Life as a 2nd Year - Fall Quarter Recap

Tailgating for UCLA-Arizona State game in November

One interesting part of a program as short as the MBA Program is how different things change from the 1st Year to the 2nd Year.  As a 1st Year, everything seems new, you're just trying to keep up with everything being thrown at you, and soak in as much as possible.  As a 2nd Year, suddenly you're the "expert" on all things MBA and career-related, and are supposed to be a mentor for the new kiddies.  As early as this October I had freshly admitted 1st Year students sending me emails asking me if I could sit down with them for coffee and share my Anderson experiences and dish out career advice.  Of course, I find this funny because it was only a few short months earlier where I was still scrambling around wondering if I would ever find an internship.

There's a bigger range in how involved people are in their 2nd Year too, usually based on how soon they've locked down a full-time offer.  A lot of 2nd Years either start the quarter already with an offer from their summer employers in their pocket, or lock one down quickly during the busy fall recruiting period for the larger industries.  Once you get a full-time job, its easy to shift into relaxation mode for the rest of the program since grades don't really matter, professional clubs become less important, and time doesn't have to be spent on recruiting.  Unfortunately, I already knew my internship was not going to turn into an offer (the fund is too small), and there wouldn't be much on-campus recruiting in the fall. I had one interview a couple months ago, but that's the only company to come to campus that I was interested in this quarter. It's still early in the recruiting process for asset management so I'm not sweating it... yet.   Even without the recruiting efforts, my quarter was probably busier than most 2nd Years because I was still working part-time at Dalton Investments, to go along with my time-intensive roles with the Student Investment Fund, the new Anderson Investment Association, the AMR consulting project and a full-class load.
 

Photo booth at the Anderson Halloween Party

One of the more fun Anderson events of the quarter was the Halloween party.  It was fun, although it turned into a bit of a disaster for the school.  Some genius decided it would be a good idea to host a five-hour open bar event for 400 MBA students at the Petersen Automotive Museum.  We all knew something would go wrong eventually, and that proved correct as some 1st Year wanted to pose for a picture with a roped-off half million dollar motorcycle on display and knocked it over.  The Anderson School of Management is no longer welcome at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The Kennedy crew in Milwaukee for Adam's wedding

The two highlights of the quarter (unrelated to anything MBA) were the two wedding weekends: Evan and Liz's in DC/Baltimore in October and Adam and Melissa's in Milwaukee in November.  I had a blast both weekends catching up with my college and high school friends, respectively, and getting to celebrate these momentous occasions with two of my best friends.  As part of the wedding party in each, I like to think that I really left my mark on both occasions.  As the first person to walk down the aisle at Evan's wedding, I lined up on the wrong side, and a month later I was one of the people who dropped Adam off his chair during Hava Nagila, causing him to split his lip open and bleed all over the dance floor.  Good times. 

Back in MBA-land, the end to the quarter was especially stressful.  Within a week, I was responsible for a 20 page real estate paper, an 8-essay question take-home behavioral finance final, a mid-point presentation for my AMR consulting project (30 minute group presentation followed by 30 mins Q&A), a full corporate valuation report (our group's report ended up being about 35 pages including exhibits), a 3-hour real estate final, and then finally the last day of my internship. 

Finishing all that work up was such a huge relief because of how busy the quarter had been and how much I was looking forward to winter break.  It's already been off to a good start with a Section A end of quarter party, a more routine exercise schedule, and trips to a West Hollywood comedy club, a UCLA Bruins basketball game, and a Sugarcult concert.  I'm even more excited  for the travel portion of my break starting up on Tuesday when I will be flying to New York for a week, spending a week in Florida, and then finishing the break up with a little over a week in Taiwan. 

Here's some more pictures of the Foo Fighters concert, Halloween party, a UCLA football tailgate and game, and the DC and Milwaukee weekends.   Fall 2012 pictures