Monday morning I was up with just enough time to press print on my
review sheet before making my way to campus. And "just enough time" is
no exaggeration - I made it to the classroom only seconds before our
Finance professor handed out the final. I flipped through the final with
mixed emotions. There were some topics I had a fair understanding of
and some I wished I had taken an extra look at. I walked out of the
final not feeling very confident, but with three finals and a
presentation ahead of me I did not have time to dwell. I made a bee line
for my apartment to get some work done. I nearly finished my LD2 before
taking a break to eat dinner and bake for my learning team's last
meeting (tear!). I spent the rest of the night memorizing a handful of
PowerPoint slides in preparation for the Supply Chain final.
Tuesday morning I skimmed the slides one last time and gave myself plenty of time to arrive on campus. The final was straight forward and it felt great to be done with another class. I took advantage of the time before my team meeting to find a quiet corner of the library to read the final Strategy case and briefly begin to think about my recommendations. At 2pm I met my team in one of the second floor conference rooms (our home away from home) to finish our Ops project and last meeting ever. It is a little bittersweet - I will definitely miss my team, but it has been a long semester and we are all looking forward to a break. We used the full three hours to finalize our paper and PowerPoint and decide the presenters to divided up the slides. I volunteered to present and make all the final touches to the project. Once I got home and began to finalize and practice, I realized some of our calculations were not correct. I immediately called one of my team members for his thoughts and he conference called the rest of the team to make sure we all agreed on the changes that needed to be made. Once that was settled, I practiced my slides a few more times before calling it a night.
I woke up Wednesday morning and semi-suited up for the last presentations of the semester! It was nice to have a break from exams to see what companies the other teams visited, which included companies like Polar Beverages and the cymbal manufacturer Zildjian. After the presentations I wasted no time grabbing a coffee and heading home to work on the final case analysis for Strategy and study for Stats. The case was a little trickier than I anticipated, but I was able to get a full draft done by dinner time. My mind was getting cloudy with all the information in the case, so I decided to switch gears to Stats. At first glance, I was a little scared of the material for the final because everything sounded and looked alike and there were several terms for the same concept. After a couple hours and going through the practice exam and class notes I was able to make some sense of it all. I then switched back to Strategy to make final edits on my case with a fresh set of eyes. I called it quits at nearly 1am.
My alarm was set early Thursday morning to give me enough time to have a final read through on my Strategy case to make sure my late night edits made sense (I hit 'send' at the wonderful hour of 6:30am) and make sure I still remembered everything I had memorized for Stats. I felt extremely confident before the exam and for the first time in a while I also felt extremely confident walking out of the exam. After the exam I printed my LD2 and waited for the excitement to sink in that I was done with all the work for my second semester. I spent a little while talking with a peer in the grad lounge before heading to Panera Bread with a different classmate to enjoy our free time before the End of the Year Luncheon in the afternoon. After Panera we headed back to the lounge for a little more down time. At this point the feeling of exhaustion is starting to set in, but I join my class in the Varsity Club for the Luncheon. It was nice to hear from some of the faculty and have have conversations outside of the classroom. Before we all left, my learning team ended the semester with a group hug (corny, I know, but it was a running joke!). I then went home to nap, shower, and quickly clean my apartment (or at least make it presentable) before spending some time with a friend from high school.
It was quite plesant not waking up to an extra early alarm Friday morning. It was also exciting to have finally reached the last day of the semester! We all met in 50 Dodge for our final Critical Skills class to get the run down on our Corporate Residency learning teams and hand in our LD2s. After about an hour or so of a Skype-like program demonstration, we were dismissed. And that's a wrap on my first year of grad school. But, before I was able to relax, I had a busy weekend ahead. I had to work Friday afternoon and was unable to join my classmates in celebratory drinks (not the best way to spend the last day of the semester!). After work I headed home to bake a snickers cake for my mother's birthday celebration.
Though all I wanted to do was sleep, I was up Saturday morning for work. I got out of work a little early to have enough time to go home, change, and get back on the train to meet my brother and sister-in-law-to-be to join my parents and grandparents at Not Your Average Joe's in Watertown. After a delicious meal (I highly recommend the chicken piccata) we all went back to my brother's apartment for cake, presents, and casual conversation.
