Procrastinating....

Have been buried under a ton of work for the last couple weeks. I have so much to relay too... This post is going to be a muddle of thoughts..

Anon, Yes, I am in the full time program, however I still have a full time job. I’m not actually sure how I’m going to achieve graduating in 2009, but somehow I’m going to manage it... This semester, I only loaded up on 1 extra course, however next semester I will have three extra courses. I will be taking a day off every week for 3 months. I think it will give me some sanity.

London: I had the opportunity in October to go to a Rotman networking event in London. Rotman was having a credit crunch seminar that my Options prof was giving. Funnily enough, I met a couple people who worked/still work at my present employer! It was a blast, although the timing couldn’t have been worse. We didn’t have too many meetings set up, however the highlight of the meeting was going to Canada House in Trafalgar Square and meeting with the finance counsellor. That’s a nice piece of prime real estate that the Canadian govt has. I felt so energized by that city. I still have London on my mind...

Ops Mgmt – We have an exam in this course, and I barely understand what I have to know for the final exam. I still have to buy the textbook. We had to do a Ops Mgmt simulation game, and that was a lot of fun!! We were addicted to Littlefield for a while.

Managing Customer Value (aka – Marketing) – One of the most fun courses. Being an ad junkie, I loved the commercials he showed in class. We have a 10 page single spaced (yes, single space) brand audit report due on Tuesday. This is going to be one of the toughest papers to write, as it requires a lot of THINKING.

Options & Futures – This also requires a lot of thinking... surprisingly. My average in this course is very bad compared to the majority of Masters of Fin Economics students that are in the class. They aren’t helpful and I’ve had to fend for myself in this course. Note: You need friends in electives. I tried to make some..I really did. However, I think they realized that I wasn’t going to be of any use to them...I found a better plan. I went straight to the prof, and requested help. Fingers crossed I do well in the last assignment and in the final.

Your bonus is your job. That’s a line I read in an article recently, and I couldn’t agree more. At this point, not quitting my job seems like I had foresight. Really, I didn’t. I was just trying to avoid a manic money anxiety attack.. Y’know the one I’m talking about. The one where the debt keeps piling up, and there isn’t any money coming in.. Yea, that. I got lucky.

Saturation

I am sitting here trying to work on my Options & Futures assignment when I realize I can’t actually remember how to calculate continuous compounding without looking at the text, although the prof has been talking about it for 6 weeks now. I think it might be important.

I’m starting to wonder if any concepts, theories and models are sinking in or just visiting my brain for brief interludes between classes and exam writing. This year has been flying by so quickly that I can’t even seem to remember what we learned from one semester to the next. I know I always say that a lot of the first year of mba school has been review, but there have been a ton of things I have learned along the way.

The other day I was sitting in the pub talking with my group about our marketing project (which involves a pub) and they asked me about the Foundations of Integrative Thinking course, and I was amazed that I remembered some of the core concepts in that class. I have to say it pleased me a bit, as of late, I have been wondering if the decision to fast track has been a smart choice. Not because of the job market, more because of the fact that everything is happening so fast, and retention and sanity are just two of my many worries. Our marketing prof makes us recap our insights every class. I think it’s a smart idea. It reinforces core concepts, and forces you to pay attention. I better go and look up that continuous compounding formula now.

Crazy Week

Things have been happening at lightning speed that everything in this past week seems to be a blur. I had classes 3 times this week, and on Sat I spent the last day of summer in a hotel basement conference room learning the requirements to be a CMA marker. Oh and yes, and there was a little bit of market mayhem...

I have been addicted to the news for most of the week. The Toronto financial sector has played the spectator part. None of our financial companies seem to have any significant exposure, however, I think it is more of a wait and see approach. This past week has changed my plans, or rather they seem to be delayed. In some cases, it’s made my game plan non-existent. Any of the networking on job leads that I was hoping to do in the next month have been shifted to the back burner. Contacting anyone now would be senseless and would show a lack of sensitivity. I think I am just going to have to adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach too.

