MBA for HairTwirler

Bad blog pitches- anyone else get these thrilling emails?

2009-09-02T13:39:00.000+01:00

I am sure I am not the only one who has been targeted by well meaning MBA spam. I'm talking about the numerous new websites, test prep, case prep, admissions prep, that have popped up on the web and the emails I received asking me to review/advertise them. These are mostly started by enterprising MBAs who clearly skipped the class on communication. Now, I will partially blame business school. We're beaten over the head (metaphorically) until we can produce a perfect business introduction email and a perfect informational interview email, but there is a lack of understanding of social media. It wasn't until I was doing training on social media at work this week that I was able to more clearly elucidate why these unsolicited emails piss me off.
1) You have never before commented on my blog.
2) I DO have my email on the blog, it's just hidden, which means you haven't actually taken the time to read my blog and are just commenting on the first entry. At least the last email I received admitted he just found me on a google search.
3) Assuming that promoting MBA websites was the sort of thing I did (it isn't, see #2 about actually reading my blog) some of the websites SUCK. THEY ARE NOT GOOD. Why would I promote something that is not useful? Actually, an email I received recently was for a very useful service, but one that I consider morally questionable - basically helping people shortcut around case readings.
I give all due credit to my new job for assisting me in properly focusing my anger.
Fellow bloggers what do you think? Are you annoyed? Pleased? Ambivalent about this?

Why on earth are leggings so popular in England? OR My first 2 weeks at work.

2009-08-31T12:44:00.000+01:00

As usual, the deafening silence from my blog is related to something I felt unable to discuss while the process was in motion. In this case, the process was... GETTING A JOB! I sprinkled my CSR/sustainability/non-profit applications with a few pure private sector research and consulting positions. Of course the few applications that went forward were private sector - my attempts at sustainability positions beyond my not-really-paid internship were met with deafening silence.

The weather, to quote my favorite BBC Anglia broadcasters has been rather "unsettled" as of late. We don't really have a dress code at the office, which includes people working in pure creative positions as well as people doing a lot of B2B work so on any given day there are lots of jeans and quite a few suits, depending on the department. I have opted for smart business casual as I am simply not stylish enough to compete with the creative types walking around and in my tiny little division I was hired as the most senior person besides the BIG boss so examples must be set. Many of my colleagues around the office deal with the changeable weather by wearing leggings. I have previously discussed how much I despise leggings, but with English I can see the point of integrating them into the wardrobe. Not to say I will, but I can understand the obsession. They are just EVERYWHERE though. I can't escape the leggings. And the main issue in this country as opposed to the US where leggings are totally unnecessary to wear outside the northeast, women in England choose to pair leggings with incredibly short tops and dresses. Leggings are no more flattering and barely more covering than tights and a lot of people just shouldn't wear them.
Rant ended.

I really like the work atmosphere and it is giving me a great dip into a niche consulting area. I have a great MBAish title and all of my peers (who are based in the states) are MBAs as well. I am enjoying my job, starting to receive my own accounts, and starting tomorrow will be supervising interns! London is still a fantastic city. I am starting to get used to the bustle again and I just sit back and blend into the many commuters and wackos on the tube every day. Like the guy who insisted on holding both overhead poles and scrunching up his face in pain randomly throughout the 4 stop journey. Or the woman who brought her dog on the tube during rush hour. Or the woman who saw the dog, screamed, and ran to the other side of the tubecar. Ah, London, I have missed you.

Sometimes I get homesick

2009-08-02T16:15:00.003+01:00

I am a bit bitter this week because husband is in Boston Massachusetts seeing our old friends and I am stuck in Cambridge ENGLAND working. This bitterness was fueled by remembrance of culinary delights such as Anna's Taqueria and Pomodoro. I went to the grocery store to try to get ingredients for an enchilada-like casserole. I needed some monterey jack cheese, some corn tortillas, chicken, enchilada sauce, jalapenos, salsa.
After a trip to Marks and Spencers I found:
Chicken.
So, that was an epic fail. I went home and had an ostrich burger and salad. I had a think about what else I could do with chicken. (Oh that was such British phrasing...) I decided to attempt a version of my favorite pre-made pasta sauce: Sauces in Love's pink pesto. I probably consumed way more of that stuff than is healthy over the years, evidenced by the little reuseable container collection I had in DC. Minor complaint here - they should be stackable! I decided this would be an equally satisfying homesick cure if I could recreate it. I had my friend in Boston (who was eating a few spoonfuls at the time) IM me the ingredients off the side of the jar and I experimented with some tomato cream bases and voila! Homesickness cured.
Maybe once I move to London the Whole Foods there will carry Sauces in Love. But if not, I've created a solution!

One (14.5 oz) can plum tomatoes with tomato sauce
1-2 tablespoons tomato paste
2-3 tb olive oil (few swirls)
small handful walnuts (or pine nuts)
1/3 cup of thinly grated/shaved pecorino (I use a microshaver)
1/4 - 1/3 cup of grated/shaved parmesan
at least 10 leaves of fresh basil, add more to taste
2 oz cream
dashes of salt
2 gloves of garlic, minced

Chop garlic or food process it, then the nuts, basil and the tomatoes.
Add the olive oil and cheeses next, then the salt to taste, then the
cream last. Then simmer over medium heat until warm. Pour over chicken, pasta, etc. Doesn't beat the original of course, but it comes close enough.

Interviewing

2009-07-23T22:55:00.002+01:00

This is what I think of when I am preparing for an interview.

Do they like me? Do I like them? Should I be playing hard to get? Should I show more interest? Do I have food on my face? I think if I was still dating, instead of being comfortably settled with the same man for more than seven years, I would be a little less nervous about interviewing. I DO really like the company I have been interviewing with this past week, I don't have to pretend there. What a stressful situation interviewing is! I know it's an overused analogy but it totally still works.

I hope the perfect... job is ready for me!

MBA speak

2009-07-17T19:13:00.006+01:00

I probably wrote about this before, but my strategy professor had a list of banned words in her classroom. The banned word that has stuck in my mind is "synergy." Many of my classmates and I had just spent a module in "Mergers and Acquisitions" trying to using the word synergy as often as Obama dropped the word "hope" (it WAS the module during the election) before stepping into Corporate Strategy.
Over some burgers the other night before seeing HP6 we ended up discussing swimming trunks somehow which of course led to talk of Speedos. One of my dinner companions mentioned how he enjoyed his speedo swimming trunks as they did a great suit that was a mixture of leisure and performance. Another dinner companion who doesn't like to be mentioned in this blog - let's call him "husband" interjected. He said that Speedo has a negative connotation as a brand, particularly for its... squeezing/ performance properties. I disagreed... and then MBAspeak took over my tongue and I said something about the brand transcended its original meaning to appeal - with still a performance mindset to a much broader audience. Dinner companion 1 (not "husband") turned and said, wow, you can tell you've just received an MBA. I have no doubt that whatever I said was probably meaningless bsing, but at least my degree has at the very least given me the ability to impress PhDs over burgers.
Speedo undoubtedly has a few MBAs scattered in its ranks, likely including the person who wrote this: http://www.speedo80.com/lzr-racer/comme_des_garcons/

Attempting to be a green carnivore

2009-07-09T12:36:00.004+01:00

One of the best parts about moving to a small town (ok, people keep telling me Cambridge is a city and I keep not believing them) is having access to local deliciousness. The farmers market every Sunday morning has fantastic local products, including my favorite, ostrich.
While I was in business school I actually ate a lot of carbs because carbs (i.e. pasta and bread) are cheap. However, my body suffered for it and since I started on this "caveman" diet I've had a lot more energy. One of my constant internal battles has been knowing that eating a lot of meat is not good for the environment. Though my stomach suffered a bit from all the pasta, my wallet and my sense of being good to the environment kept my conscious happy. When I moved over to the UK, I discovered ostrich is actually an incredibly delicious RED meat. That's right, it tastes like steak. I thought this had to be too good to be true. I did a little research and it turns out that ostrich is a much "greener" meat as well, given the bird itself used less land than cattle and its feed (alfalfa based) is better for keeping land arable. AND the farm is local of course! In short, I found a happy medium between staying fit and being green.
Interesting blog post: http://www.greendivamom.com/2009/03/17/green-meat-how-to-be-an-eco-conscious-carnivore/

Reflections on communism OR my weekend in East Germany

2009-06-19T11:17:00.004+01:00

I would like to start this post by saying I am officially too old for my body to effectively handle two, 12 hour parties in one week but I am not too old to push through them like a champ.
The husband and I went to a wedding outside Berlin in the former DDR this past weekend, which was quite an interesting experience. It was actually quite an interesting experience for the German guests, too, many of whom had never been to Berlin. One of my favorite sights was the wind turbines! I realized that I have never seen one in real life before. They are truly an awe-inspiring feat of human ingenuity. Apparently (according to my green energy industry friend and fellow wedding guest) the area we were in has the 2nd most dense concentration of the turbines in all of Europe. The flat landscape and lack of any other kind of industry made it a perfect area for green energy development.
Back to the lack of any other kind of industry. There are two obvious remnants of the communism state - the lack of people and the lack of industry. The town we stayed in is clearly dying. On a gorgeous Saturday afternoon there was no one walking around town. There were no little stores in the city centre like you find in even the smallest American towns. And similarly, no franchised fast food restaurants! Fast food may be the scourge of America, but it is also an excellent small business opportunity.
None of the guests (nor the bride and groom) were actually from Berlin - a combination of factors led to the party being held there. So the foreigners were not the only ones with wide eyes. In a very capitalist move, the catering was mostly staffed from Berlin and brought to the country and the food was bought from a local entreprenuer organic farmer!
Excitingly, we got a lift back into Berlin after the festivities and so got to experience the autobahn. Very fast. Loved it.
From the sparseness of east Germany came the most ridiculous extravagant affair of a Cambridge May Ball. Don't ask me why "may week" is in mid-June. I have ceased to try to solve the many mysteries that make up life in Cambridge... suffice to say it was another 12 hour affair. My feet are killing me, my eyes are showing my age, and I had to sleep for 15 hours to recover. Thank goodness there won't be any more weeks like this in the near future, but I certainly enjoyed this one.

It's a work day

2009-06-07T14:18:00.003+01:00

After spending the better part of Friday simply existing in my new summer house - that is, house I will dwell in for the summer, not "summer home" ala Hamptons hideaway - I need to get some more reading done today. I spent about 2.5 hours last night sending in some job applications and setting up some new job alerts. I really need to be out there meeting people and setting up informational interviews but it is very difficult to determine who the sustainability people are within organizations. Oh, sorry - organisations. I have to practice writing in British now. Everytime I think I have finally covered all my bases in the job search - 3 more sources pop up. Annoyingly they generally cover the same positions, but every once in awhile one source will produce a job the others don't. I'm still searching for the appropriate group/ club to join here on CSR like the "women in microfinance" group I was a member of in DC. Sadly I am going to miss a great Georgetown networking opportunity as I am attending a wedding in Berlin. I'm very excited to see Berlin though! If anyone out there in cyberspace knows of some networking groups for CSR/sustainability in London, shoot me an email.

Back to blogging?

2009-06-06T11:01:00.002+01:00

It's been over a month since I last blogged, but as I previously mentioned, there were many good reasons for said absence. I still haven't decided whether I will continue blogging for the long term but as I am still continuing the job search, that's something worth blogging about.
So in the past month (in this order) I got finished my final papers, got married, graduated, drove to St. Louis and was a bridesmaid, drove back to DC, got a summer internship (in CSR, yeah!) and moved to Cambridge, England. And then moved into a house for the summer.
Whew. I slept a lot this week, as one can imagine. Life has been rather exhausting recently. So the internship is a short-term research project over the summer that comes with an expenses stipend which gives me some breathing room and doesn't require me to put my name in for administrative temp work around Cambridge. I'm not sure how much else I can post about it after reading the non-disclosure agreement I was supposed to sign last week, but in short, the project is about corporate reporting on sustainability issues. This is my coveted "CSR" internship I was trying to get during the school year last year but nothing really came through. It's independent work which means I do not have to commute into London very often. I also have the flexibility to take interviews (oh please let there be interviews) when needed.
The internship came together rather quickly and 4 days before I left. I applied Monday evening (understanding the Brits would receive it Tuesday), got an email Wednesday asking for an interview Thursday.
Me: Ummm, I'm in Washington DC until Tuesday.
Them: OK, we'll call you instead.
I had a three hour interview and assessment on Thursday, somewhat distracting from my packing operations. I pored over my advanced regression analysis text for an hour that morning only to have the assessment be like market research stats. Whew.
Persistence and willingness to accept a short-term gig seems to have paid off. Hopefully this will build my CV in the right direction enough to land me a longer term position!

Oh Winston

2009-04-29T20:31:00.002+01:00

Just a quick blog - what is it with old men and Winston Churchill? Almost every person that spoke in our Leadership class mentioned him as a personal favorite in Leadership. This led me to believe that our professor made love of WC a prerequisite for being a guest speaker. I am 4 pages into a 5 page epitome on why Churchill was a great leader and pondering why I wasn't allowed to write about Maggie. Maggie Thatcher that is. Churchill saved England and all, but when you know your professor loves someone, it is incredibly difficult to frame a criticism. And without criticism, my paper looks a little weak! OK, back to work... 2 days until I'm done, 10 days until I'm wed!

Best of Blogging

2009-04-29T15:51:00.003+01:00

Well I was bumped out of the top 3 this year but just barely - I did manage to hold onto a solid 4th! And even more so, I was pleased that the bloggers I voted as the 3 best won! Congrats to my personal faves: MaybeMBA, JulyDream and Paragon2Pieces!

