Today was my first Marketing class and ... I loved it! The professor (a mechanical engineer, of course) is so energetic and interesting. He bounded around the classroom and wasn't afraid to deliver honest feedback of responses on the spot and cold call. It occurred to me that part of why I was so ho hum last quarter was that virtually none of the coursework was new news. It was all review. This quarter is going to be so much more fun. I wish I had had this schedule last quarter. I hope interviewing doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the material. I still hate accounting but at least the topic of 30117 is less familiar than 30116.
I thought I would come to the GSB to do all the hardest, quantiest courses I could but it may be that my best classes are the basic, non finance/accounting courses. The fellow who interviewed me (awarded a distinguished alumni award most recently) said he took lots of advanced finance etc courses and regrets not taking a broader view. I have taken his advice to heart.
Anyhow, I should get back to modelling (stocks, that is). Baby Y just fell asleep on his own for maybe the second time in his life. Yay!!!! What a treat. Often it takes me a good hour to get him to fall asleep. I think that's the hardest thing about doing school with a baby - I have absolutely no room to procrastinate or cram because I can never count on being able to work when it suits me. Everything takes much much longer than expected.
So what's coming up in the week ahead?
- Potential corporate conversation and lunch tomorrow and an evening event. Lunch on Friday with a firm that I'm reaaally interested in.
- Potentially seeing Taleb speak on Friday afternoon which would mean missing the first LPF of the year and GBC slate debates or something like that.
- Saturday - all day interview fun ala the GSB wInterview.
- Trip to firm on Monday (not in Chicago)
- Two additional mock interviews next week.
- More lunch and learns.
- Random Google networking event (rsvp'd in a moment of weakness)
6 comments:
Just thought I'll pitch in with some unsolicited advice on puting babies to sleep. My wife and I used to rock him to sleep initially and it was murder on our backs. We found by pure happenstance that sitting on a large exercise ball with him in my lap and bouncing on it works very well. And its a pretty good exercise for those core muscles. He has never lasted more than 10 minutes on the ball so we feel blessed.
Glad you got a chance to register for the lecture. I totally agree on taking a broader range of classes, that's what I lacked in my engineering education.
That's one of the question I asked the Woman business alumni group at GSB (unfortunately never got a reply, eh...) I wanted to hear about the experience of people in classes other than hardcore quant classes, since no doubt U chicago's quant finance classes are top-notch. From your post, it seems like you definitely are getting a good education in other business areas you are interested in. I recently finished 'Investor Psychology'. It was a good reading, and generated a lot of new prospectives for me. Successful investor definitely have a good grip on reality, the big picture, the psychy of the market, so they are able to look beyond numbers, modles, and mathematical equations. :) Reading your blog is so fun. Good luck with internship seeking process.
is your "trip to a firm not in chicago" to nyc by any chance? lemme know in case it is, we cud meet up...
Ha. That would be great but it's in the opposite direction as NY ... Who knew one of my favorite hedge funds so far would be in Wisconsin! But as I said, nice is the key issue for me these days. We'll have to meet up another time :)
I'll definitely have to try the exercise ball technique!
Too bad the women business group never responded, usually folks are very helpful. But yes, seems so far that there are some really well regarded classes outside the traditional GSB strength. And I love the approach to these courses - very skeptical and emperically based, my style.
For other readers: if you have GSB academic related questions sometimes contacting the cochairs of the various student groups can be helpful. For example, the cochairs of the Marketing Group could tell you about the GSB outside of the finance/accounting realm. You can find contact info on the student groups page I believe. When I was a prospective, I found the official GSB forum really helpful. It's monitored by DSAC and they really try to get everyone's questions answered.
You are in my marketing class methinks. A mechanical engineer prof who cold calls and is a little harsh sounds spot on. HAH! Morning's or Afternoons?
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