For better or worse, here is how I used the flexible curriculum for two years. (FYI - I remember all of my courses by the course number not the name so am not using the official name for all of them.)
1st Year - Fall
30116 Footnote Accounting w/Skinner*
35200 Corporate Finance w/Seru*
33501 International Commercial Policy w/Levchenko**
1st Year - Winter
37000 Marketing Strategy w/Dhar
30118 M&A Accounting w/Bens
33032 Managing the Workplace w/Kole
1st Year - Spring
34106 Commercializing Innovation w/Meadow
35120 Portfolio Management w/Pastor*** (requires Matlab)
42001 Competitive Strategy w/Knez
41202 Time Series w/Tsay (requires R)
(not a schedule I would recommend to anyone let alone with someone with a 9 month old who just finished a grueling 6 month recruiting season)
2nd Year - Fall
35100 Financial Instruments w/Nosal*
30117 Taxes w/Weiss
30130 FSA w/Smith*
2nd Year - Winter
38114 Business Ethics w/Fogel
35210 International Corporate Finance w/Rajan***
38002 Managerial Decision Making w/Wu
42115 Building Innovation Strategy and Capability w/Tennant
40000 Operations w/Debo
2nd Year - Spring
40110 Managing Service Operations w/Eisenstein
34102 New Venture Strategy w/the one and only Schrager
*much will be review for someone with the CFA designation or prior accounting/finance experience but can be worth taking especially if you get a good professor but if you want skip to concentrate on other areas, you'll be fine.
**review for anyone with solid undergraduate Econ background that includes international trade coursework
***Pastor and Rajan are brilliant - course worth it just for the value that they add but much of the technical stuff is not new news if you have a finance background. I don't regret taking these courses though and it still was plenty of work.
Showing posts with label academics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label academics. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Performance Measurement: Everybody can be a winner.
There have been a few moments at Booth in which I realized I was not just in the minority on a particular issue, but perhaps completely alone. Two such instances occurred in Taxes (on corporate tax "evasion" and the estate tax) and one instance occurred in my "HR" class with regard to performance evaluation.
One of the reasons I chose my second undergraduate institution was because of its very unusual grading policy. We received regular grades so when we applied to PhD programs (as most did) we had a transcript to show for our work but we never received a report card. If you wanted to know your grades you had a make a special trip to the registrar. And I never made that trip.
And I loved it. At my first college I was living for the grade. I was absolutely miserable. Grades motivated me but in an unbearable way. Rather than learning for myself, I was simply trying to please my professors. Relieved of grades, my performance became dramatically better.
So the quarterly report card at Booth was jarring. And being graded on a curve was even worse. I understand the role of the curve at a large institution. (Much easier to grade 120-180 students by.) And I get the rationale for relative performance measurement. (Constrains grade inflation ... and perhaps egos.) Being aware of the average and striving to excel beyond that is certainly not a bad thing. But I challenge you to determine from a discussion with 25 randomly selected Booth students which one's are the A students and which are the C students. (In other words, how often to grades tell us anything useful in a group that is above average as a whole?) So I was surprised to realize in my HR class that this sort of grading scheme was standard at many corporations for the purpose of performance evaluation. And I was completely alone, so it seemed, in my assertion that in an organization, especially of high performing individuals, that this seemed ludicrous and counterproductive.
If you have a group of hard-working people who all did a damn good job, what's the matter with splitting the pie and calling it a day? Why do we need to focus on nearly imperceptible differences in order define our hierarchy? And if the higher ups are too chicken to identify and address very perceptible differences, creating the risk that slackers will receive just as much reward as hard workers, then that's a completely different problem. You need to hire some better managers. And if you are continually hiring under achieving employees, then improve your hiring practices.
This has bigger implications than collegiality at work, or lack thereof. And I don't think this is just applicable to organizations of exceptional achievers. How is living for the grade all that different from living to beat quarterly earnings expectations? How is grading on a curve all that different from judging employees solely by whether they managed to beat the next guy, even if that means a fantastic decline in business practices (such as lending standards)? I don't see how long-term excellence or truly innovative, independent thinking (that firms allegedly desire) can ever come from the short-term perspective that is created by relying on quick and easy grades and relative performance standards. And I don't see how rubbing employees' noses in temporary setbacks or down periods, in order to fill your X% under achiever quota, does the organization any good. And if this measurement scheme is the only way to get results in your organization then perhaps you're hiring the wrong people.
