I wake up every evening, with a big smile on my face

Music: Gives You Hell- The All-American Rejects
Mood: Relaxed

So: the physics test was a bust. It was 4 questions long, and each question had like 10 parts.. so I didn't finish. I mean, the stuff I knew, I knew; and the stuff I didn't, well, I had no choice but to leave blank. We'll see how I do... going into the test, I know that they expect the average to be about 50%, and if you can get 50% right, you're in a good spot. I think the purposely make it difficult to see what basic knowledge you have and then what higher-level knowledge you might have too.

On top of that, I have another problem-set to work on due next Thursday. I'm just ready for physics to end, but it never does. One thing I can hope for is to do well on this past test and the next test so that I don't have to take the final. Physics is my ONLY final this semester, so it'll be nice to not have any finals!

So far, this weekend has been fairly relaxing. I went to the McCombs Executive Summit today where I learned about innovation and sustainability from several top executives at an automotive company, 2 pharmaceutical companies, an oil company, and several venture capital firms. Though it was really early, I enjoyed the event a lot!

On Monday, I have a quiz in FIN 367 and a test in my FAP class. I really should learn the names of my courses, because I don't even know what they're called. Haha. I also have 2 interviews coming up this week on Wednesday and Thursday. I really hope at least one of these turns into an offer because I'm desparate now.

Ok, well, I better get going. Have a great weekend!

Physics Test in 1 hour!

Music: If It Kills Me- Jason Mraz
Mood: Pumped

I'm ready for my physcis test. It's at 2pm. I've studied all I could have given my circumstances. I've made an effort to go to 2 TA sessions a week and professor office hours. I've practice all my old homework and some extra practice problems. I'm still expected to get only 50% of the material correct because they design the test to be EXTREMELY hard.

Well, I'm going to eat lunch really quickly, then go off to the Bschool to turn in a couple time sheets. Then I'll swing by the plan II office to mingle with other physics students and then head over to take the test at 2. I'll be tortured until 3:30. Then at 4pm, I'm meeting with a realtor to look at a 5-br house that my friends are planning to lease next year.

Wish me luck on my exam! =)

I wish I could give up work for lent. Haha

Plan II Physics

Music: Blur- Britney Spears
Mood: brain-numb

Wow. I've never spent so much time on one class. I swear, without Plan II physics, life would be so much easier. I have a test on Thursday, and I'm preparing for that. They say the average will be around a 50%. I'm kind of nervous about it because I'm afraid I'm just going to freak out when I realize that all my studying hasn't prepared me for the exam. I'm studying all my old homeworks, but I'm not sure if that's enough. I understand the basic theory and the theoretical stuff and then the application stuff, but I don't know how I'll do when I have to combine the two on the quiz. I did okay on the homeworks, but I'm not sure how the theory we've learned applies to the homework. I'll be consumed by this class for this entire semester. It's almost as painful as the recruiting process (which I'll rant about in another post).

Besides physics, this weekend was very relaxing. I went home on Thursday afternoon and came back to Austin on Sunday noon. The weekend was by far too short. It was nice being home. I jogged along the lake in my neighborhood on Friday which is always relaxing. There's something about water that's calming, even if you're just running beside it. Other than that, I went to Houston Chinatown with my parents, got a haircut, did a lot of research for my professor, and caught up on sleep. I was very unexcited to return back to Austin because of the work waiting for me this week.

Wish me luck with the recruiting process and on my physics test!

0 for 11

Music: C'est La Vie- B*witched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1_muIb3dvU
Mood: EXHAUSTED

I'm officially zero for 11. I probably knew it was coming, but now it's official. I've had 11 interviews and zero conversions into offers. I Fail. I can't imagine what other people are going through. I mean, 11 interviews is a lot, and I'm glad to have gotten interviews, but if I can't get an offer, what are people doing if they can't even get interviews? This whole week, with the fact that I am 0 for 11, I've been dropping my resume like crazy on OCR for any position that's hiring a finance major. I even looked at AccessUT and McCombs Job Board just to see what's out there. There's still a management consulting firm I'm hoping for and if that doesn't pan out, I'm shift my efforts to corporate finance, but even corporate finance is looking pretty dry too, because of the economy.

Here's a typical "rejection b/c of the economy" email:

Thank you for your interest in our summer program. We enjoyed speaking with you and are impressed with the enthusiasm you expressed for the position in our conversation. Unfortunately due to economic conditions, we are decreasing the size of our program significantly this year, and as a result we will not be able to invite you to our XXXX office for further interviews.

haha. Sad email to receive.. esp when you get 11 of those (either via email or phone call.). But let me preface that some companies have just said I don't meet what they're looking for, but at the same time, it's obivious that companies are cutting back. I love mylifeinacube.com!!

