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!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Study, paper, presentation, paper, study.... repeat
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!
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!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Turkey and MBA's
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....
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....
Saturday, October 10, 2009
MPO - managing procrastination opportunities
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...
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...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Money makes the world go round...
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!
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!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Stats Quiz & Season Opener don't mix...
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