I believe that it is more important to be absolutely good than relatively good. I believe that boiling one's life efforts into a tidy score sheet is unenlightening. I believe that life is not a sum zero game: my "win" does not necessarily require your "loss". And I believe that surrounding myself with people who excel for themselves, not for someone else's approval, will make me not just happier but ultimately more successful.
[The title of this post comes from my puzzlement at the backlash to the "everybody's a winner" self-esteem movement, for lack of a better term, for kids. But that's another story.]
One of the reasons I chose my second undergraduate institution was because of its very unusual grading policy. We received regular grades so when we applied to PhD programs (as most did) we had a transcript to show for our work but we never received a report card. If you wanted to know your grades you had a make a special trip to the registrar. And I never made that trip.
And I loved it. At my first college I was living for the grade. I was absolutely miserable. Grades motivated me but in an unbearable way. Rather than learning for myself, I was simply trying to please my professors. Relieved of grades, my performance became dramatically better.
So the quarterly report card at Booth was jarring. And being graded on a curve was even worse. I understand the role of the curve at a large institution. (Much easier to grade 120-180 students by.) And I get the rationale for relative performance measurement. (Constrains grade inflation ... and perhaps egos.) Being aware of the average and striving to excel beyond that is certainly not a bad thing. But I challenge you to determine from a discussion with 25 randomly selected Booth students which one's are the A students and which are the C students. (In other words, how often to grades tell us anything useful in a group that is above average as a whole?) So I was surprised to realize in my HR class that this sort of grading scheme was standard at many corporations for the purpose of performance evaluation. And I was completely alone, so it seemed, in my assertion that in an organization, especially of high performing individuals, that this seemed ludicrous and counterproductive.
If you have a group of hard-working people who all did a damn good job, what's the matter with splitting the pie and calling it a day? Why do we need to focus on nearly imperceptible differences in order define our hierarchy? And if the higher ups are too chicken to identify and address very perceptible differences, creating the risk that slackers will receive just as much reward as hard workers, then that's a completely different problem. You need to hire some better managers. And if you are continually hiring under achieving employees, then improve your hiring practices.
This has bigger implications than collegiality at work, or lack thereof. And I don't think this is just applicable to organizations of exceptional achievers. How is living for the grade all that different from living to beat quarterly earnings expectations? How is grading on a curve all that different from judging employees solely by whether they managed to beat the next guy, even if that means a fantastic decline in business practices (such as lending standards)? I don't see how long-term excellence or truly innovative, independent thinking (that firms allegedly desire) can ever come from the short-term perspective that is created by relying on quick and easy grades and relative performance standards. And I don't see how rubbing employees' noses in temporary setbacks or down periods, in order to fill your X% under achiever quota, does the organization any good. And if this measurement scheme is the only way to get results in your organization then perhaps you're hiring the wrong people.
I believe that it is more important to be absolutely good than relatively good. I believe that boiling one's life efforts into a tidy score sheet is unenlightening. I believe that life is not a sum zero game: my "win" does not necessarily require your "loss". And I believe that surrounding myself with people who excel for themselves, not for someone else's approval, will make me not just happier but ultimately more successful.
[The title of this post comes from my puzzlement at the backlash to the "everybody's a winner" self-esteem movement, for lack of a better term, for kids. But that's another story.]
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Spring Quarter 2009 Preview
Farewell, spring break. Here's to the last quarter of my MBA life. Crazy. It's almost over. I keep feeling that perhaps I'm not enjoying my education as much as I should be. But I've never been one for school and I certainly never shed a tear for my student days after getting my BA, so I have a feeling I won't mind graduating at all.
I have many posts in backlog, including a recap of winter quarter classes, so stay tuned for that, but just wanted to give a spring quarter preview today.
I only have two classes left to fulfill my graduation requirements, electives as well, and it looks like I'll be taking New Venture Strategy with Schrager (bid every point I had to get that and it should be good) and perhaps Network Structures of Effective Management with Phillips. (I'm still trying to get into Eisenstein's Managing Service Operations but do not have high hopes.) No offense to Professor Phillips but 39002 was not exactly top of my list of courses but it was free (point-wise) and looks like a good second year spring quarter+newborn option. And frankly, I am very curious about what we will talk about - it looks very MBA to me.
So this means that I'll have only 6 hours of class per week and what should be an immensely manageable homework load. (The antithesis to last spring when I had Portfolio Management, Time Series, Competitive Strategy and Commercializing Innovation. I would not recommend that schedule to anyone and definitely not someone with a child under the age of 1.) I am very excited about that and plan to to fill the remainder of my week (or whatever remains after #2 is fed, changed, etc.) with whatever I am in the mood to think about. Ah, that's my kind of schedule.