Please hire me

2009-04-27T04:27:00.004+01:00

This is what the opening to my cover letter says:
Please accept this letter and my accompanying C.V. in consideration for the X position...
I am earning my MBA to expand my general management knowledge and gain more experience in the non-profit sector. Working for an organisation with the mission to transform non-profits is my ideal way to apply the knowledge and skills I have gained in business school...
I hope to work as part of the X team to help non-profits become more impactful institutions.
What I would like to say:
PLEEEEEASE hire me...
I don't know why I am still in this MBA program but I vaguely remember it was because I wanted to help people. Your company is so amazing and I could actually apply the power point skills I learned in business school and I would actually accept the pittance you call an annual salary...
You actually help people. Well you help people to help people, which is more than most jobs can boast. So please, I will work unpaid overtime, take extra projects and pretend like I'm working for an American company vacation wise if you'll only hire me! I need a job! I love you... I mean your company.

New logo for MSB

2009-04-24T18:40:00.002+01:00

So I was editing my profile on facebook when an ad for the new Georgetown Leadership program appeared in my sidebar with... the new logo!! The new logo hasn't even been revealed on the main website yet. I think it's pretty basic and less confusing than the old logo while maintaining our color scheme.

Just remember, you saw it here first. ;)

It's an honor just to be nominated.

2009-04-24T16:28:00.002+01:00

I've been trying to find a good video to post here saying "it's an honor just to be nominated" that would have made this post a lot more interesting, but alas I have failed in that mission so I am left merely to say it with text only.
It is exciting to once again be included in Clear Admit's BoB contest. I am carefully going through all the applicant blogs to decide who to vote for. Obviously I never read those anymore, so as with last year I am taking a few hours to scroll through and get a good sense of what's what. I am an avid blog reader in general so it doesn't take me to long to spot the diamonds. :) My fellow students I'm pretty sure I know who I am going to vote for already, but I always have difficulty choosing the "best post" I can't wait to see the winners! I hope I'll crack the top ten this year, but there are always some great and more enthusiastic 1st years waiting in the blogging wings!

When I see puppies, I think of my marketing professor

2009-04-24T07:09:00.004+01:00

I have Marley and Me on right now and I can only think of one thing. Professor Homa, one of the most brilliant marketing professors at Georgetown. One of the biggest creative check marks I earned in business school was from Prof. Homa on a little project entitled Dewey the Cat. Dewey is a Cat, not unlike Marley, the dog, who is not a pet, but a brand sensation. There are only a few books a year that support the entire industry. Marley was one of them. Dewey is another. The brilliance of the marketing is that the books are not just paper and binding, they are a story. A story that speaks to a large segment of the population about unconditional love. About the bond between humans and their furry friends. The authors of these books were able to communicate this love in a way that spoke to so many people that it became a sensation, again - a brand, rather than a book. The book becomes a movie, a tv series, a childrens' version, a stuffed animal. Animals are the human marketing sensation.

Back to Plato

2009-04-23T20:22:00.002+01:00

A bit of reflection, some last pieces of advice...
One of the basic tenants of my application advice was "know thyself" - what you want, where you can live, what you future could entail. With almost two years of business school experience under my belt, I will go back to Plato and say that I have effectively accomplished the goal of any educational pursuit. That is, I do not claim I know what I do not know. I am more aware of all the wonderful possibilities out there in the world, and I know that there are numerous things that I do not know about corporate social responsibility, microfinance and plain old finance.
I think I had a lot more direction in my life before I went to business school. Career wise anyways. In my personal life I have acquired a lot more direction since I started. Marriage does that (16 days and counting...) The economic crisis has made future husband's social welfare state look mighty appealing.
Though I do not know exactly what I want to do in ten years, I have a better understanding of who I want to be. As monotonous as some of my paralegal work was, I could go home every day feeling good about the work I was doing. I am a strong believer that I had the good fortune to be born in one of the best countries in the world, a country that was built on the backs of immigrant labor. A country that allowed my family to prosper. I got to help others take a step closer to that dream and pay off my student loans at the same time.
My personal mission statement currently resembles that of Net Impact's - doing good through business. I am still interested in the non-profit sector but definitely more in the arena of something very business related such as microfinance.
I've learned that I have a lot left to learn after business school. This was merely a slight bump onto a different path than the one I thought I was on in college. I am excited, hopeful and curious about what is ahead. I may blog, I may not. My final advice comes from someone far wiser than I, Dr. Seuss
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose."

Leadership lessons from private equity

2009-04-14T18:36:00.003+01:00

So good news for my wedding registry - http://www.kpsfund.com/newsandpressreleases/press2009-03-26.asp
Michael Psaros, one of the co-founders of KPS Capital Partners spoke to my Leadership class last night on leadership and characteristics he recognizes in successful CEOs hired by his firm. He is an alum of Georgetown's business school of course - with a bachelor's degree. I understand why the student services office is always trying to inspire love from the MBAs because the new building was almost entirely funded by undergrad alumni of the business school, not MBA alums.
One of the key lessons from class last night was that in a turnaround situation chopping of the head seems to work. At least when the CEO is replaced by someone with the ability to effectively deal with a crisis situation. Experience in turn around doesn't seem to be a key element though according to Psaros. Though what mattered even less than turn-around experience was industry-specific experience. The biggest crash and burn situation from one of the CEOs put in by KPS was one that they hired based off of a headhunting firm's selection process! He said that the CEOs need to be active and are often focused on the organizational chart of the firm as a source of trouble. This fits nicely to what I learned in Leading Organizational Change about how the leader is the expert on aligning people and systems, not managing the details.

Favorite G-20 Quote

2009-04-05T20:06:00.002+01:00

From Howard Davies, the director of my boyfriend's alma mater, the London School of Economics (and Political Science, but people forget that part):
"You can understand China; they are part of the global financial system now and you have to hear them out. But while we may have messed things up royally, that doesn't mean we should be taking advice from Argentina."

Fading Out

2009-04-04T22:58:00.005+01:00

I remember this time last year when I was giving a Yale 2nd year a hard time (via his blog) about how he didn't post anymore! Well, MaybeMBA is doing a fantastic job keeping up with what has been going on during her 2nd year, as my enthusiasm for the MBA has faded, so has my willingness to blog. Not that I have been filling my time with worthwhile endeavors. I must admit I have spent a fair bit of time watching too much Netflix. (Spooks aka MI-5 is an AWESOME show, btw.) Also, I need a job. Oh wait, and more importantly than that, I am getting married in 35 days. (Thank you wedding website countdown.) Due to impending nuptials, I am taking a lightened courseload this module. Frankly, I deserve it, I almost killed myself in the fall by taking ridiculous classes I barely understood simultaneously.
This module I am taking Models of Leadership, Defending the Bottom Line, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Models of Leadership is taught by the dean, and has served as an interesting summary of the many models and lessons for organizational change and leadership I have studied in other courses. This week we start having guest speakers - our first is the commander of one of my classmates who helped turn Walter Reed around. Gotta love DC and the military action we get every day. Sometimes I forget what it's like NOT to ride the metro with dozens of uniformed individuals every day.
Defending the Bottom Line is a bit of a public speaking/ mind game class. We have to give press conferences and defend corporate decisions. We also have to take the role of the press for some classes, which I think is the more entertaining part of the course. On other side of the role we get a good idea of how corporations can effectively or ineffectively handle crises.
My third class is actually a self-designed tutorial. Georgetown did not have a course on CSR so I made one, and host a seminar style class with 9 other second years once a week. So far we have discussed AngloGold and the company's HIV/AIDS program and Starbucks and how they dealt with activists. Next week we are looking at Ben & Jerry's and the case on how they have maintained a social mission post-acquistion.
That's about all for now. The cherry blossoms are once again in bloom in DC. Today marks the end of peak bloom and by Monday they will almost certainly be blown away due to the windy city DC has become this week.

3 weeks in Brazil

2009-03-07T20:46:00.001Z

I am typing from my cute little Acer Aspire at the hostel in Foz do Iguacu in Brazil. I just finished a week in Sao Paulo on Georgetown's Global Integrative experience. My group of five classmates did an analysis of growth potential and opportunities for the domestic branch of an international PR firm. The presentation was well received and the clients themselves were amazing. The Finance Director in particular was a fantastic time - he took us to his favorite neighborhood restaurant and spent a lot of time talking to us and asking us things such as whether the greek system is real and why American bikinis are so big. Hilarious! Tomorrow we are going to the falls and being tourists before heading onto Rio. I cannot wait to get back to Rio and the significant other. A week of mandatory fun with 65 people and mediocre hotel food can be a bit much. The hotel was fantastic though! It's a bit of a shock to go from the 4 star business hotel to the hostel. However, here internet is free!!

Jobless, enjoying chocolate and wine

2009-02-16T22:36:00.002Z

It's almost done with my 3rd module of my second year in business school, which is as good a time as any to ponder life's direction. Well, not really. This module I am focusing on strategy. I am taking Corporate Strategy, HR for Line Managers, Leading a Management Consulting Firm and my global integrative course. One Friday I am headed to Brazil for over three weeks! For Georgetown's global integrative the entire class performs a consulting project for a company then heads to one of five destinations to present findings to the client. I spent in the neighborhood of 4 hours with my team today working on our presentation deck, but now it's looking really good! We're exploring domestic market expansion for a global PR firm. My group is great and the client is incredibly nice and responsive, so really what more could you ask for?
Of course, being almost-Lent-time of year, I decided to aim my course choices towards those without finals and am therefore able to leave for Brazil on Friday just in time for CARNIVAL! We will be going to the Sambodromo to see all the dancing and... whatnot. :) Spring break WOO HOO!
After 2 weeks of vaca with a week of sort-of work in between, I will head back to DC for my last module. As the title of this post suggests, I am jobless with a growing dependency on chocolate and wine. This too shall pass, but not any time soon I bet!

U4!

2009-02-14T17:53:00.003Z

This weekend is the 20th Annual U4 Basketball Tournament hosted by Georgetown. It's a fundraiser for Teach for America and one of the Georgetown MBA program's biggest events of the year. As one of my best friends at the business school is an organizer, I was of course on duty for a shift keeping score and time. I think some of the players (well some of the people WITH the players) were under the impression that I was familiar with details of the game such as why the ref would give a 1-1 free throw shot versus 2 points automatically. Clearly, they were mistaken. The only sports games I usually have any interest in watching/ attending are those in which my professional athlete sibling participates. It is a great deal of fun to see one's last name running up and down. Today was a lot of fun though! The undergrad refs were incredibly professional - they did have to give a bench foul to Columbia at one point. Sadly, there was no penalty for running into the scorekeeper's table and knocking over her coffee, otherwise Duke would have been docked at least 5 points.

Watching MBAs play basketball was not unlike watching a really intense group meeting. Occasionally the ref would have to tell both teams to basically shut up and start playing again when a combination of over-strategizing, testosterone and leadership plays started to delay the game. The other scorekeeper and I couldn't help giggling though a good chunk of the game as obvious MBA characteristics came bubbling to the surface.

Now I have to work on my HR paper so that I can go to the party tonight!

Why Do Women Apologize?

2009-02-11T03:11:00.002Z

I have several major projects I should be working on, so of course... I'm blogging.

I'm in corporate strategy which reminds me of something that has bugged me for awhile, as I am presented with a "shining" example every week sometime between 10:10 and 11:50 am Mondays and Wednesdays.

I have an apologizer in my class. She raises her hand and inevitably, for whatever reason, manages to apologize to the professor sometime during the first sentence out of her mouth. She is an incredibly intelligent woman and every time she does this I want to throw something at her because I can no longer follow her point after the unnecessary apologizing. I can be guilty of this crime as well. Where did society go wrong? 9 times out of 10 I have nothing to apologize for. Yet somehow as soon as a critique comes out of a professor's mouth I occassionally feel the "word vomit" coming up and I blurt out "Sorry!" Is it estrogen? Is it society?

I do know that my male classmates never feel the need to apologize, even when they should. And particularly not after making a point in class.

Dear Starbucks,

2009-01-29T18:51:00.002Z

My level of annoyance with Starbucks has reached an all time high today. About a month ago my friends introduced me to the concept of a tea misto, a tea bag and mainly steamed milk for $2.00. At a slight premium over a regular tea, it was a nice way to add some extra calcium and a warm treat to my day. So I went into Starbucks today and ordered the tea misto. It has now been removed from the menu and replaced with a "tea latte." I was served the EXACT same beverage I ordered last week and charged $1.00 more.
Dear Starbucks,
This is bull-oney. I have stretched my Starbucks gift card from Christmas for almost an entire month.
I enjoy my little treats and do not enjoy suddenly paying a 50% premium. I was incredibly happy with your guerrilla marketing campaign when I received a $5 gift card for telling your marketing people they had a Starbucks cup on the car roof.
Kindly,
A Former Loyal Customer

INTERVIEW!!!

2008-12-17T14:45:00.003Z

I never thought I would be this excited about a first round interview, but searching for a job in England from Washington, DC is a bit challenging at times and I actually broke through the barriers to get a first round interview with a large consulting firm. WOO HOO. It's not until the 2nd week in January so I have plenty of time to prepare over the holidays. The tide of rejections has stemmed at least temporarily.
So luckily the person I just spoke to on the phone will not be my interviewer, she's just a scheduler. Because... whenever I get a call from an unknown number 99 times out of 100 it's my fiancé. He is currently hanging out at Heathrow airport waiting to get on a flight to visit so I expected a call at some point! I leap across the apartment and answer the phone with a "helloooo." And was greeted by a very British accent "Um, hello, am I speaking to Jamey?"
My thought: oh crap, there's been an accident, my fiancé is lying in a hospital somewhere and I'm the last phone call he made so they're calling me because Brits would never be able to figure out what "Mom" "Dad" or "Home" are in his native tongue. Huge lump in throat...
Luckily about half a second later I heard the beautiful words "I'm calling from large firm."
HALLELUJAH! The email I received the other day was not a clerical error, I actually DID get an interview!

