I came to business school with a very specific end goal in mind, namely a return to the media & entertainment sector. Throughout the application process I was told by various people that, if I was serious about this, I needed to go to school in either New York or LA. These cities are the main hives of sector activity and proximity to them could certainly be an asset. However, after sounding out more or less anyone who would give me the time of day throughout the post-application phase, I decided against both.

Business schools tend to be defined in the market – rightly or wrongly – for certain specialisms or for their strength in faculty, teaching or research in particular facets of business and management. By this definition, Yale would not be seen as a “media & entertainment school” and, let’s face it, New Haven is never going to be the be all and end all for the industry. So why choose Yale with this goal in mind? Well, the fact is that this institution opens doors and if it doesn’t open the door for you, it at least ensures that the door is built and ready to be opened with a little focused effort on your part.
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So I’m a second year. Hoo. Ray. I’m taking 4 classes, which is a lot less than 6, and that’s good. Over the summer looking forward to my academics, I was excited to have a more reasonable schedule than my Spring last year, just cruise, maybe get a job or something, and run clubs.

But I forgot about something in that process.

I forgot about the shadow core (see below.)

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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the implications of my admission to one of the best schools in the world. Maybe the Core has squeezed all the numbers-juice out of my brain, and the Problem Framing / Careers duopoly is not sufficient to stimulate my softer side. Maybe I’m still humbled by a recent trip to an event hosted at HBS, where the Yale brand commanded mad respect.

Or maybe I’ve taken to heart recent calls to action we’ve received from our staff and classmates. Personally, I appreciate Ivan Kerbel’s Orientation challenge to be aware of the way the world perceives us, to do our part to shape that perception. Likewise, I’ve heard a consistent message from the leaders of the Banking and Consulting clubs: conduct yourself with dignity, and don’t embarrass us.

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In my opinion, there are numbers people and there are words people. Numbers people do Sudoku puzzles in their spare time; they play with the different functions on their calculators; they’ve memorized the calculation of Pi up to 10 decimal places and they compute 18% of their dinner check divided by the number of heads at the table without missing a step. These are the people that can add, divide and multiply numbers in the 5 second window after a cold call before the silence gets awkward. And the ones who seem like they were born to build a beautiful spreadsheet. (more…)

After just a week and a half of classes, one of my classmates was convinced that we were into our third week already. I felt similarly: it’s been an incredibly busy time so far and it got me thinking.

Life tends to pick up speed as you get older. Why? Well, in my humble – based strictly on no theory whatsoever – opinion, it’s to do with a decreasing exposure to new ideas and experiences. As you grow up, you tend to settle into some sort of routine and life picks up speed. I feel like what’s happened here, during our first couple of weeks of core classes, is that we have all been exposed to so much new material at lightning-fast pace that we’re reverting back to that life-in-slow-motion feeling as brains frantically try to adjust and absorb everything.
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Though it was strongly implied last week in our Spreadsheet Modeling class that all that happens at a SOM Faculty Meeting is a rousing session of “Rock Band,” turns out it’s a bit more productive.  In fact, it’s all about integration.  Let me explain.  When I first heard that SOM had developed an “integrated curriculum,” I admit I suspected a marketing infraction of the highest order.  After all, in my former career “integrated” was right up there with “holistic,” “cross-channel,” and “interwoven” as a business cliche that would win any game of Buzzword Bingo. 

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The first song on Spoon’s third album Girls Can Tell is “Everything Hits At Once.” I can’t think of a better theme song for my first two weeks at SOM. Universally, I had heard SOMers describe the core curriculum as intense, frenetic and generally overwhelming. Some even spoke of it with the reverence and awe usually reserved for harrowing accounts of planes crashes and natural disasters. Again and again I’ve been reminded that I would literally have no time come fall. I had remained incredulous though. “How difficult could it really be?” I had thought. It’s only class after all.

Now I only know too well what they meant. Other than a few reprieves here and there for get-togethers with my classmates, during which we tend to commiserate about the tediousness of accounting and fickleness of solver, I literally have no time: no time that hasn’t been allocated (inefficiently, perhaps) to meet the demands of our coursework. My personal life—from unpaid bills to lagging email correspondence with old friends—has taken a decided backseat to my academic obligations. Today, I literally woke up trying to unravel the probabilities that a World Series between two evenly matched teams would end in 4, 5, 6, or 7 games. Colleagues have mentioned nightmares featuring unbalanced balance sheets and market equilibriums gone awry.

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We were so excited to meet the class of 2011 that we had BBQs connecting the cohorts (the new Gold Cohort got to hang with the Green 2010 and 2011).

What a fantastic new group of people to get to know! The first years are totally under water with problem sets and exams, which we all understand well. It’s all new issues as second years: if you can take classes anywhere at Yale University how do you possibly choose? What do you take to be practical and what for fun? what’s BOTH??? Where do we want to work? Did we enjoy our internships? Would we want to do them in the long term? (more…)