Technically, I could start taking advantage of my "free classes" (Booth lets eager beaver over achievers take up to 3 classes for free once graduation requirements are met, separate from the 3 free classes you get once graduated I think) but I am not in the mood for that especially since you can only get into classes with empty spots which tend to not be that interesting but mostly because I am trying to minimize my classroom time anyway.
I have many posts in backlog, including a recap of winter quarter classes, so stay tuned for that, but just wanted to give a spring quarter preview today.
I only have two classes left to fulfill my graduation requirements, electives as well, and it looks like I'll be taking New Venture Strategy with Schrager (bid every point I had to get that and it should be good) and perhaps Network Structures of Effective Management with Phillips. (I'm still trying to get into Eisenstein's Managing Service Operations but do not have high hopes.) No offense to Professor Phillips but 39002 was not exactly top of my list of courses but it was free (point-wise) and looks like a good second year spring quarter+newborn option. And frankly, I am very curious about what we will talk about - it looks very MBA to me.
So this means that I'll have only 6 hours of class per week and what should be an immensely manageable homework load. (The antithesis to last spring when I had Portfolio Management, Time Series, Competitive Strategy and Commercializing Innovation. I would not recommend that schedule to anyone and definitely not someone with a child under the age of 1.) I am very excited about that and plan to to fill the remainder of my week (or whatever remains after #2 is fed, changed, etc.) with whatever I am in the mood to think about. Ah, that's my kind of schedule.
Technically, I could start taking advantage of my "free classes" (Booth lets eager beaver over achievers take up to 3 classes for free once graduation requirements are met, separate from the 3 free classes you get once graduated I think) but I am not in the mood for that especially since you can only get into classes with empty spots which tend to not be that interesting but mostly because I am trying to minimize my classroom time anyway.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Farewell Winter Quarter
Another non-post. Technically I have one more take home final that has not actually be turned in, but I've done as much as I can with it and turned it over to my group mate to polish it up. So at long last I have the afternoon to revel in the joy of reclaiming my brain and my time. This quarter was the antithesis of last winter when my life was consumed by the job search and academics were but a little side thought. This quarter, with 5 classes, I felt like I did virtually nothing but academics. I'm looking forward to a better balance of "career", classes and family/friends in my last quarter. I have lots to say on MBA land, babies, gender, the state of the economy, etc. but not today. Today my brain needs some time to wander.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Finals Week
Just a little non-post to say that this is finals week. Yay! I think I survived the quarter. My health has been awfully spotty for the last month but I am feeling shockingly ok and unstressed about the week. But I probably won't be posting much until spring break.
Happily, I have a nice mix of take home finals, projects and in class exams. My only two in-class exams are both on Thursday, running from 8a to 2:30p with only a 30 minute break which is somewhat unfortunate (and unusual) for my brain (and stomach!) but so it goes.
So if all goes well and the old immune system holds up for another 5 days, I'll be done with 18 of my 20 MBA courses this Friday and feeling very cheerful.
Happily, I have a nice mix of take home finals, projects and in class exams. My only two in-class exams are both on Thursday, running from 8a to 2:30p with only a 30 minute break which is somewhat unfortunate (and unusual) for my brain (and stomach!) but so it goes.
So if all goes well and the old immune system holds up for another 5 days, I'll be done with 18 of my 20 MBA courses this Friday and feeling very cheerful.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Midterms Already??
Well, the good news is that it's half over. The bad news is that it's only half over.
Maybe I'm just projecting my own state of mind on my classmates, but the atmosphere in class seems awfully subdued this week. A lot of nodding off in the afternoon class. Sleep has not been my friend this week either. (Is it ever?) This is the time in the quarter when the optimism I always feel with a new set of classes has worn off and I'm just ready to be done already and weary of feeling eternally disappointed in myself. And I think there is something a bit more gloomy about the winter quarter with all the first-year recruiting nerves and piercing, cold weather.
I have only two midterms this week and one next (happily 2 of my classes are midtermless). My midterm tomorrow is for a pass/fail class. We shall see how my strategy of just "not failing" (a tricky threshold to judge) pans out. I'm operating under the assumption that if I at least write some reasonable sentences for half the questions that I will pass. But I have fallen well short of the 100s of pages of required reading. (easily 1,500 so far) So we shall see.
I can't wait until March 20th. I am going to sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and ...
[note 2/5/09: that midterm was not worth worrying over at all! i'm not sure why i can't seem to learn this already.]