Starbucks Promotion

2008-12-05T03:13:00.003Z

I was crossing the street near the Australian Embassy today and a car was parked at the stoplight. I noticed a Starbucks cup on top of the car. It was a little weird because when the car stopped, the cup didn't move. However, I still yelled out to the car and pointed to the cup. The driver leaned out the window and said "Thanks! We're looking for Good Samaritans today. Happy Holidays!" and handed me a $5 gift certificate.
Apparently it was also a Zipcar promotion day, as there was a flier included with my gift certificate.
Yeah for Starbucks!

Where I've Been and What I've Been Doing: Part 1

2008-11-24T03:03:00.004Z

This module has been a much more interesting one professionally. A few weeks ago I attended a symposium on CSR entitled Corporate Social Responsibility: Law, Operations, and Strategy. I must admit, it was on a Friday and I slept through session 1 (the law bit) but sessions two and three were very interesting. Each was a set of paper presentations with commentary.
The first speaker in the operations panel was Prakash Sethi whose paper/talk was entitled "Creating Effective Alliances Between Corporations and NGOs." The second part of the title was "A Report from the Trenches" which made up the somewhat depressing bulk of the talk. As a comparatively doe-eyed student this left me rather discouraged by the whole business, though the talk was delivered in a very straightforward manner highlighting both the successes and the failures.
The second speaker in the operations group discussed proposed ISO 2600 social responsibility standard. This is an in-development standard for companies to follow. No certification will be given for this standard though, which I thought an interesting characteristic for something that purports to be an "ISO" like standard.
After a deliciously sustainable lunch - well, sort of - the locally raised chicken was scrumptious but I was told that the tofu tasted like cardboard. Anyways, after lunch we had the third panel - strategy. One presentation was on the equator principles the other was on implementing strategic CSR. The implementation of CSR was a very intriguing meta analysis that determined that at the very least a CSR program did no financial harm and in many cases was positively correlated to stock price. I need to delve a bit more into the paper, but I believe the speaker also determined a positive relationship with general financial returns.
There were only two business school students at the symposium and the other one is one of my friends. I suspect this had a great deal to do with it being at the law school and on a Friday.
A much larger contingent of McDonough School of Business students attended the Net Impact conference last weekend. More on that in where I've been and what I've been doing: Part 2.

Procrastination

2008-11-19T22:14:00.002Z

The day before our M&A paper was due my friend Lauren accurately called that I would be posting on the dear old blog that night.
It's t-minus one hour until my project finance exam. Here I am again! Some (possibly) exciting news on the job front is that the CSR group in a major consultancy firm I am targeting in London is one of the only groups still growing and hiring! (I.e. that they didn't fill with interns.) A small bit of good news today after I missed my bus this morning, didn't get the SGA constitution change I wanted passed and had one of my group members share her terrible week by being a total jerk to me during our 2 hour meeting. TGIW (only one class tomorrow!)

5/8 done with my MBA

2008-11-13T01:18:00.003Z

We are in week 3 of Module 2, which technically means that I am more than 5/8 of the way through my MBA. I decided to overload this module - I am taking 5 classes instead of the 4 required. One of my classes is Advanced Marketing Strategy. The fact that I am enrolled in this class at all is one of the surprising twists and turns of my MBA degree. My "focus" is not one at all, I am sticking vaguely to a general management track with a smattering of Net Impact classes. My new found interest in marketing took me by surprise for a number of reasons.
1) I think most professional advertising representatives are full of it.
2) The concept of brand equity in an annual report with a value of millions of dollars is fascinating to me. (In a bad way.)
3) I am fairly confident I was in the bottom quartile of my basic marketing class grade wise.
However, last module I took Consumer Behavior and completed a video ethnography project on greenwashing of organic food that I got an A on! I started taking marketing a bit more seriously. I am now enrolled in one of the more deliverable heavy marketing classes at the MSB. We have a power point due almost every class session and also quantitative based deliverables on CLTV and calculating items such as the total advance fee that should be paid to an author.
Shockingly enough I have found that I LIKE marketing.

I am taking the perfect general management mix this module - besides Advanced Marketing Strategy I am taking Project Finance, Global Strategy, Leading Organizational Change, and Climate Change. I'm big on "change" this mod - changing culture at firms, changing the way businesses deal with the environment and learning how to fund it (Project Finance).

On the job front I continue to plug away at trying to find employment in London. Job prospects in the UK are not much better than in the US, but I will keep trying!

I love my apartment

2008-11-05T05:57:00.001Z

I can hear the crowds at the White House. :)

I love my country

2008-11-05T05:40:00.003Z

I did not vote for (president elect) Obama. However, he is an inspiring speaker and with the proper advisers will be an inspiring leader and manager.

I am proud of my country for electing a president from a minority race.
I am proud of my country for turning out in record numbers and embracing the promise of democracy.
I am proud of the millennial generation for embracing the vote.
I am proud of the most eloquent concession speech in a long time.

Thank you Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama. I have always been proud of the United States and proud to be American, but now I am proud of my national government again.

Why I am in Business School

2008-10-21T00:41:00.001+01:00

I wish we studied these people a bit more.

Ode to My Smithies

2008-10-15T22:06:00.003+01:00

I went to Smith College for my bachelor's degree. The longer I spend in business school the more I realize what a blessing it was that I had the opportunity to be surrounded by a such a fantastic group of smart, supportive women for 3+ years. I was reminded of this today when I bumped into the other Smithie in my MBA class at the coffee shop near the Car Barn. We mused about how the Smith name has helped us break through doors or get more attention at Career Fairs. I am lucky enough to have found a great group of very smart women at Georgetown to challenge me as well, but this post is dedicated to my Smithies. :)
Cheers to my 6 best friends from Smith. By the time we're 30 we will have a JD, a Master's in American Studies, a Master's in Nursing, a Ph.D. in biology, 2 MBAs, and a Master's degree in International Relations between us.

I'm melting, melting!!!

2008-10-14T14:24:00.002+01:00

Finals for module 1 are in full swing and the mood I'm in is equivalent to the Wicked Witch of the West AFTER Dorothy has thrown a big bucket of water on her. I still have 2 papers and a final to go. My video project which is worth 50% of my grade is going swimmingly so that's a relief. We did a lot of planning before we started editing which REALLY helped us when we started the editing. I am the voiceover voice which is also pretty entertaining. I lower my voice a pitch when I'm reading it. I am having flashbacks to high school marching band when I was drum major and had to make my normally small little voice project across a football field and reach 300 people. Good times.
Anyways, once Mergers and Acquisitions is over tomorrow I can breathe a bit. I will just be happy to pass that class. The final paper is... rough... completely fair and bringing together all the bits we learned throughout the course. I just don't understand half of it. Ah well I'm learning a lot doing the final case!

Mmm crabcakes

2008-10-04T01:01:00.002+01:00

For my consumer behavior class my teammates and I drove down to southern Maryland to where my parents have their retirement house. We filmed a group of "aware" consumers on their thoughts on organic food, their shopping habits and what "organic" really means. We got some GREAT footage, which we reviewed today. My favorite has to be a former FDA toxicologist talking about how she doesn't believe any organic labels mean anything and she knows it's not healthier! We learned a LOT about pesticides, fungicides and why you should really be more concerned with genetically modified food. We also learned that coffee has more carcinogens in one cup than you will consume in your entire life from pesticides on fruit and vegetables- at least the ones in the U.S.
The best part of the day was of course the opportunity to eat a crabcake for lunch. One of my teammates is a native of Maryland so we chowed down on well deserved delicious crabcakes from Stoney's after we finished filming. Mmmmm. In Consumer Behavior class we learned this is called "self-rewarding" and is a typically American behavior. I'm OK with that.

Reclaiming your quant skills

2008-09-29T02:39:00.003+01:00

I had a comment that is lost somewhere in the archives about what to do about proving that you have good quant skills. The simple answer is that's what the GMAT is for. However, maybe standardized tests aren't your thing. The comment asked about MBA Math. That can be a useful review (or basic first instruction on certain topics) but I think a more genuine way of showing reclaimed quant skills is through taking a statistics or accounting class through a local college. Doing well in a statistics class, for example, will show that you can do well in something that has more applicability to business school and the real world than data sufficiency questions.
The GMAT is important, but if that's a weakness, go back to the real world and see if that will add positively to your application.
Good luck!

Work for a company that does something.

2008-09-25T22:12:00.003+01:00

These were the words of advice from our guest speaker Charles Morris, author of Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash in my financial crises class earlier this week. After a talk on the symptoms, signs and root causes of the current crisis one of the questions posed to Mr. Morris was - we are MBAs looking at the current economic turmoil - what job advice do you have?
His advice - work for a company that does something, that makes something real. Too many MBAs head to Wall Street or consulting firms without taking stock of what they are really contributing and what skills they are gaining. He told us to take the time to learn how a business ticks, functions, how to manage real people and real problems with a level of involvement that many on Wall Street just do not understand.
It was a sobering conversation despite that fact that Mr. Morris had us laughing at many points during his talk.

Today in the same class we had MBIA CEO Jay Brown speak to us about his company's experience through the current crisis. Again we received a fair amount of excellent advice from this speaker. One of my favorites: Lots of people will be working twice as hard as you because they want your job. They will also all tell you they like you. Get your assistant to figure out which ones really do like you!

Psychology 101

2008-09-15T00:21:00.002+01:00

I realized that my blog still thinks I'm in England. Perhaps I didn't change it because that is actually where I WANT to be right now.
In other more class related news, my Consumer Behavior course is an interesting class in basic psychology. My professor is constantly trying to convince us that marketers do not have enough data to manipulate consumers. I'm not entirely buying it, but I know what to say to get a decent grade. Our main deliverable for this class is a video ethnography project. To start on this project we had to go through a video training session (this is the ON button... here is the VOLUME... etc) and then learn how to use iMovie on a mac. HAHA! Take that business school tech support for mocking my mac. While my classmates spend hours in the windowless editing room in the library I will be editing from the comfort of my own apartment.
Score 1 for Georgetown McDonough School mac users! Our victories are infrequent, I'll take what I can get.

Yea who shall volunteer shall reap the rewards

2008-09-12T02:52:00.005+01:00

The Graduate Women in Business Club had our mentor/ mentee wine tasting event yesterday evening. Two of my best friends were running the event so I got there a little early to help set up, then took charge of the clean-up with one of the only male members of GWIB. Thus, I was able to capitalize on the leftovers and scored 1.5 bottles of Pinot Noir.

I'm getting married in May and am trying this new diet called "too busy to eat." I'm teaching a GMAT class 3 days a week and taking one of my classes in the evening as well. Given this schedule I don't have much time for cooking. I solved the problem this week by making a Tex-Mex casserole Sunday night which I am slowly working through. I also have enough carrots and tomatoes floating around my refrigerator to satisfy a family of rapidly reproducing rabbits.

In employment news, many of the Georgetown MBAs are busy preparing for the large career fairs that will be in DC this year. BOTH Black MBA (NBMBAAAA? Can't remember the acronym!) and Reaching Out (The Gay Conference) are in DC. It's a fantastic opportunity for the DC area schools to make an early impression with employers. I went to the Hispanic conference in Houston last year which wasn't a really valuable experience for me. As previously discussed in this blog, I had some amazing barbeque but spending $300 for a plane ticket just for bbq is not a wise investment. Even last year I acknowledged I was likely England-bound and asked employers about international recruiting. None, including McKinsey, were very helpful. So I am starting over, going to a job fair in London and continuing my informational interviews. Luckily my marriage comes with immigration benefits so that will make things a bit smoother. I need to turn my resume into a CV (currently in progress) and send in my paperwork in May, but then I will have my very own EEA family permit- unrestricted work authorization and all. Woo hoo!

Accomplishments

2008-09-10T06:06:00.002+01:00

This time last year if you had told me I could do a simple valuation of a merger, finding my own discount rate and actually know what "market risk premium" and "beta" referred to, I would not have believed you. So I HAVE learned something so far. Time for bed.

Back to school

2008-09-08T23:50:00.001+01:00

Hello loyal readers. I know you have all been waiting anxiously in the wings for my "back to school" post! (Or not...)

I'm slowly adjusting to life back in DC and at Georgetown. After a summer at a non-profit and bumming around DC (hospitable borderline southerners) and in England (generally friendly to tourists) it was a little shock to be back in the world of professors who think they are God's gift to the business world. Some of my classmates came back humbled from lack of offers and others came back entirely confused as to what direction their career is now headed. And then there are the members of the proud group who have offers and are luxuriously shopping around! I am a little jealous of the security, but am secure in my decision to pick geography (England) over a specialized career focus.

The main reason for my absence from the blogging world has mainly to do with the two events I was running the first two weeks of school. One of the other student government VPs had a fantastic idea which we planned for and implemented the Friday of the first week of school. We had about 200 1st year attendees and 30+ second year speakers. The next week I ran part of a careers days, again for 200+ attendees in conjunction with the Career Management office. This one I ran solo and needed a sizable nap on Friday after it was all over.

Academics are another story. I'm sort of treading water this module. I supposedly have a foundation from last year but goodness, finance was literally six months ago. I barely remember WACC. I'm sure I'll muddle through. My general management course path is proceeding nicely and I think I will have a solid foundation for either consulting or non-profit management.

However, returning to school reminded me of how happy I was working this summer. It is immensely difficult to be here, away from my boyfriend and knowing that I COULD be starting a job right now, had I chosen to go to Cambridge. However, I would also be about $60,000 more in debt. Bleh.

Well back to work. I have an M&A case due Wednesday that I am still quite confused about. And somehow between all this my mother wants me to give a crap about what photographer we have at my wedding reception. I'll try!

