Pat’s Going to Michigan

I got the good news on Friday: I’ll be heading this fall to the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan to be part of the class of 2010.

I mentioned this fall that application essays were sapping my blogging resolve, so now yinz know what that was about. I’m definitely relieved to hear I was accepted, and more than that, I’m psyched to start grad school. I’m also hoping I don’t revert too much back to undergrad, but I don’t think business school students tend to beard-out quite as much as your average 20-year-old junior. (Note: that photo is of Microsoft’s staff in 1978, but it’s so awesome that I had to link it.)

“But Stack,” you may be saying, “where’d this MBA idea come from? I thought you were a web media guy.” You’re right: I am a web-media guy, and on first glance, it might be confusing. But the longer I’ve been doing what I do, the more I’ve realized an MBA is a solid idea.

I’m all about the success of online media: the format is still new, and media companies are finding their way through the changed climate, so it can be a scary thing for those steering the media to where it needs to be. Good websites are built on three legs — content, technology and business — and having worked a lot on the first two, I knew that strengthening the third one would help me out in the field. There’s a lot of harsh rhetoric on both sides about who’s going to “win” in the new / old media divide, but non-suckas know that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship up in this. Both old and new media need knowledgeable people to help guide the industry along and use the web’s opportunities. That’s where I’m coming from.

Journalists have long believed very strongly in the separation of business and editorial, and I share that opinion. But I think there’s a definite role for website managers who can navigate both sides of the field: an appreciation for the vital democratic role of the media with the ability to keep the site economically thriving is what’s needed here, and in a nutshell, I’m going to b-school to play that role.

And for the record, I’m agnostic on the football question right now. Sure, Michigan will help with future success, but I lived in Columbus from ages zero to one-month, my mom’s family is all over Central Ohio, and I can hardly turn my back on the greatest NU football moment of all time:

Conflicted.