Moving on.. Being in class when a crisis is occurring makes the topic even more interesting. Our Options professor decided to spend the first half of our class giving us an overview of the crisis. It was great! He outlined what credit default swaps were, how the crisis unfolded, and why the US government needed to step in. We had our first Marketing course, and the prof is quite good so far. He really makes you think! At the end of our class he asked us to jot down a few points as to what we learned that evening. We learned about branding, and how successful brands focus on the customer experience rather than just a good product. He did say that he was going to be cold calling, and warm calling. Umm. What is Warm calling? A quick google search produced the following result :

Warm call: A softer version of the cold call where the professors gives a particular student advance warning that he will be asked to comment on a case later in the session or the next day.

Uh-oh.. this did not work for me in Strategy. I seem to embody the proverbial deer caught in the headlights when called upon. The whole idea of cold/warm calling is to think on your feet fast right? Well, this is what they are training you for. I really dislike this method. Everyone learns differently, and there is no one path for business success. I firmly believe that MBA training should allow students to be individualistic rather than conformists.

Alright I will get off my hobby horse. We have a globalization quiz on Tuesday. I haven’t the foggiest idea as to what she has taught us, as the class has been quite boring. All I remember from that class is that she told us about how there was an outcry in China when Kung Fu panda came out. Some Chinese people thought the movie should be boycotted as the movie’s main character was also China’s national treasure. I can’t remember why she brought it up... but, I am pretty sure there won’t be a question on that.

Year 2

I’ve been a lazy blogger for the last few months. Things have really been happening so fast, that there doesn’t seem to be enough time to process the changes, let alone put all my thoughts together. So here goes my attempt:

I left off at my disappointment in the Strategy class. Well, since then we complained, and they listened. They apologized to us about our Skype sessions, and as a result, we got a formal verbal apology and makeup Strategy sessions. We then had our Finance final exam, which was so bad, that the entire class booed the professor when he walked into the bar later that night. Having written zillions of finance exams, I can say hands down, it was the worst Finance exams I have ever written in my life. He said he designed it with the intent that no one would finish. Professional Designation exams are designed like that. You have to be quick enough that you know the answer without thinking more than 1 sec. You know this before hand, and you study with that in mind. An introductory Finance exam shouldn’t be designed like that. He said he realized his mistake, and would bell curve it. We then got our grades, and he still managed to fail two people, and have half the class get a B. So, we complained again, and they listened. And the class average is now a B+ . Moral of the story: Be vocal in B school.

Moving along: This semester we are taking Global Perspectives, Customer Value, and Operations Mgmt. We had our Global Perspectives class on Thursday night. I was sort of excited about this class, but our first lecture focussed on Comparative and Absolute Advantage, and we had to watch an hour documentary on Wal-Mart. Yawn. How many times have we learned about comp and absolute advantage, and how many times have we learned about Wal-Mart. There is significant overlap here, and I wish they would realize this when programming courses. In addition, I am taking the Options and Futures elective.

Year 2 feels different. A handful of us 2010 evening students have switched to full time status. The change has definitely put me in a different frame of mind: I’m more focussed and disciplined. The pressure is on. I only have 8 months left to maximize the MBA education and experience, and find myself that dream job, and oh figure out what this dream job is. I plan on keeping my day job in the process. It’s definitely going to be tough, but I found out that another classmate is doing the same. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

The Last 2 weeks...

We had our Strategy Final last week. Given the fact that you can’t really study for Strategy, and it was open book, I was fairly laid back about it. Our professor ‘checked out’ on us a couple weeks ago as well, and as a result, none of us really felt the impetus to work hard. We delivered our presentation to our peers, and she was with us over skype. She did the same thing for the final. I really was disappointed in the Strategy class. Strategy is supposed to be fun! She taught us concepts, but I feel that I don’t have a framework for strategy. Her course was just a hodge-podge of concepts lumped together (VRIO framework, Porter’s 5 forces). For our final exam, she made us do a stakeholder analysis on swimsuit design rules....I still don't think I get 'strategic groups'. Oh well, luckily I am not going into consulting.

Anywho, we have one more weekend of school, one Finance assignment and one Finance final left. It’s been really hard to focus on school this semester. I think it is a combination of summer and lack of motivation. I can’t wait for August 7th, because that’s Freedom Day.

Things not to do on a long weekend...

I can think of lots of things to do on a long holiday weekend.. writing an 8 page paper on Integrative Thinking is not one of them. I've been trying to write this Reflection paper for most of today, and it's been a painful process. I haven't been able to focus, and I am not even close to being done. I am blaming it on the long weekend. I have no motivation to study.

