Spring Break This week looks to be pretty much my favorite week so far this year except... Read>> Posted March 10, 2008
THE DOUBLE-EDGED MBA Being an MBA in New York is Exciting But Challenging The days of "quantity time" are over. My wife currently lives in another state. I work a lot (but not as much as at Darden), and feel overwhelmed (just like at Darden). What must this mean? You guessed it... My summer internship has begun, and I'm officially employed by a bulge-bracket investment bank.
My title at the moment is "cross-functional MBA summer associate" - which basically means that whatever job the SVP's on my floor want done, gets handed to me. It's a lot of fun, but definitely hard work. The double-edged component I alluded to in the title is the analytics. You see, B-School student basically equates to "person who can turn real life into logical spreadsheets with the click of a mouse and a smile.
For some reason I was worried that my employers would read my fine arts background as a mandate to give me "fluff" work. This is definitely not the case. On the contrary, it seems that my fine art background gave an entire division (I'm working in a division that touches the arts quite a bit) license to assign me the task of working quantitatively in all area that are normally considered "soft"... Great.
On the other hand, the challenge of bridging the two halves of my brain has been very stimulating and makes it easy to come to work in every morning.
To answer the question most of you are thinking right now, but are too polite to ask: Lehman is an interesting place to be working at this moment in time. These very friendly people are working like ants before winter, working like their lives depend on it. Some say they do. But I doubt it. Quarterly earnings reports are always a big deal, especially in times like these, but Lehman is going to be fine. And, personally, if something big is going to go down on Wall Street, I want to be here when it happens.
Mantra: "Deciding to get an MBA got me to where I am today". I have to keep reminding myself of that, because about once a day I'm working on a powerpoint presentation when I suddenly get the feeling that I'm working in a very tall building, in downtown Manhattan, for a very powerful financial institution... and don't belong here.
In fact I do belong here, but it's still weird to think of where I've come from. During these brief existential moments, I'm often taken back home with thoughts of New Mexico - where my family still lives. Would I trade this all in for a chance to live there instead of here? Should I? I probably would, but that chance hasn't presented itself recently. And besides, I believe in providence, so I've got to believe that I'm here for a reason.
Thankfully, these moments pass, and I get back to calculating marginal ROI for each additional dollar spent on some big initiative. I'm far away from home, but I'm right where I'm supposed to be and getting more and more drawn in to the energy and fast pace of New York.
As an editorial aside, the picture above was taken out of my back apartment window, on the Upper West Side. Posted June 04, 2008 CDC Posted by: Everette Nice post...interesting times to be on Wall Street, especially in your position. Remember to build a wide network and have fun. Posted 2008-06-10 21:20:33 MBA is among the most popular business degree to earn online. The knowledge and the skill in the business administration field is important for people who work in business world, whether you are a self-employed boss or under employed in a corporate. Getti Posted by: Symbiosis Distance Education MBA is among the most popular business degree to earn online. The knowledge and the skill in the business administration field is important for people who work in business world, whether you are a self-employed boss or under employed in a corporate. Getting a MBA degree becomes easy and convenient with the available of online MBA degree programs. Symbiosis Distance Educationhttp://symbiosis-distance-education.blogspot.com Posted 2008-07-24 13:26:18 COMMENT ON THIS POST
