"Our" World... outside the classroom @ Rotman

Disconnected

2011-02-17T19:29:00.001-08:00

Second year has so far been a process of disconnecting. Most of my classmates 'are so over Rotman' and its a tug of war between being ready to leave (there is the high school element) and remembering that for most of us, this is our last run at school life, from here on out the only new tuition bills (after paying off the old student loan) will be our kids (gasp!).

I can't help but think that we might be wishing our lives away, some frustrating things about school shouldn't out weigh the regular Tuesday nights, the school events like Grad Ball, and our recent Rotman vs Schulich Charity Hockey Game. It's been a good run, and I am looking forward to work for a lot of reasons, but I am also really enjoying the present.

Needless to say, I like many of my classmates, feel disengaged from school, investing time in re-decorating my apartment (starting with a paint job and a new couch) and catching up with friends and family.

As I am starting a demanding full time career, I know that the little free time I have, I'll want to be comfortable in a grown-up apartment. I also know that if I leave my place as is now (futon, no bed frame, miss-matched second-hand furniture that is very functional, but feels like a student apartment) than I'll wake up 30 and still living in the same student apartment.

Remember in undergrad when that chair you found on the street seemed like the best idea ever? In grad school, even perfectly good furniture has started to remind me of that chair from undergrad. Hence the quest for new stuff. That is one of the many wonderful things about Rotman second year. With most of my club duties in the past, and a slightly lighter work load (4 classes instead of 5), I have some time to invest in the overhaul of my apartment.

Another great thing, I am taking this upcoming family day weekend and going to see family (who knew?)! Looking forward to the chance to catch up and chill out (Toronto can be a bit faced-paced sometimes, so it will be nice to take it easy!)

I realize I haven't done a what classes I am taking this semester update - so I'll list them here and revisit with some thoughts on them at a later date!

Fall Semester:
Top Managers Perspective
Business Analysis and Valuation
Taxation and Decision Making
Financial Management
Financial Distress and Insolvency

Winter Semester:
Competition and Strategy in Creative Industries
Management of Fixed Income Securities
Game Theory in Economics
Mergers & Acquisitions

Random Update

2011-01-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

It's now been a while since my last blog post on 'life at Rotman,' I am guilty of having too much fun to be posting about it. In an effort to reminisce, I was reading through some of my old blog posts and realize I have probably given the impression (due to lack of posting) that nothing happens in second year!
That couldn't be farther from the truth. While every single student has a different experience, there is a lot to be said for being a second year student at Rotman high.
Student experience varies depending on some/ all of the following:

whether you choose to do an exchange
whether or not you sign up for a study tour
are taking a full course load, or lightened it with summer classes/ intensives
whether you are involved either peripherally or in a leadership role with school clubs/ graduate business council
if you have a job lined up for after graduation
if you are already working part time, despite being a full time student
if you are taking mini-trips to take advantage of the lighter work load
whether or not you are taking classes you find genuinely engaging, or simply the same classes as your friends, or the classes that allow you to sleep til noon every day and/or have a 5 day weekend

Obviously each of these decisions will have an impact on your Rotman experience, and can improve or damage the experience accordingly.

My run down is that I did not go on exchange (having just moved to Toronto, I feel like I am already mixing it up a bit), I went on a study tour last year, am in a leadership position in the finance association, have a job lined up, am not yet working, have a couple of mini trips planned as a result of my 4 day weekend and am taking classes that are both interesting and fit the schedule, have friendly faces to work with and will hopefully help me in my career.

An interesting second year phenomena is seeing students in your class that you've never seen before, and having students you use to see all the time disappear. I believe this is a function of the amount of class time required in second year, and therefor the reduction in hours in which anyone is in the building.

A couple of highlights so far:

Taking the winter break and actually being on break (if I don't count helping out with some of the summer recruiting prep....)
Working with the student clubs, specifically the RFA (the very prominent pay-it-forward mentality at Rotman was evident in my classmates and appreciated by the 2012 class, so hope they pay it forward next year!)
Having the time to go see the family for thanksgiving, and not spending the whole weekend working!
Finally buying myself a proper couch! Bye bye Futon!
Having Tipsy Tuesday be a regular event that most of us can attend!

I am sure my posts will continue to be as sporadic over the next few months as they were the first half of the year, but hopefully provide some insight into the second year experience...

Toronto

2010-10-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

The best thing about second year is that I have had the chance to enjoy a bit of Toronto. I went and saw Wicked last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the show. This time last year I would have been studying for exams.

School in second year is perfectly busy, I have to keep it in perspective to compare it to last year this time in order to think it's not that bad. If I compare it to the time between work and school, when I was on Vacation, its clearly not easy! The most comparable thing for second year is undergrad. When you have semester's, except classes are only once a week. Unlike first year we actually have ebbs and flows of work (busy weeks and quiet weeks that are actually quiet).

For our out of school stuff, I still have many of the same events occupying my time (Stock Pitch, Finance Super Saturday and so on) its just from the perspective of helping the students in the incoming class and organizing the events (which takes far more time than actually participating in them.)

Anyhow, if you want your second year to be low key, don't sign up for a club executive role. It is both awesome, and very time consuming, so make sure you want to do it!

Fourth Week Second Year

2010-10-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

I am obviously far less diligent about posting entries in second year. I hypothesize that it is because I am less busy with school work and therefore looking for less opportunities for procrastination. Have more time to go out and hang out with my friends, which means I am not sitting at Rotman blogging. Tonight is another Tipsy Tuesday, been a good showing of both first and second years so far this year, and I am trying to get some work done before we head out for drinks.

Naturally, I am therefore writing a blog post!

Second year is a different kind of busy, I believe I already mentioned this, but its Student Club events and school work and for some the first stretch of second year is occupied by recruiting. Student Club exec and director roles actually require a fair bit of work. So, people considering running for a position, be sure you are prepared for it to be the equivalent of at least 2 more classes if not more. This of course depends on how much you put into it.

Some people can minimize the work effort, and others will go overboard. I guess we are all learning how to balance it all, and of course maintain our motivation to stay on top of things. Rotman has a big pay it forward culture, so the previous students helped us, alumni helped them and now its our turn to help the next group of students who will be expected to go on and help their successors.

Anyhow, I hope that we are able to help the incoming students and that they are successful in their career and academic endeavors, and more so, I hope they want to keep it going next year.

Off to Ottawa/Montreal for Thanksgiving so happy holidays!

First Week Second Year

2010-09-20T11:21:00.001-07:00

The first week of classes in second year has been pretty interesting so far. The 'second year is easy' theory is a myth and highly dependent on the classes you are taking and your ability to compare second year to first year. All things considered, it is a lot less work and more back-heavy in terms of assignments, and more weighting in the finals etc. The other benefit of second year is picking your groups. So you get to work with your friends, and hopefully people who are on the same page as you in terms of how much work they plan to put in and expectations on performance.

The other thing about second year, especially the first week, is that the work hasn't piled up (yet) and the weather is still pretty nice, so events like the boat cruise call are generally well attended and a good time to be had by all. Had a great collection of people from Rotman and a few other schools, a mix of first and second year students and a variety of beverages.

Not too much else to say, except that its time to crack open the books and get on top of this years work load!

Back to School

2010-09-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

I am happy to say I am back after surviving my summer internship and kicking off the semester as a second year student. I have to say I am looking forward to it! One of the many great things about my first year was having a lot of support from our upper year students and I think it's going to be a great year and hope I can pay it forward to the incoming class.

First things first - our Career Day student panel. The career center asked me and a few students from a diverse set of backgrounds with broad interests to participate in a panel discussion and speak about our experience and offer advice to the incoming students. Its always a bit tricky because we have our own experiences and everyone will have different work and education backgrounds so its hard to say that what worked for me will play out the same for others, but I hope we can at least shed light on what to expect.

The next step is volunteering at Orientation Camp. An important part of the MBA is developing your network and that starts at camp. Its a great place to get to know names and faces of your classmates. Reality is the people you spend time with at camp may or may not be your closest friends throughout the year, and once classes start you may not actually see them all that much if you have conflicting schedules. But the other thing about camp - its a time to let lose and enjoy the company of your classmates, get to know some of the upper year students and chill before the chaos of school starts.

Signing off for now and will aim to provide some insight on the second year student life in the coming months.

Summary of First Year

2010-04-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

Looking back now that I have completed 13/14 exams, I feel like it was a pretty great year. With 7 large paper's handed in, 20 classes completed and countless assignments, quizzes and readings, I have to say I did learn a fair bit.

I learned the material, and can remember most of it (but please don't ask me to write the exams again). I learned even more about people and the entire interview recruiting and industry side of things, and of course the real lesson: Time Management.

One thing I hear frequently is that MBA school isn't difficult material it is just a lot of work. That is true to a point. Everyone is going struggle with some component of it. Be it the game theory in strategy, mathematics in about half the courses or writing ability in the other half. But the MBA gives you an opportunity to play to your strengths and develop skills in the area of your weaknesses. I think one of the mistakes people make (myself included) is only focusing on your strengths, and doing the minimum to get by on the weaker spots.

Below are a few of might highlights and low lights for each quarter and other area of activity in the year. Long blog post today... trying to compensate for not having posted in a while, and expect I won't be able to post frequently over the summer.