I am on VACATION

2008-08-17T18:07:00.003+01:00

So I set my alarm for 3:53 am this morning to get up in enough time to load the BBC page to watch Phelps. I jumped up out of bed and stepped down onto the floor and a curious squelching sound accompanied by a wet feeling between a few toes. I leaped back on the bed, sticking my foot out as if I had stepped in dog poo, which was highly unlikely since I was in my bedroom, and then peeked over the side. Being 4 am, I couldn't see anything of course, so I took a large step over the offending area of the rug and turned on my computer. Keeping a wide berth I squatted down and aimed the computer screen light towards the rug.
It revealed an almost decapitated slug.
EW EW EW.
This was only the 2nd most disgusting thing I have stepped on with my bare feet. It is a very distant second to stepping on a dozen cockroaches at 2 am in short lived apartment situation in Boston.
After putting the slug out of its misery (that's the last time I leave the unscreened window open at night) and set up my computer for the final race! I'm surprised I didn't wake up the rest of the house yelling "GO GO GO Phelps! GO JASON! GO!" Jason Lezak kicked some major butt again as he did during the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. It was a clutch performance once again.

As the title of this post says, I am officially on vacation. I am kicking back relaxing, maxin all cool. I actually met this British girl Friday night who could sing the entire Fresh Prince rap...
Anyways I will be going into London Friday and likely staying there before catching my flight on Saturday afternoon. I'm having a lovely visit and a relaxing time here, but it is about time to kick my brain back into gear and start classes. I am very excited to see my friends again, most of whom I barely saw this summer due to travel, both fun (family reunion on the beach, being in the UK) and otherwise (funeral, their work).

These Chinese guys are eating very yummy smelling food which is making me hungry. I think I'll go cook dinner now. I bought some ostrich sausage from the farmers market that should be quite tasty.

Last week of the internship

2008-08-11T13:03:00.003+01:00

I'm coasting into the last week of my internship. I never had a hope of receiving an offer and never really had an intention of pursuing an internship where I could get an offer this summer so... that's what happened. It has been a very good learning experience. It started off a bit slowly, but picked up the pace significantly with lots of projects that made me stretch my understanding of microfinance. I have worked on a business plan, with an excel add-on for MFIs, written desk reports and done quite a bit of cold calling to the Canadian aid agency in Quebec! I think I had a valuable experience this summer although I am no longer sure I want to pursue microfinance as a career!
During my lunch with the top 2 people in our Career Management office (I am the student government VP Career Management) we came up with the focuses for fall workshops. I definitely fit into the "I had a good summer but I'm not sure it's what I want to do? What the heck do I do now?" I've been there before though - thus business school - and I know it will all work out in the end, but it will be a bit of a nerve wracking fall!

Go Team USA!

2008-08-07T13:43:00.004+01:00

I LOVE the Olympics. Four years ago I was a new resident of Boston and spent every evening and weekend during the two weeks ordering take-out and glued to the TV screen. With a friend, which made it slightly less anti-social. I've already checked out the online streaming coverage on both NBC and the BBC so I can watch Team USA ALL THE TIME! I love that I'm working remotely right now. I'll be watching the opening ceremonies from the Middle Common Room (post grad lounge, complete with leather chairs) at the bf's college tomorrow afternoon.
In my obsessive Olympics coverage stalking I've come across some good stuff from the Washington Post. And some completely silly things as well. Here's a rundown of my favorite Olympic coverage so far:
The Hall of Supreme Harmony Watch this all the way through for an excellent visual on what one staff member thinks of individual rights in China.
Chinese Architecture Did the Olympics really change anything? It's a common theme.
Blinded by the firewall What Chinese THINK the world thinks about Chinese.
Guess these abs Love it.

Things I don't like about England besides the rain

2008-08-05T18:50:00.003+01:00

My dress size is 4 numbers larger, and my shoe size (already tiny) is two sizes smaller. Way to make a woman feel good about herself Britain. THANKS.
The exchange rate.
OK, my title is misleading, I'm going to mention the horrible weather again. It just stinks!
Well, that's about it. Not a bad list. I think I'll live.

England. Rain.

2008-08-05T18:25:00.003+01:00

How freaking miserable is it outside? Fairly. Rain, cold, and all I have are open toed sandles, heels and my comfortable yet horribly unattractive running shoes. I have been hiding indoors all day hoping that it clears up at some point so I can go for a run along the River Cam. I like to run in the afternoon and evening, which you can do here because unlike DC it's not 90+ degrees from 12-7 pm.
Other subtle differences- I notice that patrons of my new home (Starbucks, Borders, Market Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom) tend towards the most fattening, heavy items on the menu. The number of people I see walking by with whipped cream laden drinks is astounding. That and chocolate muffins, weird gourmet breads and other "lovely" treats as they say here. Of course, I'm not one to judge as I enjoyed a few pints at the local pub last night.
Work is going well. I created a heat map showing the competitive landscape of MFIs in India using a cool tool on MIXMarket.org and am honing in on a market size for microfinance in Delhi. I also worked with the other intern in the public sector group to develop a briefing sheet for Congress- it's lobbying time!

Taking matters into my own hands

2008-08-04T00:04:00.000+01:00

So at the beginning of the summer I had to work remotely to deal with a family issue. My boyfriend wisely pointed out that since working remotely then had gone relatively smoothly, why could I not accompany him back to England for the end of my internship?
So here I am!
I've found a comfortable home at the local Borders/ Starbucks (thank you American capitalist imperialism) where I pay $3 for an iced tea and enjoy a very comfortable chair. I am doing pretty well keeping up with work and hope to complete most of my Kaplan background work before school starts as well. It's slow going through all the lessons for the first time but if I get all this background work done now it should make the first two weeks of school a lot easier!
I also took matters into my own hands on several other issues relating to work. Back in June I asked one of the intern coordinators about starting a lunch series. Apparently one was in the works but stalled. I volunteered to help and was shortly handed the entire enterprise to plan and run. Taking something over does have the distinct benefit of being able to schedule things in a manner most beneficial to yourself. Thus, before I departed the U.S. we had a session with the CFO on microfinance careers and the industry's shift, a talk on commercialization by the deputy director, and a talk on transformation by a senior member of the legal team. Each session was a fantastic learning experience and got my valuable face time with the senior leadership. And I of course remembered to pop thank you notes in their mailboxes before I departed the continent!
The bf's house sort of smells like it is a colony for many types of mold, but despite that feature of this ancient British dwelling, I'm here with him, still managing to work and therefore happy.

Google translate = best thing ever

2008-07-17T22:49:00.000+01:00

I finally got to play with numbers at my job today. Granted, it wasn't anything mind boggling, but I did get to become acquainted with an excel add-on for MFIs (microfinance institutions) called microfin. Of course it doesn't have a mac version, but that's why I have 2 laptops, the one I love and the one I use for Netflix, Rosetta Stone, and now Microfin. My team is working on finishing a business plan for one of our new affiliates (coming soon to an Asian country near you) so everyone is going a bit loco. Compound that with the fact that my teammates seem to lack higher than an elementary understanding of word and excel and that lands clean up jobs on my plate. While it can sometimes be annoying it also makes me quite popular with very little effort. Like today, when I linked the table of contents to the content of the paper. PRESTO! Everyone was very happy.

Back to my subject: google translate. I'm doing donor research on the French development agency and modern technology has removed any immediate need to learn French. It made life so much easier.

Dead Goats

2008-07-07T21:36:00.004+01:00

Part of my department at FINCA just got back from Jordan for a donor massaging/ networking trip. FINCA Jordan is one of our newest offices and we are lucky that Her Majesty, Queen Rania is one of our board members. Queen Rania is known as "HMQ" around here- it's like "POTUS" for "President of the United States." I guess it's a fairly common way to refer to someone very important quickly without losing too much respect! Anyways, out of the trip emerged several stories that illustrate what microfinance organizations are up against.
The microfinance industry in Jordan has great support from donors and influential leaders such as HMQ. However, Jordan's microfinance institutions (MFIs) have apparently been squabbling a lot and the country is therefore struggling to come up with regulations and best practices because people just don't get along. These types of non-profit management problems seem to be somewhat universal! Exhibit A: The DC charter school movement. The major players are surviving and thriving despite not working together on anything, but so much more could be accomplished if they worked together.
Another story was about the very first FINCA Jordan client, who the entourage of VIP potential donors and board members visited during the trip. She used her loan to buy 5 goats. Then where she lived in Jordan had a freak snow storm (is a snow storm anywhere in Jordan a freak occurence??) and 3 goats died. Luckily HMQ heard the story and replaced the dead goats but many MF clients aren't so lucky. The industry is moving to offering more comprehensive financial services now, and some FINCA affiliates offer insurance and savings products. When the client heard that all these dignitaries were going to be visiting her she was about to slaughter a goat in celebration and had to be stopped! So she still has 5 goats.

Back from the Forte Conference

2008-07-02T02:43:00.001+01:00

Well I am back into work after a whirlwind trip to NYC for the Forte Conference. I arrived in NYC Thursday afternoon, dropped my luggage off at my friend's apartment, and caught the subway downtown for a Forte dinner. I then met up with some Georgetown MSB friends while they ate dinner and I had a few drinks. Mojitos, yum. Friday morning I went to the "The Hard Truth About Soft Skills" workshop, lunch, a career fair, took a hardcore nap, then went to yoga with my friend. I met up with Georgetown friends at Stanton Social for dinner, then the bf for a drink. (Stanton Social = VERY good.) Saturday morning I had an excellent bagel delivered to W 4th by my friends, then I spoke as part of the "Surviving your first semester" panel.
That's just the outline of my weekend. By Saturday lunch I was exhausted. I bailed from the conference after my panel and went back to my friend's to start my training prep materials for being a Kaplan GMAT instructor! As previously mentioned in my blog, I have been pursuing several employment opportunities for the fall. This was number 1- a success! I auditioned, interviewed and started training in 5 days. Kind of crazy. I also interviewed for a job assisting with the running of a managerial journal. Which I also got woo hoo! However, they lowballed me on the salary so those negotiations are still open.
Now to fill in a few details of the Forte weekend... I was very happy to not only see a few of my 2009 MSB classmates, but a few 2010 and one 2008 grad as well. Go Georgetown! I also met one of my favorite bloggers- July Dream. Out of a room of 200+ women, we sat down at the same table for lunch on Friday! It was really fun to meet one of my fellow bloggers in real life and to recapture some of the excitement I felt right before I started at Georgetown. Sometimes I fall into the jaded zone of existence, but then I remind myself of all the fantastic electives and opportunities of the upcoming year. JulyDream's excitement was a perfect reminder!
Speaking of next year... I will be in the UK for 3+ weeks in August. I decided to work remotely (Dear Bosses, You're great. Best, Hairtwirler) for the close of my internship and stay with the bf. Although August is major vacation time, I hope to set up a few informational interviews to get a head start on my job search for Fall 2009.
Well, time for some GMAT prep... never thought I'd be saying that phrase again!

Dear Readers, particularly those I will meet in real life:

2008-06-19T20:09:00.003+01:00

In the upcoming months I will be meeting some of my readers. It's an inevitability. Here are a few tips for when this meeting occurs, gleaned from previous awkwardness.

1) Do not start the conversation with something like "I read you like ice cream." Quoting personal facts about me that I mention on my blog is weird, unless you too are an ice cream fanatic. Then mention so.
2) Do mention that you read my blog in the early part of our conversation. It's weird when we've been talking for 30 minutes and THEN you mention you read my blog every week.
3) Do tell me how much you like my blog. Writers like flattery.
4) Do not mention that you read my blog and Business Week forums in the same sentence. Or even the same conversation. I will find that offensive.
5) Do come introduce yourself. I like hearing that people other than my old roommate read my blog. Although I do love that you read my blog Anna, I like that other people read it too. :)

More private sector/ non-profit differences

2008-06-18T22:46:00.005+01:00

Working at an office, I often need to write things down. So I looked for a pen. There were no pens at my desk, and neither could I immediately find a supply closet. I wonder if this is a typical non-profit experience. I spoke to friends working for government agencies this summer who had interesting takes on the whole supply issues as well. In sum:

Private sector: Go to the supply closet and get a pen.
Government: Fill out a requisition form and wait six weeks to get a pen.
Non-profit: Pen? What pens? Bring your own pen and jealously guard it in case someone tries to commandeer said pen.

Working remotely

2008-06-18T14:33:00.003+01:00

I have stumbled upon one the beauties and the tortures of the 21st century... working remotely. My 3 bosses for my internship all work remotely so when something came up with my family this week I was easily able to work remotely as well. The way high speed internet and free applications like Skpye and googledocs have enabled even non-profit employees to easily work from anywhere is amazing, and restricting. I have a blackberry, but have thus far refrained from attaching my MSB email to it. I'm sure if I move into the corporate world I will not be as lucky as to be able to choose to disconnect.

Next week I will be a participant and a panelist at the Forte Foundation annual conference in New York. It will be nice to see some of my MSB friends who are working in New York and catch up with some non-MSB friends in-between!

Gas prices and travel in the U.S. of A... AND financial modeling text recs?

2008-06-12T16:00:00.003+01:00

With gas prices seeming to set up camp at $4.00 a gallon recently, I considered how I would have made it to my friend's wedding if I had actually attempted to get there by public transportation. After about 20 minutes of fairly efficient searching through Amtrak and NJ transit I was given the following answer:

We are sorry, but there is no service available at the destination at the specified date/time.

That, unfortunately, is why most Americans rely on their cars to transport us from point A to point B. However, I didn't give up on my little examination of the current state of transportation affairs. The bride lives outside of Philadelphia, which IS accessible by train and bus. A single trip on Amtrak and the NJ transit trains from Washington, DC to Cherry Hill, NJ would cost me $45.25 at the cheapest. Looking at the buses, I can get from DC to Philly and back for approximately $50. Comparatively speaking, that's not bad, plus in my imaginary scenario I would carpool with someone for the rest of the way and not pay all the tolls. According to my sources (my brother who drives from Baltimore to Philly every weekend) that's about $17 each way.

In short I could save quite a bit of money by taking the bus, but it wouldn't actually get me to where I need to be and there's no public transportation I could utilize during the weekend. And then I wouldn't have the flexibility to drive around the NJ towns we were staying in to pick up such necessities as sparkling wine and fake eyelashes (SO not for me) when required.

