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
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Random Update
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:
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:
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
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!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Toronto
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Fourth Week Second Year
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!
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!
Monday, September 20, 2010
First Week Second Year
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!
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!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Back to School
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Summary of First Year
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.
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.
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