Happiness, success and sadness

Where has the time gone? It's amazing how quickly three weeks can go by around here. And yet so much has happened in three weeks!

We successfully hosted another JMB weekend (see my last post for a description) and it was a great time as predicted. I met some wonderful prospective students and I hope to see all of them during Destination Johnson weekend (the admitted students weekend) in April!

The Women's Management Council (WMC) also hosted a professional trek to NYC last Friday and for our inaugural trek, it was a success! We visited three companies throughout the day (UBS, Colgate-Palmolive and Accenture) and then capped off the trip with a reception that included many more companies in an informal setting at the Cornell Club. Although it was a long day that started with a 5am bus, it was a good time. Below is a picture of me, Tiffany (my fellow Trek chair) and Adrienne (WMC president extraordinaire) at the reception.

Last weekend also brought the long-awaited (at least to me) Diwali celebration. I had practiced, along with my fellow dancers, for two weeks prior to the event, and it was so exciting to see all of the hard work pay off. I had such an amazing time, just as I was expecting to! There were several dances of varying natures, an explanation of what Diwali is about, a fashion show, and then an all-out dance party to finish the night off. I don't think I have ever smiled and laughed as much as I did that night. I wish it could have lasted longer! Below are some pictures of the fun, specifically our Bollywood dance. I'm the one in the orange, Marina is in the purple, Toral is in the black shirt and cute reddish skirt, Margaux on the right in the red and Mythily is on the right in the pink. What fun!

Sadness. That's the emotion that tempered many of us at the Johnson School last weekend when we found out that a fellow classmate of ours, Chad Russolillo, was involved in a horrific head-on car accident on Friday morning. It had been the first night/morning that we had some typical wintry weather around Ithaca, with a mixture of rain and snow falling through the night. There wasn't much accumulation, but it was enough to make the roads slick. I was on the early bus to NYC for the Women's Management Council trek when we came upon the accident scene. Our bus was delayed for a few hours while the rescue workers diligently rescued our classmate Chad, although we had no idea at the time that it was him. He is currently recovering bravely in a hospital near Binghamton and I'm so glad that he's all right. I know that I speak for everyone at Johnson when I say "Hope to see you around Sage Hall soon!" Another great shock also hit the student body when we found out on Sunday that Professor Robert Frank had had a heart attack last Saturday. Thankfully he is also recovering nicely and we also look forward to seeing him around Sage Hall soon!

A Day in the Life

One thing people learn pretty quickly about the Johnson School is that we're a pretty energetic enthusiastic, and yes friendly, bunch of people. Today, about 40 prospective students will get first-hand experience of this as they enter Ithaca for our annual Johnson Means Business weekend. Johnson Means Business is a recruiting weekend centered around diversity and it always brings a wonderful bunch of interested people to Ithaca to experience what we're all about and to help make the hefty decision of where to attend business school.

As you would guess if you've been keeping up with my blogs, I will be involved (I'm a sucker for helping out!). I'm hosting two prospectives and am very excited to meet them this afternoon/evening when they arrive here in town. There are a lot of great events planned for the weekend including breakfasts/receptions sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and Lehman Brothers, dinner with the Dean, career panel discussions and info sessions, dinners at students' houses and a super-fun party at Olivia's tomorrow night. Everyone always manages to have a great time and some of my current classmates attended the same event last year or the year before. I can't wait for the fun to begin!

Tempering my enthusiasm for JMB is the fact that I have three big assignments due early next week. This, of course, spells a weekend that will be filled with group meetings and work sessions when I'm not playing hostess to my awesome prospectives. That's the thing about business school - there's always something that you could/should be doing.

But again it's not all work. One of the other things I will be doing this weekend is attending dance practice for the Indian Diwali celebration that will be taking place here at Sage Hall on Saturday, November 17th. I missed the event last year but I heard it was so much fun that I wanted to be included. Some of my fellow classmates have choreographed several dances that we will be performing and there is also a fashion show. It's great to be able to help out while also having the opportunity to get closer with some of my classmates, both new and old.

Planning Ahead

This past week was not only the Add/Drop period for this quarter, but also the Pre-enrollment week for classes for next semester. It's a little hard to kick your brain around this early for next semester, but pre-enrolling in classes is sometimes the only way you can get into them, like the Intro to Wines class that I am currently taking in the Hotel School. My week was a little hectic with an exam, two interviews and a group project, so I wasn't able to give a ton of thought to what I want to take in the spring, but I love the fact that we can take classes in any of the schools here at Cornell. So far I've picked "Principles of Real Estate" and "Human Resource Management". The first is in the Hotel School and the second in the ILR school. It will be great to meet even more people here at Cornell.

Today some of my friends and I went on a wine tour over on the west side of Seneca lake. It was my first official wine tour of the Finger Lakes region, and it was such a great time. We could have gone to the closer wineries around Cayuga Lake, but we were more interested in trying out the slightly farther Seneca ones - and we weren't disappointed. Armed with plenty of snack foods on our rented bus, we hit up about a half dozen wineries or more and a good time was had by all. It's so wonderful that Ithaca is nestled in the Finger Lakes region and that we have the opportunity to experience the wineries (and the beautiful fall scenery!) I would recommend the wineries in this region to anyone who visits Ithaca.

