Student Clubs Fair

Last night we were invited to attend the Student Clubs Fair. My experience with these things is you get a lot of information, everyone wants you to sign up for their club/event/activity and you leave with a little less in your wallet and a little bit more scrap paper.

The Rotman Annual Student Clubs Fair did not digress from this model. The difference I found (and this applies to grad school in general) is that the average person that attends, actually wants to be there. There are very few people who are not committed to the program, and most students who show up for the club fair are genuinely interested in at least one club.

That, of course, is another issue. Almost every Rotman student is interested in either Management Consulting or Finance, or both (with varying levels of commitment). These two clubs are highly prescribed to because the option to get help when recruiting season kicks off is a hot commodity. They offer networking opportunities, help writing your applications as well as prep and feedback for case and technical interviews.

A little info regarding the first year calendar: September is for information gathering and studying for first quarter. January is for recruiting. From what I have learned everything in between is a lead up to Recruiting (disclaimer! specifically for consulting and investment banking jobs - more on that later).

The relationship between recruiting and September's clubs fair is closely tied to FOMA (Fear Of Missing Out). Few students know exactly what they want to do and so they sign up for everything and wait for the dust to settle.

It may not surprise you to learn that I don't know what I want to do, so I have signed up for multiple clubs and will be selectively attending events hosted that catch my fancy. Check back in December to see which I have stuck with and which have fallen by the wayside.

Katie's First Year Clubs:

1. rotman finance association
2. business design club
3. energy and natural resources group
4. management consulting association
5. women in management association

I also signed up for Outreach 2009-2010 but this is a community group, that participates in everything from Run for the Cure to United Way, so I plan to participate based on my community interests, not my career.