I am facing a life of self-induced poverty and not enough alcohol during my second year with my current state of financial affairs. Therefore I am exploring some money-making endeavors. Those may or may not come to fruition in the upcoming weeks. If they do, I'll post about it. If they don't work out, I'll pretend it never happened. One thing I wanted anyways for the fall is a paid internship. As I am starting from ground zero experience wise, I knew I would have to go for anything and everything and see where it took me in the development world. I found this advertisement for a really cool summer position- financial analysis for a non-profit- so I am going to see if they need anyone during the school year.

In other randomness I now have a sketchy gym membership to go along with my sketchy cable. I won't go into too much details, but I'll just say cash may or may not have been involved. Given that the gym has non-sketchy cable TV I have been spending some quality time there since I joined last week. Bend it Like Beckham was on yesterday evening so I spent more time on the elliptical than originally planned. I love that movie. I'm also using Rosetta Stone to try to recover some of my Spanish this summer. These two activities are only keeping me busy to around 7:30 each night as my work, home and gym are in the same 5 blocks. So, in addition, I am going to try to do some work for my other internship and find a book to teach myself financial modeling this summer. Suggestions on texts are welcome and encouraged!

I'm going to Brasil!

2008-06-06T16:11:00.002+01:00

I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet. I found out a few weeks ago that I am going to Brazil for my 2nd year Global Experience! During the second year at Georgetown the entire second year class participates in the Global Integrative Experience at the end of the third module. The entire class bids for locations given 10 points. This year the options were Sao Paolo, Brazil; Johannesburg, South Africa; Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Dubai, UAE; Madrid, Spain and Prague, Czech Republic. Only one of the two Europe destinations was chosen. If I play my cards right, I can choose classes with final papers or presentations instead of exams for the third module and go to Brazil the week before the integrative. Then I will spend a week in Sao Paolo and the week after is spring break. The bf speak fairly fluent Portuguese which should make being a tourist a lot easier. I think I am going to have some sort of beef with every meal. Brazilian steak is supposed to be amazing. I can't wait to go to my first local churrascaria!

Notes to self

2008-06-04T02:23:00.004+01:00

Notes to self.
Working for a non-profit that doesn't pay definitely provides no moral obligation to stay after 5 pm.
Only living two blocks from work doesn't preclude getting soaked during a summer rainstorm without an umbrella.
My apartment is a disaster. Must get it cleaned before birthday party on Friday night.
Crap, I turn 27 tomorrow.

I started with FINCA on Monday. The work is a bit more challenging than the research I was doing for MERC, but MERC has far superior technology. After working on a brand new mac for weeks I am now working on a really old, really slow PC laptop that I want to throw through a window, if I had one. Although I am technically in a windowless office, it's all glass and faces the windows of the office and I immediately in between cubicles so I actually get more sun than 2 people in cubicles closer to the window.

Yes dear readers, it's the little things.

Oh when will it be my turn!

2008-05-30T03:26:00.004+01:00

I'm a bridesmaid this weekend. When will it be my turn to walk down the aisle in a big beautiful white fluffy dress with attendants and flowers and hundreds of guests!?! I can't wait!
NOT! I'm far from the big hoopla type but more about that later...

Getting married is like business school.
First comes the application process, otherwise known as dating. You try schools on, they try you, you interview, you visit, you meet the parents (application committee). You get to various stages in the process with different schools. If you're lucky your first choice loves you just as much as you love... it.
The time you're in class is the engagement. Trying out different courses (dresses), career paths, (locations) and fighting with your professors over grades or deadlines (developing a relationship with your in-laws.) That lucrative, fulfilling job is on the horizon but you have to take the time to prepare for it.
Graduation- the wedding day. You've prepped for it for quite some time and it only lasts for a few hours! The ceremony anyways, the big party after graduation could go on for days.
Then there's the honeymoon. For the lucky ones this is an extended period before the real world and the permanent job starts.
But the end goal of business school is to set you up for a fruitful career. As business school and graduation are just the beginning of your career adventures, the wedding is just the stepping stone. One day of a marriage.

Back to my own wedding wishes. Well, that's simple- when the time comes, I'm eloping. This weekend I'm participating in traditional weddingdom- Presbyterian church and all. Luckily the bridesmaid dress looks good on me and matches my eyes. Way to go bride! It ALMOST makes up for the fact that she told me around lunch today that I have to be in New Jersey 2 hours earlier than I thought I had to, thus causing me to rearrange my evening to get my car and forgo work altogether tomorrow to make sure I have enough time to drive up there. Almost. I get to start drinking at 8:30 am the day of the wedding so it will take some effort not to be drunk for the 2 pm ceremony. It's really not fair to give me champagne at 8:30 am and then expect me to go to church.

Next week I start at FINCA!

Hello lover

2008-05-23T06:03:00.001+01:00

Recently I've been pretty bored out of my mind. The recent addition of what I will deem, ahem, enhanced television service has not done anything to cure the boredom. My research job hasn't done anything to cure the boredom either, since I have been doing very little but reading sustainability/ CSR reports. This week I did start on something interesting- I'm researching and drafting a report on Corporate Councils, which my org is considering creating. It's pretty cool because I'm applying some of the things I learned in my Social Enterprise class about board development.
I love TV by the way. I've rediscovered the beauty of completely checking out from the world for a few hours. Obviously, the news is never part of my television routine. I of course find traveling to a different world via a good book much more gratifying than TV, but sadly I have not yet joined the public library and my current budget does not allow my old purchasing habits to continue. I'm rationing my last few unread books, but they are all non-fiction selections about international development and microfinance.
One of my favorite bloggers wrote about b school regrets. Now that the first year is done, it is a time for reflection on issues and mistakes starting with the choice to come to business school at all.
That was a good decision. I like business school. I love where business school is going to take me and the possibilities that it is opening up for me and the doors it is opening into my self-awareness of my skills and interests.
Was Georgetown a good decision?
I think so... otherwise known as so far, so good. There are some major frustrations, the main of which is that the school is in transition, physically and staffedly (yes, I made up a word there.) This year we brought in new Assistant Deans in Student Services, and daily life. This brings to mind the fact that I don't actually know Jett's title. Jett is the MBA hand of the Dean's office who lives with us in the Car Barn. He is definitely there longer than almost anyone else every day and is a great asset to the program. We also just hired a new head of admissions and a new head of career management. We're in a decrepit building waiting for a new building to be completed and my class may never have class in it although we were told it would be open for us our last semester.
But Georgetown is getting me where I want to be professionally and academically. I have taken a good balance of classes. I was very pleased with the Social Enterprise course this past semester and I have access to a good range of electives (though I would like better depth) next year. I have an internship at my top choice non-profit.
Do I like my classmates?
Statistically speaking, I like as large a percentage of my classmates as I feel I do of the general population. The issue in a b school class of 265 is there is no avoiding the people you do not particularly care for. Also, it was a bit weird coming back south. DC is not THE SOUTH, but it is the gateway and I was not as prepared to come down here as I thought I was. In the last 8 years I have turned into a bonafide northerner. I find it perfectly normal that none of my heterosexual friends in Boston are married and my gay coworker is. I liked being in a city where my college was respected and well known in all circles, not just political ones. Men shook my hand normally and never paid for my drinks up north. But why should they? I have a boyfriend, and they weren't him. Back to the handshaking- some of the men in my class tried to give me the girly handshake- only taking half my hand and shaking it in this weird cross between the beginning of a royal hand kiss and how you'd help your grandmother out of a carriage. It's a southern vestige of some kind. They have been corrected and most of them have taken it well.
Do I regret not going to a higher ranked school?
No, because I want to go into microfinance, and Georgetown's a great name in international development. If my career aims included a top consulting firm, I would probably be regretting my decision a little bit because I would get there but it would be really, really difficult. If they included investment banking or another top finance field, I wouldn't regret Georgetown at all. We rock at finance.
My boredom should be cured in the next few weeks with a trip to Orlando, Florida and a wedding where I am a bridesmaid. Not to mention, the most exciting entertainment of the summer season... the Sex and the City movie. I just love to hate Carrie Bradshaw... hello, lover.

A picture's worth a thousand words.

2008-05-12T04:41:00.007+01:00

I am going to take a leaf out of MBAGladiator's book and post some of my favorite photos from the beginnings of spring in DC. Unlike my fellow blogger, I try not to post photos of myself, so yes, these will be scenery based photos around campus and DC. I'll have to get him to teach me how to do those collages!

I am SO ethical

2008-05-10T22:46:00.002+01:00

My grades were posted yesterday. I did fine, nothing spectacular. But given my input this term my return on investment was quite high. Spectacularly so in ethics. Or perhaps I'm just naturally ethical. It's quite possible. Either way, thanks for the A professor.

Community service in your application

2008-05-10T01:10:00.003+01:00

I am about to rant. As a bit of context, this post may be a bit mean. I've had a rough day/ week. My grandfather died last Friday and I spent most of the week in Florida at the funeral and with family. Today I spent 2 hours on the phone with Verizon. Who are all @$$holes. Never buy any service from them. Ever.

Every once in awhile (ok, maybe a bit more often, something like twice a week) I check the referral page of my blog sitemeter. I was somewhat disturbed to find a referral from the Business Week forums. I think most information on the forum is useless. People talk themselves around in circles. They ask advice from professionals (Clear Admit) and anonymous peers. The advice of the former of course tends to be much more sensible than the latter. My favorite posts go something like this "I'm a white male, 27 years old, 5 years in banking, 760 GMAT and average GPA from a top university. I haven't had time to volunteer but I'm going to quit and spend the next year making myself more interesting, will this help me get into H/S/W? I won't apply anywhere else."

Please. If you haven't contributed anything to the greater welfare of your fellow mankind at this point in your life and you're just now getting around to it, then do poor people/ animals/ orphans a favor and leave them alone. Unless, perhaps, you know something or have a particular skill that is beneficial to a group in need. For example, if puppies think you're the best thing after bacon flavored treats, then maybe you would be well suited to volunteer at an animal shelter. I think Porter's take on companies and CSR provides an apt analogy. Porter argues that many companies have CSR programs for the sake of having CSR programs.
"Broadly speaking, proponents of CSR have used four arguments to make their case: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation... All four schools of thought share the same weakness: They focus on the tension between business and society rather than on their interdependence." (Porter and Kramer. "The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility." Harvard Business Review, December 2006.)
Instead of volunteering for the sake of volunteering, one should explore what extracurricular activities fit one's personal strategy, skills, goals and interests. In doing good for others in an arena that matches one of those areas of your life (strategy, etc.) you are simultaneously building your personal stock.

Now it's time to drink a glass of wine and mellow out.

Best of Blogging

2008-05-02T03:16:00.003+01:00

And an even nicer end to my week...
There's this.
Yeah! Best of Blogging. 3rd place gives me a year subscription to The Economist. Obviously I already subscribe, but my current one runs out this summer so it's great timing.

Ahhhh, vacation. (1 year down, 1 to go)

2008-05-02T01:43:00.005+01:00

I am done done DONE for the year! I finished my last exam Thursday afternoon, handed my half of my ethics paper to my groupmate with my signature confirming all the work was our own (he hadn't written his half, I trust him!) and proceeded to enjoy margaritas on the roof of the Car Barn. I followed that with drinks on the roof of a friend's apartment overlooking the city. There were some mini-kegs involved.DC doesn't have tall buildings thanks to the Washington Monument. I think I was actually trying to take a photo of my apartment building with my camera (I live 3 blocks from where I was), but then someone distracted me with pizza before I managed to take photos of the rest of the 360 view. I went home early and caught the 5 am train to Boston where I hung out with friends, went to all our favorite haunts (woo hoo BHP!) and generally had a great relaxing weekend. Yesterday I presented at FINCA with my Service Corp consulting team and then enjoyed a great dinner with my small group. I realized I don't have a single photo of the five of us together! Our group really was one of the best in our class. We all got along and worked together incredibly well and I will miss them next year! We all agreed that we will find each other in our electives next year...

Speaking of next year we had preregistration last week. I only got 4 out of 8 of my original class choices for next semester, which when I compared to my friends was TERRIBLY unlucky. Everyone else I know got between 6-8 of the classes they wanted. I really got 5/8 of my classes, as I managed to get into a different section for one of my original choices. I am staying on the waitlist for my 6th and 7th, and the 8th I wasn't wedded to in the first place. A new finance elective that I am interested opened yesterday, which I jumped at, and I also turned in the form for a microfinance elective offered in the school of foreign service I really want to take. So first semester (two modules) I will be taking:
Mergers & Acquisitions
Financial Services Management
Advanced Regression Analysis
International Finance
Advanced Marketing Strategy
Leading Organizational Change
Global Strategy
Microfinance
and something else...

I have a great summer to look forward to- I'm doing a fair bit of work at organizations I believe in, I'm in a wedding and I won't be moving!

I'm feeling the love.

2008-04-23T19:24:00.003+01:00

I haven't posted about this yet, but I got an internship with my top choice organization for the summer- FINCA! I am working for another group (previously mentioned) for May and maybe a little into June, then I will start with FINCA. I came to b school to learn about microfinance and therefore am very VERY excited to be working for this org over the summer. Amusingly, since I got the FINCA offer Friday (and basically accepted it) I have received 3 more interview offers. However, I had to make things move quickly in order to secure funding for the summer. It would have been cool to say I had received X number of offers but that's being a little greedy. As it is, I did receive offers from 2 different groups at FINCA, so that is exciting!
The only reason I'm writing is that I am procrastinating studying for my LAST EXAM. SO CLOSE!!! Yet so far away... Friday at 5 am I will be on my way to Boston woo hoo!

Finals are driving me crazy. And my neighbor actually IS crazy.