This lack of motivation brings up two salient points: (I wish I could count use of Integrative Thinking vocabulary towards my paper!)

Am I in a virtuous cycle? I am trying to finish up early, and have started overloading on courses. Do I lack motivation because I am overloading or am I overloading the courses because I see my motivation levels rapidly declining in the future months?

Second Salient point: I noticed the newbies.. the 3YR11 students. Their faces are so fresh and eager... They seem to embody me last summer.. all full of excitement and possibility. There are times that I wish for last summer back, and there are times that I am so exhausted that I can't wait for all of it to be over. I still feel excitement but it is more about the opportunities post MBA, rather than getting into grad school.

I want to freeze frame some of these moments, replay some of them, and fast forward the bad ones(Stats class!). Because for all my complaining, it is all happening too fast...

Back to the paper...so what's my motivation? Going out for the rest of the weekend..

Tottering along....

Finished the bidding for courses this evening, and it was a daunting task. I put in my bids, and then tried to go back a screen to check what section it was, or read the description one last time, only to find out that all my selections disappeared. Aaah! This happened three times. You think I would have learned the first time around. I tried to be all strategic about bidding – I really did try. But in the end the whole figuring out what was the average bid points, and how many people balloted threw me all off and after those times that my screen selections blanked out.. I just started to randomly allocate points....fingers crossed that it worked!

The days seem to be flying by. We had our Finance midterm last week. I finished the FIT practicum and I have one more paper to write for that course that’s due at the end of this week. Our strategy midterm is due this week, and we had to analyze Coors’ strategy... back in 1985!! It’s very hard to look at the data and “pretend” that Coors is a premium beer....and that they aren't called Molson Coors now. This is the problem with doing cases from 20 years ago.. We have current information (esp on beer!) but are forced to stay in a time vortex... why can’t we examine cases that are current? The FIT practicum was better in that respect where we had to analyze Yahoo!‘s current strategy.

More and more work to follow.....Strategy presentation, and group writeup, strategy Final, Finance assignment, and Finance Final.. nearly there. Just six more weeks.

I have started to realize the value of a two or three year program instead of a one year program. Way back when I was contemplating MBA school, I was leaning towards a one year program. I had thought that the faster I get it over with, the better. However, my thinking has changed.. A year just passes by so quickly, and there is no time to take in what you are learning and solidify concepts, and just think about your career. In a two year program, you are given the opportunity in the first year to sit back and watch a bit if you like, before you dive into a field, or an opportunity. You get to analyze what you are learning instead of just ploughing through the material. You get to take more electives, and build your knowledge. I think this is the biggest advantage. It might take a bit longer, but isn’t it better to have no regrets or less of them anyway?

Looking over your shoulder

We had to analyze Yahoo! Canada strategy in our FIT practicum. It’s been quite fascinating reading all of the articles, and understanding the whole new media landscape. Our task is to define a strategy for Yahoo! Canada in the Web 2.0 environment.

I stumbled upon an interesting piece of journalism in one of the articles “Then, on Aug. 19, 2004, Google went public. According to some former Yahoos, that was a turning point for the company's culture as well. Yahoo became a company obsessed with Google rather than one looking to make the next leap on the Net. "Yahoo became super-paranoid," says one former search manager. "We switched from charting our own course to looking over our shoulder."

That last line struck a chord with me on a personal level. It’s so easy to constantly compare and look over your shoulder. It’s so easy to just take one little peak isn’t it? It appeals to our insecurities. We feel the need to look back and see who’s catching up to us, who will overtake us. We also have the tendency to look around and assess the competition constantly.

We also look over our shoulder at the past and assess what we did wrong and examine our mistakes and all the paths we did not take, and examine the ones we have taken.

My biggest takeaway is to stop looking over my shoulder, and focus on the road ahead. The past is behind me, and the competition? Well, they will always be there, but are they relevant to my goals?

Second Year

I seem to have lost the interest to blog lately, although there has been a lot going on. Perhaps that’s part of the reason: I can’t seem to write logically amid all of the thoughts swirling in my brain. So here goes my attempt to produce a decent post..

We started Year 2 last week, after a whole 2.5 weeks off from the last semester! We are taking Strategy and Finance this term. I am also enrolled in an extra course called Foundations of Integrative Thinking Practicum, as I am trying to finish school a bit early. As a result, June is going to be a tough month, as I will be juggling three courses.

