We're
all basically settled in now. We still haven't officially started the school
year yet, but Orientation is in a week. Here's what we expect our biggest
adjustments to being a student again will be.
The biggest (initial) adjustment... (Source)
Ashley Mallinson: Moving
from New York to California, I was somewhat wary of Los Angeles as I had heard
many nay-sayers doubting the authenticity of the Angelos, harping on the
traffic and hating on the "LA attitude". I was prepared to make a
huge adjustment, however as a classmate recently announced, I have already
“become one with Los Angles”. I love it after only one week! While it is
inherently a pesky process to navigate a new city, settle into a new lifestyle,
discover the layout and character of new neighborhoods, learn traffic patterns
after years of jumping in NYC taxicabs, find the most fun nightlife and social
scenes and, of course, balance beach and study time, it has been an exciting
adventure so far and I'm loving every minute of it!
Dwight Asuncion: There
are a number of things I’ll have to adjust to, but the biggest adjustment I can
see is not having a salary. It’s not just not having a salary; it’s basically
having a negative salary since I have to pay tuition, living expenses, etc.
I’ve been in a couple stores and I’ve had to refrain from purchasing something
or had to purchase the cheaper option to save some money. I have to think
twice. I can’t spend with impunity. A couple other adjustments I’ll have to
make are dealing with the LA traffic, being in sunny SoCal (won’t complain
about that).
Kyle Forrest: I’d say my
biggest adjustment is going to be getting back into the swing of studying.
We’ve had a couple of pre-orientation assignments to do over the summer, one of
which, the accounting case, has helped to a degree, but since my undergraduate
experience was on a semester schedule vs. quarters I’ve been told to be
prepared for a very high pace of learning.
Chris Varin: I must
admit that no salary is definitely on the top of the list although I’ve been
living on a bidget for the past year while travelling so I feel I’m somewhat used
to that already. I guess I’m going to have to get better at time management.
Working in investment banking, my days at the office all looked alike and I was
basically there constantly. Now I’m going to have to work in club activities
with socializing, classes, recruiting, administrative stuff and a whole lot
more. While London was big, the
public transport system was excellent so I didn’t need to worry or plan before
going out of my bubble, here it's a whole new ball park but I'm enjoying the discovery so far. There are plenty of others adjustments
I’ll have to make like wearing sunscreen, playing sports regularly and meeting
new and interesting people all the time - it's going to be a hard life!
Ann Ching: For me, going
back to grad school means an identity shift. For many years, my response to
“What do you do?” has been, “I’m a lawyer.” For better or worse, people
automatically associate certain characteristics with lawyers - authority,
prestige, frivolous lawsuits - so it’s a convenient label. In the past few
weeks, I’ve been adjusting to my new identity as “business school student,”
which generates less predictable reactions. I’m pretty excited about student
discounts, though! The commute to school will also be a big adjustment. According to a recent
report, Honolulu (where I
moved from) has worse traffic than Los Angeles, but that hasn’t been my
experience so far.
Alejandra Rodriguez: The greatest adjustment for
me has been transportation. I have been driving everywhere since 2008 and now I
find myself without a car in a city that does not have efficient public
transportation. To make matters worse I have no experience using buses and I
gave up on trying to learn on my own so I bought an iPhone and use the map
application to tell me what busses to take. I am loving the map application, it
is the most useful thing ever! I have also been walking a lot and my legs
are not used to it so I feel very tired at the end of the day. If you are
planning to go to an MBA, you are not very athletic, and you won’t have a car
then consider walking in a park every day to train your body. Additionally I
have been getting suntanned from walking in the sun so I recommend putting
sunblock on frequently if you want to avoid tanning. Despite all this I adore
Los Angeles, it is a beautiful city and walking long distances and riding
busses is totally worth it!
-Anderson 14' bloggers
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