Emergency Student Fund for US-based Students from the Philippines

A kababayan student out there may need this:

Application Deadline: Dec. 4, 2013

IIE is issuing a call for nominations from U.S. colleges and universities that currently have students from the Philippines enrolled on their campuses who have emergency needs for funds due to of the financial situation in their home country caused by typhoon Haiyan. Philippines-ESF will provide grants of $3,000 each to selected Filipino students nominated by their U.S. host colleges and universities. Priority will be given to undergraduates and to those with the most urgent financial need and those closest to graduation.

Allan E. Goodman, president and CEO of the IIE, said, "Our goal is to help relieve the financial burden that is compounding these students' personal distress, and to encourage them to complete their U.S. studies so they can return home with the skills and new knowledge to help rebuild their shattered communities."

International Student Advisers or other campus officials should complete the Philippines-ESF nomination form and e-mail it to ESF@iie.org by December 4, 2013. Awards will be announced in mid-December. Applications directly from students will NOT be accepted. U.S. host campuses nominating students for Philippines-ESF awards are expected to provide some emergency assistance to the nominated students, through tuition waivers, full or partial scholarships, housing, stipends, loans, work study, or other forms of support.

IIE’s Emergency Student Fund provides grants to post-secondary students matriculated at accredited educational institutions outside their home countries whose sources of support have been impacted by natural disaster or other crises. Since 2010, IIE’s ESF has provided over $1 million to more than 400 students from Syria, Iran, Japan, Haiti, Libya, and Thailand whose home sources of financial support were impacted by crisis or natural disaster.

Hell Week

(Photo from Twitter, Philippines trends)

The devastation brought by Haiyan has made it hard to bear being in a country far away. Not a single day passes without my checking Facebook or news websites for every update on the distribution of relief goods. Not a single day passes without my breaking down over the heartbreaking stories.

It's too much.


Never mind that next week is shaping up to be the most demanding week that I'm about to face in b-school. Midterms, project presentations, case reports, papers -- you name it, I have it due next week. Try studying, having group meetings and working part-time for 12 hours with your mind half-distracted and yourself yearning to be across the Pacific.

It's tough but not impossible to get through. Next week is nothing compared to what the Haiyan victims and survivors are going through.


As an MBA student working to get through school debt-free, what can I do? Check on friends who were affected. Say thanks to classmates and friends who express concern. Share online donation links and spread news of US relief collection centers on social media. Work with campus organizations for fundraisers. Donate online. Pray. Influence friends back home to help. But, somehow, this seems too little. It's certainly not enough to bring those badly affected by Haiyan out of their personal hell.

For inspiration: 
Bigas, Sardinas at Trenta Pesos
- Mayette Cinco, Facebook

The boys and i decided to drop by the grocery after church this afternoon to buy the stuff we would be sending to Tacloban City tomorrow. Nearing our house, we saw five Tawi kids waiting for us at the gate. With a smile they greeted us and handed me a small paper bag and said ' Pakisama nyo pa po ito sa ipadadala nyo bukas sa mga binagyo. Nangalakal po kami para din sa kanila..Sana po makatulong.' I opened the bag and saw a kilo of rice, 2 sardines and three ten peso coins..Ung trenta po pambili nila duon ng tinapay para hindi mayupi sa byahe.' I held the precious bag so tight & assured the boys that their donation will surely help kids in Tacloban. I know how hard they worked today just so they could share. It's not easy being chased by dogs & cops and be bullied by all sorts of 'tambays' in the streets of Rizal..Not easy to walk the entire day looking for scraps in every street garbage drums..but they braved the heat of the sun and all other challenges just to come up with what they think would be of help to others..I said to myself, nahihiya ako sa kanila..hindi ako naaawa, humahanga ako kasi hindi lahat kayang magbigay ng may kalakip na sakripisyo..so often we give from our spare..but these kids gave out of the only things they've got..Reminds me of the poor widow who gave 2 pennies for the Lord..She gave her all for the Master and that made all the difference.
God bless, beautiful children of the Savior.

Case Interviews

When I entered b-school, case interviews was one of the topics that was part of orientation (read: something that we had to learn asap).

Case interviews have been the norm in the consulting industry, but other companies are now adding cases to their MBA internship and full-time interviews. Amazon, for instance, conducts back-to-back case interviews with MBA students. (Example: Tell me whether there are enough trampolines in stock in this warehouse.) Case interviewing is actually a useful skill to have, if only because of the frameworks that can be applied to typical business problems.

Click this to see a sample case interview, from executiveboard.com.

I have gone through mock case interviews as a first-year MBA student, and have gone through zero actual case interviews in my internship search. Now that I look back upon it, I have been lucky having had only behavioral interview questions, though I must admit that I feel that I haven't had the full MBA experience when it comes to interviews.

Case interviews are pretty stressful, especially when you're not used to them, and my classmates who have gone through them say that it really helps going through case interviews with a second-year or one of your classmates. Sample case questions are related to:

• Pricing (ex. What is the ideal price for Amazon Prime membership?)
• New Market Entry
• Growth
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Increasing Profits

You get the drift. 

You have papers on which to organize your thoughts (and which the interviewer may ask to keep), and can ask as many questions as you want from the interviewer after a significant pause and a brief summary of how you understood the case. You have to appear in control -- not nervous or rattled. Whatever your answer is, you can expect the interviewer to find reasons why you should have chosen the alternative option. Practice really helps since your mind is able to jump into case frameworks more easily.

Case interviews are mostly challenging, but can be fun to those who like this kind of interview stress.