Eponymous

Just finished the Investment Analysis mid term. Am sick to the core of making silly mistakes in the paper. Sick of my hastiness. Sick of not paying attention to detail in the prep before the exam. SICK!

Hazy shade of ......

Browsing through alum blog archives...interesting to see what they went through same time last year...came across this comment by one of the profs during an interview which is a good thing to keep in mind because slowly but surely, mindsets and discussions are moving towards placements... this is something I have always believed in...

"Think about the life you want and not about the job you want"

I know this is easier said than done given the context at a b school. For most, what our peers think matters a lot. However, once we're out of this place, it is we who have to deal with that job everyday. Money cannot be a motivator beyond a point. I remember how I took a 50% pay cut last year to do something which I was very passionate about & where I learnt tremondously. However, being human (again, not an excuse) I changed jobs primarily because I was getting 2.5 times the pay. Having been through this entire cycle, I genuinely believe in doing what stimulates you, doing something which you are passionate about. Money is a byproduct. It will come when it has to.

I hope that come placement time, I'm able to keep my mind free of these pressures and choose something which I would love to do. I cannot envision a life where I get up in the morning and not wait to get to work.

Big Mac & more.

McK came to campus about a week back for a session which (as is the tradition) started off at 9.30 p.m. & went on till 2 a.m. Earlier during the day, they conducted a 3.5 hr session on methodology of tacking a case in a very structured fashion. These sessions would be conducted for the entire batch. This is a first anywhere in the world for McK. Good stuff.

The night session was superb. We had 3 alums and 3 others from the firm. In contradiction to earlier info and perceived notions, all of them were very friendly - not a hint of arrogance. They encouraged us to ask as many questions as possible & in as many areas as possible. Overall, a 10/10 experience.

Am sandwiched between crazy class schedules (this term being just 1 month, we have classes 6 days a week), the ELP project work, trying to prioritize in terms of participation in indian/international b school paper/case studies, trying to maintain my squash schedule, organizing activities for the equity research focus group, parents visiting, preparing for a couple of international placements coming up in about 6 weeks time.....uhh! sleep has been hard to come by - on an average less than 5 hours of sleep. I somehow do not like the fact that events/schedules are controlling me rather than the other way around.

The admissions task force comprising of students will soon start reviewing the student applicaitons for the batch of Class of 2008. I hope the bar will be raised higher for the next batch and for all the coming batches. Outlook released its list of top b schools across India. As always, tons of controversies. I really do not think that magazine rankings determine the fate of a b school. The community at large is wise enough to decide the best. I really do not see the need for so many discussions about why a certain b school has been ranked above/below another one. Peace. ISB, as a policy has not participated in these surveys. Come the right time, ISB will participate in international b school surveys which is in line with its vision. Was just going through Yahoo Groups and looking at the queries posted there. Remembered same time last year, when I was one of them. Time flies. Wonder where I will be 1 year from now.

Hopt to catch a movie over the weekend.

Superb pic from Rajat's blog.

Almost there....

I maintain that marks do not make or break my day. But they sure do add to my state of irritatedness (is that even a word) once in a while. And that while is now. Grades for Term 2. I miss an 'A' in one of the subjects by 0.05 marks (note the decimals) and in another subject (note again, we're still talking about Term 2) I miss an 'A-' by 0.25 marks. Thats twice in the same term!

The only appropriate response is 'WTF'. No other.

This has been only my 2nd mention on my blog about marks. I promise it will be the last.