It's only been a week since my last entry, but I feel like it's been much longer than that because I've been so busy.
I think the best way to start this one off is to mention something that I forgot in my last entry. Last Friday (11/19/04), Stanford had its annual diversity recruiting event, Many Voices: Perspectives on Diversity. This all-day event consisted of a series of panels, classroom immersion experiences, and information presented by the school for minorities who are interested in applying to Stanford. This was the third year that it has been held and the student body put a lot of support behind it. We had about 80 people come from all over the country for it and, by the time it was all over, I think Stanford was the #1 choice for every one of them that I spoke to. The best part about the Stanford GSB is that we don't have to sell anyone on wanting to come here for their MBA studies...this place sells itself.
In terms of class stuff, we're still having to hit the books hard. I thought my schedule would get a little easier when our Excel Modeling class ended a couple of weeks ago, but the rest of the classes just picked up to take over for whatever free time was going to be left over. Finals are coming up in a little more than a week and we've also got two major projects to do in addition to those exams (a regression project for my statistics class and a final paper for my Dynamics of Organization class). In fact, I'm about to meet with my Regression project group now and we'll probably have to put a solid 2-3 hours of work in together after which we''ll probably have to grind even more separately. In addition to that, I've got to find time to get caught up in my Econ and Accounting reading this weekend and start plugging away at my portion of the D.O. final paper...this is going to be a long weekend (which is rough because this is supposed to be a holiday weekend).
Speaking of the holidays, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you. This year's T'giving was very different for me because it is the first time that I haven't been with my family for it. I wanted to fly back to VA, but the ticket was expensive and I couldn'tjustify the expense of flying cross country for a few days when i knew I'd be heading back in about 2 1/2 weeks for Winter Break. Instead, I caught a ride down to LA with 4 of my classmates and hung out with my man Travis (my best friend from college) and my man Brandon from Wednesday night until Friday morning when i left to head back here. I would have liked to stay longer, but I had to come back and do work. Dang, I can't wait until winter break starts...
Wow, it seems like it's been ages since I had a chance to write a blog entry, but one of the good things about that is that it gives me a lot to write about. I've got a lot of work tonight, so I'll keep it concise, but it should give you guys a little insight into how fast things go by when you're in business school.
1. About a week and a half ago, my workload got a little bit lighter when my 3/4 quarter Excel Modeling class had its final exam. I had done well on all of the assignments, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in hopes of getting an H or HP (Honors or High Pass) grade. I was fine when it came to making my Excel and Extend take home models, but, when it came to the in-class portion of the final, I got beat down hard. That final was a beast and was much harder than I expected. I know I don't have any chance of getting a Low Pass in the class, but I think that final put me squarely in the Pass range, which I was hoping to exceed when the final grades came out. I won't know for sure how it turned out until grades come out in December, but it's not looking great right now.
2. Following the final session of our 1/2 quarter Organizational behavior class (which covered the topics of diversity and bias in the workplace), I was inspired to orgranize an unofficial discussion of diversity among the members of my class. One of my professors helped me to get the word out and about 90 of my classmates expressed interest. Unfortunately, because of scheduling conflicts, only about 40 of my classmates (along with one of the deans, one of the co-presidents of the Student Association, and 2 SA senators) attended the meeting, but it was a great discussion. We covered a variety of topics and, in the end, I felt like we'd broken a lot of walls down and were making strides to become a tighter class. Also, i think I was able to break through some of my own walls and am now ready to come out of my comfort zone and start really getting to know my classmates. I'm looking forward to the next 18 months of building really tight relationships with my classmates.
3. After the diversity discussion, several of my friends suggested that I run for one of the three open Senator positions in the GSB Student Association. I never really thought I'd be one of the student government types, but I saw a lot of thigns I'd like to add to the GSB, so I went ahead and wrote a position statement soon after. I didn't think I had much of a chance, but my peoples kept on telling me that I was a good candidate, so I had to sit back and let the people decide during the election this past Thursday.
4. Earlier tonight, the BBSA held a dinner for some of our Bay area alumni that gave the current students a chance to meet and network with some of the recent and more experienced black alums of the GSB. Also, it was a chance for all of us to just hang out with each other because the workload is so heavy that we never get to do so very often. I was wondering if it all would go over without a hitch, but it was all good. People had a good time and it was all done in an efficient manner. I love it when a plan comes together.
5. When I got back from the BBSA Alumni dinner tonight, I checked my email and received word that I'd been elected to be a member of the Student Association Senate. There are a bunch of congratulatory emails that I haven't gone through yet, but I'm feeling pumped up right now. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a good job over the next three quarters and bring some good to the GSB before I'm finished. :-)
As you can see, I've had an eventful 2 weeks, so I'm understandably tired. Thank goodness we've got a break coming up in a few days. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Take care.
After a little more than a week of grinding and hard work, I finally had my last midterm for the Fall quarter today and I feel like hitting the sack and it's only about 1pm. It all started last Wednesday morning with my final exam for the 1/2-quarter Organizational Behavior class. That was followed by my Accounting midterm on Thursday night, Economics midterm on Saturday morning, and then my Data & Decisions (Stats) exam this morning. At the beginning of the midterm period, I found myself stressing out like crazy because I didn't have command of the material, but, over the past week, I started realizing that I didn't need to know everything...I just needed to know enough to get a passing grade. Stanford has a non-grade disclosure policy, so the anthem around here is "grades don't matter". As long as you're learning and you score well enough to pass, you're in good shape. Now, that this last midterm is out of the way, I feel relaxed, but I can't let myself get too relaxed because I still have class tomorrow and I've got a ton of reading to do. There's no rest for the weary...