Recruiting:
Obviously a very important component of the MBA experience regardless of what you want to do, it is important to develop the skills necessary to get the job you want, whether it is a traditional banking/ consulting goal, or how to pitch your entreprenurial idea to a Venture Capitalist, the school did a decent job of this. However, very much a we'll help you if you help yourself operation. Which is important. Classic learning from accounting and operations is utilization and maximizing results on limited resources. So it makes sense to invest time where it will pay off. I found the students that were successful were focused and committed to what they wanted. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Some people didn't have a clue and got lucky and others not so much. So much to say here, in the end I had a positive experience but was also very fortunate to have decided early, had tons of support and developed friendships with people interested in the same industry so we helped each other out. January to April can be a really tough time at school, but keeping perspective goes a long way.

Graduate Business Council:
The GBC Class rep role was a big part of my first year experience. It was both amazing and frustrating. When people feel they have an outlet to complain to they will. It is the 'job' of the rep to filter and try to discern between class wide systematic issues and individual one offs. It can be wonderful, you have lots of opportunity to meet people outside your section and cohort but can also be a thankless job. All in all a great experience because I was working with 3 other amazing reps and we could lean on each other and vent.

Friendships:
By far one of the best things about my experience are the friendships I developed. Meeting people who I was already connected to via university or Vancouver. As well as just meeting people constantly. I would say that the effort to go out to big events early on is well worth developing the network and can improve the entire year. Also, definitely go to MBA games. It helped bring a group of us together to have a genuine opportunity to chill outside of Rotman.

Q1
Stats
Financial Accounting
Managing People in Organizations
Foundations of Integrative Thinking
Economics (micro)

Q1 is a shocker. It is where everyone starts off motivated and doesn't know what is going on at all. We are still figuring out printer points and professors and what we want to be when we grow up and how everything all works together. We also learn that if you are hungry, there is no shortage of Pizza. So don't load up before you get there. All the club kick offs and intro meetings will serve Pizza. Also a good intro to prioritizing work. It is impossible to do all the work for everything. So figure out what to focus on and what can be skimmed.... High-light of Q1 meeting new people. Low-point spending thanks giving writing papers instead of relaxing with the family.

Q2
Finance
Strategy
Managing customer value
Financial Accounting
Stats

In Q2 is where it heats up. Q2 can also make or break it for people interested in banking/ consulting. Banking people, because so much success is depending on networking and attending events and participating in competitions and Super Saturday and Industry Night. Consulting, and to a degree banking, it is also the grades. Top marks are required (for the most part) so getting through Q2 is an uphill climb. It is also crappy weather, and you don't get a break from Q1 exams before you have homework and readings due for first class of Q2. High light for me was winning the stock pitch competition. It was a roller coaster competition and fun, but also a lot of work. Low-light was being exhausted for 8 weeks straight, and worrying about summer jobs.

Q3
Strategy
Finance
Managing Customer Value
Leadership
Economics (macro)

The time spent in Q3 is like an alternate universe from Q1 and Q2. The course load is very back heavy. A couple of quizzes and assignments. But most of the marks came in exam week. This is by design as students have a hard time getting to class let alone study while the summer recruitment machine wakes up. The high light is hard to decide so i have a few: getting the job I wanted, MBA games, inter MBA socials, Winter Olympics... Its also hard to pick a low point, except maybe a little disinterest in school as I finally let myself relax a little.

Q4
Operations Management
Managerial Accounting
Ethics
Integrative thinking practicum
Economics (International)

Well I am almost through... but Q4 is a bit of a return to last semester after Q3, I will include spring break here, as it was in between the two. So we come back from a week off and it is very difficult to get energized for school. I started to plan for South America Study Tour, summer internship, next years club involvement. Not so much focusing on the classes at hand. I am paying for it now, as I review material that I didn't stay on top up through the quarter. But I am overall pleased with this quarter. Good way to round out the year. Always room for improvement. But still a net positive. High light - going to see my family for Easter in Vancouver. Was brilliant to be out west and see the friends and family. Low light.... Flying home after a big night out and not feeling so great in the air.

That's all she wrote.

Home stretch

2010-04-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

There are several expressions for being in the 'home stretch.' Near the end of the tunnel, just shy of the finish line, almost there. The only thing ringing in my head is that I am almost at the end of the line, of the first step. Everything gets broken up in MBA land. First Quarter, First, Semester, First Year, Summer, Second Year, First Semester Second Year etc. And the reality is, as we pass each milestone, the baby steps seem less important. For instance, the first exam week is this marathon adventure whereby we live at school, study for all hours, the 6 weeks leading up to exams (i.e. from day 1). Then by the time fourth quarter roles around. Exam week is a comfortable recurrence. We are no longer as perplexed by exams, and have made up our minds about the level of work required for different classes for different levels of success. There are few exams and more assignments and a general sense of people already focusing on whats next.

First quarter finals - focus on first quarter finals
Second quarter finals - focus on second quarter finals, a little on recruiting and networking, and Christmas... but not entirely checked out.
Third quarter finals - focused on recruiting, hanging out with friends, spring break, the winter Olympics and - oh yeah - third quarter finals.
Fourth quarter finals - focused on anything but school. I am hoping it will this weekend, as I need to get a lot of ground covered to round out the year, but it really hasn't hit yet.

To elaborate a little on all the other non-school priority things that are occupying my time and attention, just for those who may consider a similar career/ study path as me:
Study tour preparation: Vaccines, visa's, currency exchange, class research, planning packing details, reading up on Brazil & Argentina

•Summer job preparation: buying another suit and some dress shirts, attending every financial modeling class the school offers, bugging my friends with IBanking experience about what to expect and getting excited

•Next year class schedule: Planning what classes I want to take, what profs I want to learn from, how many 'bid points' each will cost me, whether or not I care if I am in the same classes as my friends and wondering if I will still want to take mostly finance classes after a summer of finance, or if I'll switch to basket-weaving.

•Next years club involvement: weighing the options of and applying for club positions for next year and crossing my fingers that I get the position I want.

•Cleaning up my apartment: this is clearly a function of actually allowing myself the free time to spend time in my appartment and this want to clean it!

Maro Club : Racism in 2010 in downtown Toronto

2010-04-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

I am happy to say that there was no blood, fighting or injury this evening. However me an several of my classmates went out for a night on the town to celebrate a few birthdays. With a program of 270 first years, every week or two there is a cumulative night out party to celebrate the passing of time and have a few drinks.

Tonight, we went to Maro Club. Our friend knew one of the staff members and could get us guest-listed so we trekked a little out of the way, further west than usual, to check out a different spot. I am usually happy to try new places, especially places that can accommodate large groups, as we often end up being 75 plus from the school that will end up at the same bar, on a 'small night' its 20. And that is a weekday.

After being told to get to the club by 11:30, we arrived a few minutes late to find man of our friends had been held in line for 20 minutes or longer. We spoke to the bouncer, manager, another couple of bouncers, and then the manager.

I understand how the night scene works in a big city, short skirts and pretty smiles dominate. Guys with cash get to skip to line, to finance the short skirts drinks for the evening. Friend of a friend jumps the line, one person with a $20 can walk up to the bouncer, pull a smooth "Richard" handshake and bypass.

It is a money driven world. It sucks, but that is capitalism, and in a capitalist economy, it makes sense. The income discrimination is a reality, and so long as businesses are running the night scene and not the Canadian Government (where everyone will be equally inconvenienced thank you very much) it won't change.

But my experience tonight was so shocking, that I wonder exactly how ignorant and stupid some people are. After getting the run around about whether or not we would get in. We had 30 friends already inside, and another 20 or 25 people outside being told 'we were capped out.' The folks inside were messaging us saying "its not busy at all - whats going on?"

The long conversation with the manager, eventually revealed the truth, when he said (paraphrasing) - we just don't want to let in that many Asians and Brown people.

We have a very diverse student body, and people come from all over the world, and all over North America with different Ethnic backgrounds, born and raised in cities like Vancouver, Toronto, New York and L.A., but apparently this Toronto club forgot it was in the epi-centre of one of the most culturally diverse cities there is, and decided to act in a way befitting a small child in 1930's not a grown adult running a business in the 21st Century.

Shame on you Maro, and I hope your operations are shut down, and that the individuals influencing these beliefs can recognize the tragedy of how these small decisions can become big societal beliefs.

How to get A's in MBA School

2010-04-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

Coming to Rotman is an interesting experience, because the students that are here are all in the upper half of their undergrad classes, have interesting and valuable work experience and scored decently on the GMAT. In short, they are smart. And now you have a situation where the classes are all bell-curved and they can only give out so many A's...

There are a few key lessons I learned about how to be successful in classes - several of which I need to remember and reintroduce into my daily habits!

1. Go to class
2. Pay attention in class
3. Do the assigned homework problems
4. Get involved in every group assignment
5. Study for exams in groups - cover the courses from start to finish, other students can add an extra layer of perspective to material that you may have thought you understood but you actually didn't.

Additional thoughts - stay on top of classes throughout the quarter - it is amazing how fast 6 weeks (and then the whole of first year) goes by and you end up wondering how it all happened so fast!