2008-04-22T02:46:00.005+01:00

It's finals week. As many others have felt before me- what the hell?? I'm almost halfway done with my MBA career. I didn't have a final today so it felt like the end of the worst 4 day weekend ever. Friday I conducted interviews for a consulting project I'm working on, then grabbed lunch with the bf, went to an accounting review session and met with the assistant head of career management. Saturday I was in the Car Barn for about 7 hours studying. I did manage to break up the monotony with a few hours studying on the roof with one of my teammates. It was quite nice outside and I enjoyed my brief foray into the outdoors. We finished the evening with a group dinner at Paolo's on Wisconsin Ave and then I went home and pretended to do work. I am starting to go a little stir crazy, but mostly just crazy because I have no idea whether or not I am prepared for this final tomorrow.
Speaking of crazy, my neighbor is kind of a nutter. He's currently having a Monday night party. He alternates between 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s nights. While I enjoy Beatles Thursdays, I wish he would play an entire album. He likes to play A song from each of these decades, on repeat, for about 3 hours on alternating nights. It's not every night so it becomes a mystery which night will produce which song. Besides the Beatles he also LOVES Nirvana.
He had a huge party Thursday and my boyfriend and I were having a hot night of... laundry fun. I go out in the hall and am waiting for the elevator and one of the revelers was sitting on the floor sort of slumped over. Then another party goer runs out into the hall. He was quickly pulled back into the apartment by my neighbor who says "come back in here! My neighbors already think I'm crazy!" Why oh why would he think that? Perhaps because last month we found him crouched next to our door with his laptop completely wasted talking about trying to find the internet?
Ah, city living.
Back to studying- only 3 more days of year one!

Comment spam

2008-04-18T13:26:00.002+01:00

I have thus far been pretty lucky in the arena of comment spam, but after 2 hits in one week I've now moved to moderated comments. Stupid spammers.

MBAs gone wild: fights over the email system

2008-04-15T04:46:00.003+01:00

Reply to all is such a dangerous feature...
Here is a lovely little exchange that went across the servers tonight. Mass emails for marketing surveys are fairly common around the school and most people simply delete them. But oh no, not tonight. Finals are looming and pages of papers need to be written, and somewhere out in cyberspace, I think someone cracked.

Email #1
Subject: Please help with your input on store brands!
Hi guys! I'm SO sorry to for all the e-mail bombardment of surveys, but if you could answer this SHORT and sweet survey for our marketing class, we will be forever grateful! Please help your fellow MSB'ers out!! (=
Thank you so so much,
Student #1

Email #2 (From Student #2)
Subject: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
Please do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
Professors should ask their students to use other methods of gathering data.

Email #3
Subject: Re: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
Student #1-
Sending e-mails to ask for class related survey assistance is an appropriate use of the GroupWise e-mail system. You do not have to answer. If you have any questions regarding e-mail policy please ask me.
-MBA CTO

Email #4
Subject: Re: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
I agree with Student #2.
-Student #3

Email #5
Subject: Re: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
I also agree with Student #2.
-Student #4

Can you see where this is headed?

Email #6
Subject: Re: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
I think some people had bad days. I'd rather not have mass email responses in my inbox than survey solicitations
-Student #5

Email #7
Subject: Re: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
if noone wants mass emails...stop responding to this email with "reply to all."

Email #8
Subject: Please do not use mass e-mails for an open forum discussion on mass e-mail surveys
I think this is ridiculous. Those of you who are complaining about cluttering of mailboxes are doing just that. Truly, how difficult is it to click the "delete" button? Appreciate the position of the students-they need large samples of volunteers. The operative word is volunteer-if you choose not to participate that is your decision. Just as I hit the "delete" button for these absurd comments that now clutter my mailbox, you too can click "delete".
-Student #7

Email #9
Subject: Re: Do not use mass e-mails for survey solicitation.
LOUD NOISES

And with that, the email chain was put to rest. For those of you who are not rolling on the floor right now see Anchorman.

Poor Lonely Planet

2008-04-14T23:20:00.001+01:00

A bad apple writer...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7346101.stm

I can say that Lonely Planet India prevented me from getting food poison throughout most of India. Whenever I strayed off the LP defined path, I strayed into food poison land. So I will stick with the guides until proven otherwise.

Diversity Day

2008-04-13T22:19:00.009+01:00

Last night was one of the best McDonough School of Business events of the year- Diversity Day! An evening of good food, a fashion show and cultural dancing display topped off a heavy social calendar this weekend. Here is some of the deliciousness I indulged in- and a photo of the crowd! I'm in it, but it's like playing Where's Waldo (Where's Wally if you're British, Où est Charlie? for the French, and Wo ist Walter? in Germany.)
Thanks to Sam for the photos!
The Georgetown MBAs, family and friends...
Empanadas! I'm glad they were mini ones because by the time I got to the Americas I was almost stuffed.

Indian food from a few of my favorite classmates.

Taiwan- I realized when I saw this photo I never made it to this table! But the dish on the left got particularly rave reviews.

Texas (There was a bumper sticker about Secession at the end of the table...)

Thursday night was the Annual Report viewing at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. The hour and a half long show was a compilation of skits mocking life at the Car Barn. It was a great reminder of the fun year behind us and the beginning of the official social end for the second years. There was lots of hugging and a whole lotta laughter. Friday was the spring formal at a beautiful waterfront locale, followed by a slightly less official event- the beer olympics. Complete with teams and prizes (I won't go into details for what) apparently it was much fun had by all. While copious amounts of beer was being drunk by my classmates, I was taking golf lessons with fellow members of the Graduate Women in Business club at the East Potomac Golf Course & Driving Range. It was the first time I had ever touched a real golf club (I don't count mini-golf). I wasn't half as bad as I thought I would be, and definitely enjoyed whacking the crap out of the golf ball. It was an excellent stress reliever, although I discovered muscles I had forgotten about when I woke up this morning. Last night was the aforementioned Diversity Day and this afternoon we had a Cohort 2 BBQ!

I managed to squeeze in a lot of work and date night with the bf this weekend, but tonight I am still faced with quite a bit of preparation for an ethics presentation tomorrow morning! We are presenting on organizational integrity and are only meeting as a group 30 minutes before the presentation. We have done everything else virtually! Ahh, 21st century technology can bring us together, but keeps us apart...

Fellow bloggers- please vote for me!

2008-04-11T15:08:00.003+01:00

Best of luck to everyone nominated for this year's Clear Admit BOB!
http://blog.clearadmit.com/

I GOT AN INTERNSHIP!

2008-04-10T15:27:00.004+01:00

Excuse me while I go dance around my apartment for a few minutes...

OK, done for now. The non-profit recruitment process is fraught with frustration, pain and waiting. Waiting for business school results was NOTHING like this. There was a deadline, a light at the end of the tunnel. With non-profit recruiting, there is a lack of resources in general, which causes applications to hang in cyberspace for months. Even then, I felt lucky when someone actually got back to me to say I had not received the internship. At least there was closure!
The major non-profit recruiting "season" does not really start until March. In fact, a plethora of job postings coincided with the beginning of Module 4. Thus, not much work has been accomplished this term as I pound the pavement virtually.
It finally all paid off this week and I received an offer from a fantastic organization that does management education capacity building in Africa. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? It is actually paid, too. Now, I am taking about a 50% salary cut from what I made as a paralegal, but this was to be expected for a non-profit internship. I am starting with them immediately and we are going to revisit whether its working and whether I want to stay for the summer in a few weeks. In the meantime, I have one government consulting a few microfinance applications pending and an interview at a very big name in the field this afternoon.
Lastly, in a little over a month, I'll be here:[Relaxed sigh.]

What I really do at school

2008-04-07T05:33:00.004+01:00

Instead of doing schoolwork, I recently involved myself in several consulting projects. I am working on a market research project for a charter school and a best practices project for a microfinance organization. This is what I love about business school and one of the reasons I came back full time- for the extracurriculars that are enriching my academic experience. Learning accounting is important, but being able to help a charter school understand whether or not they are reaching and serving their target population is the better part of my day. Now, pro bono work can be an incredibly frustrating experience (exhibit A the entire lack of public information for the microfinance project) but also rewarding. When I get to that part I'll let you know!

There are people who do well in jail...

2008-04-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

... and MBAs are not among them. Thus spoke my Business & Government professor last week during a discussion of the difference between getting in trouble with the FTC and getting in trouble with the DOJ. He's quite a popular professor at the MSB, despite having to cover what I consider the most boring parts of constitutional law EVER as part of his curriculum.

Module 4 (of 4) is humming along. I am still completely jobless, which explains most of my absence from the blogosphere. Every moment I usually take to write is being spent on cover letters. I have so many thoughts running through my head about my choices and where I want to go and where I was meant to be. A series of events led to retreating into my thoughts this week. My boyfriend is visiting, one of my friends at school is pregnant and with the dollar tumbling I am looking at next year's job search with a bit of trepidation. Should I be in England right now? Monday is the microfinance conference at Georgetown. I know that's why I came to Georgetown and I hope I get to learn a lot... and get a job!

I spent Easter with my parents, and I got a small TV from them I found in the closet. As we were walking out the door, my Dad hands me the "rabbit ears" just in case cable took awhile. I discovered that the U.S. is not getting rid of analog TV until February 2009! That means, free TV for me!

As Clear Admit only likes my postings when I talk about food... I made some delicious buffalo burgers the other night. Now that my kitchen is in order I have been cooking regularly. I made some pretty decent enchiladas, the burgers and corn chowder. The bf looked at the chowder and asked where the animal was. I decided I needed to expand my reach into vegetarian cooking a bit more and had the bf bring back a cookbook partially written by one of my best friends. It's not yet available in the U.S. so I got it directly from the U.K. Check it out: Vegeterranean.

The Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom right now. I walked all around the tidal basin last weekend and took some great photos. This is one of the many reasons why it's great to be in DC- Spring!

Leaping into spring break

2008-03-03T15:32:00.004Z

The Class of 2009 finished our 2nd integrative- the business planning one, and leaped into spring break on February 29th! The business planning integrative week itself was a good experience, but the class we enrolled in this module was too disorganized for my taste. We heard a lot of interesting talks by real entrepreneurs over the course of the 6 weeks, which was perhaps one of the biggest value adds of the course. I am never going to start a premium tea delivery business (our team's idea)- for starters, there's no hockey stick in our financials. :) However, the class did cause me to explore business planning competitions I WOULD be interested in, such as the global social entrepreneurs competition. There's also a social entrepreneurship competition for Georgetown students only, but I don't have that one great idea yet!

Instead of traveling to an exotic location this year, I decided to stay in town for spring break and rediscover my love of DC. That, and I decided to move out of my parents' dwelling so now I need every cent of those loan checks! Lucky for me, quite a few of my friends decided not to travel this week either, so they were around to help me move! My old roommate from Boston was also in town, so we christened the new apartment by drinking large glasses of wine.

This week I signed up to work on research for a consulting project with an international development firm and am otherwise going to be a tourist. I pre-ordered tickets to visit the Washington monument and am also going to the National Gallery of Art. I am attending an international development conference on Wednesday. I also want to visit the Holocaust museum, but I have thus far been a bit too stressed to appreciate something like that museum. I heard it pretty much drains all happiness out of you.

I wanted to give a quick "shout out" (I don't give shout outs, thus I must put it in quotations) to Nicole's friends, who I am pleased mistook this blog for being written by her, and are therefore my readers. Yes, I twirl my hair as much as Nicole does! I also want to post my jealousy of these guys, who were in Miami instead of having to help me move. I don't hate them too much, because the futon they gave me is now residing in my living room.

Oh happy day!

2008-02-22T01:14:00.004Z

The happy day will be tomorrow, actually. I have one exam left in this third of four modules. At 3:45 tomorrow I will join my classmates for hours of revelry and alcohol. At least with those who can still bear the sight of alcohol after the Georgetown MBA sponsored U4 Basketball tournament party last weekend! And most importantly, my finance exam is done! While I highly doubt I passed with flying colors, I'm pretty confident I passed. I am now back to working on cover letters for internships. I have 6 in various stages of completion due in the next week. Somehow these are harder than the 8 page paper on negotiation I just finished...

POMA numbers, Non-Profit Internship Fund & Catholic singles?

2008-02-17T00:28:00.004Z

An eclectic title for an eclectic mix of news. Many exciting things have been going on with the 09s this module, and I am, as usual, in the thick of some of them.

An interesting academic development this module is the business planning class and forthcoming integrative. We attend meetings twice a week, once meeting with investment coaches and the other listening to lectures from entrepreneurs and faculty on creating a business plan and pitching it to investors. We had a great lecture two weeks ago from one of my favorite professors at MSB, Prof. Dahiya. He is my finance professor, and also provided the lecture on financing for our business planning class. He introduced an interesting concept entitled "POMA numbers" to describe the financial estimates on an imaginary bagel business plan. Straightfaced as always, Prof. Dahiya announces, now what are POMA numbers? Pulled out of my ass! HILARIOUS. Sandeep had another good moment in finance class where we were discussing the consequences of debt and how going into hock was not always a great idea, despite the tax benefits. He looks around the room and goes "who has seen Shakespeare In Love?" WHAT? Some of the guys, mostly with wives, were brave enough to admit they had, and the professor gave a detailed retelling of the some of opening scenes of the movie where the moneylender is burning the shoes of the theatre manager. I don't know where he gets this stuff. Most importantly, I think I will come out of this semester understanding the basics of finance, and better yet, almost be able to explain them to someone else. How well is yet to be determined!

Non-profit Internship Fund Auction
The last few weeks were an exciting race to the finish to put on the fantastic Non-profit Internship Fund Auction! My motives for joining this club were not quite pure, as I hope to receive money from the fund to support myself over the summer when I am, almost inevitably though be design, going to be working for a non-profit. I have applied to only 3 jobs that pay (yeah, consulting!) and have a slim chance of getting 1 or 2 of those. The payment for one of the 3 is $12/hr. I think I could make more than that babysitting.
Anyways, we put on a SMASHING auction off campus this year. The finger food was amazing, and included appetizers such as little bowls of mac and cheese and pieces of bacon. Yes, simply pieces of bacon. Also sliders, chicken quesadillas and steak on sticks. I love meat. There were some lovely veg appetizers too but I got a bit obsessed with the pieces of bacon. There was a lot of organizing to be done, and I must say that the phrase "I just work here" often came out of my mouth during the auction. The 2nd years did a lot of the work and made our lives quite easy. My contributions of an airport ride and mystery boxes did well enough, and I bought finance tutoring from a fellow SGA VP. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to auction off a friend of mine for a date. However, thanks to my initiative he is available to be viewed on catholicsingles.com. In retaliation I was signed up for a different unnamed dating site. It was still worth it.

