Thursday, July 13, 2006

Grumblings

I've started to hear complaints from second years who are beginning to feel like second-class citizens at SOM. The faculty, some claim, have been less-than-responsive to certain requests. And the fact that we have yet to be given a list of electives for the fall when students at other business schools have already enrolled in classes has contributed to the growing alarm. Me, I'm not worried. Not yet, anyway. But I can see how the school's desire to ensure the successful implementation of a new core curriculum could result in the Class of 2007 receiving little attention. I assume this situation is temporary. I guess we'll see.

Monday, July 10, 2006

My Mid-Summer Review And More

At my company, employees go through two performance assessments in a year, one in the middle and another at the end. The mid-year review is given so that there are “no surprises” when the final review takes place. The company requires its interns to go through a similar process, but instead of two reviews over twelve months, we have two over twelve weeks. It’s difficult. After a mere six weeks on the job, it’s hard to measure how effectively one has “driven results” and “leveraged relationships.” Still, the assessment is somehow made. During my review, which took place last week, my manager said that he was “very pleased with how things were going.” We went over my accomplishments, discussed my deliverables, and talked about development. The whole thing lasted about an hour. Overall, I walked away feeling very positive; but I didn’t feel any closer to an offer. Other interns had a similar experience. I guess they plan on keeping us in the dark until the very end.

In other news, I just got over a cold that kept me in bed for most of the weekend, not that I would have gone out anyway. The novelty of living in a city again seems to have worn off a bit. All I want to do in my free time now is enjoy the peace and quiet of my tiny sublet. Watch a few Family Guy episodes on DVD. Relax.

I’m due to bid for electives soon, though we have yet to receive a schedule of classes for the fall. It seems that the school is a bit preoccupied at the moment with its new curriculum and the class of 2008. Not that it matters much. I already have a pretty good idea of what I want to take. Some marketing classes, a law class, and maybe a language class. I’m thinking about Chinese, though I suspect that it would be extremely time-consuming and difficult to learn.

Okay, enough writing. Time for bed.