That's all for now, I am going to go and take some of my own advice and catch up on readings!

Weekend & MBA life

2010-03-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Another weekend over. Its hard to believe how quickly they go. Not that weekends are all that different from week days. I had a group meeting yesterday from 10 am to 2 pm. Plus a few more hours of work, followed by a night out with friends.
Today, another group meeting putting together a presentation deck for Latin America Study Tour on Brazil and Argentina Financial Systems. Looking at these types of projects, I haven't really done this kind of research in a really long time and had to get back into the critical research mode. The main problem - no Wikipedia is not an acceptable source. While it is great for general information, it is not academic and should be corroborated by other actually published resources.
We have another quiz this week, Global Managerial Perspectives (affectionately called GMP like every other MBA class that can possibly be shorted to a TLA)
The thing about quizzes is they force you to study. When you have to study, the good old procrastination beast rears its ugly head and all of a sudden doing that reading, or catching up on the news, planning for a weekend trip and laundry all become very important.
I for one spent part of last night (when I should have been studying) catching up on LOST. Amazing show, but the reality is the show will be there later, the opportunity to learn about economics and international trade prior to the quiz is a limited factor. Have to continue to remind myself to keep on pushing, work hard and the rewards will be worth it. Slack off, and often the indulgence isn't worth the price paid. (E.g. if you slack off and then find out you short changed an assignment, didn't put enough effort in, and got a marginal mark, after working hard for every other assignment in the class, you realize you are on the cusp between grades, and had you put a little more effort into that early assignment, you would be up a point.
I suppose life is full of lessons and hopefully many of them stick. Sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way, and sometimes you can learn from someone else.
Right now, I am learning that no matter how hard you try, it is very very very difficult for an MBA student who lives alone to eat meals at home. Particularly when even on Sunday I am ordering delivery to the school. One day I will go grocery shopping.... but I get the feeling that day is in May 2011.

Two weeks in... 7 to go.

2010-03-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Two weeks into the fourth quarter. I kind of feel like I am writing a long description of a basketball game. First quarter, 3 pointer! Second quarter, strong defense. Third quarter: traveling. Fourth quarter, who knows....

We have had our first quiz of Q4, a few assignments and a fair bit of reading and classes. Life is pretty busy at good old Rotman high. And it's feeling more like high school than ever. Everyone is pretty gelled as a class, and we are all getting anxious about the summer, the schools offices are starting to plan for next year already, and the weather is starting to tease us with a few good days.

The motivation to clean up our "third quarter Olympics and relaxing" behaviours and hit the books in earnest. I think I have said before, and I will say it again, with a six week quarter, you are behind after your first class. So prioritize, address what you need to and can get taken care of, and keep on keeping on.

By this time of year, there are still (per usual) a number of students seeking jobs. The hunt continues, the career forum's are still being held at school with networking opportunities and the perspective changes.

I am hoping that positive thoughts bring us all through this last quarter and we can finish up first year with success. I know I will plan on celebrating in South America on the study tour! Now to do the homework for that class! Oh boy.

No good excuses

2010-03-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

The fourth quarter has started, Olympics wrapped up, and we are staring at a very busy set of classes for the next 5 weeks.

Current schedule (and rating on a scale of 1 to 10 so far)
Ethics (9)
Integrative Thinking Practicum ( more neutral and waiting to decide what I think)
Managerial Accounting (7)
Global Managerial Perspectives (8)
Operations Management (5 - I am definitely not an engineer!)

Lots more assignments this quarter than there were in Q3. But also seems like we are all at the end of our storage of patience. At least I am. The title for this blog entry, no good excuses, comes as with there not being recruiting, having just come back well rested from a week off, and not having major world events like the Olympics, I really have no excuse not to be completely on top of EVERYTHING. And yet somehow... I am not.

I guess it will have to be the old "I'll buckle down this week!" and see how it goes.

will return with updated thoughts on classes etc at a later date!

Student Involvement

2010-03-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

Its the time of year in which we are starting the fourth quarter of first year and anxiously planning for summer and second year. The information on clubs and student council is out, and there is a healthy buzz about students getting involved. There are lots of great people interested in positions and I am eager to find out who lands where!
Right now we have the student elections for Graduate Business Council. Some level of interest, but it was disappointing to see that a number of positions had only one student running for them. One of the many benefits of student council representatives is the election in which students are given a voice. But if they are not given options, then there is a certain self selection process which leaves positions to be won by acclamation.
I hope that there are more people applying for roles - that we have a great council next year! Best of luck to those applying.
Incoming students who are student council/ club 'types' which many MBA students are, should know there is lots of opportunity to get involved and if it doesn't pan out for first year, there are lots of options for second year.

Top 10 things to do in your first year as a Rotman MBA

2010-03-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

10. Get involved, meet people and get sucked into the world of Rotman
9. Study, study, study.
8. Hang out with people - more relationships (genuine friendships) you have, the more the whole experience is worth all the study, study, study.
7. Perfect your resume/cover letter writing skills. Remember your resume is never "finished."
6. Sacrifice study time to meet industry people - they may be your boss one day!
5. Read the business press. If you are taking an MBA hopefully it interests you to start with.
4. Practice time management skills (you simply cannot do it all, so pick and choose!)
3. Prepare enough for everything that is IMPORTANT so that whatever happens, you don't regret not giving it your all.
2. Avoid studying in the fishbowl. Otherwise it will become your mailing address, mix it up.

And the number one thing to do.....

1. Go somewhere fun for spring break. A little R&R and a sun tan go a long way to making the final haul of Q4 not look so scary. The break is well-deserved and much needed, so take advantage of the time off.

As you can probably guess, just back from Mayan Riviera in Mexico, after a restful week of R&R. Have a lovely sun tan, and slept more in the past week, than the previous 2 (if not 3) weeks combined. Managed the best of both worlds with a little family time and traveling with some friends. Personally - I didn't want a party week, and took the time to rest, contemplate the difficult decision of which pool to camp out at for the day and caught up on some non-academic reading.

Some of our class hit the slopes, others headed to Vegas or home to wherever they hail from, a couple of Caribbean trips and a scattering of Mexico sun searchers too. Some ventured to NYC, Chicago or Montreal for a different city scene. Whatever you can swing, be it sunny Mexico, Niagara Falls or a home-cooked meal with the folks. Take a break!

That is my two cents for the day! More to come later, have prep for the Latin America Study Tour that is capturing my interest daily! Brazil & Argentina here I come!

Future Rotmanites at Open House

2010-02-27T07:21:00.000-08:00

At school studying today (and most days) in order to ensure I can have a clean calendar for tomorrow at 3 pm EST. The epic re-match of Canada vs USA in Olympic Hockey on home ice... and yet I have a final on Monday morning. Oh boy.
Today is a Rotman open house for prospective students, they come in and check out the school, meet a few upper year students, professors and administrators to get a feel for the program. The school puts on a little presentation about how many opportunities there are as a student and the many ways in which you can kick off your career.
I highly recommend attendance, but remember that it is much like info sessions and a direct contact (get the school to put you in touch with an ambassador, or ask friends if you know anyone at the school) and get the 'real deal.' I'd recommend this for ALL schools you are considering as prospective MBA students because the programs differ a fair bit, and there are pro's and con's to each.
Back to the books, Macroeconomics!

Avoiding the cold

2010-02-25T14:52:00.001-08:00

Both the weather and the sniffles. Its one week until our last exam, and 8 days til our papers are due. Nine days until I am on a plane.
But of course, first I have to get through the next week. Healthy preferably. The snow has come back, our relatively moderate winter all of a sudden feels like it has been the longest winter ever (at which point I remind myself that this is EASTERN CANADA in February). With the snow comes the snow plows (at 3 am) and then "do I bust out my winter boots again" question.
BUT also with the snow comes the Winter Olympics. My posts have trended towards this topic recently, and I will go there again today, simply because today is the Women's Gold medal Hockey game (GO CANADA!) and tomorrow is the Mens semi-final - Canada vs Solvakia.
Of course, the mens Gold Medal game is on Sunday night, the night before ECON - which means that my econ exam will be a secondary goal to staring at the TV for 3 hours.
Another tangent - today was our last day of Marketing, handed in our reports and did group presentations. Wonderful feeling to be finished a class!
But being up until the wee hours of the morning, not such a wonderful feeling. I think the general feeling is to try and avoid the dreaded all-nighter in your Rotman Career.
I believed that the all-nighter would come for an intense case competition or a difficult finance or econ class. The last thing I expected was a marketing report to be the first one.

I guess that goes to show you - you don't always get what you expect.

12 days and counting

2010-02-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

Its 12 days until the end of Q3, almost to the minute as our last paper is due at mid-night on Friday. Naturally that means I watched the Canada v USA hockey game tonight, with my computer open in the student lounge hoping my paper would write itself. Seeing as how the old learn through osmosis if I fall asleep on my school books never worked, I didn't harbour high hopes for this plan.
BUT I had expected better performance from Team Canada! We out shot the Americans by a factor of 2, and they still beat us by 2 goals in a nail biting game. One word Coach, goaltending. Broudour is a phenomenal player, but so far in the 2010 Olympics tournament he has not demonstrated his world class skills. Hoping we see him step it up and that the front line can convert a little more on those shots on net, turn them into scoring chances and better yet, goals.
To tie the viewing experience to the Rotman student experience, I had the pleasure of catching the game in the student lounge with a few other students interested in both the hockey and their GPA's. A number of students were still in the library, this wasn't an elimination game after all, and the more hardcore hockey fans were at the bar with the full-on excitement that entails.
It is one of the many pleasures I have discovered in my Rotman career, that there are a number of hockey fans and during the international tournaments, I am cheering for the same team! (Not going to be converted to a Leafs fan anytime soon, so its more rare than you may think.)

