Summer's Almost Over

Wow - what happened to summer? Am I really in the midst of PowerPoint hell (that reminds me a lot of MAP powerpoint hell)? Wow. Things are still going well, and here's a highlight of the past few weeks.

* Midterm review with boss went well. I asked if there were any areas that are showing up as "red flags", and boss said "if there were, you'd know..."
* We're officially second years. Got an email saying that.
* Recruiting is starting to ramp up - our resumes are due Friday - aah! I should get on that...
* Shopped around recommendations for final presentaion and got good feedback. Started to circulate pieces of the final presentation.

Now I get to practice for the final presentation which is coming up MUCH faster than I want it to. I'm excited to give it, and a little nervous.

conversation with my boss

Sippets of conversations i've had with my boss:

boss: hi fromcali, how is it going?
me: good, i'm just doing this analysis that i said i was going to do earlier
boss: good, well i'm going to need you to do some analysis on this instead. i have some other stuff i need your to help me with. can you help me out?
me, thinking "can i actually say "no": sure, no problem. who should i talk to about the more nitty gritty details?

a couple of days later...
me: here boss, i have the analysis for you.
boss: this is solid.
me: cool, thanks, glad to help.
boss: you keep doing good work, i'll keep giving you more things to do.
me, wondering if my internship wasn't enough work: uhh, thanks.

So I guess things are going well.

Summer is Halfway Done

Wow - time flies when you are having fun! Not only is my summer internship halfway (ok, more like 1/3 of the way) done, the actual SUMMER is about halfway done. MAP was done two months ago (we got a good grade), and i'm a little over two months before school starts.

Work's going really well! i really like this job, and this is so what I should be doing. I can also really see myself here full time, so there is even more pressure on my part to get an offer. Although, at this point, I'm thinking I'll be in good shape - my manager is very pleased with the work I've done thus far. That makes me very happy. I know I've still got quite a ways to go, but it's always nice to make a good first impression. :)

I think I like it so much because I almost don't feel like an "intern". I know I am, but I'm doing real, day-to-day work, so I really just feel like part of the brand team. And I've gotten to do some high-profile stuff. Sometimes I wish we had fewer "intern" events/lunches since it's hard to find time to do the actual work, but I've enjoyed them nonetheless.

One thing I did not expect was this "intern paranoia". This isn't to be confused with "overly competitive". Basically, you get scared that every single thing you do is being evaluated. Like "did I say the right thing in the casual meeting with so-and-so?" or "oh no, I used Tahoma font instead of Arial font, hope that makes me fit in", or "uh oh, I sneezed. Hope they don't take that to mean I'm allergic to the company culture". OK, it's not quite that bad, but since I'm constantly being evaluated (and because our pictures are everywhere with signs saying "the interns are coming"), and there's this whole "job offer" thing hanging over my head, I've tended to freak out at certain things.

We'll see. I've got my midpoint review in the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

Getting used to work again...

Wow, long time no blog. It's been a month! Insane! Between finishing school, travelling a little bit, visiting friends/family, moving to new place (again), trying to find my way around (again), new job, new lingo, new coworkers, new boss...let's just say I've been busy. Good busy though - Michigan ends EARLY, so I've kind of been bored for about a month with nothing to do.

Things are going well. I'm liking my project, my boss seems cool, I like my fellow interns, and this company is a really good fit for me. It's definitely going to be a challenging job but I can get a lot out of it. My goal: get an offer. No matter if I see myself here full-time, getting the offer is going to make life in the fall much better. I am still nervous about my project b/c it seems kinda huge, but we'll see...I know it'll be good once I figure it out. Hell, if I can figure out the MAP lingo (and MAP is basically a 6-week internship), I can figure out my new company lingo.

Although things are going well - there are some challenges. Mostly getting used to working again. It's hard to get up, have to actually plan an outfit (instead of the jeans/t-shirt that happens to be clean combo at b-school), get to the office, and stay there all day. I'm a little nervous that b-school has decreased my attention span and my capacity to actually be at one place for longer than an hour and a half...Everyone is going through this. Though it will be nice to get paid. :) And to look forward to receiving money that I don't have to pay back eventually!

More to come during the summer as I figure things out.

School's done...now what?

