Wrapping Up My First Semester

Happy Holidays! We are nearing the end of our first semester of the Olin MBA program and what a whirlwind it has been. I wish I could give you a quick “day in the life” of an Olin MBA but that would be impossible since every day is very different from the last. But, in an effort to shed some light on what it is like to be at Olin, here’s a recap of a few days this week.

Up bright and early for an 8am marketing class in which we had a guest speaker, who spoke about social media and the role it can play in B2B and B2C companies. Follow that with a Finance class on finishing up our discussion of Options and moving on to managing risk.

Then, I’m off to a meeting with the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club to discuss upcoming events including a trip to San Francisco for a trek from Silicon Valley up to Napa to visit different companies and alumni and maybe have some fun along the way. We also reviewed our December event with Maxine Clark, CEO of Build-A-Bear and our February Alternative Career Symposium.

At noon, it’s on to our Real Estate Finance Lunch and Learn session with Dr. Gordonier. Because we are still in core classes right now and have not had a chance to delve into many specifics, our Real Estate Club planned a fun and informative lunch to introduce our peers to the basics of real estate finance. Then, quick team meeting and run home to get some work done before returning to school for a 5:30 Finance review session.

Sounds tiring when you recap it! Thursday was even better though as we had our legendary Beer Game event for our Operations class! Sadly, no beer was served until the game was over, but we quickly learned how difficult it is to predict demand even in a simple supply chain.

Hope this gave you an insight into what a “normal” day (or two) is for an MBA student at Olin!

Leigh Hunt, Forté Fellow
MBA 2013, Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis