The Road Ahead (3 of 3) This weeks is dedicated primarily to preparing for Case Interviews. One of the strange things... Read>> Posted January 15, 2008
Christmas to Today (2 of 3) As soon as the ball had dropped... All Meyer's knew that someone, somewhere had reoriented... Read>> Posted January 11, 2008
BCG - Strategy Tube Contest The tragedy of these types of contests is that, generally, weird "artsy" types like myself... Read>> Posted January 10, 2008
MBA STUDENTS NEED TO PLAY TOO Sometimes An Appropriate Response to Adversity Is Silliness After drowning my sorrows in a very small glass of Maker’s Mark (I'm a student remember), I find myself staring down the barrel of tomorrow's homework for Data Analysis and Optimization class and deciding to procrastinate. It's 10:27, and after a day of frantic activities, culminating with a much too-short conversation with my wife, I finally sit back to ponder another week in Business School - another opportunity to "expand my horizons" and "change the paradigm" of my thinking... whatever.
For some reason, I have declared tonight a B.S. free zone. I can't handle another buzzword, jingo, or piece of nonsensical jargon so I'm ignoring my Blackberry, and updating my blog.
Part of the reason that my tolerance for B-School mumbo-jumbo has been cut so tragically short is the experience of last weekend. Despite the fact that I had lots of work to do and a wife back home who loves me very much, I decided to take a trip to the Southwest with some old friends to play in the snow.
For those of you who are tragically afflicted with B-School-itis, “playing” might sound like a pejorative descriptor - reserved for things like kids and those with less “drive” than us educated types (*said with tongue firmly in cheek), but I think playing is totally underrated and last weekend it helped me recharge my batteries and remember what it's like to feel totally alive – like the Christof I was always meant to be.
Alive with the fresh Rocky Mountain air. Alive with a sense that life at a top-ranked B-School and a wife that pays all your bills and a remarkable summer internship lined up with Lehman Brothers is awesome. Alive with the realization that when I returned to campus our Quarter III grades were going to be published… Yikes!
I got two A's, and three B+'s.
This is not what I was hoping for... And while I know that people had clearly said that Darden would be hard, I set my sites on perfection anyway. I NEEDED perfection. I DESERVED perfection! But, alas, I am not the best student at Darden, and so I didn't get perfect grades.
One beautiful thing about life at an institution like Darden that knows who they are - is that it rubs off on you. The longer I'm here, the clearer and clearer I begin to see who I am. And that's a good thing.
I think I'm a dreamer with my head in the clouds but, then again, I enjoy linear programming and love to waste money on photography. I think another reason this past weekend was good for me was because I was able to see (again) that being respectable, successful, and fun-loving, were all completely compatible descriptions of an MBA student, and this made the past week a lot more relaxed.
Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up early and go for a run outdoors - so that I can smell the flowers blooming, then I'll get down to my homework and make some phone calls to New York and try to line up a place for the summer. I've got class, a few meetings, and then I'm going to be debating in the Jefferson Society. More on that later. For now - it's time for this crazy kid to get in bed - while visions of snowshoes and the Rockies still dance in my head.
I'll be back in a few days, when I will have results from my debate and a much better sense of what my summer in New York is going to look like.Ciao.
Posted April 03, 2008 a New York home Posted by: a huckleberry friend Just an idea...
Don't know if you have any connections in NY yet, but
I may have some ideas.
Even free!! And refreshing!
More info?
englandpeixe@aol.com
Posted 2008-04-05 14:22:19 amen!!! Posted by: mandy hey c-
so good to hear your opinion on the merits of being a decent human being who likes to screw around on a snowboard and drink maker's mark and doesn't slash their wrists when met with a gpa <4.0. yay! thanks for reminding me that my qualities that got me this far (before b-school graded them as average) really are of some merit. especially my great hair.
see you in the halls and good luck debating!
and amen to spouses who help us survive! Posted 2008-04-06 22:35:11 COMMENT ON THIS POST
