I haven't been blogging since November as it was extremely hectic! I was rushing our last syndicate assignment, D&D, and at the same time, studying for the finals. I was in school till late, and life was a rush rush rush.
The final exams had no breather, it was one after another on 5 consecutive days. I found most papers more difficult than the past year papers, with Financial Management and Manegerial Economics being the killer papers. Maybe we didn't do the past year papers in exam environment so we thought they were easier.
Somehow I enjoyed studying the modules, much much more than the Electrical Engineering subjects I took in my undergrad days. Business modules are more tangible and comprehensible. Most are common sense and you don't have to imagine electrons flowing between cathodes and anodes. *phew*
Since the 1st term of the MBA has ended, let me quote a saying by Sam Wylie, our Financial Management lecturer: "There are 3 very important things in life - when you fall in love, the birth of your first child, and the first term of your MBA" I personally like this quote very much. Now that first term of my MBA is over, I have 2 more important things left in my life. ;-p
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Syndicate Fever
Mid-terms came and went. I thought it will be a great time to take a breather, but I was wrong. As mid-terms ended, came the syndicate project deadlines. We have 3 main syndicate projects in total; Managing People for High Performance, Accounting for Managers, and Data & Decisions. Accounting was due yesterday and we successfully handed in the day before, much of the credit goes to Ronjon, Stuart and Henry Song. These three guys were in the Accounting sub-group and I am glad all "fightings" over assumptions and write-up ended well.
I am in the MPHP sub-group with David, Leila and Debi. Dave and Leila are a real asset to our group for MPHP. We brain-stormed the points to be covered then Leila did the write-up of the draft with the whole syndicate group reviewing and commenting on improvements to be added. The first draft is already pretty well-written. We will have to finish it up and submit it by next Wednesday. After which, we will have to prepare for a presentation of the project.
Then come the next project of Data & Decisions which is due in two weeks. As Stuart is the Statistics wizard, I am helping him in the data analysis of our project, together with Henry. I think the D&D project is pretty interesting and I am looking forward to the final product of the report. At present, we are only at the very initial phase of data definition.
If you think I am done after the submission of all the syndicate projects, you are wrong. The final exams are in the first week of December! This means I have 24 days left to the exams! Preparation for the final exams, plus the syndicate projects, I have practically no time to do anything else.
Last 3 weeks of first term of MBA = Looking more haggard + More grey hair + Higher stress level + Insufficient sleep + Irregular meals + Weight loss
I think weight loss is the only good thing out of this equation. I woke up at 6am today to attend a talk by Boston Consulting Group in school. Now I am in a syndicate room, going to start studying. What a life, what an MBA life!
P/S: We have 7 syndicate groups in our class. I just took a walk along the syndicate rooms corridor, all the 6 other groups are in syndicate meetings! This is what I call "Syndicate Fever" ;p
I am in the MPHP sub-group with David, Leila and Debi. Dave and Leila are a real asset to our group for MPHP. We brain-stormed the points to be covered then Leila did the write-up of the draft with the whole syndicate group reviewing and commenting on improvements to be added. The first draft is already pretty well-written. We will have to finish it up and submit it by next Wednesday. After which, we will have to prepare for a presentation of the project.
Then come the next project of Data & Decisions which is due in two weeks. As Stuart is the Statistics wizard, I am helping him in the data analysis of our project, together with Henry. I think the D&D project is pretty interesting and I am looking forward to the final product of the report. At present, we are only at the very initial phase of data definition.
If you think I am done after the submission of all the syndicate projects, you are wrong. The final exams are in the first week of December! This means I have 24 days left to the exams! Preparation for the final exams, plus the syndicate projects, I have practically no time to do anything else.
Last 3 weeks of first term of MBA = Looking more haggard + More grey hair + Higher stress level + Insufficient sleep + Irregular meals + Weight loss
I think weight loss is the only good thing out of this equation. I woke up at 6am today to attend a talk by Boston Consulting Group in school. Now I am in a syndicate room, going to start studying. What a life, what an MBA life!