So, we have finally have our first woman professor assigned to us and she is teaching us strategy. She is good, however she speaks sooo fast, I get tired trying to keep up with her! She has decided to cold call us in class, a method I detest. Yikes! However she is doing this solely because our student reps complained about the ‘lack of transparency’ in participation marks. However, her strategy is novel, and despite all attempts to just be a seat warmer I am somewhat pleased with her approach. In order to get 10% of your marks, you have to sign up for cold calling for 2 classes. She will even help you if you are scared to talk - very thoughtful of her. Can you imagine getting emails and visits from 60 students? Alright, perhaps only half of the class would take her up on the offer to be coached. I don’t feel the need to be coached however I did email her as to what types of questions I should be prepared for.

The Finance prof is younger than all of us. Given that the average age of our class is 32, I have done my rough estimate based on his bio, that he is about 28!!!! There were a lot of complaints made to the administration about his lack of teaching experience. The basis of the complaints were given Rotman’s reputation for one of the best Finance faculty, and given the fees we are paying we should be taught by a more experienced prof. They told us to give him a chance. Apparently, they asked him to come and teach us, not the other way around. He’s quite smart, and has a bit of anecdotal finance trivia, which is a good way to get people to pay attention in class, especially if you aren’t into finance.

The university is much quieter without the full timers. Aaah the study rooms will be empty and will be nice and quiet...So I should be more productive right?

Part Time vs Full Time

Here are my thoughts...

I really like the part time program. The age group and work experience of your classmates will be a lot higher. There are a few 'older' fulltimers, but the average age tends to be much lower.

In terms of missing out, there are a lot of career info events and workshops that are during the day and that is hard for part timers to go to, given we work a full time job. That being said, if you plan accordingly, there are sufficient evening events to go to as well, or you can take a half day off work etc.

Jobs: If you are switching careers you might need to do an internship. You can always do an internship at the very end of your MBA or in between years 2 and 3. However, if you are looking to get into Finance, there are sooo many competitions and workshops that you can get a lot of experience in that respect. Rotman is really the best school for Finance in Canada (in my humble opinion). I am not sure if that is your intended career path. Jobs are open to every graduating student, and I was told by the career centre that the highest paying job last year went to a part-timer.

Profs: I personally think the quality of the profs are really amazing and are very knowledgeable - even in the evening. For the most part, they teach both the full time and the part time. Some of our profs teach us and the executive mba.

Extra curricular events: I along with my fellow part-timers have been involved in numerous challenges that take place in school. I would say at least 1/3 - 1/2 of our class has been involved in at least one challenge this year. As you know from my blog, I entered the Investment challenge and the Loreal challenge.

One additional note: You can enter the part time program, and switch into the full time program in second year and vice versa. However, this is not a guarantee and is approved on a case by case basis.

This guy is smart and he’s at Rotman

I stumbled upon Richard Florida’s creative class website by accident. His book ‘Who’s your city?’ is out, and of course I knew he was at Rotman, and he writes an article for the Globe which I usually glance over, but I still didn’t pay too much attention. We got an email about his new book, but we get so many emails a day that sometimes you skim them over. Well after visiting his website, and reading about what he has to say, I can now see what the big hullaboo about getting him on the faculty was all about. He was on the Colbert report!

So for fun I tried his which city should you live in.. I typed in these cities: Toronto, London, SanFran, NYC, Hong Kong. I thought of Dubai, and I forgot to include Bombay. This is what I got:

I should definitely consider staying in Toronto! And then definitely consider London and SF, and not consider NYC and HK.

Anyway, go to this website if you’d like to procrastinate. It’s fun! I need to see if he teaches a class, and buy his book.

And then there were two.... or three?

Wow, what a day. I am so knackered from the drama of this morning. It seems to have surpassed the exhaustion of the past month.

Today was Investment Challenge day. Now, it’s not what you think.. No, we glided through our presentation, and the judges didn’t ream us. We didn’t make it to the second round, however I was very relieved to just go home, and relax. This is a breakdown of the hours that aged me...

9:30 AM : Our presenter calls me to tell me that he’s sick and can’t present. My response was you are kidding right? Apparently, he wasn’t.

