India - the journey officially begins

The journey begins long before stepping foot into the airport. Today we began our preparation for our trip to India. While there are only fifteen students in the class, it is evident that we each have unique experience and interests which guarantees a access to a broad base of knowledge.

There are a number of class deliverables, all of which I'm looking forward to. The basic idea is to become an expert in an industry which operates in India so that when we visit, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the nuances to conducting business overseas.

We began by looking at Indian culture - or as our professor pointed out, generalizations as our learning experience is based on research, thus is subject to many exceptions. Prior to class, we watched a film called 'Outsourced' in which an American moves to India after his entire department is, you guessed it, outsourced. He encounters many challenges in adapting to his surroundings which led to much class discussion.

I am beyond excited about this trip and learning experience!

Cover Letter Craziness

Today, I literally spent hours writing one cover letter.

Never in my life did I think it would take *that* long. There is something about applying for an opportunity that I'm excited about that turns me into a proof-reading maniac. In the end, I'm not sure that a letter can truly highlight my skills, abilities and experiences in a way that also allows my personality to shine through.

Regardless of my struggles with writing cover letters, I'm happy to report that I've seen many GREAT opportunities on the job board. FINGERS CROSSED!!

Jet setting

Today a lucky few of my classmates are finding out where they are going next year on exchange. It's funny - when I applied to Rotman, I was SURE that I was going to apply for an exchange, but as I started to look at the options, all of which were impressive, and I compared to the classes offered at home, I just couldn't give up the opportunity to take some of the stellar electives that are offered in second year. Instead, I am going on at least one study tour to India. I am thrilled to be starting India classes this week.

A wolf in sheep's clothing

Apparently our finance case was more complex that I'd originally thought. While it boiled down to a simple yes/no question, is NPV > 0, we got messed up dealing with 'real' versus 'nominal' costs (were the projections adjusted to include inflation or not)? We ended up getting the correct answer in that NPV was greater than zero, but not every assumption was correct.


Lesson learned - if it seems easy, you're being tricked.

Nothing in the MBA is easy. I literally now think twice before I answer any question, including Name: __________________

Guess who just contributed to the GDP?

Yup, I bought fries from Swiss Chalet for dinner. Delicious, crispy fries i.e. potatoes grown in PEI.

GDP, what wouldn't I do for you?

On another note - I read in the paper today that StatsCan is releasing two reports this Friday: November gross domestic product and December industrial product and raw materials price report. By then, we should be able to understand these as our first Macro quiz is on Friday. Time to start making flash cards!

What can't technology do?

Using technology helps to put knowledge into action. For the second time this quarter, we used online simulation software - and it was AWESOME!

The premise was simple:
Two teams, Intel and Microsoft must make two Decisions: Release a new processor/operating system? What is the price?
Decisions are made simultaneously and the idea is to maximize profit (obviously).

As the uber nerd that I am, I went ahead and and created a decision tree, trying to decide whether it would be in the best interest of my team, Intel to release a new processor. After much back and forth, we got the hang of it and eventually realized decent profits.

As someone famous once said, business isn't fun, but that doesn't mean there can't be fun in business. These simulations are a good example of this phenomenon. Classes aren't (usually) fun, but that doesn't mean that there can't be fun in class.

Doesn't that screen grab make you wisht that you could 'play'? Don't tell anyone, I secretly can't wait to try the program again so that I can try something different to see if I can make even more faux dough.

Self Reflection

Self reflection is harder than you might think! I have officially been working on this negotiations essay for the past two weeks and I'm thankfully nearly happy with it.

I'm now in the home stretch(which is good because it's 5:30 am and the essay is due before I leave for school this morning around 8ish. Please don't think I've pulled an all-nighter on this thing! I actually like waking up early to do the final run through on big projects, and at 70% of my negotiations mark, this one's a doozy!