A lot of us here at Babson share the same responsibilites, such as classes, a job, a business, alcohol, and everything else.  Whether you put classes or alcohol first on your list, it’s usually an obvious choice for you.

But how the hell does Babson prioritize stuff?

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In my last paper, I was writing about lessons learned in one of those HBS cases that got me thinking about Babson. And it just happened to be a good topic for CrapCampus. The issue at hand was a new business ventures unit, and the cool thing they did was have a fluid board of directors. That meant that the board changed as the needs of the venture changed, providing the needed services at the right time.

I like that plan, but I consider it the exact opposite of my Babson education. The education here is more like the “give you a bunch of info, test you, then you get a degree so you can get a job in some cubicle.” Typical, but not what I was hoping for from a school that can claim “#1 in Entrepreneurship for 7 years now” or whatever it is up to. Obviously they need to be an accredited school and all, but I didn’t come to learn how to be a good employee. (Which makes sense, cause who would want an employee that makes websites like this?)

What I’m getting at is the lack of widespread support for entrepreneurs. Yes, there’s the e-Tower, the hatchery, and whatnot, but those spaces are severely limited. And since we’ve been doing some posts with constructive criticism, I’ll throw this out there:

As stupid as it is to make student businesses “register” here like Babson is the federal government, the “chamber of commerce” has done one thing right – the free legal services for students. You get some quick advice from a real lawyer about your business, when you need it. Hence the title of Timing. We do learn some good stuff in class, but who actually remembers those specifics years after graduation?

I guess that free legal advice is pretty limited too, but it’s a step in the right direction. It wouldn’t surprise me if that one good idea came from a student, because I can’t recall any good ideas that have come from OCL.

(Actually, I can remember some half-decent ideas they had… however, they never executed these ideas…)

No, I’m not doing any downgrading… Standard & Poor’s is! Why should you care then? That’s easy – they are downgrading Babson!

Yes, indeed. Babson just can’t seem to keep control of its finances. You can read more in this article in the Boston Business Journal, but I figured I would quote a bit for you:

Babson College touts its reputation for entrepreneurship training. However, one trait rarely shared with the public is that the school, laboring under years of budget deficits, has been downgraded twice in the past four years by Standard & Poor’s.

Wow, twice in the last four years! That’s no laughing matter. Even worse, Moody’s gives a negative outlook for the future. Ya know, when this happens to big companies, they usually make some changes…

I propose that (other than just firing them, which sounds like a pretty good idea) all Babson admin should sit through a semester of IME 2 to figure out some basic finance.

I was thinking about the theory proposed in an earlier post, about a bunch of little complaints adding up. It is so true. In general, when anyone asks what I think of Babson, I tell them I absolutely hate the place. But when I think about it, there isn’t a big, universal reason for that. It’s just a ton of little things that seem to ruin everything.

For example, let’s think about Trim Dining Hall. It’s pretty good – a fairly wide selection of food that is usually edible. But there are just so many things that screw it up. Let’s look at them right now…

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In the spirit of reliving Alumni Weekend (and the previous post,) I thought I’d talk some more about alumni donations, because that is the only reason Babson cares about their alums. That’s also the reason they should care about current students, but obviously they don’t see the correlation. (Happy students = more alumni donations)

It’s funny some of the students I talk to. The majority say they will never donate anything back to Babson, and a few say they will only donate if they can ensure that it goes to student activities.

Why is that? Because the administrators don’t seem to care about student activities. Or maybe it’s just OCL, I don’t know. But somewhere in there, students get neglected! (Hence that lengthy post about lack of community…)

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