Did you vote?

2008-02-12T16:35:00.000Z

Today is the primary in Virginia, Maryland and DC. This means that after today I can look forward to a lack of silly political commercials until the general election.

Applications up up up!

2008-02-07T01:22:00.000Z

Scuttlebutt (sp?) from friends in the admissions office say that applications are up up UP this year and that Georgetown gave out more acceptances first round than it ever has before. This goes along with general figures I have been reading in the b school news. All the more reason to apply early! Again, not that I would ever wish my insanity 8 1st round applications on anyone, but this year that seems like it would have been a very wise move. With the economy tanking I can imagine these numbers will rise next year as well.

What the ?!?!

2008-02-05T04:44:00.000Z

The above subject is what goes through my head when I look at the work I still have left to do, and then the time, which is always swiftly approaching or flat out after midnight. Two projects of the evening: Booz Allen Case Competition Analysis and internship application. Today I applied to the Acumen Fund. Most of Acumen's internships specifically require investment analysis experience. I managed to find one in their HR department that I am actually qualified for and am taking the however-I-can-shove-my-foot-in-the-bloody-door, I will do it, approach.
I am also trying to find an apartment so that I can move out of my parents' house. With the bf arriving for a lengthy visit in 6 weeks the clock is ticking...

FT rankings, auctioning the SGA president, and other McDonough School of Business events

2008-01-29T05:35:00.001Z

So a fellow blogger out there in blogosphere was lamenting her school's drop in the newly published FT rankings. I thought, oh crap, better check Georgetown! Georgetown basically held our position, which is a respectable 38 in the entire world. I put relatively more stock more in rankings ranges than absolute ranking numbers. Also, I must chuckle that the FT tries to cram every UK b school as high as statistically possible on the rankings test.
I have performed my own slightly less scientific test of Georgetown's reputation while in the UK. This test consisted of me asking whomever I happened to be standing next to at the time if they had heard of Georgetown. Now, granted this test was performed over several alcohol infused nights in Cambridge at one college's events but the results were quite positive. From what I remember approximately 85% of respondents had heard of Georgetown and had a favorable impression. Another 5% had heard of it but couldn't remember why. One offered "Bill Clinton?" My study is likely skewed by the politeness of the grad students, although I did often press people who did not follow up with "in Washington, right?" The test population was also heavily populated by South Africans and Brits, as my boyfriend has a freakish lot of both in his college at Cambridge. Overall I can say that Georgetown is well enough known by educated society in the UK. Or a tiny little corner of it.

Today was the official handover from the old to the new SGA board. It was complete with a key "ceremony" where the new officers were each given a key to the closet of an SGA office. This week I am pushing to get my career in order, meeting with 2nd years, getting names, and passing on my resume to anyone who pauses. Do any of my readers work at USAID?

In completely different news, the non-profit internship fund auction is happening in less than two weeks! Like many other b schools, we at the McDonough School of Business have a club dedicated to helping students who want to work in unpaid (mostly government and non-profit) internships to afford to do so. Yes, that would be me. I am helping with donations, as I clearly hope to benefit from the fund. Our big event of the year is an auction, complete with live and silent bids, drinks and food. I have secured our SGA president, Mat, to auction off "Pizza with the Prez" where he takes people out to a favorite M Street dining establishment- Pizzeria Paradiso. They do a decent gourmet pizza, but more importantly have an excellent selection of beers. I have also convinced the VP of Social to donate Chinese lessons and dinner. Or if an eligible lady just wants dinner... something can be arranged. ;) Yes, I have a boyfriend so I need to meddle in the love life of others. Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match! Find me a find, catch me a catch! As I am quoting Fiddler on the Roof in my blog, I would say it's time to go to sleep. I managed to finish the entire (I hope) finance homework for the first time this module so it will be a deeply satisfying sleep.

Interviews: B school and jobs

2008-01-21T17:22:00.000Z

I have my first internship interview tomorrow. As this is a non-profit social justice organization I have little idea of what to expect. The reams of electronic files listing potential questions that exist for marketing, finance and consulting are not in play here. The best I can do is study up on the organization, practice my personal pitch, and remember what I wrote on my cover letter (it was lost in my Christmas time hard drive crash.)
Business school interviews were pretty easy for me, as I generally interview well. Most of mine were "walk me through your resume, why b school, why THIS b school." I probably had to spend more time on the why b school question than other applicants as I was employed at a law firm at the time and a J.D. seemed the more logical track. I have perused some of the blogging fare from this year's applicants and I am pleased to see the enthusiasm and details thrown out in our little community keeps increasing!
Many applicants are chronicling their interview experiences, and frankly, some of them are just missing the bloody point of questions. One blogger writes "I heard the fit question is really important at this school" and worked really hard to come up with an answer. Another struggled with the question of 'why' a particular business school. If you can't readily answer why you fit with a school or why you applied to a school, then you shouldn't be applying to those schools, even if it's "H/S/W." Now, of course my blog is less popular because I don't attend "H/S/W" but seriously people, take some time to actually consider your options before you apply.
It is important to fit the pieces of your life and your career goals together in your head, and then a clear path should emerge. Each school is different, and you should be able to explain why. When you get to business school, you will need to be able to understand the differences between the investment banking divisions in the ten companies you apply to and be able to give a response to the question, if you are given an offer would you take it right now and why. Having a good understanding of WHY you apply in the first place is a basic step on your MBA path.

Each new day brings a new way to procrastinate

2008-01-19T19:05:00.000Z

I managed to write half a cover letter this morning before I got caught up in lamenting the poor choice of movies on my TV with basic cable. I then realized that with my parents' Netflix subscription, PC and newly installed futon in the office, I could choose from a wide variety of movies. That solved, I am back to work. OK, almost, now I'm blogging.
Well, I lost the presidential election but am taking on VP of Career Management so I will continue to serve on the SGA board. Still exciting!
Last night I attended the most recent Virginia happy hour. The Georgetown class is divided between those who live in the city and those who live "across the bridge" i.e. the Key Bridge, i.e. in Virginia. I am one of those people, although no one else really lives as far out as I do! Last semester, a group of 1st years started having Virginia happy hours, to make it a little more convenient for those of us who don't live in DC or Maryland to get home! There was a lot of beer, pool and mexican food involved. So much so that I didn't make it to karaoke night. Ah well. We texted the people at the karaoke night who seemed to having fun!
Back to work, these cover letters don't seem to be writing themselves.

I'm baaaaaaack.

2008-01-16T03:11:00.000Z

Well folks, I went on vacation! From school, from blogging, from the U.S... but now I'm back in the U.S. and back in class. This module I have the opportunity to take my first elective. Georgetown is a general management program so most of the classes during the first year are chosen for us. During the second semester we have the opportunity to take two module long electives or one semester long elective. This semester most of my classmates are taking Marketing Strategy, taught by arguably the best marketing prof on campus (I quote second years on this one...) he's the guy P&G asks you if you've taken a class with him. That sentence had grammar problems, but I'm not going to correct them.

Anyways, my top choice elective, Social Enterprise, is offered in the fourth module, so I needed another elective to fill out module 3. I did not feel comfortable enough to take a finance elective (I'm only halfway through the basic course) and settled on Negotiations. We get graded on how well we argue basically.

Another thing that is consuming my life is SGA elections. I am running for president and have been campaigning like crazy. I have also been kicking my internship search into high gear, submitting applications and visiting development employers. This leaves academics a distant fourth in my current list of priorities. (The bf was visiting, so he stole the immediate #1 spot.) I have my first operations case write-up due tomorrow, along with my first macroeconomics case write-up. I also have a finance case due Thursday!

What I am really looking forward to is Karaoke night on Friday, hosted by the Japan Club. We have make up classes on Friday because of Martin Luther King Day Monday the 21st, so a night of drunken singing with my classmates sounds like the ideal end to the week.

Jingle Bells, Glögi is delicious

2007-12-11T03:34:00.000Z

OK, so that doesn't quite rhyme...
It's the holiday season and tonight I have made Glögi. In fact, I am now drinking some. Glögg, Gløgg, or Glögi is the traditional Nordic Christmas drink. It is basically mulled wine- it is made of wine or port, all sorts of delicious spices, and of course, vodka. That last bit is the Nordic addition to this wonderful drink. You add raisins and almonds and have some alcohol soaked deliciousness at the end of the sipping. It is one of the best ways to keep warm so far up north! That and... well let's just say there are a lot of summer babies.
Yesterday, I went to a Hannukah party, hosted by my friend Lauren and her husband. I had delicious latkes and potato pancakes, and was not required to sing any dreidel songs, although I did get to eat a dreidel cookie. There was an excellent showing by some fellow Gentiles, as well as some classmates from Israel, who got a great glimpse at holiday celebrating, American style.
I spent the weekend with the family, and put the awfulness of exams behind me! I got my first grade back today... although I am unclear on the curve, at least one grade is securely a B+ or above. Whew. As we head into break (after rounding out two days of career management stuff) I will be leaving the country for a wonderful two week hiatus, before coming back home for New Years and Module 3!

And all of the sudden, I miss Boston

2007-12-06T04:59:00.000Z

Today, it snowed! This morning it was naught but flurries, but by the time I picked my Dad up from the train station in our suburban town there was ACCUMULATION of at least two inches. Very exciting. It almost never snows like this in DC at this time of year. I witnessed Christmases in the 60s as a kid. It's exciting. I really like snow. See previous entry. Snow also makes me miss Boston. Perhaps I'll break out my heavy duty snow boots and reminisce walking through the Boston Common and through the downtown wind tunnels tomorrow by walking across the Key Bridge.
Missing Boston may also have something to do with talking to both my favorite Anna's in the past week! (Just checking to see if you're reading!)

The Difference Between Undergrads and Grad Students

2007-12-04T17:25:00.000Z

I am sitting in the student center, getting a few rays of sunlight (sorely lacking in the aging and soon to be abandoned McDonough School of Business MBA building) and waiting for a second year to chat with me about her internship. I am listening to a great mix of songs from a very nice undergrad somewhere out there over the network who has left her iTunes playlist open for everyone else to listen to. It was very nice of her and right now I am very much enjoying the Black Eyed Peas. I wish I could say I would do the same, but mine is password protected so you can only listen to my music and ponder why the heck I have both the Spice Girls and CCR on the same playlist if I like you.
Undergrads tend to be a much more open and less cautious bunch than we grad students. I mean, who else but an undergrad would unabashedly post both her first and last name on a playlist that includes an extensive collection of Celine Dion? They also have a very different view of business education. There tends to be a larger focus on the academic skills needed as opposed to the holistic management views many MBA programs take. There are several students in my class that did business degress of varying kinds for undergrad. These type folks should be very careful in selecting schools. Many general management programs will repeat basic business coursework in marketing, accounting, etc. that the undergrad program offers. On the other hand, if you had a narrowly focused business degree (i.e. marketing major) or have not really utilized/ completely forgotten everything you learned since obtaining the bachelor's degree, it could be entirely worth it to repeat the basic academic work. Many programs allow students to test out of the basic levels of coursework, which is always another option for someone who has an academic business background but feels a particular program fits in non-curricular ways.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T03:16:00.000Z

I am so full of turkey I think it is blocking the flow of creative juices to my brain. I have a bit of writers block. Suffice to say, after a finance case, a marketing case, a quant exam, a management communication speech and analysis all due in three days, I am pleased to have a long weekend. Tomorrow I will be hanging out with old friends from high school at an old favorite restaurant. One of our professors this week did leave us with some excellent advice. He said that sometime during the weekend we should take the time to sleep, eat and relax. I was planning to do so anyways, but a semi-official stamp of approval was nice.

But what do you actually do?

2007-11-16T01:29:00.000Z

I think many of my fellow bloggers and I fall into the trap of assuming everyone else's school functions the same as far as clubs, academics, bidding, etc. Sometimes what we actually do gets lost between the lines. Georgetown, as a general management program, has a very extensive core curriculum during the first year. You only take two module electives during the year, or one semester long class. This cuts down on the amount of bidding. Due partially to Georgetown University's administrative set-up, something the business school has been slowly but surely extracting itself from, we do not have our own registration system. So we therefore do not have a bidding system for courses like many MBA programs. We also have a smaller program, so you pretty much eventually get to take what you want, even if you have to wait a module or two. Next semester my top choices are Social Enterprise and Negotiations. The second years usually take over the Negotiations classes, so I doubt I will get into that, but it will be fun trying. Perhaps I should negotiate with the professor to prove what a fantastic asset to the class I would be?

Booze and Buddies: What B school is all about

2007-11-10T23:29:00.000Z

There are stereotypes aplenty flying around regarding business school. All you do is drink… you’ll make the best friends of your life… finance is a killer.
I’m here to tell you they are all true.
Last weekend I attended the NAWMBA conference hosted by the University of Maryland. A friend and I decided to watch the entire competition (the Georgetown team presented last) and we were incredibly impressed by our polished women! After the competition we attended a delicious reception where I enjoyed a few glasses of wine with MBASalsera and many of the other Georgetown ladies. We then moved onto the dinner, where it turned out we weren’t just biased- Georgetown won 1st place: $5000.

In the academic arena, this week we studied segmentation in marketing. The case accompanying the lesson was written by a few Georgetown MBAs who now work at Miller. The case was on the challenges in the domestic beer industry, and the questions centered around examining shifts in demographics and tastes, identifying appropriate marketing responses to these changes and arguing for a strategy. The Georgetown grads came in to present, along with top brand managers. And of course, they brought the new product (their solution to the case questions) with them. That was how I came to be drinking Miller Chill at 9:30 am.

