Betsy P

Mod 2, Second Year

Hi all!  I'm back to share my schedule for Mod 2.  We have 1 required course, IBE II (International Business Environments), and I have 3 electives.  Some students are taking 4 electives, but I've completed enough credits that I am in the home stretch, and no longer need any quarters with 5 classes. 

Here's a rundown of my classes:

• International Business Environments II: This course brings global strategy, economics, and marketing together.  I love it - super surprising to me, because I wasn't a huge fan of the first IBE course.  Mostly because I am not as proficient in economics as I'd like:)  We've done cases on Swatch, Intel, and Haagen Dazs; all focusing on different aspects of international business. 
• Price, Value & Profitability: This is the third in the marketing "trilogy" that Professor Homa offers.  I also LOVE this course.  It brings everything we've learned in his first two courses together.  It's a lot of work, but it's fun.  All assignments are cases with a quantitative problem that you must solve using lots of logic and excel.  Once you get final numbers, you have to put the marketing power behind it to come up with strategy and rationale.
• Law for Managers: This was a random pick for me, but I'd heard good things, and since I know that Brand Managers spend a LOT of time trying to be BFF with the legal team, I figured it was a good pick.  It's taught by two actual lawyers, who bring legal lessons to old school movie clips.  For example, our mid-term is to watch a scene in the Godfather, and argue different sides of a contract between Vito Corleone and Virgil Salazzo.
• Marketing of Consumer Products and Services: This is a qualitative, case-based class.  I love the cases we've done so far, and the professor is great about encouraging classmates to share real world experiences in the class.  It's fun to hear how different people used marketing frameworks over the summer in their internship.  I also like the cases, and love writing about my favorite subject: marketing :)

Just by luck of the draw, I only have class on Monday & Wednesday.  Definitely makes for some LOOOOONG Mondays with a night class, but nice to have Tuesday and Thursday free to focus on group work, working in the Admissions office and maybe finally going to the gym once in awhile! It's pretty crazy how quickly those 'no-class' days fill up though... I find I'm at campus from 9AM-6PM pretty much every day of the week, regardless of my schedule. 

Hard to believe finals are just around the corner!

Fall Break!

Yes ... one of the best parts about being a full time student again is FALL BREAK!  After wrapping up finals, I had 10 glorious days off!  Many students take advantage of this time to make some career search progress, get ahead on readings for the next quarter, or to travel.  I did a little bit of all three.  Although I've already narrowed my choices down to a few companies for next year, I did spend the first few days of Fall Break in Cincinnati, OH for my P&G 'sell' weekend.  Since my full time offer is for the Cincinnati office (HQ) it was nice to meet some new employees and to see my team from the summer.  My husband Bobby joined me, and it was great to spend a few days getting to know the city that we could potentially live in! 

After getting back from Ohio, I had a full week off.  Initially a group of classmates and I were discussing a trip to the Dominican Republic, but weren't able to find dates that worked for everyone.  A blessing in disguise, since Hurricane Sandy would have made for a very harrowing trip if we had gone.  I wanted some downtime, but also knew that I'd be a total bum if I sat around DC the whole week, so a few friends planned an East Coast road trip.  We spent a few days in Philly, then made our way down to Baltimore.  One of the best parts about living in DC is how close it is to so many other East Coast cities.  Philly is a 2.5 hr drive, and Baltimore is just a 45 minute train ride away.  We had a great time seeing the sites in both cities - pictures are below! 

 

Matt, myself, Matt in Philly<br>

From the famous Rocky steps - YO ADRIAN!

 

 

Matt feeling a bit crabby in Baltimore

 

Our second quarter just started, so I'll be back next week to fill you all in on my new classes! 

Boardwalk Empire

Continuing on the birthday trend (and because I like to extend my birthday for as many weeks in a row as possible) 20 of my classmates traveled to Atlantic City for the weekend to continue to celebrate my 30th!   We had an AMAZING time - going out and dancing at Dusk, eating at Guapo's Tacos in Revel and gambling a little of course!

 

My husband and I on the boardwalk in Atlantic City!

Definitely something to check off my East-coast bucket list, but also so amazing to have 20 friends from school do it with me!  It was a much-needed break for all of us before we head into finals week.

 

Last week the Marketing Club hosted Kegs, our weekly social gathering in the Commons.  We had a reality TV theme, and hosted a Top Chef competition as well as Jersey Shore 'Hair-off'.  Hilarity ensued, and we had some classmates who looked all too similar to the famous Jersey Shore cast members.