P/S: We have 7 syndicate groups in our class. I just took a walk along the syndicate rooms corridor, all the 6 other groups are in syndicate meetings! This is what I call "Syndicate Fever" ;p
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Great Ocean Road
After the mid-term exams, I spent the weekend with 9 other classmates along Great Ocean road. We decided we need a good break from studying after the exams and we spent one night at the Twelve Apostles Motel. We rented one mini van and one of our classmates drove his car. It was a great idea and I am glad I joined the group. It was a good break from studies and school. We finished 48 bottles of beer and a Barcardi in one night. =p
We stopped at Torquay, Lorne and Apollo Bay along the way. We played with water at the Torquay beach, had a public BBQ and enjoyed the beach at Apollo Bay and had coffee at Lorne. A memorable trip with a breathtaking view! I'll let the pictures say for themselves.
We stopped at Torquay, Lorne and Apollo Bay along the way. We played with water at the Torquay beach, had a public BBQ and enjoyed the beach at Apollo Bay and had coffee at Lorne. A memorable trip with a breathtaking view! I'll let the pictures say for themselves.
AT Kearney Case Interview Workshop
I attended the AT Kearney case interview workshop the day before the Accounting for Managers exam. I made the right decision to attend the workshop, instead of mugging Accounting at home. The session was very helpful and I am so greatful AT Kearney consultants took time out of their busy schedule to come and give us the workshop in MBS.
Two AT Kearney consultants gave an introduction about the company, the kind of projects they handle and the career prospects in the company. After that, we were spilt into groups of 7 to 8 people and we were led by AT Kearney consultants on how to handle case interviews. We were given a case to analyse and we were led through the case, with each of us contributing our ideas. It was my first case and I learnt a lot from the session. We were told that case interview performance usually gets better with more practice. I learnt how to think through the case and learnt what to do & what not to do in an interview. Planning is very important and we should always take time to think through the case thoroughly before rushing to answer it. Another important point is to answer the question and not to suggest ideas that won't improve the situation. It seems pretty straight forward but people still tend to forget this point.
I am so glad I attended the workshop!
Two AT Kearney consultants gave an introduction about the company, the kind of projects they handle and the career prospects in the company. After that, we were spilt into groups of 7 to 8 people and we were led by AT Kearney consultants on how to handle case interviews. We were given a case to analyse and we were led through the case, with each of us contributing our ideas. It was my first case and I learnt a lot from the session. We were told that case interview performance usually gets better with more practice. I learnt how to think through the case and learnt what to do & what not to do in an interview. Planning is very important and we should always take time to think through the case thoroughly before rushing to answer it. Another important point is to answer the question and not to suggest ideas that won't improve the situation. It seems pretty straight forward but people still tend to forget this point.
I am so glad I attended the workshop!
Mid-term exams
The main reason for my long disappearance from blogging is due to mid-term exams. I had five different exams held over a period of two weeks. Managing People for High Performance, Managerial Economics and Data & Decision was held the week before. Financial Management and Accounting for Managers was held last week.
I was mugging through the last two weeks, skipping parties and dinner invitations. I have been quite consistent with assignments every week so I have managed to get the concepts of most classes, but I have not been up and ahead on my readings and revisions. So I spent the last two weeks really catching up. It was pretty tiring so I learnt my lesson. I need to catch up with readings and revision and assignments every week, not only when the exams are near.
Comparing with NUS Engineering whereby the lecturers ask questions on anything and everything unexpected under the sun, the five exams were manageble. If you have studied, you will definitely pass and even get a good grade. I did pretty average in most subjects, so I need to buck up for the finals. At present I am pretty busy with syndicate assignments due in a couple of weeks. After that, I will be mugging again for the final exams in early December. It is only a month away... hectic hectic MBA life.