Back to buddies… I was studying in the fishbowl with a mostly empty table. This only lasted for about ten minutes when one of my cohortmates joined me and chatted a bit. Then a friend from a different cohort sat down. Cohortmate turned to friend: “Hi, I’ve seen you at a bunch of marketing events, right? Would you mind looking at my resume?” After ten minutes of review and chatting they both stop and extend hands saying, “oh right, my name’s…” Collaboration is the name of the game this mod because…

FINANCE IS KICKING MY BUTT. I know I am not alone in this feeling, but happily our class is really pulling together, truly collaborating within study teams, within cohorts, and frankly with whomever happens to be sitting nearest at the time. I'll conclude with some words of wisdom from Sandeep, my wise finance professor: "No one force feeds you broccoli and loans." Something to keep in mind folks. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drink a Miller Chill.

So busted.

2007-11-07T04:14:00.000Z

Today my mind was running about an hour late for life. I got to school at 9:30 and met with my study group to work on a case for Miller that is due tomorrow. In case I have not mentioned this before "get it done" is our motto. We even had our Korean group member translate it for us so we can speak the group motto in several languages. We had a productive group meeting but at 11 am I still needed to further review finance. I am unnecessarily unnerved by this class. I usually know what I'm talking about but am unmotivated to participate because I know I am surrounded by future bankers who NEED that class to go well in order to propel them into future financial greatness. Or at least a decent internship. I decided today was participation day. I had my hand raising strategy down, but I wanted to re-read the material that went with the homework to confirm my thoughts. I also decided to cram a bit more study time for our quant. methods test in. These two items came at the expense of accounting. Now, as previously mentioned, I am a cohort rep. Our accounting professor, bless his heart, is the nicest man alive. However, he utilizes the cohort reps quite a bit more than any of the other professors. Before I didn't go to class today I said to my group, I just know something is going to come up and he will look around the room and I will just not be there. And so it was. The social rep emailed me during class to relay the information. Sigh. My group members justifiably gave me quite a hard time about that one. Apparently he was looking around the room repeating my name and I... was just not there. I suppose I do not have a bright future in accounting anyways!

Making an Impact

2007-10-31T00:26:00.000Z

"Too much! Too much!" My life is in overload right now, which is the main reason I have been absent for a few weeks. After visiting the bf in England for a week, I returned to DC, refreshed and ready for Module 2! This Mod it's Accounting Part 2 (a direct continuation), Quantitative Methods 2 (a divergence from statistics into more operations), Finance I, Marketing and Management Communication. My cohort has a brutal schedule- with Quantitative Methods, Accounting and Finance all on the same day. At least those classes are Tuesday/ Thursdays. I get to ease into the week with Marketing on Monday mornings. Nothing is really wowing me this term, but that was to be expected given my career interests. I will certainly learn a lot this term at least!
Out of all my classes, Management Communication is fun. We all have to speak on a prepared topic in every class and in addition a few of us have to give an impromptu speech. We're randomly picked and have a minute to prepare a 75 second speech on a topic. However, the professor doesn't pick the speaker until AFTER the prep time, so he sends the entire class into panic mode for a full minute after announcing each topic. It's great fun.
Outside the classroom, last week our chapter of Net Impact had the first (appropriately titled) McDonough School of Business Net Impact Day. It consisted of panels on CSR/ corporate giving, microfinance and social enterprise, and different paths to a non-profit related job. The microfinance panel was of particular interest for me.
This week is the NAWMBA (women MBA) conference at the University of Maryland. Georgetown, in our typical inclusive form, is bringing at least three men. They're a bit nervous, as they should be, but I think it will be a great experience for them.
I have a my first marketing case due tomorrow! I should get to work on that. Last night I went bowling for our SGA "retreat" so I didn't get a whole lot done. :)

On the other side of the pond.

2007-10-16T17:46:00.000+01:00

I'm visiting the bf in jolly ole England this week. It's rainy and 50 degrees out and I'm a bit jet lagged. I'm not sure if I'm going into London on this trip, which hopefully will cut down on a few costs. Thanks to the horrible exchange rate my return bus ticket from Heathrow to Cambridge cost about $70. Ouch. Tonight we'll be dining at one of my favorite quick eats spots- Pizza Express. It's so cheesy but I like it! Cambridge is a cute town and some of the colleges are magnificent. Best of luck to my classmates who are off on various treks- Wall Street Week, Marketing Trek and Consulting Trek exploring their futures! Net Impact Day is next week, which is my opportunity to get a great glimpse at all the non-profit opportunities in the DC area.

I love fall... but I hate leggings.

2007-10-11T00:45:00.000+01:00

I walked to the train station this morning and stopped for a moment to appreciate the crunching of leaves beneath my feet. It was 92 degrees yesterday and the leaves are starting to die without really changing colors, thanks to a summer drought. But I still enjoyed the crunch. Unfortunately fall seems to be heralding the return of leggings. I don't know what I have against leggings really. Perhaps it is some repressed memory from elementary school when my leggings/ scrunched sock combo was just not cool enough. Perhaps it is a natural abhorrence of many things spandex. One can only guess at the origins of my loathing. At any rate, I can't stand them and noticed at least two separate pairs on the metro.
For more on this subject visit my favorite Fug Girls.
In MBA related news I am over halfway done with finals!! We have one paper and four finals for module one, and we are through two exams, with Strategy and Accounting left to go. Accounting is technically a midterm, as it is a semester long class, but it counts for about a quarter of our grade. I think I have done OK so far. Because our grades are curved and I am not going into i-banking or corporate finance I will feel guilty if I manage more than a B+ in any of my classes because I know that someone else had to get below a B+. On the other hand, I would like something to balance my inevitable B- in accounting. It has been a looooong week, but I just have to hang on until Friday when the SGA is sponsoring a BBQ and the South Asian Business Alliance is sponsoring a party at a local club.

NSHMBA Part 2

2007-10-08T18:40:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I just spent two days at the National Society of Hispanic MBAs annual conference in Houston, Texas. (Don't mess with it.) There were 7000 people registered so I went two whole days without seeing many of my fellow Georgetown attendees! For some reason the people I ran into the most went to Thunderbird and Darden.
A lot of the marketing folks got interviews, including one of the other Georgetown MSB Forte Fellows who got interviews with all her top choices, and was also taken out to dinner!
I was invited and attended the two receptions I was aiming for. My fellow Georgetown consultant wannabes also scored the same invites, so it was nice to schmooze amongst friendly faces. Target threw the big open bash of Friday night, but I waited too long to get in line and left before getting in. Saturday I mainly practiced my pitch and visited some booths that I hadn't made it to the day before. I finished around lunch time, changed out of my suit and accomplished one of my most clearly defined goals of the weekend: eating some goooood Texas BBQ! Aforementioned marketing friend, me, and a half-British woman who had never had bbq before headed to Goode Company Texas Barbeque. I had the two meat combo dinner platter that came with two "vegetable choices." The veg choices included coleslaw, potato salad, pinto beans, black beans and Texas jambalaya (which had pieces of pork in it.) One of my friends found a piece of bbq in her coleslaw. After stuffing ourselves silly we headed back to the hotel, did a little work, then caught a flight back to DC.
It was an exhausting weekend, and my earbuds and hairbrush were casualties of the rush, but I'm glad I went. I practiced networking and generally enjoyed a bit of Houston!

I may look awake, but inside I'm asleep.

2007-10-05T13:08:00.000+01:00

It's NSHMBA conference time! The world of the MBA is filled with wonderful acronyms. NSHMBA is the National Hispanic MBA Association. After my last class of module one yesterday afternoon I got on a plane to Houston, along with about 20-30 of my classmates to come to the national conference. The other 80ish Georgetown attendees were scattered throughout various flights. I have to finish getting ready for a loooong day of meeting company representatives and giving my pitch.... "Hello, I'm Hairtwirler, I have a background in...." Hopefully I won't fall asleep waiting in line.

Dear Apple

2007-09-29T03:05:00.000+01:00

Please stop acting like Microsoft.
It's quite annoying.
Thanks,
Hairtwirler

I'm a bartending cohort rep

2007-09-21T05:52:00.000+01:00

So in the past week I have been a tad busy. I decided to run for cohort representative, which involved a quick week turnaround between the interest meeting and elections. Everyone voted yesterday, and we found out before our first class today that I was elected cohort representative! Each entering MBA class at Georgetown has four cohorts of about 65-70 people. The cohorts each elect one representative to serve on the SGA executive board. We work to ensure that the first year career services, curriculum, social (etc) needs are being met.
Oh yeah, and the day we find out we are elected, we have SGA bartending night. Today was a bit crazy. I got to the car barn around 9:30 and sat at a table collecting donations for our class service project, collecting school supplies for DC schools. I had class from 11:40 to 4, then had a break before a corporate presentation (changed into a suit) by Booz Allen Hamilton. I then went back to the car barn, changed back into hang out clothing and then headed to Rhino Bar on M Street. I grabbed a bite, and listened to bar tender training! We basically just learned what alcohol we were NOT allowed to serve. The party was awesome. We had a great turnout and the Class of 2009 beat the first years in a boatrace. (The drinking game...) The 2009 Cohort reps had the last shift of bartending which was a riot. I was happy to see so many of my classmates out and getting a little wild- I won't go into detail here. :)

Of cell phones

2007-09-20T02:05:00.000+01:00

THE most annoying thing that can happen in class is for someone's cell phone to go off. This only happened maybe once or twice during the first week of class and hasn't been a problem since. Now, many people (such as myself) only get service in some parts of the Car Barn 2nd floor, where we MBA students live at Georgetown. So even if you forget to turn off your phone, if you have class on one side of the hallway, you may not have service anyways. For some reason yesterday was cell phone incident day.
As a side note- I have had relatively few embarrassing cell phone problems in my life. Two weeks ago was one of them. I walked into an accounting pre-test after most of my class (as in half of the 270 people) were already seated and took out my pencil. No sooner had I started on problem one than my cell phone started ringing. I then proceeded to say "Oh crap!" very loudly, further distracting my classmates before turning off the offending phone.

Yesterday. I went to a semi-corporate presentation for the Wall Street Without Walls org, which works to provide investment banking services to community based and community development organizations. It deals in structured finance to help rate paper and connect wall street to these small orgs. Georgetown MBA folk are usually heavily involved given our proximity, interest in finance and interest in helping people. A classmate sat there texting for about half the presentation. I didn't judge as I hoped it was something important, but as I was giving up talking to my significant other while at the presentation I had difficulty understanding what was so critical. Eventually the individual stopped texting but then someone texted him back... and his crackberry was on full volume! It was quite embarrassing for the group as a whole, luckily the presenter just ignored it.

Also yesterday, my accounting professor was in mid-lecture when someone's phone started ringing. He froze, then hastily started digging around in his pocket- HIS phone was the one going off! He was a bit embarrassed but turned the phone quickly and proceeded with the lecture.

So although my classmate should have been a bit more discrete about his texting, even professors sometimes forget to turn off their phones so we can all stand to be a little forgiving.

This moral brought to you by a tired yet amused HairTwirler.

Point, Counterpoint: You know, microeconomics provides a useful framework for studying business... Versus I Hate You, I Hate You, I Hate You.

2007-09-19T02:58:00.000+01:00

POINT
You know, microeconomics provides an incredibly useful framework for studying business. Microeconomics is an integral part of your MBA degree and will help you analyze supply and demand in order to make effective market entry and exit decisions. It can also help you determine both the marginal cost AND the marginal revenue of your firm and the market. If you ask me, this subject is so useful you should be spending less time on accounting and strategy and really concentrate on learning microeconomics. We're moving into a very exciting part of microeconomics- perfect competition! Now most economics textbooks think that you should study perfect competition first. If you ask me, that is hogwash. Yes, I just said hogwash. Monopolistic competition provides a much better framework to start a beginning economics class, don't you agree?
Most people think that economics is just a set of useless theories, but they're wrong! Please do stop by my office hours if you'd like to chat some more about microeconomic theory.

COUNTERPOINT
Is that right? Does microeconomics provide a useful framework for analyzing business problems? That midterm exam was horrible. I can't believe you're standing at the front of the room telling me I should have finished the first three problems in five minutes.
I Hate You, I hate you, I hate you.
While microeconomics may be useful for analyzing business problems, I no longer care. I wish I could walk out of class, but then my grade and my future ability to get a job where I have to talk intelligently about economic principles may be affected. Although that midterm might have done enough damage to my GPA to kill all hopes of a lucrative career in the financial sector.
No, I don't want to stop by your office hours. I am desperately clinging to my last vestiges of concentration to stay awake in this class. Any more discussion of microeconomics might send me into an unrecoverable coma. It's # o'clock, I'm outta here!

Note: I don't really hate my economics prof, he's quite a good prof. He also has a great sense of humor which is why I hope he'll appreciate this spoof of one of my favorite Onion articles EVER.

Georgetown... past present and future

2007-09-15T19:20:00.001+01:00

I made a great new discovery on Thursday morning. I so rarely leave the car barn (home to the business school) during the school day, it was a bit of a change to have the time to hang out in the Leavey Center for a few hours. I popped into the Leavey Center (Georgetown's student center) and went into the convenience store run by the undergrads. The undergrads are an enterprising bunch and run a convenience store called Vital Vittles and a coffee shop called Uncommon Grounds. It turns out that Vital Vittles sells fresh salads and sandwiches prepared by four different Georgetown shops. I had a delicious gyro for lunch and settled down with an iced tea to work on my organizational behavior homework. I stared out the window and to my left saw the Jesuit graveyard tucked away in the middle of campus and to my right I observed construction on the new McDonough School of Business building! The class of 2009 is supposed to be in the building second semester next year if all stays on schedule.