 

The contestants with their Snooki and Pauly D inspired 'do's!

 

Finals start this week - most of my classes have big final projects, so I spent the weekend in paper-writing and presentation-making mode.  I'm heading to Cincinnati this Thursday through Saturday for my P&G re-visit weekend.  It'll be fun to catch up with the other interns from the summer, and to see my boss and team again!  I'll catch you all up once I get back.  Have a wonderful week!

Birthday Celebrations!

Wow - I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last blogged... time flies!  Things are crazy busy around here, especially since I celebrated a birthday last week!  I turned 30 last Friday and somehow convinced 15 of my classmates to come out to dinner at the classiest establishment around... the Olive Garden!  It started as a joke one night over drinks when I brought up how I used to work there, and after finding out that most of my friends had never been to the italian chain, I decided that's what I wanted to do to celebrate the big three oh. 

A few of us, posing in front of the bright lights of the OG

We're also taking a trip this weekend to celebrate - to Atlantic City!  Surprisingly, many of my classmates haven't been there, despite living on the East Coast, so we're heading out for a few nights of fun.

On the school front, I'm finally catching up on all the homework I put off the  first few weeks.  Most of my classes are back loaded so I have lots of big projects to finish in the next couple weeks.   For my Social Tech Marketing class, our group has to put together a digital strategy for social media for Under Armour.  We actually have execs from UA coming to listen to our final presentation!  No pressure.. :)  I'm also working on a self-guided study with 2 other students, and we're finally making some great progress!  We are researching brand value (think Interbrand brand rankings) and have found some really interesting insights. We're working with a fantastic marketing professor here, and it's been fun to work together on something that interests us.  These six week mods are crazy - only 2 more weeks of classes and we're 25% done with our second year! 

Back to School

Hi!  I missed you guys!  So happy to be back blogging for the year after an eventful summer!

I spent the summer working in Baltimore, MD on easy, breezy, beautiful COVERGIRL.   What an amazing experience!  Getting back to the working world was not as nervewracking as I thought, especially since I worked on a great team and an amazing brand! 

After I finished my internship in early August, I made the most of my 4 weeks off before school started.  I spent a week in Minnesota hanging out with family and friends - got to see my 7 month old niece who melts my heart she's so adorable.  From there I spent a weekend in Miami with a few classmates - definitely got caught by the hurricane, but we made the best of it and had a great time.  After that, we headed to Martha's Vineyard to spend a few days with one of my classmates' family.  SUCH a generous offer, and such a wonderful way to spend a few days.  We had relaxing weather, and ocean view, and amazing people around - can't complain:)  

Since getting back to MSB, things have been non-stop!!  We welcomed the first years excitedly, and have been running around getting them ready for the National Career Fairs that kick off next week.  Between Marketing Club, working in Admissions, being a Graduate Assistant for a marketing prof and a self-guided tutorial with classmates, there has been little time to relax (oh, and possibly do some homework?? :)  )  It should calm down in a bit here, and then the real 2nd year will begin!  Can't wait to keep you all up to date as the year continues! 

Weekend fun!

This last weekend was BUSY.  I was typing out my Thurs-Sun schedule in an email (to show a prospective student what the social scene was like) and I literally wrote her a novel!  We kicked it off with a GMA (Graduate Marketing Association) sponsered KEGS luau on Thursday night.  The event was amazing!  We had tons of fun props, a limbo contest, and gorgeous weather out on our commons patio.  Such a fun, successful event! 

Second place finisher, Nick Green!

 

GMA members Maureen and Brian enjoying the luau!

Afterwards we headed over to one of our member's rooftops for a 2nd Year Send-off BBQ to thank all the 2nd years who will soon be graduating and leaving us.  I got to live out my not-so-secret dream of being a camp counselor and cooked and baked for the event.  The highlight were these delicious Grand Marnier cupcakes (made in honor of my friend, Audrey, who will be interning on the Grand Marnier team at Moet Hennessy this summer!)

Thursday also included a stop at Muzette for kareoke - SO much fun.  I will perserve the reputations of my classmates by NOT posting the videos I have of them singing Miley Cyrus, but let me just say... it was a great time:)

Friday flew by with lunch with one of my Marketing professors to talk about the new Marketing curriculum, a Market Research Group meeting to work on a project, and a joint birthday party for 5 of my classmates at Brass Monkey.

