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!