Last week the Wall Street Journal published a story about the violent drug wars going on in Mexico and mentioned the city of San Pedro multiple times. I happen to live in this wealthy suburb of the Monterrey. Because the city is one of the affluent in Mexico, the Drug Lords can live here and flash their money just like the rest of the residents without any suspicion.
As far as I know, I haven't met any lords at EGADE, the school I'm attending. Nobody has listed drug lord as their primary occupation. I've met students who work at Pepsi, Cemex, HP, a bottling company, and one even owns 3 or 4 gasoline stations (many go to school and work full-time). Every one is very friendly and helpful. However, I haven't been able to meet as many people as I would like to down here.
One of my primary reasons of returning to school was to create a large network full of people who will be future leaders of business. Cornell's Johnson School makes networking a top priority and I can honestly say that I know 80% of my class very well (and many from the 2008 and 2010 class). I would have no problem calling them up in 5 years to chat about a business proposal or talk about opportunities at their company. Things like Sage Socials, $JSMISC, a small community, events, clubs, classes, class nametags, and symposiums make getting to know each other very easy. I realize how great the networking focus is now that I'm away from it.
