Interview Prep

Ten days into interview prep, I still cannot say I'm confident about landing a job during interview week. This could be one of the banes of studying in a place with 800 students. The conversation in the halls is constantly centered around interviews and dings and closed lists and case prep. Walk into MBA Cafe at 7pm on a Saturday and you'll find the place buzzing with students steeped in case prep and mock interviews with their prep groups. The level of collaboration, given that everyone is competing against each other, is heartening to behold. When I say this I'm sidelining for a moment the cynical MBA who would say they are all ultimately motivated by selfish interests :D. Nevertheless, the intensity of the atmosphere jumps out and grabs your gut. It's quite an experience!

However, I believe that these weeks of preparation and the interviews themselves will hopefully increase my depth of understanding of the stuff I've learned so far by forcing me to pay more attention to detail. I think this is a good outcome to achieve irrespective of the status of the job search process. Now that I have indulged my craving to write at 2am, I should probably try really hard to sleep and ensure that the rest of the day is productive. Ciao!

Internship worries

I should get a job. No, I will get a job. I might just get a job. I won't get any interviews. But I have a few interviews. But what if I don't get any interviews from the firms I'm really hopeful about? And I go on and on this way, night and day. The relaxed feeling from the break is gone and paranoia and lunacy have taken its place. Internship interviews are looming large and soon I will know who I'm interviewing with. There's nothing else on my mind.

I don't even know if I'm handling this right. I have a great group to prep for interviews with and I have time to become really well prepared. I'm making a conscious effort not to let my academics slip in the race for a job. I keep myself gainfully occupied all the time and am keeping close tabs on the caffeine intake. It still does not feel quite right or enough. Crazy! At least I'm glad I'm not stressing too much. Because when I think of ending the interview period without an internship in hand it does not give me a shiver or make me lose my mind. I'm happy about the level of perspective I seem to have. Hopefully I won't be a nervous wreck if I really am in such a situation :-). Time will tell...

The semester begins with Insomnia

It's 4.18am and school starts today (can't call it tomorrow anymore) and I just can't get myself to sleep. What a way to begin the new semester! I always nullify all the good a break does to me on the last night of the break. I just cannot reset my sleep cycle (not that I have one). My body refuses to obey the clock when it comes to sleeps. And I think that is logical in a way, you sleep when you are too tired to function, which really happens only once in 48 hours or so. When I claim this, my friends say I'm perfect for Wharton and the jobs after. Whatever!

The winter break, however, was great. I did nothing related to Wharton, MBA or jobs, though I should have. I read a lot, though not quite enough. But then there's no such thing as enough reading. I finally gave Camus his rightful time, I made him wait for too long. But there's a different place and time for book reviews. I watched a whole lot of movies too, some of them for the first time and others all-time favorites. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, Godfather I & II, Fight Club, Om Shanti Om, Schindler's List, Shawshank's Redemption, Simpsons-The Movie, The Man from Earth and a few more I think. 'The Man from Earth' was particularly good and all thanks to a friend who brilliantly recommended it on another such night of insomnia. I went to a party in California for New Year eve. I ate home-cooked south Indian food for the rest of my stay there, met up with some friends and slept in till noon the whole week and stayed glued to the internet. Bliss!

I think I will feel jealous of myself when I read this post again two weeks later... Nevertheless, here's to a new semester!