Georgetown MBA Blog: Andrew

MBA Done!!!

On Friday, May 16, 2008... I officially graduated from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. After two challenging, exciting, fun, and rewarding years, I now have my MBA, and I am now headed back out into the "real world".

The graduation ceremony & reception on Friday was really nice... but also bittersweet. My classmates and I definitely felt a sense of pride and accomplishment (as did the many family members who were in attendance)... but at the same time there seemed to be a tinge of sadness at the fact that our collective time at MSB was officially at a close...

But of course I'd much rather dwell on the positives! The commencement speaker was good (even if he did work for a rival firm of Citi), the free champagne and food was tasty, and it was a real kick to meet everyones families! Plus, in a shocking upset, I was one of three students in our class to receive an award at the reception (along with my good friends Eli & Jenny). This was definitely an honor, as it was something that our graduation class voted on.

In any case, here's the photos that I know all of my many (dozens?) of readers are really waiting for. First is the 3 award winners (me, Jenny, Eli). Second is the 2 smartest people in the class according to that silly GMAT exam (me, Rosa). Third is the 2 people who helped me out the most to get here (mom & dad).

Waiting for graduation...

Day 12 of my post Georgetown MBA life:
Didn't shave for the 12th straight day. Thought about leaving the apartment, but haven't gotten the energy yet. Yes, I'm officially a slacker now!

Since my last exam (April 25), I've alternately done a ton... and absolutely nothing. One day I left my apartment only to see Harold & Kumar 2. Another day I ventured out only to go to Physical Therapy (up to the bike & incline leg press). Needless to say, I've caught up on reading (non-business books), DVDs, and sleep. Ah, glorious sleep.

But as to be expected, there have been several post-MBA days of utter and total craziness. There was the evening when 6 classmates took on 4 of our faculty in a bowling match (our prize from the Non-Profit Internship Auction in 2007). To be blunt, Professors Pinkowitz, Ramnath, Macher & Homa utterly destroyed us. I did my best as the #1 seed, even topping Pinkowitz 1x in 3 games, but to no avail. That evening also featured an unexpected trip to the twilight zone that is "Virginia". Let's just say that this mysterious land is slightly different than the Georgetown campus... and that IHOP at 3am is *always* an adventure.

Oh, and there was the trip this past weekend to Las Vegas with 11 of my classmates. But as we all know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas (especially if you put your MBA education to good use and redistribute some of the wealth from the casinos!)

No more final exams... ever...

At 3:01pm yesterday, I started my summer vacation. Good times, good times. My last exam here in the Georgetown MBA progam - for my class on "Defending the Bottom Line" - went from 1-3pm. Afterwards, about 75 of us from our graduating class went on a tour of the new MSB building (still heavily under construction) with Dean Daly... and we all felt a weird combination of excitement, nostalgia, sadness, and everything else. Sigh.

But then last night everyone went out and had some fun. First was a going-away party for Jenny (our esteemed President of Student Government) in Clarendon; next was a Ukranian perogi party hosted by Vika and the Deepaks (good cooking, good hosting, hope not to much of a mess!) in Rosslyn; and finally was a new movie called "The Forbidden Kingdom" (with my own personal Chinese translator - thanks Elaine!) in Georgetown. Phew.

Up next... well... still not sure. Graduation is in 20 days, and work at Citi is in 93 days... so I've got a bit of time. Definitely going to New York & Philadelphia to visit friends, probably a trip to Vegas, back to Boston at some point of course, maybe a drive cross-country... we'll see. Right now, I'm about to do some physical therapy exercises for my knee, then go to our Cohort 1 reunion party. Clearly all the cool people will be there!

Below are a few photos from our end of the year BBQ and party. This was actually on Thursday, since that's when the 1st-year class was done with exams. But no worries, the BBQ, the pre-party (thanks Val!), the actual bash (good job by SABA at Paper Moon), and the after-party (Rahul represented at Prince Cafe) were all still a ton of fun.

Photos: 1) Me & Jenny Lee (the rulers of the MSB universe??);  2) Me & Vika & Jason (the best Ukranian & best Mormon in MSB);  3) Me & Thanh (the best peer advisor in MSB!). 

So... it's over???

Last Thursday morning, I had the last class of my Georgetown MBA career.  Wow, just wow.  At about 11:30am (or rather, 11:38am, since this was a Homa class, and he *always* runs over), I walked out of Car Barn classroom 203, finished with my business school education. Time zipped by.

Now, of course, it's time for my final set of final exams.  I just finished the exam for Models of Profitability (with 90 minutes to spare in a 180 minute block... pretty good). And now I'm getting ready for my presentation in Mergers & Acquisitions and my final in Investment Analysis (both tomorrow). Not too worried though... I'm in the REAL homestretch now.

But enough about my studying habits for right now. I'd much rather talk about this past weekend... tremendous time. I had two friends visiting from Cambridge (Wally & Mike), and we were able to go out and explore the city in the nice sunny 84 degree weather. Went to the Georgetown Waterfront, walked the National Mall, explored the new Newseum, saw a Common concert, visited a few local watering holes, etc.

And actually, last Thursday was just as excellent of a time for me and my soon-to-be graduating friends. After class, 12 of us had a celebratory lunch at the Tombs. In the afternoon, 50 of us went to a wine & cheese event with the Dean and our first-year faculty. In the evening, 200+ of us spent a couple of hours enjoying drinks on the roof of the Car Barn. And at night, a ton of us went to Rhino for Faculty Bartending night (where I got behind the bar for the 3rd time, thanks to my Student Government connections). It was a late night, and my knee was sore the next day, but it was worth it!

Here are a few photos of last Thursday: 1) Me with 8 friends on the rooftop;  2) Me with Reshma, Laura, and Eli from Cohort 1 last year;  3) Me with Chris, Amar, and Shundil from The Globe.

Everything at once...

Well, it happened again. Just when you think everything is going along nice and quietly and smoothly during the Mod... boom... and 10 things happen at once as you come to the end of the quarter. But such is life here in the Georgetown MBA program, with our 6-7 week-long class schedule. So this weekend has been a rush of activity...

On the class side, there's a paper due for Investment Analysis that everyone is scrambling to research. My friend Matt and I have an interesting topic (NASCAR and market returns of sponsors), and now need to put everything together. Plus, there's the final project ever due for a class for Professor Homa. My group of Eli, Jason & Ryan struggled to be motivated for ideas on Friday... which means we'll have to bear down on Monday to get this done.

On the fun side, every night for the past week has been pretty much filled to the brim with activity. Thursday night was the presentation of the Annual Report - a feature length film put together by our classmates, and shown in a movie theater rented out in Virginia. My buddy Amar put in countless hours filming and editing a ton of skits... and it came out great live!

Friday night was the Spring Formal - the last of four that I'll have attended here in the MBA program. As usual, our female classmates looked stunning. And despite my knee (still in a full-leg brace, but feeling better!) I was able to do something that resembled dancing. Here are photos of my with my good friends Rosa and Dominic.

And Saturday night was Diversity Day - a food & music driven evening where students can show off their culture to their classmates.  I was part of the Europe table (thanks to my dual-citizenship with Ireland)... and there were dozens of tables for countries and regions around the world. Plus, there was a fashion show that made the crowd (of several hundred!) go wild. Here are photos with my European contingent (Jerome & Roya) and the Girls Club representatives (Christian & Nive).

Up next is my final week of class ever... followed by a visit from two friends from Boston... and then my final exam period ever. Hoping for good luck!