9:40 AM : Frantic phone call to only other surviving member of our group. I am at a loss for words. I am in panic mode. He suggests we go ahead with it. We will just wait for the sick presenter to forward his speaker notes, and add our own notes.

We started this competition in Nov, with 5 team members. About a month into the competition, one dropped out . (The IC dropout even won free Stalla CFA seminar notes today, and he wasn’t even there!) Last week, another member said that he couldn’t be there on presentation day as he had work commitments.

9:50 AM : Crisis support call to biggest supporter (aka mom) who also suggests that yes, we can prepare in less than three hours.

11:30 AM : Get to school. Nerves are in total overdrive having drunk 4 cups of coffee. Team member and I go over our notes. Surmise that no one will know if we bomb the presentation. Find consolation in this.

12:00 PM Sick presenter calls saying he can make it. Yes, you read right.

12:40 PM Sick presenter arrives.

1:00 PM We present.

1:15 PM It’s all over.

2:30 PM We find out that we didn’t make it to the second round. The 4 cups of coffee is still wreaking havoc on my nerves.

3:00 PM Subway ride home with sick presenter. I am told, that I should relax more. Nearly whacked him over the head, but I restrained myself as there would have been witnesses.

Lessons learned: Always have more than one presenter. Even if you don’t show up, you might win a prize.

It was just a matter of time..

Before I was called upon in class and looked like an idiot... At least I didn’t say I don’t know.. The irony of it was the question was on Conrad Black. My award winning answer was something to the effect about the ‘class already took my answers’ .... and then I had to repeat what I said because the prof didn’t hear me. For someone who likes flying under the radar, and hates being put on the spot, this didn’t go down well. Well, at last I have learned to always have my name tag...being put on the spot by being called ‘you in the red’ only added to my embarrassment. There was a lengthy debate later that night on whether the Socratic method of calling upon you in class has merit.

Moving on. ..It has been a crazy two weeks and there is no slowdown in sight. The next few weeks are going to be tough. We have something due every week in March! Papers due constantly and all of them require a lot of ‘what do you think?’ I’ll take number crunching and an excel spreadsheet over that any day. As much as I hate writing these papers, and find them cumbersome, I do think this is where I personally get the most value out of the mba. With the exception of stats, and b law, I have coasted through most of the courses. These ‘soft’ courses are a lot more work than any of us thought. It does make me think in a different way, and takes me out of my comfort zone intellectually.

The investment challenge presentation is creeping up on us. In the last two months, our excitement has faded now that we are losing money. . It’s going to be a mad dash in the next two weeks to get up to speed on all the company and market news.

I better go and work on my ethics reaction paper. I am writing on none other than Conrad Black... it’s a good thing I blogged about him earlier, as I am using some of it in my paper...

Oh and one last note: I, along with everyone else have been fascinated with the Spitzer story. I know you probably have read everything there is to read about it.. for goodness sake People and ET are reporting on it too! So, I decided not to comment on it, but I wanted to share this ad by Virgin mobile canada with you. I think it is just brilliant marketing, and in line with Virgin's marketing strategy!

Business Ethics

Is this an oxymoron? Can it even be taught? I am not sure, but I definitely think it belongs in the core courses taught at MBA schools. Even if you aren’t a highly ethical person, just learning about the consequences of unethical decision making should deter you (in some cases 25 years for white collar crime).

We had our Ethics class yesterday. Although it was a long day, we were taught by our B law prof, and he is very entertaining in class, and as a result it did go by rather quickly. We discussed the well known corporate scandals - Enron, Worldcom, Martha Stewart, Hollinger. The prof presented us with an interesting case that I hadn’t heard of at all. David Radler, Conrad Black’s former best friend and co-conspirator had donated $1 million (some through newspaper holding companies) to Queen’s Business School. In gratitude, Queens put up a plaque commemorating his donation. When he was found guilty, Queens decided that they would make a stance and return the funds and take down the plaque. In the end they couldn’t return all the funds due to the fact that some of the companies that had donated the funds in Radler’s name were not in existence. Mr. Radler did accept the return of his contributions. The question that was posed to us was would you return the funds? My group decided to, take down the plaque, and keep the money. It posed an interesting question, do politicians return money when they realize the money that was donated to their campaign was illegally made? The professor told us that Mother Theresa faced similar problems. Her response was that she couldn’t control where the money was coming from, but she could control where it would go. That line of thinking works for me.

