to speak, and required everyone to step up and act professionally. The classroom environment, her real-life experience, and the case simulations all added up to a lot of learning.

Professor Ehrlich

Professor Ehrlich teaches law classes, such as Commercial Law, which should be required for any entrepreneur. He’s a strict, no-nonsense type of guy that will make you work, but you’ll learn a lot. He has a lot of real world experience that comes out in the classroom, so if you want to learn, this is the class for you.

(I’d say my law classes were the most useful ones I had at Babson.)

Professor Caspe

Professor Caspe was the man. He teaches at Babson’s graduate school most of the time, but if you ever see his name on an undergrad course, take it! I think the class was “Marketing for Entrepreneurs” or something.

This guy has tons of real life experience, he’s smart, he’s honest with you, and he actually wants you to learn! (That last point is very nice, because too many professors get so caught up in grades and Babson’s grade deflation policies that they forget about the students…)

Professor Shulman

The one thing that stands out in my mind is the size of his ego. He’s pretty funny though and can run a decent class. But I can’t recommend him after I got suckered into taking Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures… It’s a total finance class, despite that fact that it is labeled as an EPS (short for Entrepreneurship) class.

(Fulfilling an EPS concentration isn’t worth taking this class.)

Professor Wain

Wain is a good guy that you can find in the Accounting division. He’s friendly and attends sporting events, so he’s in tune with campus. While I’ve never had him as a professor, I will say that I learned a lot more when he substituted in my Managerial Accounting class than when the normal prof was there…

Professor Krigman

She’s a finance professor. But despite my lack of interest in finance, I was able to learn stuff in her class.

Professor Govoni

Govoni teaches marketing and he’s a good guy. His tests are super hard and nit-picky though, so if you have him, read the book word-for-word.

Professor Coyle

He was there bright and early (8 AM) to teach some Accounting basics in IME and he always has good jokes. He’s a good teacher, too, and likable.

Professor Grossman

If you are into IT, this is your guy. He teaches quite a few IT classes and he’s very smart and experienced. Certainly a good guy to know.

Professor Dambolena

Going way back to freshman year again… He’s an interesting guy and class was fun sometimes, but he has an accent. That might not sound so bad, but calculus is hard enough when the prof speaks perfect English!

Professor Mathaisel

He also taught calculus/QTM/probability and statistics classes. He’s a smart guy and has a good, standard class where you can learn nicely.

Professor Bayer

Is he still there? He taught an Econ class, and the class isn’t so bad, but he checked out years ago (right after he got his tenure I bet.) All we did was read the PowerPoint presentations that came with the book and then take quizzes, which were also the standard quizzes provided by the book’s publisher.

Professor Frost

I think he retired, but his Physical Anthropology class was something else. He was way too into the subject for being at a business school, where students can’t help but slack off in the liberal arts classes.

Professor Platt

Opposite from Physical Anthropology was this class Cultural anthropology. It was packed with good stuff.

Platt is a great professor, the books we read were genuinely useful and interesting, and I learned stuff in there I’ll carry with me forever. If I remember correctly, she does a World Religions class as well, which is good.

Well there you go. Use it wisely. (Sorry if I left out some professors, but this post took long enough to write as it is!)

As predicted, without continued innovation, Babson’s entrepreneurship status is beginning to crumble before our very eyes.

As noted at Daily Slop and Campus Entrepreneurship, the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business has been named the nation’s top graduate program for 2007 (by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.)

You can learn all about it in this press release. There’s a great article in the school paper, too, which basically says their school is the best.

What will Babson’s response be??