Midterms, marketing, and more midterms...

Rain, rain, go away...
(Don't) come again another day...
Fromcali wants to go and play...
Rain, rain, go away...

If it's one thing the rain is doing is making me less motivated to go out and play, and more likely to sit inside someplace (not home, because I'd just watch football) and study (well, during the afternoon anyway - I feel like going out tonight). That's probably a good thing, since I have stats and accounting tests due/on Monday, and I've actually gotten a lot of stats done. We all had our Econ midterm this past Friday, and it went OK. I found it to be deceptively easy, so either I did pretty well on it (doubtful given my level of confusion caused by the lack of effort I was giving that class) or there's some fundamental concept of microeconomics that completely went over my head. A lot of people had the same comments: "I didn't like problem #X", "I kept looking for the trick on the such-and-such problem...it couldn't have been as easy as doing Y..." I'm just glad it's done.

On the class front, I'm enjoying the professors, and I'm enjoying the actual subject matter more now than I did earlier on, since I'm starting to see how the different classes relate to each other (they tried to tell us before, but it took me a while to fully "get" it). I swear I was in econ last week and thought "so THAT's where stats comes into play". I'm also finding it hard to keep things straight. Example: barriers of entry has been mentioned in both strategy AND econ, and while it means the same thing (sorta), you speak about it from a different perspective. I must admit though, that I'm more excited for Fall B classes than my current ones. I'm taking finance (the "easy" one for people who didn't waive out of accounting), two marketing electives, and a management class. I'm excited to see how the Fall A concepts can be applied to Fall B.

One thing I forgot to mention - I'm a marketing club corporate liasion! That means that I am matched with a leading CPG company and have to do a lot of logistical thigs to ensure their visit/corporate presenation goes smoothly. I'm excited - especially at the company I'm matched with. I've met them before and their culture as a whole is pretty good. It's an awesome networking opportunity and I'm happy that they get to meet me one-on-one. I'm also looking for an opportunity to get involved with the Marketing Symposium (our biggest marketing event) in November. OK, it's not that hard to get involved - I just need to formally volunteer for something. That's definitely one of the biggest marketing club events of the year - complete with panels, speakers, and a career fair. Definitely a must-do for anyone interested in marketing (and in a CPG company at that).

One question I've been getting a lot: "are you going to West Coast Forum"? I'm still not sure. This is another great opportunity to network with West Coast companies, and if you're set on working in California (particularly for a tech company), it's *THE* event to go to. I'm not entirely sure if I want to work for the companies there. I used to work in tech, so I am more interested in going the CPG route for my internship and potentially do my MAP with a tech company. Then I'll decide which one I like more for the full-time job hunt.

I'm now trying to decide whatI feel like doing during fall break. Options are: stay in AA and sleep, go to bay area to visit friends, go to NYC to visit other friends (who are also students). I'm leaning towards option A or possibly C. Bay area would be nice, but what would I do during the day while people are working. Hmm...

It really IS like drinking water from a firehose

Long time no blog. Things have been crazy! Prior to b-school, I thought people were exaggerating when they referred to the craziness that is the first term. But now I believe them. Between classes, clubs, etc., I really don't have a lot of time to sleep. Or even cook. (Why did I buy spices?) I've been having a slightly more difficult "adjustment period" than i initially expected to have.

The biggest transition has been to actually be a student. Admittedly, I didn't work terribly hard for the last 6-9 months of my old job, so I got used to being kinda lazy. Even though I was bored out of my mind at my old job, and I like being mentally challenged now, I'm having a hard time actually motivating myself to do homework. Also, even when I did work hard, I tried to minimize the amount of work that I brought home. Now, it's strange to think "ok, done with class, I gotta go home and read/study now". I realized I was a student about a week ago when I had 3 assignments due on the same day (Econ problem set, accounting midterm, stats quiz). And the funny part is that accounting was the only class I actually had the day the 3 assignments were due. I've got another crazy busy work week/weekend coming up. Econ midterm friday (I'm not good at econ), accounting test next monday, stats quiz due next week. Wish me luck!

Which leads me to another transition - B-school social life. At the very beginning of RLP and right before classes, I was getting a bit nervous that most social events seemed to involve keg-stands of nasty beer, beer pong, and acting like we're freshmen in college again. Plus, at the very beginning, I also felt like I had to go to EVERYTHING. I'm not that much of a drinker, so a lot of these events were just starting to seem old to me. But, as people realized that we're not 19, and we've gotten homework, and I've found friends with similar interests, I've started to feel more "at home" socially. I mean, there are still the crazy drinking activities, but there are also people who like to chill. And you don't feel like I have to go to everything anymore either. Plus, a lot of section events (at least in my section) are more mellow anyway. That makes me much happier.

