It's hard to believe how fast my internship flew by. Time again for tests, deadlines, and group assignments...
After spending over six hours in the car for what should've been a four hour trip (weekend traffic was herendous), my family and I rolled into Ithaca on Friday night. Although it's nice to be back, my mind has yet to switch to "school" mode and classes start tomorrow at 8am. The nice thing about your second year in B-school is that every single class is an elective as opposed to required core classes. Now I can focus on things I really want to learn like Investing in Distressed Companies and Equity Derivatives (two out of the four classes I'll be taking this fall).
I expect that the time spent in the real world during my internship will give me a better framework and perspective for my second year at school. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with first-year students so they can be better prepared for the grueling process of finding an internship on the buy-side. There were things I would've done differently (like not being picky about the city I wanted to work in) and things I definitely would've done again (like building relationships with second-year students who had previously worked in the industry). One of the truly great things about the Johnson School is that I'll have ample opportunity to be a mentor to first-year students since there are so many ways to get involved. I'll be a tutor, a co-president of a club, and a work group leader all during the fall semester! Oh, and I still have to attend class.
