Reporter : Pete Cooper
The weather was still pretty mild during mid-terms this Fall. Halfway through the Modeling take-home, I needed a break and decided to take a walk around the sprawling residence hall. Heading down through the Schwab lobby I ran into two of the front desk folks. My hair must have been sticking straight up in the air, because they smiled knowingly. “Yep”, I said, “first mid-term in 20 years”.
After 20 years of nightmares about missing classes and showing up late and unprepared to the final, everything in the Fall quarter has gone surprisingly smoothly. My trusty alarm clock wakes me up on time every day, I never end up in class unwittingly half naked, and the awareness of my personal investment is rarely needed for motivation. The Sloan administration bonded all of my classmates and I together quickly and we have been inseparable ever since.
One of the important lessons of the first quarter is to strike a balance between the instinct to focus entirely on academic performance and alternatively to take advantage of the wealth of other valuable opportunities at Stanford. In general it’s plausible to do reasonably well in the classes, get adequate sleep, and not be overwhelmed. The real key is to push the envelope a bit, attend the different speaking and networking events and take time to enjoy your classmates outside of class. I can’t think of a better time in life to lose a bit of sleep to see a prominent CEO speak, network with the wealth of local VC’s, or have a beer with what may end up being some of your best friends.
The test taking process ends up a lot like riding a bike. It comes back without a lot of prompting. Everyone is in it together, from fellow Sloans and the MBA’s to the folks at the Schwab front desk or the Sloan staff. It is amazing to me how we all give and take a little to help one another over the challenges.
After 20 years of nightmares about missing classes and showing up late and unprepared to the final, everything in the Fall quarter has gone surprisingly smoothly. My trusty alarm clock wakes me up on time every day, I never end up in class unwittingly half naked, and the awareness of my personal investment is rarely needed for motivation. The Sloan administration bonded all of my classmates and I together quickly and we have been inseparable ever since.
One of the important lessons of the first quarter is to strike a balance between the instinct to focus entirely on academic performance and alternatively to take advantage of the wealth of other valuable opportunities at Stanford. In general it’s plausible to do reasonably well in the classes, get adequate sleep, and not be overwhelmed. The real key is to push the envelope a bit, attend the different speaking and networking events and take time to enjoy your classmates outside of class. I can’t think of a better time in life to lose a bit of sleep to see a prominent CEO speak, network with the wealth of local VC’s, or have a beer with what may end up being some of your best friends.
The test taking process ends up a lot like riding a bike. It comes back without a lot of prompting. Everyone is in it together, from fellow Sloans and the MBA’s to the folks at the Schwab front desk or the Sloan staff. It is amazing to me how we all give and take a little to help one another over the challenges.
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