Olympics 1, School work 0

2010-02-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

It has come that long awaited time that the Olympics are in Canada, in my home town of Vancouver. When these incredible athletes are ripping down the hills that I learned to ski on, and I am somehow supposed to do school work? Its not going so well.
I have all these ambitions, about putting the TV on mute, so I just watch the events and avoid the commentary. But that isn't going so well. I end up with one eye on the TV and a leadership essay that is rapidly turning into a series of mish-mash sentences because I never finish a thought.
The whole first four weeks of Q3 has been a write off, with the assumption that I will buckle down in the time before finals and just take up residency in the library and power through the work. How on earth is that supposed to happen?
Occasionally, on this blog, I try to share some advice for future Rotman students, or students potentially navigating the decision of whether or not to be future Rotman students. In this blog, I am asking advice. Aside from the obvious (turn off the TV and miss the Olympics, or accept the badgering impact on my GPA) what is a girl to do?
Thoroughly enjoyed watching the freestyle moguls, biathlon and am looking forward to some more moguls today.
To top it all off, I am planning for and attending classes related to the Latin America Study Tour, and booking a spring break adventure to Mexico!
Will work on focus tomorrow. In the mean time, Happy Valentines Day, Happy Family Day and Happy Olympics!

Q3 is your friend

2010-02-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

I think I have said this a number of times. But I am telling you, that Q3 is your friend. If you come to Rotman, and work your butt off for the first two quarters, and the first bit of January in recruiting, the class aspect of Q3 is your friend.

One thing I love about Rotman, and my class in particular is that we are still going out in pretty big groups. The general theme is that while we have different groups forming, they all kind of blend at the edges, and everyone generally gets along. This is really impressive. Our second years told us that by January the consulting and finance groups form, and so on. While that is true, we spend more time with people going after similar jobs because you are attending the same events and studying together, and rooting for each other during recruiting.

Something to keep in mind, the student body - whether you like it or not - becomes your family. By spending as much time at school as we do, and as much time together as we inevitably do - it has to happen. So meet people, get to know your classmates (and potential classmates) and the previous years class as well.

My two cents for the day brought to you by tomorrow's intra MBA fund raiser in which we have run out of tickets because there is an overwhelming interest!

Q3 - Back in the game....

2010-02-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

Last week we had our first quiz of the quarter, we handed in our first case assignment, and now it is starting to pick up again. Its hard to believe that it is February, students are starting to plan for Spring break and its 30% of the way through the quarter. People are thinking about the summer, thinking about next year, curious about how the class selection process goes and how to get involved in next years student clubs. The funny thing is, we are all thinking about 4 and 8 months away, when we can't pay attention to today.

We have a great selection of classes, some more interesting than others, but so far, I have thought that Rotman sets the the bar high. My east favorite class, is pretty much better than most of the undergrad classes I ever took. But we still can't get motivated. Great professors, fun classes, and a much better foundation of friendship with your classmates. But that pretty much means that we are getting along, wanting to head out on Tipsy Tuesday (they make a stunning comeback in January after disappearing for the fall semester) and enjoying the odd night out on the weekend.

Here's to hoping that we get the energy going again and get back in the game! Its only four weeks til finals! (I swear the time goes so fast: its a coin toss between I have been here for only 5 months and I can't remember life before MBA school!)

Econ & all that.

2010-01-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Turns out that macroeconomics, is still well, macroeconomics. In the past 3 months, prepping for finance interviews, reading the paper, trying to figure out what the heck happened in the past few years with the financial crisis, and what we hope is the early stages of global economic recovery.

Some of my friends and classmates will say "no way," or present logical arguments as to why we are looking at the second half of a "W." I still go with the too often used "cautiously optimistic" because it's the most well rounded story, and for the purpose of interviews, it matched my stock pitch.

BUT, in all of this, I was hoping that taking Macroeconomics would be exciting, interesting, digging into the heart of the Canadian economy, and the impact of interest rates, and commodity prices. While we have touched on some of that stuff, our text book is still computing the CPI using a basket of goods that includes hot dogs and hamburgers.

I completely understand the need to simplify some of the components to clearly explain. But any chance we could ask for something a little more realistic? Even if they simply switch to Sushi & Starbucks, its a little more indicative of what we are dealing with today. I suppose some folks would say "well starbucks wasn't around 20 years ago to make a real relevant comparison... and to them I think I say... embrace the chaos! Accept that there are changes! Today you need to include the cost of a computer in a typical consumers 'basket of goods' how do you account for the 1980 equivalent of that?

That is my Macroeconomics rant for the day. Perhaps it is because Q3 is very difficult to get motivated to do work. Students are in one of two boats right now. Either they have a job through highly competitive campus recruiting, or personal contacts they lined up on their own, or they are still looking for summer options. Either way it is very difficult to make class a number one priority. Nothing like a quiz to bring us back to reality....

Weekend

2010-01-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

I have this problem whereby I think my weekends are my own, and I haven't gotten any work done. Despite the fact that I have a paper due on Monday, and a good stack of readings for class that needs to be completed. But somehow, I reasoned that sleeping in, playing ultimate frisbee, making spaghetti and taking a nap were all necessary Saturday activities. I guess there is a theory that there is always tomorrow.
This is an interesting time at Rotman, the students break into groups according to their preferred career path, and then break into groups based on their level of success. I don't know what it is, or what part of human nature drives it but it's there. I hope that soon enough we'll all have amazing summer jobs lined up and be packing our bags for somewhere hot and sunny... or if the boys have their way, a ski trip. But in either event, I think a break is overdue and so trying to make up for a lot of work and very little play in the first two quarters at MBA school by going out for the 3rd... maybe 4th? Time this week!
Nothing but good times ahead & best of luck to everyone in recruiting mode!

Recruiting week

2010-01-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

So by now the 2nd years (next year that will be us) and the CCC have told us 100 times or more that there is no time to get prepared for interviews in January and you have to do it earlier. I am here to tell you that.... its true!
The one caveat is that you may spend a lot time preparing and not necessarily get an interview. BUT that is why this is a package deal. Prepare by working hard, keeping your grades up, (ESPECIALLY in your related classes) and network with people. Visibility is important. If they see you coming a mile away and they like you, your resume will simply be more likely to get looked at.
Also by this week when applications are due. Have all your documents ready and waiting. The truth is there isn't enough time to prepare, sleep, do documents etc.
They get 100 applicants and sometimes only interview 4 or 5. All depends on how many jobs they are posting for - often only 1 or 2.
This little rant is brought to you by Katie saying - people prepare!!! And if you are lucky enough to get an interview - don't complain about how much prep you have to do to get it done. There are 99 people waiting to take your interview slot.
Anyhow - that's all she wrote....

MBA Games

2010-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

Now that we have had a full week intensive classes, on negotiations, an all around interesting course and good way to ease back into school after the holidays, a few members of our class decided to go to Quebec city to attend the MBA Games. This was the first time Rotman has attended in a few years, and I believe we put in a good showing. There is lots of room for improvement and hope that another contingent goes next year to build tradition.
The games consist of Academics, Athletics and Spirit components, with several events in each, and provide a fantastic bonding experience. While there is lots of opportunity to meet other students from different Canadian MBA Programs, I most enjoyed doing something that was all fun & games with my classmates.
The intensity and rigorous demands of the MBA Program at Rotman, mean that you will spend at lot of time at school and get to hang out with your classmates in the library, however this was a rare opportunity to spend a full 72 hours not focusing on school but rather on fun!
The one thing I recommend to future coordinators is to plan further ahead! A 9 hour bus drive is not fun, anyway you slice it!
This week is recruiting week and applications are mostly in, with interviews coming shortly! Will try to update more frequently once Q3 kicks off next week.

Onward and Upward

2009-12-29T16:43:00.001-08:00

Today I went up the CN Tower. What a spectacle! It was fantastic. Well, in as much as feeling vertigo and being reminded of my fear of heights and hate for all things out of my control are concerned. I mention this because it is the holidays, and I took a nice little vacation from the 16th to the 27th, and have since been easing myself back into work, when my family called to say they had a stopover in Toronto and would I like to join them for lunch I said "yes". Despite what everyone says, you cannot be too prepared, study study study over the holiday break, and get completely up to speed on everything! It is simply not possible to do it all, and it is the holidays so spend some time with family if you are lucky enough for them to be in town! Please!
Now, this will go back to my previous preachings on preparedness, which is front load, front load, front load! If you have been accepted into the school of your choice and have access to their vault guides, start reading now! Well at least next summer, cause by this time next year you will be up to your nose in vault guide and recruiting material and "have you done enough practice interviews" type prep work that will be ten times easier if you already know the vault guide inside out. You can of course make it work, but your life will be ten times easier if you are not reading the vault guide for the first time over the winter break.
Also - if you are a prospective Rotman student and plan to come here next year, please keep up all the involvement! We have reveled in an energized class that is going to the MBA Games in Quebec city for the first time in a few years, and I hope the incoming class, whomever they are are as interested and enthusiastic as my classmates have been.
With that I bid you farewell and a Happy New Year.
Recruiting week approaches soon, and I hope to be giving semi- regular updates here as to the activities and excitement that we see unfold as we vie for interviews and positions at our desired firms, companies and banks over the coming weeks. Wish me luck! And good luck to all my fellow candidates!

