Day 1 - The Whirlwind Begins

At 6:05, my alarm goes off, but I really wasn't sleeping too deeply anyway. I never thought I would be nervous about being a PA for Orientation, but I guess I was, nervous and excited. So I didn't get that much sleep anyway. After hopping in the shower, I quickly hopped into my blue PA t-shirt and hopped the 3 trains to CBS.

I got to Lerner Hall at about 7:30, so I was a little late, no one really seemed to notice. I got a big bear hug from Anil who I ran into outside Lerner, what a way to start the morning! After grabbing two cups of coffee I was ready to attack the first years and of course say Hi to my old friends! It was great meeting everyone again after the summer. As a second year, we all look and feel so much more relaxed.

After breakfast, all the PA's stayed for the Dean's Welcome and Intro to the Academic Program. Cabe did a wonderful job with his speech, really impressed! The highlight of course was the snack break. Tradition goes that we walk up and down the aisle throwing snacks at the students. It's actually a welcome relief from the presentation that they are sitting through, and for us, who doesn't like throwing stuff at people?

Lunch is the PA's time to shine. As each Cluster gathers in homeroom, we impart our 2nd year wisdom and words of advice. The first day was about administrative stuff, going through schedules and ice breakers. We had students introduce themselves by saying their names, where they were from, etc. and an embarrassing moment. It worked quite well, we had a good laugh over the cheesy/embarrassing moments.

We then had some free time until 5PM, when they held the welcome reception for the Class of 2007.

The reception was great, lite snacks, great chatting, free alchol...we also had an afterparty, but I forgot where we went... :(

Orientation Week - Sunday, PA Training

Whew am I tired. It's only Wednesday but I feel like I have been awake for at least a week of my "normal" waking hours. This is Orientation Week a week fo crazy parties interspersed with introductions to academics and career advice from the Columbia Business School. I went through all of this last year and had so much fun that I decided to volunteer to be a Peer Advisor to go through it all over again. I had forgotten how intense the week is. As it was with last year, some students are getting sick! But ultimately, it is A LOT of fun.

As a PA, my week started on Sunday. We had an afternoon of training, with team building exercises led by the cool guys from Chelsea Piers plus a run through of the orientation schedule. Then we enjoyed a great dinner with the Dean in the Deli. It was so great to see everyone again after such a long break. That night, we were advised to get some rest so we could be prepared for being at Lerner Hall by 7:15AM for Day 1 of Orientation.

7:15AM!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAC Conference Themes

Stephanie and I had a meeting today to go over various themes for the MAC Conference and we came up with two really great ideas complete with solid suggestions for panels. However, I can't publicize the theme until it is really set in stone...so I'll have to hold off on details until later.

Our meeting was over 5 hours long! We decided to meet at Cosi on 6Ave and 23rd. I ran across the place while on a 2 hour lunch that last week of my internship. It's a great location with lots of room to sit and chat. Since it's self serve for lunch, we hogged a booth for 5 hours and no one bothered us. Steph and I work great together, we share many similar ideas but such different past experiences that we can have a great brainstorming session.

Of course we also talked about school and how it's so amazing that we'll be back in classes in 3 weeks. For me, I'm really ramping up to go since Orientation for the "freshmen" starts Sunday. Steph and I both agree that we are so happy first year is over!

Those were trying times! It was the first time I had experience being truly too busy to eat, lunch and dinner. Often I went all day with no food until the 6 or 7PM corporate presentation where I would stuff myself with mini cubes of cheese and appetizers. Those companies with good food were real hits with the students. It is not so much that we are pigs, but more so that we just don't have time to eat! Give us something solid and hot and we'll literally drool over you. Poor MBA first years. It'll be fun being the senior class. :)

Bidding for classes...

So for a while, I thought I had nothing to write about CBS. Silly me, I just ignored so much that went on a pushed it out of my head or something.

Yesterday we got the results of Round 2 bidding for classes. At CBS, and I think at some other MBA programs as well, you get a certain number of points and you use those to bid for a limited number of classes. I think this is done because there is uneven demand for classes taught by certain professors. Students are forced to prioritize their choices and spend hours figuring out their schedules. Sadly for me, I did not get into the class that I bid the most points for, Biggadike's Top Management Processes. Although I did bid very high and on par with the average bid points in Round 1, I suppose our stars were not aligned. I did, however, get into three great classes! I'm happy about that.