Maybe I'm just projecting my own state of mind on my classmates, but the atmosphere in class seems awfully subdued this week. A lot of nodding off in the afternoon class. Sleep has not been my friend this week either. (Is it ever?) This is the time in the quarter when the optimism I always feel with a new set of classes has worn off and I'm just ready to be done already and weary of feeling eternally disappointed in myself. And I think there is something a bit more gloomy about the winter quarter with all the first-year recruiting nerves and piercing, cold weather.
I have only two midterms this week and one next (happily 2 of my classes are midtermless). My midterm tomorrow is for a pass/fail class. We shall see how my strategy of just "not failing" (a tricky threshold to judge) pans out. I'm operating under the assumption that if I at least write some reasonable sentences for half the questions that I will pass. But I have fallen well short of the 100s of pages of required reading. (easily 1,500 so far) So we shall see.
I can't wait until March 20th. I am going to sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and ...
[note 2/5/09: that midterm was not worth worrying over at all! i'm not sure why i can't seem to learn this already.]
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Winter Quarter Second Week Recap
Finally got my schedule in order. Original schedule remain unchanged but I added Fogel's Business Ethics course. This means I will be taking 5 courses this quarter. Yipes. It was a hard decision since I have a habit of perpetually taking on more than I can handle, but I decided that taking only 2 courses in the spring was too good to pass up and Fogel's course was a good candidate for the 5th. It requires tons of reading but no class participation or homework. Just two exams. I am taking it pass/fail and feel fairly certain that I will pass with only spending a few hours a week on it. (or even less) Plus, I love the reading list. It is far more interesting than anything typically assigned at the GSB and provides me with actual dinner conversation material, unlike say, HBS's account of Stanley Works' failed attempt to dodge taxes by moving operations abroad which Y doesn't find nearly as thrilling as my tax professor does.
(It really is funny how many courses at the GSB are taught by economists. Good thing I'm fond of them.)
I will also be taking 35210 (Intl Corp Fin) pass/fail as well. You can take a max of 2 courses P/F during your time here (only for certain electives though) and this was the only other courses this quarter in which the professor allowed it. Also, while I like getting the international perspective, so far I am not finding the material particularly interesting. I am so bloody tired of valuing companies, that even with a little exchange rate or sovereign risk uncertainty thrown in to spice things up, the assignments are painful. (No more DCFs please!!) However, Rajan is a top notch lecturer/class guider and a huge part of the grade is participation based, so I get a lot out of just sitting in class. (Assuming I can ever get there in time - apparently the Chicago bus system has yet to figure out how to operate in snowy weather.)
Overall, it's a very reading/writing intensive quarter which I am fine with. Despite my aspirations towards quanti-ness, my historical strength has always been reading and writing. And while I find a lot of the business reading dreadfully boring, I can manage. Additionally, 5 classes <> 5 classes <> 5 classes. That is, work load varies dramatically from course to course, or even prof to prof for the same course anyway. My load of 4 classes last spring was far harder than my 5 this quarter. Commercializing Innovation is worth at least 3 average courses work-wise, Portfolio Management worth 1.5-2, Time Series was a bear since it was so easy to get stuck on the code and the TA and prof were not much for giving directions/clear explanations/advice, and then I had Competitive Strategy thrown in for good measure. Not an experience I would recommend to anyone who wanted a relaxing spring. Frankly, I think this quarter should not be nearly as bad.
(It really is funny how many courses at the GSB are taught by economists. Good thing I'm fond of them.)
I will also be taking 35210 (Intl Corp Fin) pass/fail as well. You can take a max of 2 courses P/F during your time here (only for certain electives though) and this was the only other courses this quarter in which the professor allowed it. Also, while I like getting the international perspective, so far I am not finding the material particularly interesting. I am so bloody tired of valuing companies, that even with a little exchange rate or sovereign risk uncertainty thrown in to spice things up, the assignments are painful. (No more DCFs please!!) However, Rajan is a top notch lecturer/class guider and a huge part of the grade is participation based, so I get a lot out of just sitting in class. (Assuming I can ever get there in time - apparently the Chicago bus system has yet to figure out how to operate in snowy weather.)
Overall, it's a very reading/writing intensive quarter which I am fine with. Despite my aspirations towards quanti-ness, my historical strength has always been reading and writing. And while I find a lot of the business reading dreadfully boring, I can manage. Additionally, 5 classes <> 5 classes <> 5 classes. That is, work load varies dramatically from course to course, or even prof to prof for the same course anyway. My load of 4 classes last spring was far harder than my 5 this quarter. Commercializing Innovation is worth at least 3 average courses work-wise, Portfolio Management worth 1.5-2, Time Series was a bear since it was so easy to get stuck on the code and the TA and prof were not much for giving directions/clear explanations/advice, and then I had Competitive Strategy thrown in for good measure. Not an experience I would recommend to anyone who wanted a relaxing spring. Frankly, I think this quarter should not be nearly as bad.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Winter Quarter First Week Recap!
