Tomorrow we begin winter quarter. The first year students are likely breathing a sigh of relief that the first quarter of their MBA career is over and looking forward to a less quantitative quarter. During the upcoming quarter they’ll be consulting with a company from the Seattle business community in their Applied Strategies class, as well as taking a step back from the numbers to spend more time thinking about leadership and strategic thinking in a team setting. Their internship searches will heat up as they interview for highly sought after positions at Amazon, Microsoft and AT&T.
The second year students are likely feeling quite differently, the exact opposite of a sigh of relief actually. I know I’m feeling a hightened level of stress as I face the fact that we only have two quarters left before the MBA experience comes to an end. Many of us have accepted employment offers and know where we’ll be heading after graduation. Our placement numbers are quite impressive even in the challenging economic climate and by talking with fellow classmates, the general outlook seems very optimistic. The stress has more to do with the simple fact that we’re almost done. It’s flown by and although I know I will always be able to pick up the phone and call any one of my classmates, soon our little tight knit group of 104 will be scattered all over the globe.
Perhaps a three year MBA program wouldn’t be so bad.
8:15pm the evening prior to the event, a torrential downpour decided to hit Seattle. I moved to Seattle from San Diego back in August and I can honestly say that it was the hardest rain since my return to the Pacific Northwest. Thus, as I was sipping on a lovely cappuccino inside the warm walls of my favorite coffeehouse, I found myself dreading the cold, wet morning that was inevitably going to follow…
However, when I woke up Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the rain had stopped and it looked like fairly clear skies (from what I could make out at 6:30 am!) for our golfing excursion! The Annual Foster Golf Scramble was held at Washington National Golf Club located in Auburn, WA and is the official Huskies golf course. As the groggy MBA’s started trickling in, the sun emerged and it was an absolutely stunning day for a round of golf. The views on the course were beautiful and the grounds well-manicured, which made for a wonderful experience with my fellow Evening MBA teammates.