One of the more interesting points that stuck with me yesterday was the fact that unethical behaviour doesn’t happen instantly. A person doesn’t actually sit there and think ‘Today I will be unethical’. It is a series of events that lead up to it. They hope that their little actions aren’t caught, and that they can mend it in time. But one lie always leads to a bigger lie and so on.

In concluding this post, a bit of legal advice for you: If you are ever caught in an unethical situation, and are being prosecuted: Be the FIRST to make a deal.......let’s hope you never have to use this advice.

Hello Again

It has been a while, I know. I have been trying to think integratively and adapting to my new group.

We finished our ‘Foundations of Integrative Thinking’ class. In the last six weeks we have been overloaded with mental models, and the whole concept of integratively thinking. To be honest, I can’t actually say I understand what the course was all about. I am trying to review it in my brain and so far this is what I have come up with
Question the status quo and the information when making decisions,
Don’t assume blindly, and don’t make judgments rashly
Framing is integral to everything (in marketing a product, or presenting information)
Don’t rely on first impressions (They have not convinced me of this one)

But aren’t these all common sense ideas? It seems so, however very few people carry this out in real life.

One of the fun things we got to do for this course was pick some sort of social cause and create a presentation for it. This assignment actually sold me on the course. If each of us as business people walk away trying to make the world a difference better place, then the school has taught us well. We will be better business leaders in the future.

My team chose to solve the problem of increasing donations to silent tragedies. We chose to focus on WaterAid, an organization that helps provide sustainable water and sanitation solutions in developing countries.

If you’d like to know more about WaterAid, click on the video above. (I love the guys’ voice – he sounds like Chris Martin from Coldplay).

Moving along.. Being creatures of habit, all of us are still adjusting to our new group members. My old group had a ‘method’ that worked just right. We understood each other’s working habits, and quirky personality traits. We got along. Then just to make things interesting, the school decided to switch us all around, and we are all still adapting. It’s not easy, I’ll tell you. I find myself comparing my new group to my old group. I also find myself being less enthusiastic to bond with my new group. The excitement of being immersed in new activities and the possibility of making new friends has evaporated. I am not alone in this sentiment. Most of my classmates feel the same way. We liked it the way it was.

I really have surprised myself in terms of my own resistance to the team change. I always thought of myself as very adaptable I have changed jobs every 2 years, moved schools more than a kid should (6 times before university) and I have moved homes so many times, that I should be used to it. Pick up and leave. Make new friends. Keep some of the old friends along the way. But these aren’t new people. We already know them. We have already formed our biases in our minds. Whether they are correct or not is irrelevant. We have made them and this is where it is tough. When you meet someone new for the first time, you are more inclined to make more of an effort to make a new friend.

I can’t help but compare these changes to corporate re-orgs, and how resistant most people are to them. None of it seems to make sense at the time, but over time you gradually accept it. Why? Because you have no choice.

Biz Law....

I was so sceptical about this class over the holidays. Just confirms my theory that you can't judge a class based on the syllabus. It is one of the best courses I have taken so far. Okay, the macroeconomics course in the fall comes close. One of my classmates told me that GREAT classes are more about the profs rather than the content. I concur.

We had an entertaining class last week. We had to discuss the charter of rights and freedom in different situations. The issues spanned a diverse range of topics from drug testing at work to assisted suicide. He split us up into pro and con groups to discuss an issue and then an appointed spokesperson voiced our opinions. The arguments for each side were quite diverse and good, considering we had to come up with them in half an hour. The professor was obviously impressed with us that he posted a ‘thank you for an enlightening and entertaining class’. He said that at dinner later than night, he couldn’t stop talking about us. That’s a first! I have to give my classmates the kudos. I simply played the part of the observer.

The highlight of the class discussion was when we had to discuss whether lap dancing should be allowed in strip clubs or not. The prof had the foresight to tackle this issue last. The pro arguments were hilarious. Of course, you can imagine which side the girls chose and which side the guys chose.

As some of you know I document the words I learn in Business school. Let’s just say this business school education is giving me an all rounded education. Well, when the opposition was giving their arguments against lap dancing, the girl (of course it had to be a girl!) claimed that she had never heard of champagne rooms. I immediately thought silently ‘Me too. What are they?’.... :)

Down 13 spots..

