It is so refreshing to attend classes and study groups without those pesky corporate presentations breaking up the day. The feeling on campus is so much more relaxed. The second years are a bit tense as they prepare for interviews next week, and the first years are gearing up for midterms. I think there is a sigh of relief in getting into a routine.
We had our Squad dinner on Sunday. It was interesting to meet everyone’s spouses and hang out for a while without thinking about LEAD protocol. I didn’t do my accounting because I was making enchiladas for the potluck. My study group frowned at me on Monday morning, but they helped me get prepared for class. I attended an info session with a consulting company rep. He thought I was a second year and I didn’t disabuse him of this notion, mostly because I thought I’d look more idiotic to excuse myself from the conversation.
I completed my ACT seminar which entailed giving a speech in front of eight people. It was painful to do and painful to watch others do. We did our introductory speech about ourselves and the facilitator gave us feedback, and then we did a pitch speech about something we know a lot about and everyone gave us feedback. We left with eight sheets of feedback and a videotape of our speeches. Yeah, like I’m gonna watch that tape!
I attended a meeting of the Minority Graduate Student Association, which is made up of students from all of the schools. It was interesting to meet students from the anthropology, sociology, and public policy programs. They pretty much hate us. Not just the business school, but all of the professional schools, because we don’t participate in events, and we’re always looking for a job. There weren’t many representatives from the medical school or law school, and there were only three of us from the GSB. The feeling from the other students is a huge contrast from the GSB environment. I hope to be able to attend many of the events and get to know some of these people. The fact that their experience is so different from my own makes me interested. We can learn from each other.
I’ve made my first faux pas at the GSB. It was bound to happen! I am Natasha, after all. There was a panel on Entrepreneurship and Private Equity summer internships given by the EVC (Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Group). I was very excited to learn that I could actually get a summer internship in entrepreneurship. There were seven panelists and they introduced themselves and talked about their summer experiences. It quickly became apparent that everyone in the audience was interested in private equity. People just trickled out of the room when they couldn’t take any more. Then there were several points when there were forty of us watching a conversation between a panelist and a person in the audience. I raised my hand and asked if we could end the formal part of the program and talk individually. Well, apparently, I was wrong for that. I got my questions answered though!