Oh my, what a week. Good thing I got myself somewhat organized over break - because it's back to the perpetually behind game.
I need to go to bed but didn't want to let too much time pass before posting. I really am aspiring to post a bit more regularly this quarter.
Classes started last Monday. Unlike previous quarters in which I finished bidding by the second or third round and then didn't give it another thought, I was bidding and strategizing and shopping around until the last minute. Literally. I dropped my 5th class 3 minutes before the 11:59 p.m. final deadline Saturday. After attending 7 classes last week (that's 21 hours of class time), 4 in which I was registered plus 3 extras (in search of the perfect 5th class), I haven't quite figured it all out. So far I have:
I need to go to bed but didn't want to let too much time pass before posting. I really am aspiring to post a bit more regularly this quarter.
Classes started last Monday. Unlike previous quarters in which I finished bidding by the second or third round and then didn't give it another thought, I was bidding and strategizing and shopping around until the last minute. Literally. I dropped my 5th class 3 minutes before the 11:59 p.m. final deadline Saturday. After attending 7 classes last week (that's 21 hours of class time), 4 in which I was registered plus 3 extras (in search of the perfect 5th class), I haven't quite figured it all out. So far I have:
- 35210 International Corporate Finance with Rajan
- 38002 Managerial Decision Making with Wu
- 40000 Operations with Debo
- 42115 Innovation something or other with Tennant (strategy class taught by a Whirlpool person)
This week is the last week to add a course and, as Negotiations didn't work out given the lack of campus sections (tell me, why on earth do we have only 2 sections on campus but 4 at Gleacher this term?? 4 barely filled night/weekend courses to boot, argh) I'm going to check out Fogel's Business Ethics course (38114). While taking 5 courses, especially 5 reading/writing intensive courses isn't ideal, being able to take only 2 courses in the spring when Baby X is expected, should be a big relief.
Pardon the crappy post. I must sleep now!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Fall Quarter Finals
One final down, 2 more to go. I really should be in bed. This quarter is far more manageable than last (spring) but my overall exam/school fatigue, helps dull any concern I might have about my performance anyway. After 4.5 years of uber-nerdy undergrad, finished by a 100 page Econ thesis, 3 years of CFA study/exam-taking, 4 securities licenses (easy but tedious) and 21 sell-side stock initations later, I am completely devoid of any enthusiasm whatsoever for timed tests, paper writing or model building. Sitting in a room with a pile of sharpened pencils and a calculator while the minutes tick down feels juvenile. More formulas? More hectic scribbles and guesswork? More late night cramming? More Excel? More report cards? Didn't I do this already?
So while it will be a shock to go back to the working world, and I do actually (despite my whining) appreciate my academic "vacation", I will be awfully glad to write my last final forever next June. There are many, many things I would rather do besides study and take tests and mock up DCFs.
(p.s. was last Thursday one of the worst days ever for anyone else either?)
So while it will be a shock to go back to the working world, and I do actually (despite my whining) appreciate my academic "vacation", I will be awfully glad to write my last final forever next June. There are many, many things I would rather do besides study and take tests and mock up DCFs.
(p.s. was last Thursday one of the worst days ever for anyone else either?)
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Academics at the GSB - the good, the bad and the ugly
[Original post removed - summary: the flexible curriculum has its challenges. If you have an Econ background, know your stats and/or have the CFA you likely will end up repeating some stuff. There are plenty of not so great profs and it can be hard to get the good profs and/or popular classes.]
Monday, November 17, 2008
Enjoying life
Although until bidding results came out - I was actually feeling quite chipper and thinking of posting happy thoughts. Will do once happy thoughts return. (Moral of story - not recruiting makes me very cheerful, even if I'm unemployed. I highly recommend it.)
Nothing like bidding on classes
to make me hate the GSB. Operations should not cost 4,000 points. Although the GSB offers far more than finance and accounting courses, damn if you can actually get into them.
Grrr. The fact that I have done 4 quarters here and have only really enjoyed 2 of my courses is frustrating. To say the least. If I can't find a job, at least I'd like to enjoy my time here, ya know?
An oversized first year class doesn't help the supply/demand imbalance either.