The end of MAP (which meant the end of first year) was very "anti-climactic". We started off the year with balloons, get togethers, etc. We then go through the intensity of learning a new town, making friends, getting used to being a student again, recruiting, etc. After that slows down, we get this major MAP kickoff, complete with student speakers, the dean, balloons, etc. MAP was intense, then all of a sudden the presentations were done, the report was turned in -- and that was it. It just was done. I'm not sure what i would have liked to have (and I'm also not sure what our willingness to sit through a meeting would be), but it seemed like there wasn't any time for the first years to get together (either via sections or as a whole) to reflect on this experience, or just to have one last "horrah" before embarking for the summer. I don't count that last Scorekeepers happy hour - people were just generally tired from either staying up all night to finish the paper or being in a M-Trek/CPR training all day. To be fair, I think part of that was because MAP was due Thursday (the 26th) at 3, and MBA2 graduation was that Friday.

School's been done for about a week and a half...it's very strange. Kind of sad, actually. Internship doesn't start for another couple of weeks and I haven't moved to my new place yet. People in the "real world" have jobs so during the day I've been trying to keep myself occupied by doing stuff for my extracurriculars. While it's been great to get a good night's sleep and catch up on TV shows (not to mention the Dallas/Golden State basketball series - I BELIEVE!), I'm kind of looking forward to starting my internship. I'm not good at having nothing major to do for any long period of time. I'll get used to it. I'm just a bit bored. (And poor - I'm really looking forward to a paycheck!)

Although I'm really excited for my internship to start, I'm also a bit nervous. These are normal jitters with starting anything new, but i've got a new set of questions. What if I don't like marketing? What if I get lost (in my third state in less than a year)? What if I don't do well? What if I don't like that city? What if my old work clothes don't fit me? (Yeah, things may be a bit "snug" - beer and pizza have sorta caught up to me this winter.) I'll be fine once it starts but I'm in a mood -- the combination of being away from friends, being bored, and being nervous have made me a bit sad.

On a more pleasant note, things are working together for the summer. I've got transportation taken care of, housing, utilities, etc. I'm still waiting to hear about my specific project (as are a lot of other people), but I'm getting more excited

First Year of B-School is Done!

With all of the MAP craziness, I haven't had time to check my fromcali e-mail or ClearAdmit to see the results. I'm very happy that I was in the top 3! (I guess that makes me the "Wharton" of student bloggers.) Thanks for all of your support and votes, and I'm glad I was helpful. Also - I'm now trying to decide between the economist and business week. I'm leaning towards the economist but am still unsure. Congrats to the rest of the top ranked bloggers!

Here's a summary of events from my last post (and over the last week) which explains why I almost forgot about BoB until I had time to check my gmail.

* Spend a lot of time finalizing the faculty presentation.
* MAP Faculty Presentation.
* Spend time making edits based on faculty comments and "feedback" they gave us after our presentation. Wonder why I never heard these questions or concerns despite our having shown them earlier drafts of this and explaining what we've been doing before. Also, spend time incorporating their feedback and and trying to tailor it for the sponsor - read: spend less time describing the company and the project and get to the recommendations.
* Deliver MAP Sponsor Presentation.
* (While doing powerpoint edits) - try to come up with a 30 page paper and what seems to be endless appendices. Realize it's hard to make a group 30 page paper not look like several individual 5 of 6 page papers slapped together. It's REALLY REALLY hard to make it read as one cohesive unit.
* Get ready to print and turn in after realizing you can't just email it to the professor (ugh).
* Realize that the paper (which at this point with appendices and figures is WELL over 50 pages) isn't allowed to be printed on a regular printer. Dig up email with printing specifications (high quality paper, etc) and spend time going to get professional printing and binding done by our 3pm deadline today.
* Turn in project.

Now off to celebrate! Yay! I'm half of a MBA now! Time FLEW! I swear just yesterday i was getting here for RLP.

4 more days :(

Until first year is over...I just can't believe it's gone by SO QUICKLY! I'm almost halfway done. It's a very strange feeling.

I have very mixed feelings about being halfway done with my MBA. On one hand, I'm really excited for this year to be over b/c I'm sick of writing this stupid paper and constantly revising the powerpoint deck for our final presentation later in the week. On the other, I'm sad to be away from my friends for the summer. Between interviewing and MAP, i feel like I've barely seen my friends this term. :(

it's MAP crunch time!