This weekend also contained one of the first symposiums of the year which was put on by the Black Graduate Business Association and was focused around professional development. From what I hear it was a great success and incredibly interesting. I wish that I could have participated. This is the first of many symposiums to come in the next couple of weeks, including one co-held by SHRLOE and the General Management Association, the Healthcare and Biotech Club, and many more. Check them out if you have the chance!

Also on the horizon is the diversity weekend here at the Johnson School called Johnson Means Business. Current students host the invited prospective students and there are many events that run throughout the weekend. It's a great way for people to get to see what the Johnson School is all about and it's also a wonderful way for current students to meet possible classmates. If you're a prospective who's been invited, please consider attending. It's such a great time and we look forward to hosting you!

Fall Break

It's amazing how excited and happy a person can get about having two days off from school. I anxiously awaited this past weekend like it was a snow day from my childhood. I haven't had a "fall break" since undergrad and after working for six years prior to business school, I had forgotten how fun it can be to have a nice little break.

Fall break signals the end of the first quarter of classes here at Cornell. It also brings on the excitement of new ones that will begin next week. Somedays I think I may be the only person who gets really excited to start a new class, but I can't help it. I feel like you never know when you'll find a class that will make you passionate about something. And even though I'm always on the go, and involved in a lot of things, I'm always looking for more things to be interested in and passionate about. My new classes in the second quarter will be "Disruptive Technologies" and "Customer Relationship Management." Well, I hope I will get into the second class because technically I am not registered for the course yet. I'll have to take my chances with the registrar and the Add/Drop process next Monday. Wish me luck!

Back to Fall Break, Sage Hall was eerily empty today (and it was SO easy to get free coffee this morning!). I hope that the first years are now having fun on their fall break! They have successfully survived the first part of the core and have three more exciting classes to undertake starting next week. Remember first years, don't let the second years freak you out about the classes. Make your own determination of how hard/easy a class will be for you. It's different for everyone. Ok, enough wisdom from me...

Golf, job offer, traditions and more

It's been over two weeks since my last post. Sorry for the delay! I think about blogging almost every day and then things just come up and get in the way. But enough excuses, on to a new post!

Friday September 7th was a fun day for me. I volunteered some of my time that day to help check people in for the annual Johnson School MBA Golf Tournament. It's a weekend-long tournament which is also a recruiting event. Recruiters from almost 30 companies came up for a career fair on Thursday and then some participated in the tournament, where they golfed with two to four students on Friday and/or Saturday. It's a great way for students to talk informally with recruiters and to express their interest in the company. Pairings don't always work out perfectly (i.e. not everyone can golf with the same company, even if they are all interested in it), but it's always a fun time. This year it was a particularly hot day (high of 94!) and I was sweating just signing people in. From what I've heard, this year was just as much of a success as past years. A great big thanks to Dave Marr and all of the other behind-the-scenes people who made it happen!

Since my last post I have found out that I did not receive an offer from Johnson & Johnson, who I interned for this summer. It was really lousy news to hear since I really loved the company and had a great experience there. The people were amazing to work with and I learned so much over my 11 week internship. I thought I had planned my internship so well, with a focus on companies that I would like to work for full-time and which fit my regional desires (to be near my boyfriend). I did my best this summer in a new role and I received good feedback, but in the end it all comes down to the needs of the organization. They want someone with a bit more procurement experience and that's something I just can't get around. So while I was hoping to relax this year with an offer from the summer, I now find myself back in the saddle, evaluating my next move. I see this as a great opportunity to research even better possibilities, although I'm not yet ready to give up on J&J since there are other ways in which I may be able to work for them. We'll see how it goes!

This weekend I was able to take my mind off job offer woes to enjoy time with my boyfriend Brian who came up from Philadelphia. We're one of the "lucky" ones holding a long distance relationship while I'm at school. We feel we don't have much to complain about though since we're a mere four hours from each other. There are classmates of mine who need to get on a plane to see their significant other and some need to fly around the world! So we count ourselves lucky that we see each other at least every two weeks. It requires some calendar finagling at times, and certainly a few small sacrifices, but it's worth it. We were determined to make it work when I left for school and we've never had too much of a problem doing just that. I just worked a little harder on Thursday and early Friday to get work done so that I didn't have to worry about it all weekend.

While Brian was here, we celebrated my very good friend Mythily's 30th birthday and we also participated in an honored Johnson School tradition called 'Johnson Night Out'. It involves second years and faculty hosting first years and other second years in a potluck-style dinner. Groups are set up so that everyone gets to meet some new people and it's always a fun time. Sadly, there weren't a lot of first years who participated this year. Many that did sign up cancelled at the last minute and many others just didn't sign up. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm terribly disappointed in the outcome from an overall standpoint. It's normally such a great time for everyone and the evening is capped off with a big gathering at a local bar for everyone to come together, talk about their dinners and celebrate the fact that the first midterms have been conquered! Thankfully, my hostesses and our dinner were absolutely fabulous and we had a few first years show up. A big thanks to them for making it possible!