Class & finals

2009-12-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

Finals are upon us. We have 3 down and 2 to go. One thing I learned this week, is that nothing is at it seems, and you don't have to out run the bear. Meaning that if you think you didn't do well on an exam, and everyone else agrees, you can rest a little easier. So don't let an upset on one exam, muck-up your ability to study for the next exam.
I believe that the last 10 minutes of our finance class should be immortalized as well. I won't spoil it, because I think everyone should hear it straight from the horses mouth. But our esteem professor, Kent Womack, wrapped up class with some life lessons, advice and well wishes that were profound but not preachy, interesting but not obscure and most importantly heartfelt. Relevant by default of coming from a teacher with years of industry experience.
The social aspect of school will be back in full force this Friday as the first years and second years (and hopefully some of the part time students) all head out for a night on the town to celebrate the end of the term.

Wrapping up first term...

2009-11-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

As we venture closer to exams (my postings will be sparse in the coming weeks... for which I apologize in advance) I realize how much I have come to think of my classmates as friends/family. Maybe its because we spend 15 hours a day together, either in class, studying or at some club event or other. Turns out we spend some of our 'free' time hanging out too!
My section has been fantastic, lots of laughs and a general good time. Its the old bitter sweet endings. I am thrilled that it is almost Christmas break and we will be done exams in 10 days. But not so thrilled to see my friends in all mix up for the new year. I am sure I will feel differently when January roles around and we all re-group in new sections and have an entirely new experience. However for now, I say don't go! My group mates are fantastic and we work well together, my class mates are wonderful and my study team is killer too. The 'shakeup' or disruptive technology may be more than I can handle.

In the mean time, looking toward the light at the end of the tunnel and the next 10 days to spent in the fishbowl.

November - Movember

2009-11-26T19:25:00.000-08:00

One really cool thing about my classmates, is they don't tend to do things halfway. This is proven by the various gents roaming the halls with fury things growing on their faces even during recruiting season! There are a handful of hard cores who have fully committed and grown the mustache for Movember. A tradition to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer.
That is definitely something I give my classmates props for. The ladies are kicking in too, and hosting an event on Monday to raise some money for the final draw and do a little slide show of the facial hair, but it is great to see.
School gets busy, recruiting gets crazy, everyone is looking for an edge, and then you have these die-hards who set a goal for themselves at the beginning of the month, to not shave off the 'stache and have stuck to it. Some of our profs have only known these guys with them, and will be shocked to see shining clean faces on Tuesday.
Anyhow - hats off to the Movember crowd and may the tradition continue!
Next on my conversation list is the rescheduling of the core classes. With Rotman experiencing some construction on the new building (to be put up next door) there is expected to be the odd interruption. There was plenty of warning, though apparently next week the type of work is so bad that the expectation is that we won't be able to do much in the building so have had everything completely re-scheduled. Thinking this will make for an interesting study period and exam period, and a bit of a chaotic last week of classes.
All I can say is - three weeks till winter break! Counting down the days, keeping up with the work and trying to post on this blog semi-regularly (which has been somewhat lacking for which I apologize).

This week at MBA school

2009-11-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Super Saturday was super! There is a lot of ebb and flow around what exactly goes on, but in general, its good times had by all. I think the mock interview went well, we had some tough questions and they put us on the spot in the spotlight, and I NEARLY blew it, but managed to recover.
If you are interested in finance and looking at opportunities like this one, definitely participate. If you are given the chance, it gets your name out there, if forces you to show up and impress, and worst case scenario they teach you what not to do.
Tomorrow night is Industry Night, were we get to go out with and meet and mingle while chatting with Industry people who know the business and can provide some insight.
Tomorrow is also our Strategy quiz - which should be good, after the bonanza of finance assignments and case write ups, a quiz is kind of refreshing. One thing that I have found in terms of Rotman and MBA school in general. Is not to sweat the grades, not because of importance, they are important, but because of how many times they get translated before showing up on a transcript. By getting a 9/10 that doesn't translate to 90% and therefore an A on the old scale, It depends on how many people got 9's or 8's or 9.5's and then there is some weird weighting metrics - and there are mid term feedback opportunities so you can check how you are doing and all that - but it all comes down to effort. Work hard and it will pay off. Work smart, and it will pay off more.
One big learning from the whole Rotman experience, has been that you CANNOT do everything. Not to say your shouldn't try everything that you are really interested in. But there is simply way too much work to be done to get through. While getting 5 + hours of sleep a night and staying on top of networking and school, and extra curricular activities. I highly recommend picking a focus, and understanding that the focus has got to be maintained. BUT not forgetting about other classes. (Example, don't ignore Accounting and Stats just because you have Finance homework).
My two cents for the week - prioritize and listen. Often times a prof will say exactly what they want, but if you aren't listening, its hard to deliver to their expectations.

RFA Super Saturday

2009-11-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

Happy to say we are finishing the third week of Q2 and first quarter grades finally came out. Depending on success rate, people are either drinking to celebrate or drinking to ward off the frustration. Either way - its the weekend! Any illusion prospective students have that that means 'free' time needs to be corrected.
Tomorrow is another all day RFA event 'Super Saturday' there should be some interesting speakers, an opportunity to mingle a little with second year students and a few folks on the street. Another fun added bonus is the event includes an on-stage Mock Interview for a role in Investment Banking. A number of my classmates (and myself) applied to take part, and two of us were selected. So wish me luck as I participate in an abridged (10-15 minute) on stage interview! Will be sure to update with some fun stories after the fact & try not to trip on stage!

Time goes on...

2009-11-11T20:26:00.001-08:00

Many people come into the MBA program with deep experience in Business, from a consulting or finance background, or have a wicked story - Olympian, Quarterback for Varsity football, life altering experiences while back-packing through Africa and a couple of Doctors to boot.
Then there are the rest of us, mere mortals who are constantly struggling to differentiate ourselves via grades, participation, extra-cirricular events and networking. Every now and then, especially when I feel the struggle to see a light at the end of the tunnel and worry about grades and get concerned about big upcoming events, I stop and gain some perspective.
The thing I have to remember, is that by virtue of being in a top MBA program, your peers are all very smart, very motivated, with great experiences and community involvement. Being 'middle of the pack' among such a strong class is really a great accomplishment. In the spirit of gaining perspective, its great to be in such good company. Every day my classmates amaze me with how to interpret class material that I am not struggling with, and then the next day, I have the opportunity to teach them something.
I was concerned coming into this program that it would be competitive and it would hard develop friendships with my classmates, but generally speaking that hasn't happened. It will be interesting how this plays out in the coming months, as we get our grades back for Q1, and start to get more involved in the recruiting process.
One thing I mentioned earlier, that the class eventually 'divides' into industry groups - has for the most part happened. This is largely by virtue of time. We have such little free time, that our free time is spent attending industry events, and our friends become the people who we spend time with. Many of the people I was friendly with at the start of the year, I still chat with when I see them at class and look forward to catching up with when given the opportunity. But it truly comes down to a split based on chosen industry/career path.
Thats all for tonight, off to study stats and try to ensure I am up to speed by Friday's quiz!

Stock Pitch Competition

2009-11-08T08:23:00.001-08:00

I promised I would be writing out about life outside the classroom. Lately I haven't felt like I had a life outside of school, but I am returning to my roots and looking at extra-cirricular activities as entertainment. My position as class rep has been great so far, I have a fantastic section and am really going to miss them when things shake up in January!
But this weekend, I participated in a stock pitch competition for the Rotman Finance Association. Brought together by a deep knowledge of the company Magna, a very interesting week in the news and a lot of smart work (can't say long work because out entire thesis changed on Wednesday when GM announced they were pulling out of the Magna SBerbank Opel deal) so we had to work fast and smart - making work we had done up to that point negligible.
It was an all around fun experience - incredible learning experience and has set me up for the first stage of interview preparation. A huge kudo's has to go out to my team mate who rocked it and the many other teams who worked hard. All the finalists had great presentations, with some interesting investment thesis's and a couple of brilliant decks!
So good job to all my fellow RFA members who participated this weekend. Catered to the mid-night on Thursday - worst day of the quarter -deadline and pulled off some great work!

Its time to decide....

