Hella

The last 2 weeks here at school have actually been some of the busiest I’ve seen. It seems that I was not really even able to keep up with the readings and assignments as much as I would have liked. This is in stark contrast to how I started the semester. Back then, I had all my reading done two days in advance and really felt clear headed and ready to face each day. Now I feel like I’m running up and endless hill and still can’t see the top. But Q4’s end draws near … which only reminds me I still need to find an apartment in NYC!

During the past couple of weeks I’ve seen a couple of really cool performances here at school: Dance Studio and the International Cultural Show. Dance Studio was quite impressive and a lot of classmates were able to showoff their rhythm and moves. The cultural show was another fantastic performance and some of the people were seriously getting into their acts. That was really fun to see!

Classes have been an absolute whirl. I’ve been up late more than half the nights getting my assignments prepared for the next day. This quarter seems to be heavy on long case readings that seem to be 10 pages too long! Combine that with additional articles and SABRE (marketing strategy) team meetings and it’s a sure fire way to get little sleep. But I have actually started running again since the weather is nice. Staying busy really helps me appreciate the time I get to go out and exercise.

Last week marked the end of the first round of the Fall 2005 Auction. FINALLY I was in a position to win some classes. Since I took several electives in the first year (none of which were popular and all sold for the minimum), I held a commanding point total at the beginning of the round. I can proudly say that I own two of the most popular courses in the curriculum (with the most popular professors) and I have over half of the points I started with to do some more damage. I honestly feel bad about holding one of the classes because I do not intend to take it, but I knew I could win it so I went for it. And as a first year, I’ve really paid the price of being disadvantaged (starting in later rounds) in the auction. I felt so strongly about this that I’ve made a couple of recommendations to the MBA Program Office in an effort to improve the process for first years who must enter the auction but it remains to be seen whether any of those ideas will be implemented.

Today I had my interview for a graduate assistant position on the admissions committee for next year. I think it went smoothly but that was probably because I was really relaxed and knew one of the interviewers pretty well. I really hope this works out as this is another activity (like DGSAC) here at the school that I really want to be involved with.

As of 6pm this evening, I was officially done with the classroom part of my Tax class, needing only to complete the final exam to be totally done. I glanced over it and it’s going to be a challenge, particularly since I don’t really have a background in structuring transactions.

Though last quarter I was a bit disappointed in my professors, this quarter is a lot different. My Marketing Strategy professor goes way beyond what he has to do and makes it a point to send emails summarizing lectures. He’s also excellent at facilitating discussions and summarizing the important points. Also of note is my Operations (Supply Chain) professor. He knows the course inside out and is amazing at leading the course. I guess it doesn’t hurt that he wrote our textbook. His lectures are quite possibly the most clear I’ve ever sat in on. Even though the material doesn’t really excite me, it is really nice to have someone so accomplished teaching the subject.

Filed under: B-School