Friday, October 28, 2005

Time to check in...

This blog is starting to feel like burden- every time I think about writing a post I just think of multiple issues that are going through my head that make it difficult to write a clear post- so sorry, I’ll have to break things down:

Midterm- oh no!
Well mid-terms are coming up and although I do not feel that I have put in the hours required for the exams- I think they will go alright- this is helped by the fact that most of them are open book, so I’m not spending time cramming formulas, rather, making sure I understand how to solve the problems. I am also slightly concerned about the fact that I haven’t sat an exam in 3 or so years, I’m sure that is quite a small gap compared to some of the older students, either way, I hope I can still write consistently legibly for 2-3 hours!
I know I’ve given this topic more than it deserves, but doing 6 courses in the core has basically caused me to go wide and not so deep, this is worrying & frustrating, there are just some classes that I am literally swimming with the assignments as I don’t spend as much time on them as they deserve. On the other hand, I love the variety in my learning, I feel like I’m learning much more in E-commerce, it’s also the course that I feel connects across all the core disciplines. For now, I value going wide and not deep- as one of class ends after midterms, I can begin concentrate on going deep.

To bank or not to bank (Internship)…
I’ve been to my fair share of consulting events over the last month and I know pretty much all I need to know about this profession- I have even managed to fit in a practice case interview! Now, I feel strangely drawn towards investment banking as an internship opportunity to explore- yes, we all know the insane hours one has to work and the lack of a good work/life balance, but I can’t resist the temptation of the amount this industry pays and the finance training I could receive that would broaden my skill-set to more than a consultant. In addition, the training would open up doors to prestigious and highly competitive Private Equity roles, if not immediately for full time, but certainly 2nd job out of business school. I don’t intend on going full time in this area, but I feel the internship would provide me with the perfect opportunity to try it out without making such a big leap. Going for both consulting & investment banking internship will be hard work, not to mention the potential conflict risk this introduces during on campus recruiting- there’s a high chance of running into your i-bank interviewers whilst on your way to your consulting interview (which the banker apparently don’t take very well)! So depending, I may have to choose which track, I’m still most keen for consulting, but investment banking is on the horizon- as the company presentations start after the mid-terms, I’ll either get more clarity or more confused on this issue…

It’s the best space to be in your 20s
Serious stuff aside, I just have to comment on how much of love/hate relationship I have with the business school environment. I love being around such brilliant people and exposed lots of opportunities. But it is so tiring and at times, so intense… The hidden lessons such as learning to cope with high workloads, rationalizing what opportunity to pursue among 3 or more other good alternatives at a moments notice- these are the “soft” management lessons that will serve me for life… I’ve never been so busy, and slowly my hours of sleep have declined from a healthy 8, down to just barely 5 hours on some nights. I feel so relieved whenever I venture off campus and enter the real world- breaks from this environment are what keep me sane- California certainly helps… But I’m wondering how I would react if I was at a city based business school such as Columbia or Harvard, where I can step outside the bubble more easily than the pure campus environment? I best not go there- I’m at Stanford and I love it!!! After all, there are some fun aspects that balance things out- the work hard, play mentality make it a great place to be at my age.

And now- the party continues…In little less than 3 hours- the GSB Halloween party kicks off- it promises to be spectacular- and for once I made an effort on the costume. My friend in San Francisco will be the DJ which is great…

Thursday, October 13, 2005

I'm managing...

I feel really bad that I haven’t written my blog for almost 2 weeks… You’ve heard the excuse before- “I’ve just been too busy keeping up with….” … So hey- let me summarize what I’ve been up to:

I had to take control of my academics after the shock to my system in my first week when I realized that I may not be able to handle 6 courses and maybe taking an E-commerce elective was a mistake. In the end it has not turned out so bad, and my intuition was right in the first place- the busier I am, the more efficient I’ll be- this logic arises in that I feel bored when I'm doing too few things academically, and end up misusing any free academic time, especially when I have those annoying breaks say from 10am-1pm. So a full schedule for me makes good sense. I previously mentioned that Modeling was taking up far too much time- it is now easing a bit, which is a relief and is helping, but I’ve now generally learnt how to best allocate my time to each particular course, and naturally some get more of my time than others! I also cut back on my tennis (but not eliminated it) which has helped.
One of my classmates who runs an amazing microfinance organization in East Africa (which I am thrilled to be invited in joining the board of!) has started taking Swahili course, and today I sat in on this daily lunch time class- it was fascinating- I felt instantly transported to Africa- the full on sunshine and palm trees outside made this easier to imagine (the weather is still amazing!!!) I am thinking of taking the intermediate or advanced level of this class in the Winter quarter- the beginners’ and intermediate class had about 12 and 7 people respectively (the advanced has virtually none). I’m so excited by the prospect of being able to keep up or improve my level of the Swahili language in my two years here. Perfectly in line with my goals for returning to East Africa in the long-term.
It is scary that mid-terms are literally only a few weeks away- the pace of learning is definitely much faster than I could have imagined.
On the clubs front, I actually cut back on the clubs I would have naturally signed up to, instead I focused on the ones that I knew I wanted to be a part of in the two years, and in time I would find out which ones I should REALLY join from classmate feedback and the general buzz around campus. So Wine, Consulting and Africa business club were the ones that I can see committing long-term- I envisage joining Entrepreneurship or Venture Capital later and add others as/if my schedule clears up. I feel relieved that I’m not in the situation that some students are in- having joined lots of clubs, some feel in the position that they have over-committed and having to say “no”- and we know how hard that can be...

I’m looking forward to the Net Impact Conference in November, which should be a treat on a variety of non-profit and socially responsible business topics; it will be the largest conference Stanford has ever hosted, period! Although it’s a little bit on the pricey end- I do think it is worth it for anyone at the business school with a mild interest in careers that make a meaningful impact to society…

Saturday, October 01, 2005

End of the party...?

First week of the core went at a blistering fast pace. Most people take just the core courses or exempt one or two and load up on an elective, retaining the 5 core courses (or maybe an additional 2 unit course). Myself- I’m taking the core courses plus an elective in E-commerce... Yes, that's 6 total courses. So after returning on Sunday afternoon totally shattered following the rafting trip last weekend, I actually started the week unprepared and stretched- I won’t even pretend to say that it was a smooth ride, but I survived. Although, I wished I'd exempted out of Modeling (see Lady Rattler's post on this course), chats with a second years has revealed that this is one of the most time consuming, if not most difficult courses to grasp in the core... And no, just because I'm an ex-engineer does not mean I'm a whiz at Excel, I'm used to other modeling packages in engineering, not in economics and accounting...
I'm not the only one, I've found a few other people who are doing the same (6 courses) yet surviving- like ducks, some of us may look calm on the surface, but really underneath we are swimming like mad!... It didn't help that I fitted in 6 hours of tennis over the week as well, that could do with some reduction. I know want balance in my experience, but I was just trying to do far too much of everything- once again time management is key!

Following the last course on Friday, I attended the first of the Liquid Preference Functions (LPF), a nice get together of GSB over drinks and ice-cream. This then spilt over to a party at the Graduate Community Centre and a 2nd year party at a mansion in Atherton... Good to hear the social side is still strong when we do have the time- So no, the party’s not over.