Another Day Down

I am that much closer to being done with the Core. Not sure how I feel about that though, there is something very comforting to show up to the same seat everyday surrounded by the same people. I am excited for all of the new classes next semester but I am going to miss all my Core professors. Especially Management! We had one of the best sessions today (our case was on AirAsia) and to close Professor Semandi had one of the most moving speeches I have heard, I was getting a little teary by the end. The whole class was really moved and gave him a standing ovation on top of our typical Kelley clap.

After class I had a quick trek meeting to try to get everything straightened out with the rest of the trek leaders, then Charlton and I headed out for lunch and to the grocery store to stock up for finals week. At the Kroger I had a total geek out moment when I say the Joy of Cooking line in the freezer section, we had done a case on it with Jewel-Osco during CMA week so it was interesting to see what Kroger chose to stock and where they placed it. You know you are a CMA'er when you get super excited about that kind of stuff.

Back at the house it was time to study, eat dinner, send emails and have phone interviews. Oh and find out I will be VP of Internal Affairs for Kelley Women! We had some great candidates running and I am really honored that I was selected, so excited to help lead the organization next year.

Almost done, so hard to believe it!

It keeps going and going and going...

Another day of class, an afternoon of informational interviews, an evening of slam sessions (with the director of GCS no less) and elections. Just another day at Kelley, sure doesn't feel like the core is winding down at all.

Tomorrow is a day jam packed with CMA activities. Breakfast with General Mills, case question prep with Scotts, and who knows what else. Let the Marketing begin!

Although I am sure to people outside of the MBA program, my life everyday looks a lot like Taz tearing through a scene, today seemed to be the epitome of it.

Classes started late for me today, so I dropped Charlton off and grabbed my dry cleaning from NAWMBA so I would be ready for the case comp this week. Then I read and wrote some emails before jumping right into the econ case on Brazil. When my brain couldn’t take in any more information on inflation and interest rates we escaped from 1050 to go play the “beer game” simulation for ops.

Everyone had a role in a 4 stage supply chain of a beer manufacturer. I ended up with the Distributor role, and after 6 simulated weeks thought I was doing fantastically, and then a monster order came in and killed my inventory. I had such a huge backlog by the end of the session I had to actually use a calculator to get my numbers! Although, we didn’t end up in last place so we weaseled out of having to tidy, but as we didn’t win no cash prize for us! And what better way to understand the bullwhip effect than to see it happen in person, over pocket change instead of in the real world when you have customers screaming at you.

I had just enough time for a quick bite to eat before I had 3 informational interviews with second years regarding their internship searches and their roles in Kelley Women. Finally at about 4:45 I got to head home and prep for another informational interview. By the time 7 rolled around I had to unbury myself from all the emails I got over the day and try to get a handle on whats ahead. Still getting there, is it really only Monday?

Yesterday was a marathon day, 8 full hours of class with only a 30 minute break for lunch. I am glad I got everything in so I didn’t miss any of my classes when I head to the airport today but it was a doozy! I am so glad I don’t have the Blue cohort because I don’t think I would be able to get home at 6 every day, all that productive study time after class is gone! I am so much more of a morning person anyway.

So lots of class, dinner, a run and packing like a fiend for the Women’s Conference and an informational interview, just a normal Weds in the Core!

Another day, another day full of tasks and meetings. Got through a triple session of Management/Econ tag team and scarfed down my lunch while a team mate and I worked on some polishing of our team Operations paper. Then it was downstairs for the lounge for an informational interview with a second year, before I did some Quant homework and met with the GA to work on my portion of the team assignment. Then the logistics meeting for the Women’s Conference. Then finally at 6:30 got home for the day, made dinner then sent emails, posted my resume to GCS and did a little more homework. And now that it is 11:20, I am not really getting to bed early. Where did the day go?!

Don’t know why I feel so on top of everything today? Is it because I spent 4 days on the couch reading, when I wasn’t coughing my brains out or watching Say Yes to the Dress?

Today I got a walk in with Addie in the morning, seemed more awake in class than usual, met with my peer coach, tweaked my resume, sent out loads of networking emails (to get GREAT responses!), got the NYC trek nailed down, started two quant problems for the assignment next week and then created charts for all my ops simulation data. In the words of NBA Jam, “She’s on fire!”

Tomorrow should be another jam packed day: with an informational interview, diversity conference prep, team meeting, and GA study session for quant. Here’s for keeping it up!

Manic Monday

The thing about business school, it doesn’t warm up, doesn’t let you get back into the swing of things. It’s GO, GO, GO! Yesterday was no exception, 2.5 hours of finance with an hour and 15 of accounting bright and early. Then there was an econ huddle, and team homework to keep me busy until 5. Spent an hour or so sending out emails to arrange our NYC trek at Thanksgiving and some networking stuff, while scarfing down my dinner before I had to head back to campus. This time it was for a trek leader meeting so we could get all of our dates straight. Minneapolis is a go for the first week in January and I may try to tag on a trip to the Bay Area. We will have to see how it all shakes out. Then back home for some homework, a phone informational interview and more homework. I finally crashed at 12:30 and again had a rough time getting up today. The scary thing is that this is just the ramp up to the worst week of the Core per all the second years…week 7!

Goodbye Week 3

The last two days have been crazy, but it would be hard to find a day that hasn’t been since we arrived in Bloomington in the beginning of August. Since I have got home tonight, I have just sunk into the couch. Not going to get up anytime soon.

