The much delayed post!

Crazy time of internships is here!

This is it. The first time when you get to make or break your career. From tackling 3 interviews in a day to idle brain time - this Term 2 has it all. Course load is fairly balanced, given how much we stress over getting those internships! A breather for sure after the hectic Term 1.

While some of us have already secured their summer jobs, the process of interviews has just begun. This month has been the month for Finance and Consulting focused students. First round of interviews are on, some have had the second rounds. It seems like end of February would paint a decent picture for these functions.

That said, I cannot stress enough how important prioritizing your goals at Rotman is. Once you do that, you know exactly what you need to focus on. While some students don't really need to care about grades per se, Consulting and Finance roles siphon most students based on that and of course the profiles and cover letters and resumes. But if you do have the grades, you need to focus less on creating a stellar resume or cover letter, because a good grade and a good GMAT gets you the spotlight at least for the first shortlist. Whether you do well after that, of course depends upon how good you are at behavioral (and case interviews - for Consulting profiles).

I wish all our classmates a good luck for this entire grueling process! The phase of good news has only just begun! :)

That time of the year...

GBC Orientation camp seems like a time in a different era. Things just got real after the Pre-MBA 's fairly "chilled-out" life.

Managing time: That's the biggest challenge that I'm facing as of now. It's not that I do not get to complete things - many a times even before time. It's just that some things are far more important to me and I would like to have more time for those aspects of my Rotman life.

It's that time of the year when you have literally everything that you want to do on your plate. Right from overload of assignments, homework, presentations, reaction papers, to application to your prospective firms to creating application packages including videos for their special programs and attending innumerous info sessions to starting with the case competitions! All of a sudden, 24 hours are just way too less. Oh and BTW, coming Monday we begin our Foundations term exam.

So if any of you are considering doing an MBA program at Rotman, make sure you have your priorities sorted beforehand. That will definitely give you a head-start when you begin your program here! While you are certainly "allowed" to be confused about what you want to do post MBA, do make sure that you have clear options laid out in your mind, instead of "I'll see what I want to do when I get there" approach.

P.S. I was and I still am very sure about what I want to do - strategy! Whether its internal or external consulting- time will tell, and whether its not consulting at all- time is still the best judge. But you need to have your options open - if you don't have a high GPA, things might just get tough for management consulting jobs (pure strategy as many often say). Almost every external consulting firm values GPA quite highly as an interview selection parameter.

I hope this helps you get a hint of what the first few months of a full time MBA would look like at Rotman! All that said - it's an exciting phase of life! And despite busy schedules, it sure is a great learning experience! One of the most practical MBA programs out there in the "market". ;)