Welcome to Miami!

This past weekend, I left the world of cold weather, classes and homework...and entered a world of warm weather, luxury cars, celebrities...otherwise known as Miami! 

I left Thursday afternoon for a long weekend to relax and get some sun. We stayed at the amazing Fountaine Bleu resort-highly recommend-and basically never left the resort. The restaurants were absolutely amazing, the resort was gorgeous, the beaches (a 2 minute walk through the pools) were breath-taking and the rooms were large and luxurious! We had 2 days of beautiful weather, 80s and sunny, and one day where it was a little cold/windy. We took full advantage of the roof top pools and the pristine beaches on the sunny days, and then shopped a bit outside the resort on the last day.

It was a great mini vacation...just enough to relax for a few days, but not get completely out of school mode! Now the next vacation to look forward to is our SPRING BREAK CRUISE...

32 days and counting!



INTERNSHIPS!

Well it’s the end of January...aand I'm not too much further along in my internship search then I was 3 months ago. My goal over Christmas break was to apply for a ton of positions, interview in January/February and secure an Internship by March. Christmas break ended up being a little busier than I thought, so needless to say I didn’t apply to as many positions as I had hoped.

So now, here I am at the end of January fully submerged into classes/projects/meetings and added on top is the heavy weight of finding an internship. My dream internship would be to work under and Brand Manager in a consumer product market. Those positions are pretty hard to come by, and they are all over the US...California, NY, Maryland, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Texas...and that’s just a start.

So how do I start?!

Our Career Resources class is dedicated to keeping us on track for our search as well as teaching us interview, job searching and networking tips. We had a class last semester called the 2 Hour Job Search. This method was developed by a career coach at Duke to make a list of companies and match it with your alumni network, desire to work at the company as well as the timing priority. This has been a great tool for me in my search. It puts things into perspective, and forces me to go one step at a time. I have to step back and think...it’s only January, I really have until April to secure a summer internship. It would be amazing to have  one figured out so it would be one less thing to worry about like a few of my classmates, but I want to make sure I get the right internship to jump start my career in the Marketing field.

I’ve started applying to different companies so now I’m just waiting to hear back!

Week 2 Down!

After 2 weeks of class, I can already tell this semester is going to be insanely hectic! Going with the motto Work Hard, Play Hard, we have a lot of fun things planned in between the madness: a long weekend in Miami, Spring Break CRUISE to the Bahamas, a few beach trips and Beach Music Festival just to name a few!

We have 5 pretty intense classes this semester: Management of Technology, Managerial Finance, Marketing, Product & Brand Management and Operations & Supply Chain. It’s similar to first semester in that most of the classes and times are set for us. We do have one elective to start our individual concentrations and since my concentration is Marketing, I picked Product & Brand Management. My ultimate goal is to be a Brand Manager for a luxury or consumer product company, so I’m really excited for this class. We have to build a marketing plan in this class, so I’m excited to start working on that.

So far, Marketing is probably my favorite class. Now I say that before we’ve really had many assignments to turn in, but I’ve really enjoyed the class discussions and material we’ve gone over. I’m actually getting ready to start our first assignment...shows I actually took my own advice to get work done on Fridays!

The big new thing this semester is CASE STUDIES. We have a lot of them. As in roughly 25...mainly in Marketing and Brand Management, so that in itself will keep me super busy. Then there’s Finance. Not my favorite class in undergrad, so I’m hoping this time around it’ll be a little better! So far I really like our professor, and she really seems to want us to learn and understand the material. The basis of our Technology class is a HUGE project where we start with a raw technology and come up with a business plan to develop it into an actual product. Finally we have Supply Chain. I have a feeling I’ll have to work a little harder in this class because I’m way more of a creative person, then analytical/see how something works kinda person. But that’s what business school is about-pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone and broadening your horizons to make yourself more well rounded and successful in the business world!

First Semester Recap

Looking back over first semester, there are plenty of things I learned but some stuck out more than others. It was a huge change in my life, and there are a few things I wish I had known going into the program...but I quickly figured them out.

So for future First Year MBA Students, here is my Top 10 List!

1.       Do not procrastinate! Time Management is absolutely KEY!

2.       Talk to the 2nd years. They will give you valuable advice, not to mention old tests!

3.       Go to social events...even if you can only go for an hour or so. It will make your class grow closer, and expand your network!

4.       Working well and getting to know your team can make your life a lot easier

5.       Read chapters BEFORE class and skim the material again AFTER class. Utilize your team/class mates for points you may have missed during class.

6.       Use the “day off” on Friday to get school work done, you’ll appreciate it later.

7.       Networking. Networking. Networking. It’s NEVER too early to start networking.

8.       Get your resume done EARLY in the semester when you have some extra time. Then you can apply for jobs throughout the semester as they are posted!

9.       Do NOT Stress Out! It will only make the workload seem worse than it is. Take everything one step at a time, and it will be WAY more manageable.

10.   Have Fun...two years flies by faster than you think!



Second Semester...

Break is over. 4 weeks of vacation went by WAY too fast!

Now it's back to the grind...the start of second semester!

Today we started with Technology & Innovation and Finance.

Tomorrow we have Marketing, Product & Brand Management and Supply Chain.

Starting class today was completely different from last semester. Everyone knows each other, we have certain sections of the room where we typically sit, and we know a little bit more of what to expect. Our group is already close, and we know each other's strengths and weaknesses so its less of a learning curve.

Some classes scare me a little more (Finance/Supply Chain) than others, but all in all I'm hoping for a great semester.