My First Blog Post

After taking my GMATs, applying to MBA programs, and collecting recommendation letters, I'm finally here. I was accepted to York University's Schulich MBA program, as well as HEC Montreal's one-year English intensive MBA program. In the end, after speaking with students and graduates of both schools, I ultimately decided to enrol at HEC Montreal.

...And now the fun part begins! School began on August 15 with a preparatory Accounting class, which lasted the entire week. The following week was an intensive week (no exaggerations there), where we were each placed into groups of four or five students, and competed for a globalized business simulation. My group placed third in a class of seven groups, so I was pretty happy! Once the actual simulation game was finished, we had to do an oral presentation, a group paper, and an individual paper. I'm looking forward to getting the results soon - my first graduate school grades.

Now the real, hard work has begun, as of last week. My classes are, respectively:  Management Skills, Accounting Language, Being a Manager, Models and Decision Making, and Managerial Economics. I'm spending this long weekend doing the required readings, including tracking down the ones that aren't in the course packs from last year!

As MBA programs go, though, classes are not the only thing to focus on. We've already had two career workshops; one focused on what the career services could offer and the other discussed on-campus recruiting events and the one-page resume. One of the reasons why I ultimately chose to study at HEC Montreal was to further improve my French skills, however I am being realistic about my opportunities post-MBA. At this time, I'm thinking that my job search will focus 70% in New York, 20% in LA, and 10% in Montreal. Although my French will improve, I do not think I will be skilled enough to work whole-heartedly in a functionally bilingual office by the end of the year.

Last night, I was curious to see what kinds of opportunities were out there for me. I was pleasantly surprised when I found great job openings (through Indeed and Monster) in New York and LA that were for MBA graduates. I saw jobs at NYU, Disney, Time Warner, etc. that seem promising.

Now I must get back to my Economics readings, but I look forward to posting again soon!