Saturday I spent the morning volunteering with classmates for the DC Servathon, a DC/MD/VA annual event that rallies over 8,000 volunteers to commit to a day of service.  We worked at the Woodlawn Cemetary, helping to turn it into a park/public space.  The work was definitely a little physical for my whiny self, but it was beautiful out so I didn't mind too much!  A few of the board members came out to chat with us, explain the signifigance of the cemetary and even grilled us lunch afterwards!  Definitely fun to hang out with my classmates and do something in the community.

My husband, Bobby, and I

Please note who is actually doing the work and who has the tough job of holding the bag open...

Group shot in front of our hard work!

After our long day, I spent the afternoon with my Global Marketing group working on a presentation, then stayed in to hang out with my husband and catch up on some homework.  Sunday, the Wine Society (which I am the VP of Events for) rented a 57 passenger bus to take a bunch of students on a wine tour in VA.  What I love about the wine tour is that significant others can join, so my husband is an official member, and he can come to all the events!  Despite the rain, we had a wonderful time wine tasting and will definitely be making this a bi-annual event! 

Three Fox Vineyard

To cap the weekend off, I went to dinner with my husband and a few friends at Vapiano, an amazing Italian place a few blocks away from our apartment.

PHEW!  Told you it was a busy weekend!  Seeing as I'm about to head to KEGS (it's a BBQ cook-off theme) it's about to start all over again!  Have a good one!

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful

Hi all!  What a crazy, busy weekend.  We hosted 80 admitted students and 20 significant others on Friday and Saturday.  Since I work in the Admissions office, I went to almost all of the events.  Overall, it was a great time!  I think the admitted students learned a lot, but also had a little fun too. 

I loved getting to meet many of the admitted students - it really doesn't ever feel like work sharing my experience here at Georgetown.  I definitely remembered being in those shoes last year.  Making decisions was hard, and I only applied to 2 schools!  Some people I talked to were still deciding between 3 or 4 different schools.  It was great to share what a fabulous year I've had so far, and hopefully it made an impact on some of the admitted students.

Being busy from 8-7 on Friday and Saturday made for a busy Sunday - so many group projects and papers to do in the next few weeks.  Electives mean we get to choose our own groups - which is awesome, but now means I have 6 different groups this mod.  Just trying to find time to meet is a challenge, much less actually getting the work done!  I just can't believe that we are mere weeks away from finishing this mod, and heading off to actually work. 

Speaking of work, I found out last week which brand I'm working on!  (Hint - look at the title of htis post)  I signed with P&G back in January, but didn't have a clue which brand I'd be assigned to.  Slightly different than what I was expecting, but I'm so excited that I'm heading to Baltimore, MD to work on Cover Girl!  I was expecting Cininnati, OH since most of P&G's brands reside there, so it was a nice surprise to hear that I'd been assigned to Cover Girl!  Such a great brand, and location-wise works well for me, as my husband will be staying in DC for the summer. I'm a little nervous to be thrown back in the working world, but so excited to get started!

 

Time flies

How in the world is it Mod 4 already???  Although I am excited to get back to a paycheck at some point, I am not ready for us to almost be done with the first year.  If only MBA programs were like Med school - 4 years!

This mod I'm taking 2 core classes and 3 electives.  It's so fun to start taking electives!  I'm continuing to be obsessed with Marketing, so all my electives are marketing focused.  Here's what my schedule looks like:

Mon/Wed:

• 11:00-12:15 - Market Research
• 3:30-4:45 - Leadership and Business Ethics (core)
• 5:00-6:15 - Global Marketing

Tues/Thurs:

• 11:00-12:15 - Advanced Marketing Strategy
• 2:00-3:15 - International Business Environment

That may seem like a pretty easy schedule, but when you work in 5 hours a week in the Admissions Office, group meetings (I have a different group for each of my 5 classes!) and some crazy amounts of reading, this mod has already been ridiculously busy.  Not to mention, we had our Spring Formal (aka PROM) on Saturday night!  So fun.  Seriously, come back to business school for the Prom alone. 

So far, my favorite is my Advanced Marketing Stratgey course.  The  class is very fast-paced, challenging, and lots of work, but I love it.  My group is just as crazy and competitive as me, so we spend far too much time nerding out on the cases and power point pitches we have to prepare.  Our first case was putting together a marketing plan for Dewey the Cat, a book about a small town library cat.  I now know more than anyone should know about Dewey than I ever thought possible. 

I'll be back next week to blog about Prom!  Happy Easter to everyone!

This is the true story...