2009-11-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

So far we have had a rush of experiences in Q1 and Q2 that have lead up to us being able to make "informed" decisions about what we want to be when we grow up. Into November, the Career Center and school has asked to get more specific, focus on an industry and roles within that industry. Its time to stop "flirting" with both sides.
Several students come to business school with an idea of what they want to do, but can easily question that idea in the early weeks of their academic rebirth as the flurry of career path opportunities are presented.
We joke around about the pro's and con's of the various fields, and debate the risk and potential reward as well as competitiveness in the different job sectors.
I have long since committed to capital markets, but I see many of my colleagues come to Finance Association events, and then attend the Consulting Industry events as well. I think the more information we can collect, the better informed a decision we can make, but I also believe that if you have not yet decided what path you want to pursue now is the time.
If for no other reason that time management! Some students (allegedly) apply for jobs of all sectors and industries, and end up empty handed. This is because it is simply impossible to be properly prepared for the rigor of the different types of interviews. The two most commonly pursued career paths for MBA's are consulting and finance. This week alone there was a marketing case competition and a on Saturday, a stock pitch competition. Either of these events, to adequately participate in, let alone succeed, require extensive time commitment. Both are fantastic events that will provide insight into the industry you are interested in as well as demonstrate interest. Some students are participating in both events within 4 days of each other. This would not be as impressive, except that we also have a regular class schedule to tend to, case prep for Strategy, a MCV write up, Finance Homework, Quiz and our group has the added bonus of a presentation.
Trying to balance it all means somethings will suffer, to succeed in either Consulting or Finance, you must participate in the relevant events, but your grades cannot suffer as a result.
My advice (do with it as you please) to incoming students, do as much research coming as possible. Read the recommended literature for the industry you may be interested, start reading the paper today! If you can get your hands on vault guides for your industry, read them. Twice. They will be invaluable in making decisions.
When you get to Rotman, be prepared to flirt a little, sign up for all the clubs if you like, you are buying information and invitations to events, and explore. But by Q1 exams, make a decision, and the already challenging workload will seem almost manageable.

Strategy! Accounting! Finance! Oh my!

2009-10-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

We are officially 3 days into Q2 and many of us are already behind. The second quarter marks the beginning of Strategy & Finance & Managing Customer Value. The amount of course work is increased significantly, the time commitment required for recruiting events heightens and by the way, there is noooo social life. This heavily impacts my ability to write about life outside the classroom! Thus I will digress a little from my plan as the quarter progresses... and discuss some class material.

Last week was exams, I am warning you all now, the week is chaos. But everyone is equally disadvantaged, everyone is juggling the same course load and managing to come out OK. Remember it is hard to get an A or A+, but it is also hard to fail (provided you keep up and stay on top of the work).

The weekend between exams and Q2 is a fools break. By this I mean, Friday at 12 noon until Sunday at 4 pm, you can chill out. Then you look at your course list and you realize you have 2 chapters and 2 cases due for day 1. Some people jump on this over the weekend, others are still playing catch up. By day 2, we are swimming in work, and Tipsy Tuesday is like a memory that you attended the first two weeks of school, and won't be going to until the last day of Q2 exams.

This Friday we have a GBC Event, the Semi Formal Masquerade Ball, which should promise to be a fantastic night, followed by a busy weekend doing all the work required of us. Somewhere in there we are also supposed to be on top of our career research/ prep and by the way get some sleep!

Obviously life is a little busy now, and I am off to do more of that work!

Study, paper, presentation, paper, study.... repeat

2009-10-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

I have a theory that the social scene at MBA school is inversely related to the % of our grades be being determined in the next 10 days. So for example last weekend, there was some socializing (I missed out as I was in Ottawa, but there was still some activity). But that's because we had 1 paper due and 1 presentation due.
This weekend - on the eve of exam week, there were even fewer people from our class out last night. A cross grad school party with the Lawyers and the Doctors which I heard was fun. This afternoon, I went and checked out the Homecoming game. Sad to say U of T lost, but one of the players is in my class and he scored a Touch Down so that was very cool. Unfortunately - we were studying ECON in the stands with our trusty cue cards. Not tail-gating with a beer. So that was disappointing.
Number of students are finishing their FIT papers now, and moving on to ECON, our first exam. And this is where the true test of time management comes in. I have said before (and will say again I am sure) the MBA is a training operation on how to manage your time. So front loading can be a good skill to have. For example, our last exam is accounting, so leaving it till Thursday afternoon is simply a flawed strategy. But with ECON right around the corner, it is much more tempting to spend the next 48 hours focusing on that.
The most important point of this blog - is the Friday night of next week. We have been working on a bar/club of choice to go to Friday night and celebrate surviving Q1. A grassroots event popped up to go to the bar at 12:01 as soon as we finish our exam on Friday and manage to start making up for all the missed beers as soon as possible.

I suspect as our grades will have been behind, we will see a very large proportion of the student body out on Friday. At least I hope so!

Turkey and MBA's

2009-10-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you Canadians who may be coming to Toronto but have family near by, a tricky decision comes at Thanksgiving. What is traditionally a relaxing holiday, in undergrad is usually before or after a couple of midterms (ie some stress but manageable), and when working means one less day of the week.... becomes a "fake holiday" and hopefully you get to eat some turkey.

I have family in Ottawa, and while I really did want to see them, I also had to manage the balance of getting a lot of work done this weekend. You see, the whole Wednesday off thing, means that holiday Monday's classes just shift to Wednesday, so its not a lighter week, just more work to do in less time.

Plus, I have to mention, we have a paper due on Thursday and three midterm, two finals and a paper due next week. Now - hopefully we are all caught up and totally on top of things and have long since written amazing A + papers, mastered every bit of course material and are prepping for some light review next weekend in order to get straight A's on our exams.

One thing the Rotman MBA stresses is understanding that we see the world through our own eyes, and it is not reality, but our own reconstruction of reality. So in theory that model is entirely possible. If you are that student, I beg of you, please tell me (and my peers) how you do it. Because the general pulse i am gathering (and feeling myself) is that:

1. Hopefully paper number 1 due Thursday has a complete draft, with a couple of edits and reviews to ensure strength in content, for a quick re-read on Wednesday and then submitting the final paper with plenty of time for technical difficulties. (most of my colleagues are comfortably on this one)

2. Ideally - paper number 2 due next Tuesday has a healthy outline, maybe the workings of a introduction and some sketching of how you are going to build and rebuild the paper a few times. (some of my colleagues are well beyond this stage- but I bet most are just about here)

3. Course material - each exam will have different levels of comfort for each student, depending on their own strengths, education and how much that class has caught their attention to date. We don't really know all the details, and are relying a little too heavily on conjecture from second years to determine whats the most scary exam and which ones should be more manageable.
(most of us are focusing on one or two classes - Econ and Accounting for me - that we feel farthest behind on, but have the most potential to be successful if we get caught up)

Keep in mind, that the pace of these classes are much more rapid than anything you'll have experienced (likely) so getting behind in reading by two classes (like two lectures, not weeks) can mean you are behind 2 or 3 chapters.

The quizzes to date are a good way to force us to stay on top of things, but we have been warned (and so I pass the warning on to potential incoming students) the quizzes are not necessarily indicitive of the exams.

This week is the last week of classes - and then we have exam week, I will be sure to post some overall thoughts on Q1 next weekend, while they are fresh in my mind....

MPO - managing procrastination opportunities

2009-10-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have decided to provide the long since promised list of three letter accronyms you will learn by day two of MBA school at Rotman:

MBA: Masters of Business Administration (This one is important!!)
JDMBA: The combo degree for Law students and MBA students (Juris Doctor)
MFIN: masters in finance
GBC: graduate business council
PSO: program services office
CCC: corporate connections centre
BIC: Business Information Centre
UOT: University of Toronto

FIT: Foundations of Integrative Thinking
MPO: Managing People in organizations

IFRS: International Financial Reporting Standards
GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

GMAT: Graduate management admissions tests

There are a million other three letter acronyms and opportunities to make fun of them. I frequently update my facebook status with my interpretation of the day.

As we have a paper due this week for Managing People in Organizations, I have cleverly restated it as Managing Procrastination Opportunities. Currently procrastinating by updating my blog instead of re-writing my paper. First draft done, painful edit and confirmation that it is in fact correct... still to do.

At my mom's in Ottawa for the weekend, will update later on my thoughts on whether or not I recommend heading home for the long weekend, when finals are 10 days away...

Money makes the world go round...

2009-10-04T05:39:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I think I iced my stats quiz. The good news, is that had I studied more, I would not have even looked at the material that was tested on, so it was a curve ball, and I got other stuff done instead. The bad news is, if that is any indicator of the final, I am between a rock and a hard place. Hoping I can encourage some statistically inclined friends to walk me through some of it. And while I am at it, learn something for the economics quiz on Tuesday!

This blog posts in on "Money" because of the kick off of the RFA event on Friday. If you have ever checked out info sessions on starting careers in the Finance industry, you will learn about selective hearing and money. Selective hearing, because it seems like no one actually registers that the speaker just said "you have to work 100 hour work weeks, you don't control your time, and its super competitive to get in." All they hear is the starting salary is money, and the bonus is more money. I won't quote what they said, cause I am not sure it is backed up, but check out the graduating stats on approx earnings, the dollars won't be exactly bang on, but the idea is there.

After the meeting, two funny things happen. Half the attendees start planning how to get those lucrative jobs, lets start a group to practice together, lets read the paper everyday, lets do all this wonderful stuff that we don't really have time for, but now that we have heard the money we will make time for!