Grrr. The fact that I have done 4 quarters here and have only really enjoyed 2 of my courses is frustrating. To say the least. If I can't find a job, at least I'd like to enjoy my time here, ya know?
An oversized first year class doesn't help the supply/demand imbalance either.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
First week of classes
Now back to our regular programming ...
So I am taking 3 classes and, for the first time at the GSB, I really like all of my professors. Financial Instruments is with Nosal who is a sort of part-time (adjunct?) faculty who moonlights at the Fed in Chicago. So his teaching is a little less fluid than the old pros but he has a good sense of humor, knows his stuff and is just and all around pleasant fellow. Abbie Smith is lively, (tall!) and definitely knows her stuff (of course). And Weiss is great too. In a rare moment of sanity I dropped Fama's course (too much work for no new news), decided against a last minute add of Building the New Venture and managed to hold steadfast until bidding was done and over and I was stuck with a very humane fall schedule.
Ideally, I would take 4 classes this fall, 4 in the winter and then just have 2 for the spring when I will be busy trying to be super-mom but, given the current job climate (very, very bad), I decided to try to do lots of stock pitch preparation this fall. And in case I do get lucky enough to have some second rounds and such, I will need some slack in the schedule. But given the fact that I am hardly applying for any of the almost non-existent on-campus jobs, I do not expect the fall quarter to be fruitful on the job front. Unfortunately. Looks like I will be doing very pregnant or post-pregnant interviews which should give me some interesting stories to tell.
On the job front. Things are bad. Really bad. And honestly I think we are just at the beginning. Today I was moping around wishing I had never matriculated. And with Y unable to make money in Chicago - we are feeling very stressed in the MaybeMBA household. None of our options are pretty (poverty in Chicago vs. long distance marriage with toddler and wee one on the way). Plus I think I face a very serious possibility that I will be unable to secure a position in investment management. Primarily because so few people are hiring. And if that is true then coming to Chicago will have been a very big waste of time. And money. So perhaps this explains my curmudgeonly posts. I've been sort of wishing that the GSB had just dinged me. I know, likely foolish and premature statements ... well, hopefully so.
So I am taking 3 classes and, for the first time at the GSB, I really like all of my professors. Financial Instruments is with Nosal who is a sort of part-time (adjunct?) faculty who moonlights at the Fed in Chicago. So his teaching is a little less fluid than the old pros but he has a good sense of humor, knows his stuff and is just and all around pleasant fellow. Abbie Smith is lively, (tall!) and definitely knows her stuff (of course). And Weiss is great too. In a rare moment of sanity I dropped Fama's course (too much work for no new news), decided against a last minute add of Building the New Venture and managed to hold steadfast until bidding was done and over and I was stuck with a very humane fall schedule.
Ideally, I would take 4 classes this fall, 4 in the winter and then just have 2 for the spring when I will be busy trying to be super-mom but, given the current job climate (very, very bad), I decided to try to do lots of stock pitch preparation this fall. And in case I do get lucky enough to have some second rounds and such, I will need some slack in the schedule. But given the fact that I am hardly applying for any of the almost non-existent on-campus jobs, I do not expect the fall quarter to be fruitful on the job front. Unfortunately. Looks like I will be doing very pregnant or post-pregnant interviews which should give me some interesting stories to tell.
On the job front. Things are bad. Really bad. And honestly I think we are just at the beginning. Today I was moping around wishing I had never matriculated. And with Y unable to make money in Chicago - we are feeling very stressed in the MaybeMBA household. None of our options are pretty (poverty in Chicago vs. long distance marriage with toddler and wee one on the way). Plus I think I face a very serious possibility that I will be unable to secure a position in investment management. Primarily because so few people are hiring. And if that is true then coming to Chicago will have been a very big waste of time. And money. So perhaps this explains my curmudgeonly posts. I've been sort of wishing that the GSB had just dinged me. I know, likely foolish and premature statements ... well, hopefully so.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Let the madness begin
What a week. The onslaught of obligations and commitments this week was a shock to the system. The nausea and fatigue just gets worse. Wednesday I could barely move off the couch - which is not my usual style! To say the least. I think I'm actually finishing up my first trimester this coming week. So perhaps relief is in sight. I need to find a doctor! But instead I'm enjoying (ha!) Fama's Foundations of Finance. Against my better sense I have enrolled in 35901. I will probably drop the course but wanted to at least attend the first class. But, man! this first class reading assignment is boring.
Y's employment options are very bad right now which is incredibly stressful when we spend a private school tuition on childcare for Y these days. Allegedly one of these days I won't have to worry about money - seems hard to imagine as worrying about money has defined the last 25 years of my existence.