Yet again, I was up Sunday morning for work. Though it was only a three hour shift, it felt endless, as it was the only thing between me and nearly four weeks of leisurely freedom. Finally, the excitement of of being done and sun some how gave me enough energy to go for a run before crashing on my couch.
Tuesday morning I skimmed the slides one last time and gave myself plenty of time to arrive on campus. The final was straight forward and it felt great to be done with another class. I took advantage of the time before my team meeting to find a quiet corner of the library to read the final Strategy case and briefly begin to think about my recommendations. At 2pm I met my team in one of the second floor conference rooms (our home away from home) to finish our Ops project and last meeting ever. It is a little bittersweet - I will definitely miss my team, but it has been a long semester and we are all looking forward to a break. We used the full three hours to finalize our paper and PowerPoint and decide the presenters to divided up the slides. I volunteered to present and make all the final touches to the project. Once I got home and began to finalize and practice, I realized some of our calculations were not correct. I immediately called one of my team members for his thoughts and he conference called the rest of the team to make sure we all agreed on the changes that needed to be made. Once that was settled, I practiced my slides a few more times before calling it a night.
I woke up Wednesday morning and semi-suited up for the last presentations of the semester! It was nice to have a break from exams to see what companies the other teams visited, which included companies like Polar Beverages and the cymbal manufacturer Zildjian. After the presentations I wasted no time grabbing a coffee and heading home to work on the final case analysis for Strategy and study for Stats. The case was a little trickier than I anticipated, but I was able to get a full draft done by dinner time. My mind was getting cloudy with all the information in the case, so I decided to switch gears to Stats. At first glance, I was a little scared of the material for the final because everything sounded and looked alike and there were several terms for the same concept. After a couple hours and going through the practice exam and class notes I was able to make some sense of it all. I then switched back to Strategy to make final edits on my case with a fresh set of eyes. I called it quits at nearly 1am.
My alarm was set early Thursday morning to give me enough time to have a final read through on my Strategy case to make sure my late night edits made sense (I hit 'send' at the wonderful hour of 6:30am) and make sure I still remembered everything I had memorized for Stats. I felt extremely confident before the exam and for the first time in a while I also felt extremely confident walking out of the exam. After the exam I printed my LD2 and waited for the excitement to sink in that I was done with all the work for my second semester. I spent a little while talking with a peer in the grad lounge before heading to Panera Bread with a different classmate to enjoy our free time before the End of the Year Luncheon in the afternoon. After Panera we headed back to the lounge for a little more down time. At this point the feeling of exhaustion is starting to set in, but I join my class in the Varsity Club for the Luncheon. It was nice to hear from some of the faculty and have have conversations outside of the classroom. Before we all left, my learning team ended the semester with a group hug (corny, I know, but it was a running joke!). I then went home to nap, shower, and quickly clean my apartment (or at least make it presentable) before spending some time with a friend from high school.
It was quite plesant not waking up to an extra early alarm Friday morning. It was also exciting to have finally reached the last day of the semester! We all met in 50 Dodge for our final Critical Skills class to get the run down on our Corporate Residency learning teams and hand in our LD2s. After about an hour or so of a Skype-like program demonstration, we were dismissed. And that's a wrap on my first year of grad school. But, before I was able to relax, I had a busy weekend ahead. I had to work Friday afternoon and was unable to join my classmates in celebratory drinks (not the best way to spend the last day of the semester!). After work I headed home to bake a snickers cake for my mother's birthday celebration.
Though all I wanted to do was sleep, I was up Saturday morning for work. I got out of work a little early to have enough time to go home, change, and get back on the train to meet my brother and sister-in-law-to-be to join my parents and grandparents at Not Your Average Joe's in Watertown. After a delicious meal (I highly recommend the chicken piccata) we all went back to my brother's apartment for cake, presents, and casual conversation.
Yet again, I was up Sunday morning for work. Though it was only a three hour shift, it felt endless, as it was the only thing between me and nearly four weeks of leisurely freedom. Finally, the excitement of of being done and sun some how gave me enough energy to go for a run before crashing on my couch.
*The
views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of
Northeastern University, its staff, faculty or affiliates and are
solely the opinion of Keri Deming
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