The other half are still scratching their heads trying to decide between consulting and finance and the many, many other lucrative careers available to post MBA's.

I fit in the former group. I am 99.99% sure I want a career in Finance, and have signed up for the stock pitch competition and have already been reading the paper every day. I was talking to my friends about getting prepared if we go the finance route. The short story is, prepare, prepare, prepare. Even if you are a finance rock star and know everything there is to know about finance. The interview process is demanding and grueling and doesn't allow for errors.

So as of right now we are in the prepare and study mode of school, which will continue for the next two years!

Stats Quiz & Season Opener don't mix...

2009-10-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

So one thing we have learned as MBA students, with a few exceptional situations, is that the MBA program doesn't really care that you have a life outside of school. A couple of students are expecting / observing religious holidays. For example this weeks Yom Kippur meant we had a more than usual number of absence in class. Professors and the program services office are very willing to accommodate reasonable situations that require some adjustments.

But, they are not flexible if you do poorly on a stats quiz because you had to watch the season opener of the Canucks versus Flames and simply could not settle for watching the highlights. Even though there are something like 80 more games to watch this season before post season, and a little exciting event I like to call the winter Olympics hosted in Vancouver (home town hollar!) so there will be plenty of hockey to follow this year, I simply cannot miss the first real game of the season.

Now the stats professor might say that if I am comfortable with the material, then that is perfectly acceptable. But I won't know if I am well and truly comfortable with stats until I never, ever have to take a statistics course ever again.

In my research to decide on Rotman, I spoke with students at other schools I had applied to, including Schulich. The student at Schulich was introduced to me because he was a Commerce undergraduate student from McGill (like me).

His (very sound) reasoning for choosing Schulich over Rotman (!) was that he already had a job, he required the MBA to receive promotions and would not be making a major career change, and had been offered advanced standing at Schulich. A lot of the benefit of Rotmans two year program is the opportunity to get a flavour of all the different disciplines and recruit for summer positions. His candid reason for choosing Schulich "I sure as hell wasn't going to take stats again."

I am thinking about that statement, and if I felt that I was in any course where I wasn't learning anything, I would be much more upset. But for the time being, I am getting something from every single class I attend. Sometimes its more than others, but there hasn't been a 'waste of time' class yes, not something I can say I believed in undergrad.

Today's quote of the day: "Studying for stats is a stable process in what on earth am I talking about?"

This weekend is the CIBC Run for the Cure, followed by my first 'official' networking event of the year - a brunch with the folks at McKinsey. Will be sure to post some thoughts on that & maybe some insight into the Rotman Finance Association club which kicks off tomorrow night.

Week at a glance...

2009-09-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

This blog post will be more of a diary entry on how busy this week has been, than any particular theme.

Thursday: Quiz, all day classes, Greys Anatomy

Friday: Class, quiz, Afternoon of work, MCA kick off, event with fellow classmates

Saturday: work alllll day on readings, homework, prep for stats project, dinner with friends

Sunday: Work in the morning, Ultimate practice, study at school, grocery shopping & clean apartment

Monday: All day classes, study in the afternoon, brief meeting with group, first ultimate game, dinner and drinks with some of the team, home to do readings before bed

Tuesday: Classes, lunch with fellow class reps, study & project prep, dinner, RAMA kick off meeting, FIT Tutorial, Tipsy Tuesday

Wednesday: morning work, Rotman Ambassador interview, group emails & meetings, case prep session, FIT paper discussion with professor, work on application to international study tour, attend Google speaker session (which was fantastic!), dinner with friends, back at Rotman studying.

I guess there is a theme, life is incredibly busy but on the plus side, there were a few social events thrown in there. I have heard from some of my new second year friends, that we ain't seen nothing yet. So I anticipate seeing the hours of sleep go down, the hours of social time go down and the hours of study/ group work rise significantly.

Another event worth noting, we tied our ultimate game on Monday! Next week going for the win!

Intramural Sports @ Rotman

2009-09-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

So we are officially half way through the first quarter. This means we have been in class for 3 weeks, we have 3 weeks of class time left, followed by 1 week of exams/papers.

One thing that the 2nd years told us early in the quarter was to exercise. The more school builds up in terms of time demands and deadlines, the more likely it is to put off going to the gym. I am definitely one of those people who will come up with any excuse not to work out (I am so tired, sick, behind in school, I just straightened my hair... you get the idea). But the reality is, we all need to clear our heads a little, and running around, stretching out the muscles, and working up a sweat is a great way to do that.

This brings me to my main point. The constant balance at MBA school is to develop friendships and your network, and study, study, study. I have always signed up for intramural sports teams at school, work and more recently the Rotman Ultimate team, because its a commitment to exercise once a week AND a great chance to meet people outside of your immediate program.

This morning we had our second Ultimate practice, with a smaller turnout than last week, but fun non the less, and I met second years and a part time student. These are people that it is often difficult to mingle with throughout the regular means because they are exceptional busy. (still working and or recruiting for jobs etc).

But, by simply joining a sports team, you hang out once a week, occasionally go for dinner/drinks after and getting that oh so important little bit of exercise to prevent the MBA version of the Freshman 15.

We have our first game tomorrow night, so I am sure I will be going back to this topic from time to time, keep you posted on whether I still think its a good idea in the first week of November when the season is wrapping up and I am freezing my butt off.

In reference to a previous post on clubs, we also had the kick off meeting for the Management Consulting Club. It was both informative and discouraging, and had one major message. Thanks for signing up & if you don't get the grades that put you in the top 20% of the class then good luck. This is not a hard and fast rule, but a general idea. It is how consulting firms work, they hire MBA's and they generally hire the best of the best, taking advantage of the selection mechanism that MBA school in general provides.

I'll post about that more as the quarter moves on. For now I must go study for Statistics because I have a quiz coming up this week and am watching my calendar book up at a rapid fire rate, so I need to get a jump start.

Information as a Commodity

2009-09-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

In my initial post I pledged to keep my blog focused on the Rotman Experience outside of the classroom. I am going to stretch that a little, and propose that tutorials are not included in the class time requirements, are optional for attendance and are run by other students (scholars) and are therefore fair game.

It is now week 3 of our program, which actually means that we are half way through our first term! If you can believe it, we have had 3 of the 5 quizzes that we are responsible for this quarter, and have another one next week. We are knee deep in project planning for stats, and completely confused in terms of paper/presentation expectations everywhere else.

In undergrad, part of earning good grades was recognizing when you needed extra help and attending the available tutorials to gain a deeper understanding of the material. In grad school, everyone got B+ or higher in undergrad, many earning A's and A+ marks, especially in fourth year. So when the work load starts piling up, we look for additional sources of information.

We take five classes a week, and can attend up to five tutorials a week. Students tend to attend a tutorial to find out what is being covered, then depart at varying intervals until the end of the session. In a program where 275 people are trying to accomplish the same thing, with very similar information sources, information becomes a bit of a commodity. If you want to make friends share your notes!

I have attended at least one tutorial for each class and my insights are as follows; you can measure peoples level of comfort/interest in any given class by the rate at which they leave the room. Several sessions start with over 60 people, and end with less than 20 as people get antsy, hungry, bored and otherwise distracted. The MOST frustrating thing is if you are trying to get help, and people are they goofing off and making noise. I admit I am sometimes that person (so I try to get up and leave) to avoid being disruptive.

Word to the wise, attend tutorials early and often so you can determine their level of helpfulness, meet your scholars and make an informed decision later. The last thing you want is to show up day before an exam and go "wow this was helpful, I should have been coming here all along!"

GBC Election Results

2009-09-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

The GBC Election results are in. I am happy to share that I have been elected as the Section 4 class rep, and get to work with a wonderful group of people (11 other first years in sports, social and class rep roles) as well as the existing 2nd year executives of the GBC.

A quick note of thanks to everyone for trusting me with this role! I will be sure to provide some more insight in the position (as I am able) as the year progresses.

Politics and MBA's

2009-09-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

This week we have elections for the representatives to the GBC. To break it down for you, we have 3 reps in each of the four sections, 1 social, 1 sports and 1 academic (class) rep. The different sections had different levels of interest and it turned out I was in the keener section.

I am running for class rep (speeches were yesterday - votes tallied tomorrow & announced the day after - stay tuned) and had 3 other candidates for class rep in my section, 5 people interested in social and another 5 interested in sports rep. In one of the other sections, there were 2 class reps, 3 socials and the sports rep won by default. The other two sections fell somewhere in the middle.

In our class, I have noticed that people aren't really campaigning, its more about "give a quick speech & if after the past 2 to 4 weeks plus 1 minute speech, you don't know me... then toss a coin." I say this because, by default, everyone in our program would make a "good" class/social/sports rep. To do any of these positions, you need to have some social/networking inclination, and some organizational skills. In order to convince two of your former bosses to write you a reference letter, and jump through the hoops of the MBA application process, you need to have organizational skills.

Speeches were yesterday, mine boiled down to "please vote for me!" and I don't think there was a significant difference in the class rep speeches. BUT I will give kudos to the Sports & Social reps who came up with some pretty creative 1 minute summaries of why they would be great. Including some songs turned into speeches, a video from a class mate who was out sick, a creative social math equation, an invitation to a party & a full on sports get up complete with Leafs Jersey.

