Now that I'm well into my second year of MBA (as hard as that is to believe), thought I would share some observations comparing the two years.
1. Second year is a different kind of busy
I always felt like there was never enough time in the day during first year. Long days were spent on campus, doing group work, recruiting and participating in a variety of events. Second year is just as busy, but it's a different kind of busy. As second years take on leadership roles in the clubs, meetings rather than group work dominate your time. And as the courseload is elective based in second year, means greater control over your schedule. This provides the nice perk of being able to get involved in non-Anderson things like taking some classes at the Wooden Center (golf lessons for me).
2. Extra effort needed to keep in touch
One of the best parts of first year is how well you get to know the people in your section. Taking all the core classes together and being in learning teams means you literally spend more time together than with your non-Anderson friends and family. But in second year, many of your friends go on exchange, or take different electives meaning it becomes harder to see some of your friends on campus as much as you did in first year. I especially miss having lunch with the lunch crew from first year!
3. AMR is sui generis
Near the tail-end of first year, you hear more about the Applied Management Research Program ("AMR"). Sure, many have come from consulting or have done project based work, but it's a special kind of challenge working with a group of 4-6 colleagues/friends who may all have vastly different schedules and priorities.
--JP
~All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.~ Anatole France
