Thoughts From The Cake Scraps

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.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2014 at 12:49 and is filed under Johnson Blog, MBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.