The second years I have spoken with have said "its a popularity contest" so the speeches may be a mute point. But my advice to incoming students, if you run for a spot - make your speech fun, because even if you don't win, your section has to stay after class to listen to about 30 minutes worth of speeches and you can certainly make some friends by being a little entertaining.

To conclude this post - 2 of my friends from another section, the only 2 candidates for social rep, decided to do their speeches together, and then proposed to decide the "winner" by way of a drinking event. Some students rejected the idea of taking the democracy out of the process, so in the end they defaulted to votes & had the drinking contest for fun. Two guys who will a) go to the bar on a Tuesday when they have a Thursday AND Friday quiz, and b) chug not one, but two (they tied first round), beers to decide on social-ness both deserve major high fives.

For your information - GBC is Graduate Business Council. And my next post will likely be a summary of the three letter acronyms you can expect throughout your Rotman experience.

Facebook in Higher Education

2009-09-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

A little facebook history to preface today's entry. Originally launched as The Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg created and launched the site while he was a student at Harvard University, so Facebook has been intended for use of University students for social means since its inception.

In my undergraduate days the site was getting started, had gained wide spread popularity and was still a campus only network, where you had to have a email address with a participating university to get logged on. This created a feel of exclusivity on the site. As users built their networks, they were comfortable 'friending' people because it was all in good fun.

These day's facebook is much much more than that. It is not just your friends from school, its your boss, your brother, your mother and the girl who is a waitress at the bar you always go to. This is a mixed blessing. You can easily get in touch with people if you lost a phone number, can't reach them on email, or have simply been out of touch. But it also means that your old boss see's that photo that the waitress tagged you in from Friday night. See where I am going with this?

In Rotman Orientation, we were told about the do's and don'ts of recruiting. One thing they touched on was to pay attention to your facebook. The recruiter you are talking to may be curious enough to see what kind of social life you have before they call you in for an interview, and they may see the aforementioned picture and decide they are looking for someone more 'serious.'

Now that I have outlined the facebook evils, let me touch on the great things about facebook. When I had applied and been offered admission to Rotman, I also searched the facebook world to see if there was a group. The wonderful program services people had set one up that required all members be part of the incoming full time MBA class. This meant that as many as 6 months before the program even started, and I was even living in Toronto, I was trading messages & moving tips with other students from class. In effect, we met online.

Now that we have (almost) all met, and are normalizing into a routine and studying (which means procrastinating) we are having a new facebook world. In planning a few social events these past few weeks, I have shamelessly used facebook as a tool to communicate, and while it is great, there is a fine line between spamming your new friends and including them in events.

The solution is a facebook group for fun - social events for members of the Rotman Community. We can all host events for everyone, if you are looking for someone who wants to go for sushi or plan a ski trip, we can communicate with each other there. By starting this group, and adding on many many admins, we are hoping to have a many to many communication flow.

So far over 150 members of our class have signed up, factoring for people not on facebook, and people not interested in hearing about every social event, we have a pretty great sign up record. Here's to hoping the 'model' works and that it can be passed on from year to year.

Fast Times @ Rotman High

2009-09-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

I am working on this theory (and I may refer back to it from time to time), that MBA school is like High School except we are of legal drinking age and are spending a hell of a lot more money to be here. A great chit lit book that painted this picture is Sarah Mlynowski's* Monkey Business. She writes a fictional story about an entering class of MBA students who are all living in the same on campus residence building and it makes you wonder just how far you have to come to be back in high school.

The first comparison I will make is in terms of the actual environment. All of the classes are in one building, our class of roughly 265 students is segregated into 4 sections, and you stay in the same room all day, while professors come to you. Students are given lockers to store belongings and tend to socialize, eat, study and just hang out at school.

Being in an MBA program means you have a group of people who are very diverse in terms of experience, academic and ethnicity, but have 2 very important things in common.

The first is that they have an interest and have made a commitment to get an MBA. This can mean they have a strong desire to better manage a business and believe that the MBA will give them the tools to do this. Or that they want to increase their ability to generate future cash flows. (ie get paid more money).

The second is that they got into B-School, and at Rotman, more importantly they got into the best school in the country. This means the student body is smart, can demonstrate community involvement and has quality work experience to draw from.

For these reasons students don't exactly break out according to their breakfast club characters (brain, athlete, basket case, princess and criminal) as we might see in the high school setting, but we do break into groups according to career interest. I am told by second year students that as the year goes on, the Management Consulting students all hang out, the Finance students all stick together, the Marketing students team up etc.... We have yet to see this in our class, but the job hunt has yet to begin so we can only wait and see.

As you can see this theory is scattered and will either develop over time or completely disappear. For now, I must sign off to get some readings done.

*Note: (Mlynowski is a fellow McGill Alumni though I have never met her, I do enjoy her novels)

Blast From The Past - Thoughts on Pre Program / Orientation

2009-09-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

The pre program is designed to create an even playing field for all incoming students. There is some basic jargon, TLA's and commonly used formula that are introduced as pre-requisites because the content of the core courses assume each new student is in the know.

As I had a commerce background I was debating the value of attending. Turns out the class material was interesting - even if it was review, and a great chance to practice being a student again. Yes I am saying I needed to practice the art of education. It is a big change to go from an office environment to a classroom setting and it takes some serious adjusting.

The other added benefit of pre program is the definitive social aspect. Coming from out of town my Toronto network was very limited. I was planning on relying heavily on school to develop friendships and knew my enjoyment of the MBA program would be largely linked to this assumption. So while I was setting up my new home, getting internet and basic kitchen gadgets, I attended lectures and more importantly - I meet about 50% of my classmates before we even attended orientation.

Since starting proper classes (which are all in the same room with the same people and the professors come to you) there are many of my pre program friends whom I don't see much of anymore. The question some people ask - can you make friends if you don't attend pre-program? is easily answered: YES! Everyone in our class is friendly and willing to introduce themselves (sometimes more than once) and there is plenty of opportunity to mix and mingle.

A big part of that comes at Orienation Camp. If there is one thing in the pre program line up that you must not miss, its camp. This is a 3 day bonding session with about 70 second years and 230 other members of your incoming class.

There is a lot of scheduled activity, 15 different 'networking' events, a wicked costume party, lots of available food and beverage, and lots of shaking hands. But this is a great opportunity to spend time with your new classmates in the most laid-back environment you will see them in all year.

Come fall, the events and club fairs start, and people start dressing in business casual most of the time.... and the reality of the MBA program starts to take hold. (i am still happily naive and will let you know when I start to stress out seriously.)

By the way, TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms) will be very present in the entire MBA experience - and every now and then you will realize you said an entire sentence with half words and half acronyms and wonder what happend.

Student Clubs Fair

2009-09-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

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:

rotman finance association
business design club
energy and natural resources group
management consulting association
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.

First Tipsy Tuesday

2009-09-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

First year Rotman Students operate on a very busy schedule. We have approximately 20 hours of class a week, spread over four days, with numerous tutorials that are optional but very useful and a whole bunch of extra-curricular activities, clubs and events offered.

By spreading classes over four days, we get Wednesday's off. Don't be fooled, this is designed for group work, catching up on readings and networking. Of course in typical student fashion, a regular night out has been introduced on Tuesday nights, aptly named Tipsy Tuesday.

The first examinable event was the Managerial Economics Quiz. The first real Tipsy Tuesday same day. The turn out at Tipsy Tuesday last night was lots of fun. It was one of the first real opportunties to meet and chat with 2nd Year students, who are a very valuable resource, as they were in our seats exactly one year ago and are able to provide some guidance.

And most importantly, it was a great chance to relax with our classmates. I may have stayed a little too late, making my first Wednesday off less productive, but also met a bunch of people and learned a bit about the various student run clubs. Trying to capture the perfect balance between studying and networking is going to be a big part of the MBA experience.

This afternoon is the student club fair, so I will update on my impressions of that in the near future. Stay tuned.

Who am I? (In 226 words or less)

2009-09-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

In a round about introduction to this blog, I'd like to talk about myself. This is hopefully the first and last blog post that will focus on me.

If the Vancouver Canucks are doing well, they may be mentioned in this blog, otherwise I will aim to stay on the topic of one students MBA Experience outside of the classroom. This will include, but not be limited to, the student clubs, the recruiting, the general program and of course the "social scene."

First and foremost, I pledge to write candidly. I will NOT be writing about gossip. And I will aim to inform the readers (prospective students & fellow classmates) of the many benefits that can come from what is ultimately your network of relationships developed throughout the MBA program.

Finally some vital stats for those who are curious:

name: Katie L Schwitzer
gender: female
age: 24 (for a few more months)
hometown: Vancouver BC
undergraduate degree: Commerce (Marketing/Finance)
alma matter: McGill University
most recent job title: Business Development Coordinator
most recent company: Blast Radius Inc.

some descriptive stats:

reason for getting an MBA: to improve my marketability & develop a lifelong network
reason for writing a blog: to inform the prospective students of some aspects of the Rotman experience that you gain from your peers instead of your professors
reason for calling the blog "our world": a clever play on words for the Rotman website "RWorld"