Week 45: Electives - Block C (t-minus 6 weeks)

Week 45 ends and so does Block C of electives. There are now only 6 weeks left till the program is finished. Spring is definitely on it's way and the wind never seems to stop blowing, even when its raining. I imagine soon there will be green grass showing in the parks and leaf buds on the trees, but my focus on school, seeking employment and planning my move home seems to occupy all my time and as a result I likely won`t notice these changes.

Advanced Topics in Marketing was concluded with a series of presentations on Wednesday. Each group was responsible for pitching a mode/aspect of tourism in Canada (i.e. air travel, road travel, etc). This was the final assignment and with no final exam, this marked the completion of the course. Overall people really enjoyed this course and most got quite a bit out of the material.

Services Management finished with no really big events. Everyone completed their required papers and projects. My understanding is that people enjoyed the course, but many people who were taking Advanced Topics in Marketing enjoyed that course more.

Investments was the toughest course this block. This seems to be a common theme for the finance courses in the elective blocks. Friday morning was the final exam and everyone agreed that the test was nothing like what the assignments or the lectures had made us believe it would be like. It was very difficult and very demanding. Almost nobody left before the time was up, including the "finance" people who seem to enjoy this topic. Hopefully the professor is kind on the part marks.

This week the Business Career Center set up some one hour sessions on a variety of topics. One was on case interviews with an individual who used to work with BCG pre-MBA and had an offer with Bain post-MBA before turning it down to pursue other career options. Another was with Peter Copstake, the Executive in Residence and former Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Manulife Financial. Peter's session was more centered on how to really come across strong in an interview and more on his take on seeking employment. These sessions were smaller, 5 to 10 people, and therefore offered people more of a chance to get the information they wanted.

Also, the MBA office has arranged a special tax session for the international students in the class. This session was designed to help familiarize people with the Canadian tax system who have never filed taxes in Canada. Many people assumed that if they are not a permanent resident (PR) or citizen that they do not need to file taxes, but that is incorrect. Simply being in Canada for a certain period requires that you file an income tax statement whether you are a PR/citizen or not.

In other news, two of our classmates are in Pittsburgh this week as they were accepted to a business plan competition. So far things are going okay for them as they have made it past the first round. The idea they are pitching involves gold from tailings. 1st place is supposed to be a significant amount of money with part of it in cash and part of it in professional services (i.e. lawyer fees, marketing, etc). In addition, there is another pair of students finishing up a tour of 4 business plan competition through the US. Not sure how they are doing, but I hope it has gone well for them.

The MBA hockey team managed to get a much needed win this week to allow us the chance to make playoffs. People continue to meet-up to play squash and workout. Wednesday the exchange students had a gathering to celebrate a birthday and a good portion of the class showed up. Also, this weeks point four will be at the Merchant. Finally, Brian Adams was in town and some people went to check out his performance at the K-Rock center. As it turns out, Brian Adams was born in Kingston.

People are continuing their search for full-time employment. Some of my classmates are negotiating the details of offers recently received. Others are taking the next block of electives off to focus purely on their search. In addition, people continue to contact alumni to get advice and see what opportunities might be out there.

There is a rumour that the class size has been expanded for the incoming cohort. This is in response to the overwhelming demand for spots this year. In the next couple of weeks there is supposed to be an official statement released by the program director. I will be sure to post the details so that the incoming students that follow this blog can see the details.

Surprisingly there are still a large number of perspective students coming to the school for interviews. I met a few this week over lunch and will likely meet some more this coming week. Most seem nice and they really appreciate the opportunity to discuss the program with the students.

Finally, a few official administrative e-mails have been sent out. One is for convocation concerning who will be attending and how many seats they want to reserve. The other is for awards as voted by the class for who should be given the instructor award, team award, valedictorian and individual leadership award. Nominations are due the end of March with voting taking place sometime soon after. These awards will them be bestowed during the graduation dinner on Saturday, April 18th.

Next week Block D of electives starts. This weekend will be filled with some much needed RnR, while getting any prep work for the next set of electives out of the way.