The FT Rankings came out today and they aren’t good at all. Rotman placed 40th this year... Down from placing 27th last year. (Rotman only participates in the FT and Business week business school rankings).

It is a small blow to the Rotman brand globally, as the FT rankings are the most global and diverse, unlike the Business Week rankings that are more US focussed.

What did we do wrong? The dean sent an email to the entire school discussing the ratings. You could tell he wasn’t pleased. Good reason too. The ranking drop was due to the ‘weighted salary increase’ category. Apparently it has to do with the fact that the starting salary for the class of 2004 was higher than the past year, etc..

The ratings that surprised me: LBS is 2nd. Indian School of Business placed 20th A lot more English business schools made the list.

I realized that after his email at 9:06 AM, not a single email was sent out till about 6 PM. Very unusual for a Monday. Perhaps everyone at school was mulling the bad news, and working on getting a higher spot next year...???

Oh well, it's still a good school, and we are still No.1 in Canada, and we placed 6th in Finance.

Suffering from Apathy

Yep.. finally all the excitement has worn itself out.. I had just enough to carry me through the holiday season, and now its over. I was recently told that I work too hard, and play too little. I think I agree. I think I am heading down the crashing phase. Need a vacation..

School started on Monday. Remember that team building event at the ROM? Well apparently they got too many complaints from the class of 2010. It was to be held on a Sat morning. So, they took our complaints into consideration and made us do a personality test and get to know our teams. For the record: I did not complain. I would have liked the scavenger hunt at the ROM. I went out on Monday night as I hadn’t seen my classmates for a while. Going out on a Monday night was a very bad choice. Thursday nights are better.

We started Foundations of Integrative Thinking.. They are trying to rewire our brain to think about what other people are thinking. hmmm.

We did have to read an interesting article called ‘The Odds of That’. The article quoted the famous Casablanca line ‘of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the worlds....’ Apparently Bogart was clueless. The chance of Bergman walking into his bar was actually very likely. The article says that everything that happens in our lives are random events. We think occurrences and events mean something because of our personal bias. The more personal it is, the more ‘meaning’ we assign it. There is no master plan. There are only coincidences. Nothing is fate, or destiny. It’s just a fluke. Great! So the crazy living in my building is random….. :) Already my thinking is changing..

Off to Business Law.. sounds boring, but the prof is supposed to be interesting.. We had to read an article about a guy who sues a water company because he found a fly in it. Apparently he won, and then lost in the appeals..Should make for an interesting discussion.

View from the 56th floor.

I attended the CIBC women in capital markets event that was held on the 56th floor of the CIBC building. For those who don’t live in Toronto, a part of the CIBC sign fell off the skyscraper yesterday evening. Surprisingly I was not scared for my safety, considering this is the second time something fell from a very tall building in Toronto in a span of a year. Anyway, the event was good. The most interesting part was that they had invited undergrad and MBA students from both Schulich and Rotman. It was interesting to see the dynamics play out as a result. We tended to huddle by school instead of by MBA and undergrad.

They had an executive MD talk about her experiences, and then they had us mingle. Her underlying message in the words of her 13 year old was ‘job is cool and the money is good’. My takeaway: There is never a dull day in the market and have an opinion and express it. She said well work hard now, put in your dues and it will pay off. Secret: You don’t work the crazy hours forever. AND she said that she worked a 4 day week when her kids were small. Nanny hiring was not discussed. In the mingle session, I joined the trading Q&A group. Their advice was to develop a thick skin, and know that you can’t win in the markets all the time.

One of the other points the speaker made was to move around early in your career and to try different things. I agree. The problem is I have tried different things and I can’t decide. Over the past two months, I have rekindled my love for the markets all over again. I absolutely love the markets. I can stare at the screen flicker stock upticks and downticks for hours. You can NEVER know enough about the market. There is something humbling and challenging in that. The problem is I also really like private equity or corporate lending (fundamentally similar). I like the idea of lending money to a company by assessing their potential and future profitability. I can ALSO look at pro formas and business plans all day. I guess I still have time to decide.

I am going to a few more career info events next week. I am not looking for a summer job or a full time job; however I think you always learn more about the companies at these events. At the very least it is good to go and check out the competition...