Tuesday December 7th was the last day of class. As I look back on this semester, I realize how quickly time flies. I cannot believe that technically 25% of my MBA is now almost complete. I am starting to understand the MBA2s that say that 2 years is a really short time, and that we must maximize every moment. I feel like I just arrived here, yet as I look back a lot has happened in this short period of time. Here are my top 5 lessons:
- I now feel more comfortable reading financial statements.
The first time that I took financial accounting and reporting in my undergrad, I didn’t know what was going on. I just did the mechanics of the class, not really understanding why and what I was doing. However, after working a couple of years, I can now see the light! While I will never be a pro at Statistics or Firms & Markets (microeconomics), classes are taught in a way that make you understand where they might be applicable to the working world – and that is invaluable.
- I know what I don’t want to do with my life – for the moment.
A huge theme that was mentioned during Launch (our introduction to Stern) was “Exploring”. Part of this journey is about embracing the unexpected, connecting and talking with people in ‘random’ fields. But most importantly pushing and questioning yourself, past your usual boundaries. This is obviously not comfortable, and I feel like I have been on a rollercoaster for the past three months. However now, I have some potential careers crossed off my list, I have some that I have added onto my list, and I am curious to see what I will learn next semester.
- It gets really busy.
When we started the semester, all the MBA2s kept advising us to enjoy the moment, and not to overcommit to too many things, as we would get really busy. Of course, we didn’t know what they meant by ‘busy’. Starting October, we were all suddenly overwhelmed with midterms, corporate presentations, coffee chats, prep sessions – the works. I have always thrived in chaos, but even I had moments where I felt truly overwhelmed. I think that we grow as much from the actual classes, as from the daily decisions that we need to make when it comes to managing our time and commitments.
- Take a deep breath.
In all this ‘madness’, it is still very important to take time for ourselves. There were always more corporate presentations, classes, meetings, and happy hours to go to. However, I think that I learnt how to make the difference between what I needed to get done, and what I wanted to do. I learnt the value of taking a ‘mental health day’ as my friend puts it, and do nothing work/school related even though I did have more coffee chats to schedule, more thank you notes and emails to send.
- We are family.
Throughout all of this, I have understood why Sternies call themselves family. High stress times are usually times where the strongest bonds are either made or broken. As Sternies, we have forged friendships in this last semester that will last us a lifetime. The MBA2s have been super supportive, helping us and guiding us as we maneuver this new unknown. I was privileged to attend the wedding of one of my newest friends, and I felt like I had known her my whole life. If so much can happen in a semester, how much more can we accomplish in 2 years? I cannot wait to see what will happen next year.
Happy Holidays!
Michaella