Well, that's all for now. I've got a big week coming up with my first big engineering assignment due along with an oral presentation on it, and my first corporate briefing to attend. Let the fun begin!

Welcome back, welcome back

What a week! This week was the first full week of classes and boy was it packed with activities. I not only had my first taste of my new classes (I've got all good ones!), but I had a lot of club meetings which took up most of my time. If I had only one piece of advice to give to first years, it would be to not become an officer of more than one or two clubs. Especially because when you come back as a second year and you're excited to have a more relaxed schedule, a lot of club meetings can put a small cramp in your free time. It's great being involved, but it can become overwhelming quickly when everyone wants to meet within the first week. This doesn't mean that you can't be a member of quite a few clubs, since you get to decide how involved you want to be when you're just a member.

On a different note, I got to play bartender yesterday which was fun. Every Thursday one of the student clubs guest-bartends at the same local bar. Fifty percent of the tips that we generate go to the club that is tending bar. It is a great way to raise money for our clubs while also getting a large portion of the Johnson school population together to have a good time dancing and socializing. This Thursday was the first one of the year, so it's nice to know that there are many more to come.

Today a large group of us went to Stewart Park and played a demented yet hilarious version of kickball. It was another wonderful and unique way to get to meet even more people and I think that my goal to meet all of the first years is well on track. I've got to be close to a quarter already and it's only been a few weeks! Now, after a very long week, it's time to relax a little more and get some work done.

Where to start?

It's been exactly two weeks since the last day of my internship at Johnson & Johnson this summer and it's hard to believe how much has occurred since then. Only five days after my finish I drove back up here to Ithaca from West Chester, PA, unpacked and then attended a BBQ that some of my friends were having. I was looking forward to come back up to school, but even I am slightly surprised by the overwhelming enthusiasm that I currently have for being back. It's so great to see my fellow classmates again and to hear how they liked/disliked their summer experiences. Last year I thought the then-second-years were crazy for being so happy to return to Sage Hall after a summer with evenings and weekends free to do whatever they want but now I completely get it. Nothing builds camaraderie more than working together through the core your first year and knowing that you all survived it together.

I'm also excited to be back because I'm involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities such as Admissions Ambassadors (hosting prospectives for class visits), Leadership Fellows (helping first years with core team cohesion), Career Assistants (helping with mock interviewing), and of course this blog! This is my first time blogging and I am excited by the opportunity to share my experiences with everyone.


Back to my last two weeks, the day after I got back into town I became a facilitator at our Johnson Outdoor Experience event which wraps up the first years' orientation. It was a great experience getting to know some of the first years and to lead them through the team-building and trust exercises. I was able to put my leadership skills into action in a supportive environment and I believe that everyone was able to have a great time. While it was an awesome few days, I was pretty tired after cheering my JOE-lympics team to victory (Go Blue Team!) and crashed as soon as I got home last Saturday.



Sunday brought more friends back into town and some of the gals and I went to Buttermilk Falls to enjoy the day. It was overcast and slightly cool, but that made it perfect weather for hiking near the falls. I wasn't able to make it to any of the gorges or falls last year so I especially enjoyed being able to make the time to do it now. There are so many beautiful places around Ithaca that I'm still dying to explore which was an unexpected surprise upon arriving here. Who knew that the middle of nowhere could be so gorgeous (no pun intended)? I know that plenty of people made the time to do more exploring last year and I certainly envy them for it.

Monday and Tuesday went by in a blur as I bought my books online, searched the bookstores for my course packs and made all of the necessary appointments - hair, eye, gym, etc. I also took some time to stop by Sage to socialize a bit and of course to stop by Randall Sawyer's office to say hi and see how his summer was. I've never met any Admissions Director who genuinely cares for students like Randall (and remembers so much about every single one of them), not to mention he has a great big smile which is incredibly contagious.

Yesterday the school had a community picnic where I was again able to reconnect with faculty, staff, fellow second years and meet new students as well. I love being able to interact and share my thoughts and experiences with people like Rick Sweeney, our Marketing Director for Johnson, and my operations professor Nagesh Gavirneni. I came to the Johnson School for the close-knit community and that's what I got. Having professors and staff approach you and ask about your internship and what classes you're taking this fall is something I personally appreciate. I can't imagine having the same experience at a larger school.

Well, it's now Friday evening and it's time again to socialize and meet more people. I've got a personal goal to meet each and every one of the first years and actually know them by name. I think it's a challenge, but one that I can definitely achieve. Onward and upward!

I’m a second year student originally from Allentown, PA. I received a Bachelor’s degree in Management Science and Information Systems from Penn State University and worked for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. for six years in various IT roles. I am interested in switching from IT to supply chain management, which is one of the reasons that I am pursuing my MBA. I chose Johnson because of the smaller size and collaborative atmosphere. I’ve loved my experience so far and am looking forward to my second year.