Fifteen

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. So spans the range of sentiments towards the Core from the first-year population, depending on the whirlwind week you ask the question. The Core has been variously dubbed academic hazing, Hurricane Core, or the Core Reaper.

Some things can only be learned by personally experiencing the pain. All the warnings in the world from our oh-so-wise second-year pilots could not have kept us from falling into newbie traps such as signing up for ten clubs, stressing over OP readings after BHP, or attending five company presentations for both consulting and banking in one week. During other pockets of time, we revel in the company of our new friends and that extra buzz you feel at a C-function after running a week on no sleep. Here are the top seven points of reflection, both good and bad, gathered from a most un-random sample set of first-years.

1. The Core is the equivalent of time management boot camp. The academic committee has done a fine job putting together an obstacle course featuring explosive surges of problem sets, case studies, group projects, and interactive presentations… the list is endless. The secret plan is really to kill the perfectionist in us all. The new motto is: Good enough is the new perfect.

2. Participation grades: a real incentive alignment problem. In case you haven’t noticed – Sloan 09’s take this valuation very seriously.  Not only did we witness sentiments of injustice and outrage when classmates received their “4/10” participation scores in accounting, but hands would not stop shooting up in Accounting class. It was as if we were trying to tell the TA’s, “We’ll show you a 4/10.” 

3. Study rooms, schmudy rooms. They don’t exist. Even if you can grab one, most likely the markers won’t work, the monitor’s missing the cable, or it’s 102 degrees in the room.  If you’re really unlucky it’s all of the above. Let’s not even get started on the number of broken chair incidents in several different classrooms (last count: 8 and rising).

4. A beer is always around the corner. Literally. Just when we feel like we’re drowning in a sea of work, there’s a C-function at Walker Memorial to save the week and turn the tide. Subsidized drinking has never felt so good.

5. There’s something for everyone. Whether you’re an aspiring banker, soccer fan, entrepreneur, or wine and food enthusiast, there is an active club or group with an on-going list of activities. The only problem is choosing how to spend your time.  However, there are worse problems to have.

6. Exposure to diversity through core teams and travel. Of course, what would business school be without the experience of working in carefully crafted teams optimized for diversity. This is further enhanced by the endless opportunities we look forward to to participate in treks, travel, and G-labs.     

7. Support from the 2^nd years. Even if we don’t listen all the time, we do appreciate the effort put forth by second years to impart their wisdom. Most notably – the Google opportunities session (yes, we all want to work there), SIP bidding strategy course, and ad-hoc midterm review sessions.

All’s well so far, but we’ve only seen the half of it.  I don’t think any of us have a clue as to what lies ahead. But here’s one prediction that we’ll leave you with:

Core Team Explosions. So far, group members are nice, polite and cordial to each other, and the feedback is most positive during Communications labs. That’s all hunky-dory, but we predict meltdowns in the near future. Once recruiting kicks into high gear, OP deadlines draw close, and final exams loom in the horizon, it is inevitable that tensions will rise, true personalities will come out and juicy gossip will start circulating the masses.

Until then, we wish everyone the best of luck. Hang on tight, because the ride is just picking up speed.

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