However, all is not lost. Tomorrow begins bidding for round 3 where I will get to pick my remaining 2 classes. Also, there will still be a chance during Add/Drop to change classes and schedules. Next semester, I am going to go all out for TMP and try again!

The biggest bummer is that I still don't know my schedule for next semester, it'd be nice to be able to set up exercise routines and stuff now that I have some time on my hands!

Farewll Interns!

Actually, only two of the interns' are having their last days today. The rest of us are here for another week to another month. Some just wanted to stay a little longer and others are hoping to get full employment from their internship, and don't even want to leave.

Last night, the S&E group held a little party for their 2 interns. We went to a bar called Red Sky with an hour of open bar. It's really been fun and it was great catching up with people I hadn't really talked to in the office. It seems only yesterday that we went out for our welcome karaoke party and now we're already having our farewell! Time really just flies by.

We also had our Intern Shared Learning session yesterday where all the interns, including those in Boston, shared their work for the past 2 months. The range and quality of the projects was definitely quite impressive. Even the undergrads did an amazing job. I must say, I think this company does a good job of hiring and they are picky people. I've met really smart people working here and half eavedropped on their deliberations for hiring a new person. They're tough critics! At the end of the share session we got a surprise. They had assembled goody bags for us, a really cool messenger bag, scarf, t-shirt and hat all with the company logo on it. Good stuff! I'm going to use it to carry all my "stuff" home on the last day, so I'm keeping it at the office for another week. But I'm really touched! They have definitely left a good impression. :)

I looking forward to getting back to school. Not that work was not cool, it was definitely great having a stead paycheck and all, but it's time for a change again and I think second year is going to be the best ever!

Accomplishments an deadlines

It's amazing how much could be done in a short amount of time if only I put my mind to it. This morning, a meeting of mine got moved from 12:30 to 10:30, and I swear I crammed about 1.5 days of work into that one hour. In the end the meeting went well and I sounded knowledgeable, but I had to shake my head at how much I slack off when I don't have a deadline! I guess the most important thing to do is to set deadlines for myself as I work. Yet if the deadlines are not real, I know that I can push them and end up still wasting time. Hmmmm...what is the best time management option?

Tomorrow is the last day of work for the undergrad intern and therefore we had a little intern get-together/farewell lunch. It was cozy. I got to impart some of my knowledge from working for a couple of years and got a feel as to what the interns wanted for their future. There really is a difference which school you go to. The difference is not quite in the level of intellectual accomplishment but more so in the level of ambition the students have. Those at the top schools seemed to have a lot more drive. I suppose you have to have that fire to be able to get into one of the top schools. Then the peer group continues to motivate you towards are higher goal.

Rarely do the people I come in contact with say that they want a 9-5/6 job and a good paying salary and that is it. I supposed the social group I am part of has a lot to do with that. New York city is also a huge contributor. In the Big Apple, if you stand still you get left behind. That's why most people move out of the city when they want to "settle", NYC is not a place for "settling".

8.1.05 - Slacking away...

So after working my tail off for two weeks, I have spent the whole day today pretty much slacking away. It's not really that I have nothing to do, but that my workload has been greatly reduced and once that happens, I'm off seeking more interesting things on the internet. I've been reading other people's blogs and making many amends to the ones that I started myself.

One goldmine that I did dig up is the Columbia databases. There is the most amazing wealth of information on there, from academic journals to the latest business news. I've been using the databases as a resource for the project that I am working on.

But, I must say that I am very interested in the project that I am working on now. After five weeks of credit cards I am now finally working on a pharma project. The lengthy deadlines are a pleasure compared to what I went through earlier. It's a great way to finish up my summer!

I weas actually on the phone today with someone who would like to work at the company I am interning at. I must say, I had more positive things to say than negative ones. I don't think jobs are ever so bad, it just depends on whether its what you want and what you are suited for. As for me, the jury is still out. I'm taking the advice that I need to have the choice to make a choice and that making a choice is what will make me happy.