When I started this Anderson MBA blog, I remember being such a naïve little trooper, making self-made promises such as “yes, I will blog regularly” and “no, I will never skip posting a single week (except maybe for finals and breaks)”. It has been nearly two months since my last post, so I’ll be the first one to call this what it is: an epic “FAIL”. Thus, my apologies to my readers. I am going to be a naïve little trooper, yet again, and swear that I will post weekly during the Spring quarter. Let me first backtrack and give a summary of last quarter.
Ah, this last Winter quarter will be one that I remember fondly when reminiscing about the horrors of internship-hunting. What last quarter lacked in courses (I chose to limit myself to three classes), it overcompensated in recruiting madness. Note that I am not complaining since I finally found myself an internship, but it was just an incredibly competitive process. Of course, this was not the case for everyone. Those of us who have been doing, say, marketing for 3-5 years and seek to keep doing marketing had, I believe, a much easier time and access to prime opportunities during on-campus recruiting. This is perfectly normal and alright. Others who, as I do, have a less obvious background, had to work even harder and are often still searching. Now, I find it rather strange that recruiters create so many hurdles just to hire interns. After all, is this not the perfect opportunity to take a risk on atypical candidates since an internship is a 10-12 weeks affair?
What truly rocked about last quarter was the Faculty assigned to my section. Whether it was Pr. Bernardo (for whom I now profess my enduring love) in corporate finance, Pr. Bodapati in marketing, or Pr. Roels in operations, all classes were taught by professors who really cared about the material and the students. Moreover, I managed to get myself a position on the Healthcare Business Association, VP of marketing, which means that I have an occasion to help foster more healthcare opportunities at Anderson. I am currently trying to convince Anderson to develop a medical marketing course for full- and part-time MBAs, and I also intend to promote more recruiting in the San Diego area, a region rich in biotech companies. Cross your fingers for me.
–Simon
