The Beginning of the Middle

 Monday marks my first week back in school.

After spending my last day of freedom cramming pre-work, residency applications and running errands I get an early night to be fresh for the beginning of the middle of my MBA program.

This semester I start my Monday classes at 8:30 am (a whole 20 minutes earlier than last term – trust me, it matters).  Our first class of the day is Critical Skill Development (the second part of the Human Resources course we began the first semester).  To my surprise, we are informed that this class only meets three times during the entire semester! What? I get to sleep in on Mondays? I am so pleasantly surprised because with seven classes I will definitely need any extra time I can get.

After that I head to Finance.  I’m a bit intimidated by this course having never taken anything like it before but am pleased to see that the professor seems to be very willing to help all of us novices.  In fact, we are even assigned a second year student as our section’s tutor.  I have a feeling that tutor and I will become fast friends.

After class I head to work. My hours have changed due to my new, admittedly less conducive, class schedule.  I will now be working Monday and Wednesdays. I’ve also taken on fewer hours which will be nice to help compensate for the additional work load.

After work I head to the Career Center to get some pointers on a rough draft of my resume and cover letter.  My career adviser graciously assists me in my questions and I leave feeling much more confident.

That night I go home and finalize my cover letter and resume for the Hasbro residency. I also buckle down and finish up my Supply Chain pre-work for tomorrow.

Tuesday is a relatively light day and I don’t have to be at Supply Chain until 10:50 am! Normally, I would try to wake up early on Tuesdays and get work done at home only to fall back asleep, so I've  made a pact with myself to ‘pretend’ I have an 8:30 class and go to the library.  This plan works great and I’m very efficient in the eerily quiet library.  This morning study session could be just the thing I need.

After Supply Chain I rush about doing errands.  I pick up a financial calculator at the bookstore, finally drop off my reimbursement sheet for the Marketing Club holiday party and grab any remaining coursepacks I need.

I then head to lunch at Pan Thai with a friend where I savor one of their great lunch specials for students.  I also drop by the grocery store because a blizzard is heading our way tonight.  There is even suspicion that school will be canceled tomorrow.  The Weather Channel anticipate 12-18” of snow in one day and the Governor has declared a snow emergency! I’ve never been in a snow storm, let alone had a snow day so I’m very excited.  We’ll find out by 6:00 am tomorrow morning via an e-mail/text alert from the school as to whether or not we need to trudge through a foot of snow to campus.

I return home and begin working on my Finance and Operations homework for tomorrow and hit submit on my Hasbro application, all the while anxiously watching the weather channel in anticipation of the storm.

I wake up Wednesday morning at 6:00am to a glorious text from Northeastern saying school has been canceled! I am so excited because that means I can play in the snow today! I get dressed, bundling up in all of my full winter regalia, and head out for a walk. 

Massachusetts Avenue

In between my winter wonderland adventures I work on my Strategy readings and study for my Statistics quiz tomorrow (yes, there is a quiz on the first day of class).  I also start the ball rolling on the Marketing Club consulting project because I’m feeling the pressure to get some real work done there.

I head to bed on a high from my first real snowfall and wondering, possibly, if class will be canceled tomorrow. One can dream.

Thursday I head to class for my Statistics quiz.  I feel relatively confident about the half-hour test but only the results will let me know for sure.  After Statistics I have our longest class to date: Strategy, running 2 and a half hours.  Thursdays are going to be tough.  Luckily, the course is quite engaging and we discuss such topics as the strategy differences between Starbucks and McDonalds.

I have a quick meeting with the Women in MBA Club after class and I learn of some interesting upcoming events which include a salary negotiation speaker visiting campus next week. 

I briefly stop by work to tie up some loose ends before going home and applying to positions for our mock phone and in-person interviews.

It is required for every Full-Time MBA student to complete both a phone and in-person mock interview before they can participate in the Career Fair held on February 8^th.  These mock interviews are a great opportunity for students to get honest feedback from real staffing professionals.  By enlisting hiring managers from companies around the area, we are able to get unbiased feedback on our performance; something that would not be possible if members of the Career Center interviewed us.  What’s more, our in-person interviews are video-taped and given to us for review.  It’s going to be difficult to watch myself, but highly constructive.

Later that night I meet a few friends for Mexican food at Casa Romero.  I order a delicious cactus-stuffed chicken breast with friend plantains and mole sauce. Yum! We end the night at Sonsie on Newbury Street for an espresso cocktail.

Friday in Career Management we discuss interview techniques.  We are given a very helpful list of common questions so we can prepare for our upcoming residency search.  We even watch a video of real life interviews to help us pick out successful non-verbal ques as well as mistakes to avoid.

All day I anxiously watch my e-mail for a notification on the Hasbro residencies.  We were supposed to find out who was invited to interview today.  However, the snow day and subsequent closing of companies around the entire Northeast has forced a delay in their response.  I will just have to wait in anticipation until Tuesday.

A car- I think?

That day I also join a friend on a trip to the Pru for lunch and to do research on catering for the Women in MBA speaker event next Wednesday.

Saturday I wake up early and meet a friend for brunch at Aquitaine.  It was fabulous! For $9.95 you get a pre-fixe menu including orange juice, coffee, cinnamon rolls and any of a variety of omelettes.  Afterward we spend a couple of hours printing assignments at the library, grocery shopping and running errands.

Sunday I have another brunch scheduled, this time for a friend’s birthday! What a luxurious life I’m living this first week of school.  We end up at Metropolis Café which, interestingly enough, is owned by the same restaurateur as Aquitaine.  The brunch there did not disappoint either. After a leisurely three hour meal I join a teammate at the library to hash out our first Finance case.

Since Monday is a holiday I spend the evening watching the Golden Globes and being pleasantly surprised at how relatively relaxing this semester has been so far. But don’t worry, I don’t delude myself into thinking that it will stay this way for long.

*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, it's staff or affiliates.