ThePerfectionist

Well here it is...the halfway point in my MBA life. My summer internship is going great. My project is both challenging and interesting. I really wish I could go back in time and see what I would produce if given the same assignment without having experienced the first year of B-School. I'd like to think it would be similar, but maybe not. I wonder if I would have the same desire to dig into the data and look at the financial justification and impact of my recommendations. I guess this is why I went back to school. When I was deciding whether or not to give up a successful career to go back to school I wondered if working for two years would give me the same advantage and perspective as going back to school. I'm not sure I'd be able to answer that question fully until I've completed the program and worked for a bit, but something tells me I wouldn't have approached this project the same way. Enough reminiscing...

I'm really excited for next year. We are starting to book speakers and events for the coming year. Plus the business program is moving into a brand new building, Miller Hall. It is beautiful and should provide for some great events.

We had a pretty busy last week in the internship. Darden has organized meetings for the marketing interns to meet with the senior marketing executives of several of their major brands. I've come to appreciate that while they are all under the same parent company and integrate very well, they are very different companies, with different business models and objectives. I haven't noticed a competitive atmosphere though, even though, they could easily be considered competitors. We also give our final presentations on our projects in less than a month. I've seen the invite list for this and it is the very senior marketing executives. It makes me nervous, but at the same time humbled that these senior level people would take time to hear what we have been working on this summer. Hopefully, we all agree it was productive if nothing else.

Happy 4th of July!