I was mugging through the last two weeks, skipping parties and dinner invitations. I have been quite consistent with assignments every week so I have managed to get the concepts of most classes, but I have not been up and ahead on my readings and revisions. So I spent the last two weeks really catching up. It was pretty tiring so I learnt my lesson. I need to catch up with readings and revision and assignments every week, not only when the exams are near.
Comparing with NUS Engineering whereby the lecturers ask questions on anything and everything unexpected under the sun, the five exams were manageble. If you have studied, you will definitely pass and even get a good grade. I did pretty average in most subjects, so I need to buck up for the finals. At present I am pretty busy with syndicate assignments due in a couple of weeks. After that, I will be mugging again for the final exams in early December. It is only a month away... hectic hectic MBA life.
Women & Management
MBS offers its students many different clubs and organisations to join outside our busy schedule of studying. If there is nothing that interests you, you can even set up your own new club. A couple of friends from my class set up the Statistical Analysis Club, which is pretty cool. After exploring different options, I decided to join the Women & Management club. I always believe women make better leaders than men. Well, we do listen better than guys. =)
MBS Women & Management club organised a networking lunch on 10th October. It was an informal event whereby successful women professionals and managers from various industries come together to discuss the challenges women managers face today. It was awesome! I was the emcee for the introduction of the guests and I am so glad the lunch was a great success. There were guests from BCG, Telstra, IBM, ANZ, etc. The audience attendance was mainly females with three gentlemen who were very much welcomed by the group.
Anyway, girl power always rulez! =p
Monday, October 6, 2008
Singapore day
The theme for last weekend revolved around my hometown, Singapore! I attended the Singapore recruitment event on Friday evening at Telstra Dome and went to celebrate Singapore day with 11,000 other Singaporeans at Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday.
The recruitment event was mainly made up of Singapore companies in finance, healthcare and engineering industries. There was a nice videoclip of Singapore Marina Bay area, the lifestyle of the people and the buildings around Singapore river. It made me miss home! I had the chance to talk to ANZ CEO in Singapore, Bill Foo. Most companies told me to apply for an internship back home during December-February school break. Let's see... The rest of the companies include MINDEF, MAS, SANDS, Capitaland, Far East Organisation, Vestas, and so on.
The next day, I had a great time at the Singapore day! As usual, we had to queue and queue like in Singapore, but it was all worth it. There was hawker food I have been missing so much, like Hokkien Mee, Char Kway Teow, Chilli Crab, Kaya Toast, and so on! And everything was free!!! There was also a concert where Phua Chu Kang family acted a sketch, Tay Ping Hui & Hardy Mirza sang, and my favourite band Electrico was in town too!
Melbourne weather was great on Singapore day, we were picnicing under the sun and enjoying food from home. The Hokkien Mee was from the Wisma Food Republic stall! Perfect! It was great to be home in Melbourne. =)
The recruitment event was mainly made up of Singapore companies in finance, healthcare and engineering industries. There was a nice videoclip of Singapore Marina Bay area, the lifestyle of the people and the buildings around Singapore river. It made me miss home! I had the chance to talk to ANZ CEO in Singapore, Bill Foo. Most companies told me to apply for an internship back home during December-February school break. Let's see... The rest of the companies include MINDEF, MAS, SANDS, Capitaland, Far East Organisation, Vestas, and so on.
The next day, I had a great time at the Singapore day! As usual, we had to queue and queue like in Singapore, but it was all worth it. There was hawker food I have been missing so much, like Hokkien Mee, Char Kway Teow, Chilli Crab, Kaya Toast, and so on! And everything was free!!! There was also a concert where Phua Chu Kang family acted a sketch, Tay Ping Hui & Hardy Mirza sang, and my favourite band Electrico was in town too!
Melbourne weather was great on Singapore day, we were picnicing under the sun and enjoying food from home. The Hokkien Mee was from the Wisma Food Republic stall! Perfect! It was great to be home in Melbourne. =)
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