First Impression of B-School

My name is Erin Nusbaum Rehm. I am a 28 year old Emory Eagle with nearly six years of Corporate Finance experience under my belt.

Erin Nusbaum Rehm
Forté Fellow

I am also a Vanderbilt Commodore with a BA in Economics. I decided to enroll in the One Year Program at Emory’s Goizueta Business School because of the world-class education offered and because of the passion that radiates from every alum, faculty member, current student, GBS administrator and heck, even the custodian. I wanted to be part of that community and share that passion. Everything had led me to this moment – this exhausted, sleep-deprived, enriched, enthused moment.

What I didn’t anticipate was how excited I would be for each class, how I actually don’t mind the Socratic method, or how professors will lovingly grill you until you reach an acceptable answer. How incredibly gifted all my classmates are in their fields. How much I can learn from the people sitting next to me. How lucky I am to be here.

Sure the team meetings run long, the readings never end and the need for eight hours of sleep is a distant past, but once I took a step back and looked at this semester as a whole for a moment, it dawned on me:  the classes are all related to one another, each lecture is built upon the last, and very similar overarching lessons are being taught through several different lenses. It is all connected! For example, I think we have discussed different strategy choices of companies in at least four different classes. In undergrad, as wonderful as it was, each class I took was discrete and singularly-focused. At Goizueta, it all weaves together in a magical way.

All this talk about Academics would make one believe that all we do is work. Well, my friends, that simply is not true. One of our class’s new favorite pastimes is the weekly KEGS (Keeping Everyone at Goizueta Social) event in the Business School courtyard.  As one can easily predict, there are kegs of beer involved. It is a fantastic way to wind down at the end of the week and soak up some of that Vitamin D we are all so lacking. So far, my only regret about not enrolling in a two-year program is the fact that I will only be spending one year with these incredible people I met less than 6 months ago.

Erin Nusbaum Rehm
Forté Fellow and MBA Candidate 2014
Goizueta Business School (Emory)