One difference in social life between California life and b-school life: I can't plan activities to do based on the weather. It rains all of the time here. And very suddenly. I've seen it beautiful at 2pm only to have it storm at 4pm. Then it's nice out again by about 5:30. I was mentally prepared to deal with cold in winter, but sudden downpours (that sometimes make it hard to drive)? Then last week was cold and i was dressed in my winter gear: sweater, leather jacket, and boots. I've heard it's an El Nino year - I know that means rain at home, but does that translate into snow out here?

And finally, the best adjustment. Michigan football. It's awesome to be 4-0 (and not just b/c my undergrad is 0-4). But it's just incredible to see how this whole town basically rallies around the football team, and how things almost shut down on a Football saturday. The Notre Dame game definitely increased momentum, and we had over 111,000 fans at the game on Saturday (including me). The Pac-10 is nothing like this. At home, and in undergrad, we would go to the game then come home. Here, the game is an all-day event divided into 4 parts: the bus, the game, the UMBSA tailgate, the bus (again)

"The Bus". This is a school bus painted to resemble a helmet. And where you can get your 10am drinkfest on. I don't actually drink much there, but it's just cool to be part of that. You pass a lot of tailgates on the way to the bus, and "the bus" has beer pong and awesome music. Definitely a good place to socialize, run into friends, and meet up to go to the game. That is, if you make it to the game...

The game - awesome! Nothing like having 111,000 fans chanting "you suck" whenever the opponent doesn't make a 3rd down conversion. Or "Hail to the victors" when we win (followed by people lifting people and bouncing them up and down). Games are even more fun when we win.

UMBSA tailgate - these are awesome because 1) they're a good place to wind down after the game, 2) they're sponsored by companies that recruit on campus and there's good networking, and 3) you get food (probably for the first time all day). This weekend's was sponsored by Target, and they brought in good food from Zingerman's.

The bus (part 2) - people go back to the bus to finish partying (and get their $5-worth in beer). I never make it back to the bus since I'm always tired after the game, but the bus goes on all night.

So that's it. I'm starting to feel more adjusted and am hoping that at one point, I'll feel like I have more control over my schedule. Now to get back to my strategy reading.

First Week of Class

Just finished day 2 of classes. Like many semester business schools, Michigan divides the fall semester into two half-semesters, known as Fall A and Fall B. I'm in Fall A right now, and since I didn't waive out of anything, I'm taking Financial Accounting, Managerial Economics, Corporate Strategy, and Stats. And even though it's only the end of day 2, I can already sense a massive difference between my classes and undergrad.

First, umm, undergrad classes were only an hour - not 2 hours, 20 minutes. Granted, the 2+ hour classes don't seem to last 2 hours. Classes seem much more interactive - we have name cards, the professors actually ask if we're understanding their material, and encourage discussion - even in stats/accounting! The professors seem REALLY accessible, and definitely committed to students. Plus, they seem to really enjoy being here. Yes, this is probably a given for many MBA programs, but it's new to me. I can tell right now that my favorite class is going to strategy. I just really enjoyed the reading and discussion that followed.

There's quite a bit of section bonding going on. Our "shout-off" is tomorrow, and of course we're going to win. :) Then the MBA games are on Friday. I'm especially looking forward to the MBA games since I get to play sports I was somewhat good at when I was 10. :) I hope it doesn't rain though. I'm so over this "sudden rainstorms in the afternoon" thing. Especially when it was beautiful just a few hours prior to this. I mean, it's hard to find something to wear when you have to dress for several meterological phenomena in a single day.

I'm starting to understand that MBA student life comparison to "drinking from a firehose". Between the club events I'm trying to decide on, career events coming up, and pesky little class/homework, I'm not sure when I'll actually get to sleep. Hmm...

Quick Update

People keep calling/e-mailing me asking for an update, so I'm providing a quick one. I'll write more detail either later tonight or tomorrow, but things have been so hectic (and I've been so tired and/or hungover - MBA's love to party like undergrads) that I've been bad about keeping in touch this past week. Plus the time zone thing is annoying. I'm sorry!

Anyway, RLP (orientation) was from last Thursday (8/24) - this past Thursday (8/31). I'm actually kind of glad it's over. It started off slowly but the events definitely got better as time progressed. Thursday was community service day (and my favorite day), and the different sections went to various sites in Detroit (some in other parts of Michigan) and basically did some sort of beautification project. Most of it involved cleaning up, pulling weeds, one section demolished a crack house...It was good, except that my allergies started acting up big time. Each section then came up with cheers that they used to taunt other sections and promote themselves. Some were clever, a lot were variatons of rap songs, and some were just plain bad. My favorite was the Executive MBA's chant of "We have jobs, we have cash!"

Other than that, I've decided to bite the bullet and just go to IKEA. I went for "cheap IKEA" so I still didn't spend a ton of money, but now I have to put together a ton of crap. That'll take up a big part of this weekend.

Classes start Tuesday, and I've already got reading due! Huh?

I'm off to tailgating! I'm not sure I'll make it to the actual game (who knew Vanderbilt had a football team?), but "the bus" and tailgating should be fun in itself!

More later!