Yesterday started with a full day of class, then quickly picked up speed. Right after finance, a classmate and I sat down for a little informational interview about her previous position in retail. I learned a lot and will definitely continue to research opportunities in the industry. Had to microwave some soup really quick and run upstairs for our team’s weekly recap meeting. 3 hours later, the team adjourned and I headed to Kraft’s office hours. This was my first office hours I successfully attended and I was really happy I went. Got a lot of face time with their reps (8 1st years to 3 reps) Once that rapped up, ran over to GE’s company presentation. It was incredibly crowded and Charlton and I had to share a chair (worst idea ever!) Then we trucked home where I scarfed down a lean cuisine before I had to head back to school for Kraft’s company presentation. It was a lot of fun, and I learned about Oscar Mayer’s unique culture in their Madison office. They totally hooked us up too! Weinermobile jump drive, Bacon, Toblerone, Wheat Thins, etc. Crawled back home at 9:30ish and was up until 1 taking care of some internet housekeeping.

You know you have had a long day when you forget to take your phone off silent. Oops! I only woke up in time because Charlton had an alarm set. I ran around the apartment like a crazy person, and Casey and Addie didn’t make it any easier for me to get out the door. Got to school at 7:45 just in time for breakfast with GE. Got to find out a little more information about their ELCP program and hang out with a lot of the Kelley Women members. Once that finished up, headed to a LPCD Diversity presentation. It was much better than the one during orientation and even better than the session last week. Then I grabbed a quick lunch and then my team got together for 3 hours to work on our Quant homework. We didn’t finish but we got a lot done. We adjourned to attend a network event and then we headed to the lounge to relax before heading to the International Business Society’s Cooking Event. They had 4 dishes prepared from different countries that all included tomatoes. It was a lot of fun and the food was awesome! Brushetta, Thai Spicy Mung Bean Noodle Salad, Tamales and Nigerian Tomato Stew, delicious! Then it was time to head home, a little more than 12 hours since I arrived. Fun!

Since getting home, we have watched some Mad Men and Martha Stewart and I caught up on my email. I promise tomorrow I will start on my homework!

I wish it were that easy! Today was another fun filled day of Critical Thinking, Quant and Accounting. Accounting was a phenomenal session, CSI Accountants as Pratt called it, where we had to work backward to get the transactions. I left actually feeling like I understood what we were talking about. We will see if I retained any of it when I lead the team’s study session/weekly recap tomorrow.

Although the day wasn’t coming up all roses: lunch was cancelled with a classmate who used to work in a buyer role at Mervyn’s and then we got blown off by one of the companies that was on campus for office hours.

We came home and got some work done, watched a little tv to unwind and then I gave up on the notion of going to the networking event tonight as there are 2 more nights scheduled for the week and companies I am more interested in later. Also I had another phone interview that I needed to be home for. It went well, and once again I am so pumped at the prospect of potentially working there.

Then I switched from my networking hat to my Admissions Consultant position and reviewed one of my friend’s admission essays. She is doing so well, I am so excited for her. She is looking at IU and I would love if she came, I will keep my fingers crossed.

UPS brought me the suit I got on ebay and I am pretty happy with it. I have some tweaking that needs to be done to the pants but the jacket fits beautifully. Can’t wait to wear it out!

Alright I need to hit the hay, big big day tomorrow!

Is it really only Tuesday?

It seems like the week has flown by, but I guess when you have “official” class 4 days a week, 2 days down is halfway through. Today was Econ, Finance and Ops and the cases we had weren’t discussion heavy. I think it is the calm before the storm though, I know week 4 (where the *%^$ hits the fan is coming!)

After class I had an informational interview with a second year that interned at Jewel-Osco. He had an amazing intern experience and it was really interesting to hear about what they had him work on. Then I came home to have to deal with the apartment’s maintenance guy painting our ceilings. Then I had another informational interview with a category manager at Jewel to get a little different perspective on their culture and structure. Super informative!

Then it was back to school, for the 2nd session of the Diversity Conference Training. Another informative presentation that once again scared me beyond belief about the conference in October. Hope I am able to prepare and get in gear by then.

Then back home for dinner, some Mad Men, a run and lots and lots of ACCTG and Finance. Watch out Weds here we come!

**In other news…I have made the Student Admissions Council! I am over the moon, really excited to be the point of contact for prospective Kelley students and tell them about what makes us special**

Days that Turn into Nights

Clocked in 10 or so hours at the Godfrey Center yesterday. Finished with class, headed to the lounge for lunch then read and revised my friend’s application essays (hope she gets into IU!) then camped out in a breakout room with my team for 4 hours to crank out our quant assignment (we had only alloted 2) headed home around six just in time to heat up some leftovers. Then I got some pieces of some upcoming deliverables done for critical thinking and ops.

Around 9 I had an informational interview with an alumni I met at the Kelley Women cooking event in LA last year. Was great to catch up with her and she gave me some really great career advice.

But you know my day can’t finish without a klutzy clumsy move of some kind, so before bed I sloshed burning hot cream of wheat water all down my arm enough to get me good. I know I look lovely with a big burn all over my hand and arm, beautiful!

Connect the Dots

Just finished with my follow-ups from the thank you’s I sent out after Round Tables. Now I have a new list of next steps:

• Contact alums at Jewel-Osco
• Contact 2nd years that interned at Jewel-Osco
• Phone informational interview with alum at Target
• Phone informational interview with team mate’s friend at Kohl’s

And probably a million other things that I haven’t thought of. Girl’s got to work it!