Ok, that's enough whining for now.
On a happier note, seem to be some great first-years in this batch ... and a few of your usual MBA-types, to be expected.
I can't even write straight ... the implications of bivariate normality have robbed me of any surplus brainpower.
Y's employment options are very bad right now which is incredibly stressful when we spend a private school tuition on childcare for Y these days. Allegedly one of these days I won't have to worry about money - seems hard to imagine as worrying about money has defined the last 25 years of my existence.
Ok, that's enough whining for now.
On a happier note, seem to be some great first-years in this batch ... and a few of your usual MBA-types, to be expected.
I can't even write straight ... the implications of bivariate normality have robbed me of any surplus brainpower.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Back to school
I envy envy envy women who enjoy pregnancy, the nausea-free ones. At the very least it seems like every pregnant woman should be able to enjoy eating! Sheesh. I can't wait for the second trimester. My friend was telling me that she vomited every day of her pregnancy, multiple times per day, which made severe daily nausea seem like a blessing in comparison.
In other news, full-time recruiting starts up in full force tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. I feel that I am far more prepared to make recruiting work for me this year rather than feeling like a helpless hostage, desperate and afraid, in the process. I also received a few more heartening recruiting emails from the resume book (which I had assumed no worthwhile employers actually looked at) which made me feel slightly better about myself. It will still be a long road but I'm trying to enjoy it.
Classes start Thursday. I will be taking Financial Statement Analysis (30130), Taxes and Business Strategy (30118) and Financial Instruments (35100). This means I will end up with an Accounting concentration. I'm not entirely sure 30130 will be new news but Abbie Smith is a star and I didn't want to miss the course just in case ... Two accounting classes is a bit much in one quarter for my taste but I've heard reasonably good things about 30118 and, frankly, there were few classes I was very excited about taking this quarter anyway. And 35100 should be largely review. Veronesi declined to waive this prereq for me for his 35131 which I want to take this winter.
In other news, full-time recruiting starts up in full force tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. I feel that I am far more prepared to make recruiting work for me this year rather than feeling like a helpless hostage, desperate and afraid, in the process. I also received a few more heartening recruiting emails from the resume book (which I had assumed no worthwhile employers actually looked at) which made me feel slightly better about myself. It will still be a long road but I'm trying to enjoy it.
Classes start Thursday. I will be taking Financial Statement Analysis (30130), Taxes and Business Strategy (30118) and Financial Instruments (35100). This means I will end up with an Accounting concentration. I'm not entirely sure 30130 will be new news but Abbie Smith is a star and I didn't want to miss the course just in case ... Two accounting classes is a bit much in one quarter for my taste but I've heard reasonably good things about 30118 and, frankly, there were few classes I was very excited about taking this quarter anyway. And 35100 should be largely review. Veronesi declined to waive this prereq for me for his 35131 which I want to take this winter.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Picking classes at the GSB. And other griping.
So my big frustration with the GSB is the difficulty in crafting a meaningful course load, especially as someone who skipped the basic accounting, finance and econ courses. We have switched to a new bidding system which is largely an improvement but prohibits full-time students from bidding on classes at Gleacher for the first two bidding rounds which is very frustrating if a class you want/need is only being offered at Gleacher that quarter. Frankly, I think the school just needs to offer more classes. I try to avoid taking classes at Gleacher anyway.
This is the fourth quarter that I have been bid out of Operations. Operations for god's sake. I'm not about to pay 5,000 points for this class. But I need it to graduate (as I am not going to take macro) and am interested in the course. But when I have to pay 5,000-8,000 points for classes key to my concentration, I can't afford to spend that much on Operations. Why don't they just offer more slots? Sheesh.
And Financial Instruments, which is a strict prereq for Veronesi's Risk Management course in the winter (and he refuses to waive for me) is only being offered at Gleacher this quarter. Grrr.
And Managing Decision Making (which I really want, and fulfills a graduation requirement) has only two campus slots. One of which conflicts with the uber popular Financial Statement Analysis with Abbie Smith (which I did get). So since I didn't bid enough for the other section, I'm out of luck there.
In sum, after two rounds of bidding, all I have to show for myself is two accounting classes. Two Accounting Classes. I hate accounting. Bah.
In other news, it was a strange, hard week on the internship front which led to two things:
1) made me seriously question my choice of career. The boring, meaningless of the job was impossible to ignore and the feeling persisted all week.
2) made me realize how much I want to go home (Pacific Northwest). I am tired of the Midwest. Y and I wish we were moving back home this fall. Trouble is there is virtually no good money management opportunities out there. Which brings me back to point #1.
