Weeks 2 and 3 - Lessons in Time Management

We're now 3 weeks into the LGO program and I think it's safe to say that we've all been getting some hands-on lessons in time management (hence no blog post last week!).  After easing us back into the program with the "Universe Within" during the first week, the training wheels came off and we've been racing full-speed into the summer term.  Somehow my calendar has gone from "work-play-sleep" to something a little more complicated...

LGO Summer Calendar

The nice part about the summer session is that all 48 of us are in the same classes, so it makes scheduling a much easier task!  The general cadence is that we have class from 8am - 12:30ish and then have the afternoons open for recitations / group work / reading / committee meetings / local plant treks.  It has definitely taken some adjustment to get back into the pace of school; not so much for the quantity of work as the type of work.  As an undergrad, I was used to cranking through problem sets that were very mechanical: read the book, do the problems, hand them in, case closed.  Here we have a mix of what I would classify as "technical" and "soft" (by that I don't mean squishy or easy by any means, just that they focus on the "soft" skills of management rather than the technical).  The split this summer is 2 technical (Probability & Statistics, and Systems Optimization) and 3 "soft" (Operations Management, Leadership, and High Velocity Systems.  All of the latter 3 rely heavily on case studies and a lot of THINKING and REFLECTION (both of which I realize I didn't do much in undergrad!).  It has been a great experience so far (other than staying up till 1am to read cases a few times), and the classroom discussions have been phenomenal with so many great inputs from my amazing classmates.

Now just because classes have ramped up doesn't mean the fun outside adventures stop.  Quite the contrary actually; we're definitely embracing the "work hard, play hard" mantra!  Some highlights from the last two weeks have been:

• Hiking to the top of Mt. Moosilauke in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
• Learning to sail on the Charles River and taking boats out after class to relax
• Partying it up with LGOers, SDMers, and Sloanies at various locations around Boston (it doesn't take much to get us out; NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals, the fact that it's Thursday...you name it, we're there!).
• Eating some great food with teammates
• Inaugurating the Foosball table at my apartment
• Fitting in some great workouts around Boston (i.e. November Project)
• Taking our "unoffical" B-school class photo shortly after the "official" photo last week

I have been slacking off on my photo-taking recently, so I'll defer to my good friend Ammar Asfour who has become our official class photographer with his photo-a-day blog: http://likethegreatoz.blogspot.com.  Keep up the great work Ammar!

On the Summit of Mt. Moosilauke in NH

Learning to Sail on the Charles

The "Unofficial" B-School Class Photo :-)