I’m happily back in the bubble and life once again moves at breakneck speed. And for the first time in a really long time I find myself being hyper-motivated and really effective. So much so that I haven’t had time to update my three loyal readers (and all of you December 2010 hopefuls who are Googling ‘INSEAD vs HBS’ and ‘INSEAD waitlist’) on the goings on of the penultimate period. Penultimate is a good word; rather underused.
So… what’s going on?
:: FRESH MEAT ::
There are freshmen on campus! Today I got to meet quite the awkward lot of them at the club fair. It’s hard not to think of them as so young and naive, even though a good half of them are older than me.
Freshman: “So um… I’m interested in this-and-that.”
Me: “Oh that sounds great! What about this-and-that interests you?”
Freshman: “Um… I dunno. I just wrote my INSEAD essay about it. So… how how will your club help me get a job?”
Me: “Uhh… come again?”
What else…
:: SCHOOL WORK ::
My classes RAWK! The Brand Management class is so cool. We’re doing cases on Russian Vodka, Steinway Pianos, French Perfumes. Almost all of the cases have been written under the prof who created this class. So totally worth the high bidding points! I’m being a huge nerd and reading ahead in the cases because they’re so interesting.
The Industry Competitive Analysis is slightly less thrilling but also great (thanks, Resipsa, for the rec!). Not reading ahead in this class though. Norddeutsche Affinerie’s energy strategy also interesting though somewhat less spellbinding and will be read once I’m done procrastinating with this blog post.
Realizing Entrepreneurial Potential is amazingly inspiring – the premise being that you don’t have to build a business from scratch to be an entrepreneur. You can buy one. And so during the class you go through the process of acquiring (or… err…. attempting to acquire) a company. I’m steering my group to look at something more exciting than concrete fence posts, lawn equipment and cathode ray tubes. Watch out, Hummus Brothers.
Yes, still obsessed…
Psych Issues in Management is a weird fish. I’m hoping that it will be something like LPG – incredibly frustrating until you have a big a-ha moment at the end and everything falls into place. I just wish the guy would stop cursing.
:: RECRUITING ::
Among other news, the recruiting circus is in town. I’ve decided to forego the consulting recruiting. I’m not interested in it enough in the job, and not convincing enough to fake it – and can really do without any more rejection in my life. So, it’s a relief to keep the tap dancing shoes in the closet for now. But – not to worry! – I plan on getting filthy drunk and dominating convo with McKinsey on Friday night in the best of traditions.
[...] ‘09 MBAMRS seemed to be in better spirits than she has all summer, perhaps as a result of classes starting back up? McCombs ‘10 Paragon2Pieces told a story about a classmate and their entrepreneurial [...]
Glad you’re enjoying the classes (and back on the grid!) Brand Management IS amazing (I did a rather nifty write-up on Steinway back in my day…); I think you’ll end up loving ICA; and give PIM a chance, I was also a bit rattled by the cursing and ended up very much having a “ha ha” moment eventually…
And enjoy getting sloshed at McK’s expense tonight (if you meet any J08′ers, say hi from me…)
Good to see you’re back in Fonty! And if the guy from PIM tells you to do something, do it! (umm, I’m not talking about the “Fuck them all”-part)
Penultimate. I use that word all the time, but then people always look at me in a bizarre manner…
Plebs…