Home stretch

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!