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?