And here it is, the end of the dreaded first semester at CBS. It was as tough as, no - tougher than, everyone said it would be. Finals were brutal, and we all pretty much felt slaughtered at the end of most of them. I'm really proud of how much I've learned in only this first semester. Some of that learning happened in classrooms, but a lot of it happened in chats with 2nd years, alums, and definitely classmates.
I have to say the toughest course for me was Corporate Finance. I just didn't get how the mechanics of say... the optimal capital structure related to the big picture. How did the specific steps we took relate to a firm's value? In the end, it all came together a few hours before the exam with lots of help from fellow BBSA classmates who had lots of prior exposure to how these concepts worked in the real world. I also had a great professor.
Econ wasn't a tough course, but the concepts we would touch on in class had nothing to do with the assignments, which in turn had nothing to do with the final. To make matters worse, I had a Jekyll/Hyde character as my prof. At the beginning of the semester he would laugh at us and tell us we were taking it all way too seriously, but this same guy turned out to be the most inflexible and rigid prof many of us had ever had. I'm so glad to say "Thank goodness it's over." He won't be seeing me in any of his other classes.
Creating Effective Organizations, or CEO as we fondly called it, was hated by many, especially the quant jocks. But I was glad of the opportunity to engage in debate about issues that weren't easy to identify. Besides, the prof was a long-haired sociologist which made him that much more interesting.
So what are we all doing now that it's over and we can get our full 7 to 10 hours of sleep every night? (hey, that 10 is because we have a lot of catching up to do!) We're travelling, skiing, eating, drinking, and taking deep breaths. Oh yeah, and we're waiting to see if we made it onto closed lists for the companies we applied to. In order to interview with a firm so as to have a shot at a summer internship, we first have to make it onto the firm's "closed list" which is a list of students the firm would like to interview. I'll keep you guys updated. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Happy Holidays!
I can't believe how quickly this semester went by. A couple of weeks ago, I was excited about my re-discovered tolerance for alcohol, now here it is: the end of classes for Fall '04.
What does end of semester at CBS bring? It brings resume submission deadlines. Everyone who is jobhunting wants to land that ideal summer gig. That means unending coffee chats, presentations, fireside chats, brown bag lunches and best of all, "infomationals". ('Informationals' is in quotes because the truth for us is that 95% of the time, they're opportunities to showcase your passion for the industry, knowledge of the company, charm and skillset. NOT the time to ask how the company makes its money.) I would say I focused more on recruiting than anything else this semester.
End of semester brings finals. Yikes! Thank goodness I didn't have to blow off too many classes for recruiting-related activities. Still, I haven't quite studied in the true sense of the word this semester. I prepared for classes, met with my group (yes, even on weekends), handed in (most) assignments, made valuable contributions in (some) classes. And that was pretty much it. Didn't have time to do more than that.
End of semester brings parties. We had kind of slowed down on the social tip for a minute there. That's all about to change...starting with the on-campus party the night of the final day of classes. I'd say a good 50% of partygoers were feeling quite alright. I don't even want to think about the wild abandon sure to come on the last night of final exams. DJs, tickets, clubs, drink specials have already been sewn up...
Then there are review sessions. Everyone is desperate to figure out the mechanics involved in all of the quant courses. Starting w Corporate Finance, the first exam. Sure, we all understood the (really) high level view. No problem. But now, what exactly are the nitty-gritty steps involved in valuing a company again?? And what the heck was our Prof talking about in Micro Econ? Why did the assignments have nothing to do with what we talked about in class?? Guess we need: review sessions. Essentially, we need to learn the nitty-gritties...and in a hurry.
Finally, there's a very much needed month-long break. We all need to chill out for a second. Well, sorta. Unless you've got interviews early in January. Nonetheless, most students are going to be travelling and having much fun this holiday.
So, there you have it. End of 1st semester in a nutshell.