Hella

After a relatively long first day, Thursday and Friday of this week were pretty laid back. Thursday I didn’t have much other than a Pre-Term Auction information session and a Financial Aid session for my cluster. I opted to attend the session on the auction but I didn’t make it to the financial aid talk since I felt I heard enough of that (and my finaid is approved) during the two Welcome events. After the auction presentation from noon to 1pm, I went just down the block and had lunch with a friend I’d met in April. Then I scouted out my prospects for a backpack and ended up with one that has a built in laptop sleeve.

Friday I arrived on campus with what I thought would be plenty of time to grab a quick lunch then make it to my noon class. I ordered some fried rice from a food truck on 38th at about 11:40. Back in Austin, they’d just pull a cup of it from their already made stock and I’d pay and be on my way. I didn’t end up with my food until right at noon, though, and I was really worried about walking in late to class considering the stories I’d heard from other people. I took my chances and walked in with another latecomer. Luckily the instructor was still discussing some formalities and I didn’t really miss anything. He soon started into the Managerial Economics material as I crunched on some onions and sat at the very back of the room on the floor (there were plenty of seats but I didn’t want to disturb anyone). I’d already printed out the notes for the session and I must say it was a huge help. I didn’t have to bother with writing down material from the overhead and instead concentrated on the logic behind the problems. Class was a bit painful on the floor but it served me right for not allowing adequate time. Overall I was very impressed with the instructor; he explained the material very simply, but thoroughly, and was great at engaging a very large group.

On Friday I also bid on a few auction items. By around 5:30pm, after the auction had closed at 5:00pm, I found out I had 2 successful bids but didn’t get one of the Trading Simulations I was hoping to snag. The two events I managed to win were an introductory investment banking talk with one of the career advisors and a ticket to a Phillies/Astros game later in the month. After the close of the auction, I figured out which Trading Simulations had open seats and placed a bid in the next round. The auction seems straightforward to use but it’s obvious there is a lot of strategy involved. I should have realized that the sections I was bidding on would probably go for a premium since they were scheduled for a time when few classes met. I’ll chalk it up as a lesson learned (since I ended up getting the course anyway) but I had better get on top of it for the real auction.

Filed under: B-School