Thoughts From The Cake Scraps

Originally Posted: 9/17/2013 5:44 PM  

Second year is a time of relaxing. You don’t have to go through the core. You’re taking all the classes that you want and can drop the ones you don’t want. Life is a party from Wednesday night on. Sure, there are some things to deal with from 1st year students, but that’s a minority of the time. Or at least that’s what I had in my head.

The reality is much different but I am still having a fantastic time.

I arrived back on campus August 25th and that evening was the first Consulting Club meeting where I co-run the education curriculum. The next two days were training for leading a 1st year core team (group of ~5 1st year students who do projects together). Then class resumed. That’s when the juggling act really started.

Class has been really interesting. This is because the classes I’ve elected to take this semester don’t have finals, but projects. This is in stark contrast to the constant quiz/midterm/final process of first year. Interestingly, I almost want finals back. It’s pretty darn difficult to find time for group meetings in between everything else that is going on.

So what classes am I taking? Cases in strategy, Pricing Strategy & Tactics, Women in Leadership, Oral & Written Communication, Johnson Leadership Fellows curriculum, and (of course) Introduction to Wines – the most failed class at Cornell. It’s a nice mix of topics and about as much as I can handle. Sadly, Introduction to Massage had to go. Really.

Outside of class I am doing this (blogging), the Johnson Leadership Fellow role, Career Work Group Leader (career prep for 1st years), Student Council Operations Chair, Consulting Club VP of Education, Admissions Ambassador (on campus tours), and a TA for Intermediate Accounting (next semester, thankfully).

So why does all of this matter to you? My hope is that it shows you just how engaged 2nd year students are at Johnson. I did mention it in my prior post, but now that I’m living it I thought it important to validate that it is both possible and very fulfilling.

So the excessive partying may have to wait, but I sure am enjoying my time. Also, please note that it is only the excessive partying that has to wait. Regular partying is alive and well as demonstrated by my classmate who performed his fire dance routine at a recent house party.

Part of a series of my re-postings of my blog for the “Life @ Johnson” section of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University MBA program website.

Originally Posted: 8/6/2013 10:02 PM  

So what goes through the mind of a newly minted Johnson 2^nd year? Wow. Let me pause on that for a moment. A 2^nd year. I held on to my 1^st year designation as long as possible because the first year was such an amazing experience; I didn’t want to let it go. I always said “next year’s first year students” but no longer. They have started their orientation, started building new friendships, and officially joined the Johnson family. There is no denying it. I am a Johnson second year. I hope those 1st year students read my shopping list.

Okay, so back to the question of what’s going through my mind. The short answer is I am thinking of all the ways I can help the first year students. I am preparing for my return to campus and all of the activities I have signed up for. Johnson Leadership Fellow, Career Workgroup Leader, Student council, Consulting Club, TA positions, and a bunch of other things.

Why is this what I am so focused on? Well, during first year it is easy to think of these activities as “resume builders”, but that is a mistake. The entire first year community is counting on the 2nd year students in positions similar to the ones I listed. I need to be thinking of what I want to accomplish in the next few months before I transition responsibilities. I need to be thinking of what knowledge I want to share because time is such a precious resource. It is this sort of thought and preparation – largely invisible except for mistakes – that makes the first year so enjoyable despite its rigor.

After I am done thinking about all of that, I think about the classes I want to take. The things I want to experience during this time which is unlike any other in my life. But that’s for after we get things rolling for the Class of 2015. 🙂

Will the second year be less intense than first year? I would say the clear answer, from an academic perspective, is yes. But will I be any less busy? Not if I can help it.

Part of a series of my re-postings of my blog for the “Life @ Johnson” section of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University MBA program website.