Not going to lie... one of the best parts of going back to school is Spring Break!  Even more fun when you go to a school filled with students from all over the world.  A few months ago, a few of my classmates and I were scheming about Spring Break and my lovely Colombian friend, Diana, tossed out Cartagena, Colombia as an idea.  She probably didn't fully understand what she was getting herself into as a tour guide for the 20 of us that went, but she was such an amazing and gratious hostess.  Diana found a house in Cartagena that ended up being amazing.  I'm talking Real World house style.  It was HUGE, with an open air atrium and pool in the middle. 

We had an amazing Colombian staff that cooked 2 meals a day for us - most of the traditional Colombian food we ate was some version of fried cheesy dough (i.e. my favorite food groups), and lots of fresh fish and vegetables.  So delicious!

We spent the days at different local beaches, cruising around the historic town center, and lounging around the house.  Every night we'd sit down to a family dinner, then spend a few hours playing cards or board games (SUPER competitive games of apples to apples and catch phrase).  Every night Diana would find a local salsa club for us all to go pretend we knew what we were doing on the dance floor. 

The last two days of the trip we went back to Bogota, where Diana is from.  This was extra special since it was her birthday the last day we were there.  Her lovely and generous parents took all 20 of us out to lunch at their country club, and then we had dinner, drinks, and LOTS of dancing at Andres Carne de Res which was just fabulous.  Let's put it this way - I was on the 'early' bus home at 330AM.  It's a small miracle that all 21 members of our posse made the 930AM flight:) The pic below is just one of the many crazy dance floors they had!

The trip was honestly one of the best trips I've ever taken.  With a group that big, it was still so laid back and relaxing.  I loved getting to know a few of my classmates better, especially getting to share Diana's hometown and culture!  Now, it's on to a new Mod!  In my next (clearly VERY exciting post) I'll fill you in on my Mod 4 classes.  Almost as exciting as a vacation to Colombia:)

Colder Weather

Things are just lovely around here!  Despite the fact that finals are looming in the no-so-far-away distance, and we've all been slammed with group projects, there is just too much fun stuff going on to get in the way.  I am trying to have more balance this Mod, and remember that I came to a business school for more than just classes - I came to enjoy these 2 years as well!  I've been doing a much better job lately of finding time to work out, hang out with friends, and do some of the many activities that Georgetown and DC have to offer.  Starting with my foray into colder weather...

The MSB Sports Club organized a day ski trip to Massanutten, a ski resort about 2.5 hours away from DC.  Although I don't know how to ski, I immediately got excited about the prospect of a weekend away filled with snow, hot chocolate, and a few of my classmates.  I found a condo close to the resort, rallied a few friends, and 10 of us made the trip down on Friday night (I'm the blonde in the jean jacket in the photo below - and no, I didn't ski in a jean jacket, I just cruised over for lunch!)

It ended up being SO much fun for many reasons.  First, it was just so nice to get away for a weekend.  Although I did bring my Management Science book (and got made fun of for it!) it was nice to be removed from school and even my desk in my apartment.  Second, it was a great chance to bond with some new people.  Another Student Recruiter, Bobby J and I work together a few days a week.  Between the two of us, we pieced together 10 classmates, and it was an awesome bunch of people.  The best part of it all was that with no bars and no restaurants, we holed up both nights for homecooked food, board games, cards, and just randon silliness, aka the pillow fight scene pictured below...

Beyond the crazy pillow fight action you're seeing above, a few other favorite moments involved a spontaneous Whitney Houston dancing/singing tribute and a good hour or so when everyone got back from skiing on Saturday, zoned out in front of the movie Titanic, and all the boys proved that they had most of the lines memorized.

The best part was that I feel like I got to know the people more in those 2 days than I have in the last few months!  And - since I'm secretly a mom/camp couselor/short order cook in my dream world, I LOVED getting to plan, shop, and cook for 10 people all weekend.  I feel like it was definitely a reminder to get out and plan stuff beyond just school and clubs.  It should be a balance, and it should be fun!!  We only get to do this for 2 years before it's back to the real world, so I'm trying to live it up a little:)  Definitely advice I'd give to anyone going back to business school.

This weekend I'm heading to another cold weather location, Minnesota!  My little brother had a baby on New Year's Eve, and my cousin had her first on January 21, so I'm heading home to spend some time with the newest members of my family.  Of course, I'll squeeze in some time with the rest of my family, and an evening of wine and gossip with the sassy 7 (my 6 best friends from high school - totally aware how 7th grade this name is but we don't care!)  The fun thing about being away at school is that everytime I'm home, it's an occaison and everyone gets together.

Hope everyone has a great week!  Til next time!