I thought I'd do something I've never done before on my blog and give you brief snapshot of what I do on a typical day. (An original idea for a blog, I know). I chose last Monday, October 22nd...
Monday
After checking email, I caught the bus to school for Cayuga Fund class from 8-10am. We did some training with a financial software application called StockVal and then a couple of student portfolio managers pitched some stock ideas for inclusion in the Fund. All of the stock pitches received the required two-thirds majority vote, which meant the trades would be executed after class. Directly following class, I met with Rich Marin (former CEO of Bear Stearns Asset Management and current Executive in Residence at the Johnson School) for a half-hour to get some career advice. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing research on the stocks I cover in the Fund and responding to a handful of emails before coming home to spend time with my family. After eating dinner and putting the kids to bed, I finished up a take-home midterm exam for my Equity Derivatives class while watching the monday night football game. Peyton threw a late TD to keep my undefeated season alive in my fantasy football league, so I'd say it was a good day.
That was a fairly typical day for me. It's not unusual during your second year at B-school to only have one or two classes scheduled a day, which is due to the structure of the elective courses. And it's great to have a seasoned Wall St. exec like Rich Marin available to speak with. Now that I think of it, I'm really amazed at the quality of professionals (guest speakers, alumni, faculty) that I've come in contact with over my short time at Cornell. Jim Chanos, Seth Klarman, and Michael Mauboussin are some heavy hitters in the asset management world, and I've had the luxury of sitting in a classroom with each of them. And when I think that my classmates are going to be the next generation of leaders, it's even more humbling.