Apparently, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Each time I come to this point (which is quite frequently, actually) I just re-convince myself that I've invested too much into my current path and should just keep going.
So it is.
This is the fourth quarter that I have been bid out of Operations. Operations for god's sake. I'm not about to pay 5,000 points for this class. But I need it to graduate (as I am not going to take macro) and am interested in the course. But when I have to pay 5,000-8,000 points for classes key to my concentration, I can't afford to spend that much on Operations. Why don't they just offer more slots? Sheesh.
And Financial Instruments, which is a strict prereq for Veronesi's Risk Management course in the winter (and he refuses to waive for me) is only being offered at Gleacher this quarter. Grrr.
And Managing Decision Making (which I really want, and fulfills a graduation requirement) has only two campus slots. One of which conflicts with the uber popular Financial Statement Analysis with Abbie Smith (which I did get). So since I didn't bid enough for the other section, I'm out of luck there.
In sum, after two rounds of bidding, all I have to show for myself is two accounting classes. Two Accounting Classes. I hate accounting. Bah.
In other news, it was a strange, hard week on the internship front which led to two things:
1) made me seriously question my choice of career. The boring, meaningless of the job was impossible to ignore and the feeling persisted all week.
2) made me realize how much I want to go home (Pacific Northwest). I am tired of the Midwest. Y and I wish we were moving back home this fall. Trouble is there is virtually no good money management opportunities out there. Which brings me back to point #1.
Apparently, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Each time I come to this point (which is quite frequently, actually) I just re-convince myself that I've invested too much into my current path and should just keep going.
So it is.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Back to Blogging
Well hello there. Hope your summer is going smoothly.
I've been leaning towards saying adieu to the blogging life but I find myself composing unsolicited advice posts while going about day to day life ... it's a compulsion - advice giving. So I think I'll be back online after the madness ends (tomorrow - hurrah!).
Three down, one more to go!
I've been leaning towards saying adieu to the blogging life but I find myself composing unsolicited advice posts while going about day to day life ... it's a compulsion - advice giving. So I think I'll be back online after the madness ends (tomorrow - hurrah!).
Three down, one more to go!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Midterms
I'm always amazed how the prospect of an exam quickens my attention and learning.
Four mid-terms for me this week. In previous quarters I tended to have mid-terms in only a few of my classes and often not all in the same week. So 4 at once (3 in 2 days) is a little bit of a shock.
Commercializing innovation (the bane of my existence) is a take home. We are feverishly working to put something together but this class is impossible and I have lost all enthusiasm for it.
Competitive Strategy has a case-based in-class exam which will be interesting. Been a long time since I wrote essay questions in a test situation. Also not a class that gives me much joy. (Too much talking! And jargon.)
I struggle with my love for Time Series and Portfolio Management. While both are painful in some respects, I love the succint answers; snippets of code; obvious sense of completion; spare formulas and spreadsheets; amusing terms such as heteroskedasticity and leptokurtic in lieu of confusing terms such as"value chain" and "isolating mechanisms".
On the other hand, I am not sure that mastering Time Series does me or the world a whit of good. With each passing day I am more sure that the quantification of finance sheds little light on the mystery within. It was ironic to sit in the Berkshire Hathaway meeting with Buffett and Munger ridiculing business educations and the mathematical approach, Time Series textbook in lap, straining to keep my phi's and thetas and rho's straight.
Four mid-terms for me this week. In previous quarters I tended to have mid-terms in only a few of my classes and often not all in the same week. So 4 at once (3 in 2 days) is a little bit of a shock.
Commercializing innovation (the bane of my existence) is a take home. We are feverishly working to put something together but this class is impossible and I have lost all enthusiasm for it.
Competitive Strategy has a case-based in-class exam which will be interesting. Been a long time since I wrote essay questions in a test situation. Also not a class that gives me much joy. (Too much talking! And jargon.)
I struggle with my love for Time Series and Portfolio Management. While both are painful in some respects, I love the succint answers; snippets of code; obvious sense of completion; spare formulas and spreadsheets; amusing terms such as heteroskedasticity and leptokurtic in lieu of confusing terms such as"value chain" and "isolating mechanisms".
On the other hand, I am not sure that mastering Time Series does me or the world a whit of good. With each passing day I am more sure that the quantification of finance sheds little light on the mystery within. It was ironic to sit in the Berkshire Hathaway meeting with Buffett and Munger ridiculing business educations and the mathematical approach, Time Series textbook in lap, straining to keep my phi's and thetas and rho's straight.
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