Wow. It's so late.. ie. 2.40pm. I'm so sleep deprived. Last night, I got 6 hours of sleep. Tonight, I might get more, but I've been working on my Plan II Physics all week long. It's so fustrating and annoying. That class is the bane of my existence this semester.

On the brighter side, I'm leaving tomorrow for home at 4pm. My P2 Physics class lets out at 3:15, I'm going to jet back to my apartment, get in my car, and peace out for the weekend. I really miss home and going back will be good for me. I still have a lot of work to get done, but at least I'll be home. =)

Man, I want ice cream this late.. to reward myself for finishing my P2 Physics homework.. I guess I'll reward myself with sleep. G'night.

Zero for 9

Music: Si yo Fuera un Chico- Beyonce
Mood: Frustrated

It's the spanish version of If I Were A Boy! I didn't know Beyonce could sing in spanish, but I really like it! =)


In other news, I've had 11 interviews with various companies. Yesterday, I heard from the final strategic consulting I interviewed with and found out that was a no. So far, I've had zero (0, nil, zip, none) job offers or 2nd round interviews (hence the title, 0 for 9). I have yet to hear from 2 more companies, but I'm not too optimistic. I'm not sure if I can blame the economy or myself for this. EDIT: haha. ok.. I'm now officially 0 for 10... waiting to hear back from one more company now.

Last fall, as a sophomore, I had 4 or 5 job offers to weigh against. Now I'm desperate for one. It's interesting how things can change. I'm trying not to think about what would happen if I didn't get a summer internship. That's not even an option for me at this point.

I'm planning on going home this weekend (unless any second round interviews materialize for this friday). I'm excited about going home b/c I need to get some ski clothing I left at home (in preparation for Spring Break!) and I need to get a wok from home so I can cook fried rice. I'm also wanting to see my parents again, get a haircut, and to eat tons of chinese food this weekend.

Ok , I need to do some physics homework before I go to spinning class and then physics class. Right now, I'm so frustrated, but c'est la vie... what can I do but remain positive and cheerful. Have a great week!

Friday, at last!

Music: Love Bug- Jonas Brothers (haha. yikes that song is stuck in my head. idk why!)
Mood: celebrating Friday

After 4 long days, it's finally FRIDAY! And since I have no Friday class, it's the first time I was able to sleep in all week. Believe it or not, I still have more work to do today, even though it's my off day.

I really need to be productive. I'm so behind on my research that I'm doing with a professor. I'm looking up SEC filings for companies that have launched IPOs, and I'm extracting data about their R&D, SGA, and Revenues. It's quite tedious work, but once i turn on some jams (how do you spell that?), I think I'll be good to rock and get a lot of companies done. I have about 1000 companies to go through and it takes me about 5 companies an hour or so, by that logic, I'll never have enough time. Haha. I need to increase it to 10 companies per hour, at least. Yikes.

On the recruiting side of things, I had an interview on Monday with a smaller strategic consutling firm. I didn't get a second round for that. On Tuesday, I had a phone interview with a bank in energy trading in Houston. I wasn't expecting that to go well, but it actually did. Hopefully that turns into a second round office visit. Then on Wednesday, I stopped by the career fair, but to no avail, all the companies I was semi-interested in had already given out their internships in the fall or were only looking for full-time. On Thursday, I had an interview with a consulting firm I really want to work with and then another interview with an investment bank in their risk department. I'm really hoping for 2nd rounds with the consulting firm. Thursday night, I attended the McCombs Diversity Council dinner. I wasn't too particularly interested in the company I sat with, but I had a great meal! =)

Well, off to be productive today! Have a great Friday, the 13th and a great weekend.

I really like this blog.. www.mylifeinacube.com
It's really cute, and the cartoonist, Shane, really hits office culture on the dot with his cartoons.

Monday Musings

Music: Hello Seattle- Owl City
Mood: Relaxing a Bit

First- I want to give a shout out to my AMAZING roommate, Margaret! =)))) YOU ROCK!

I had an interview at 8:30 with a consulting firm, and it was raining today so Margaret drove me the 5-6 blocks down to the business school so I didn't have to get wet! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. It's little things that make your day!

So, the interview went pretty well (I thought). The interviewer was a Plan II/Psychology major, so we hit it off pretty well. We talked so much that we were pressed for time for the case, so I only had time to solve about half of it. Plus, I felt he interrupted me... I was doing a percentage of revenues (after deriving volume and cost)... he made me start all over from to do a percentage of the volume before multiplying by costs (which ended up with the same number at the end..) but i guess he wanted me to derive the increase in volume first before finding out the increase in revenues.. Oh well. Hopefully I get a second round for that.

I had my finance test today as well, which I thought was okay. Not too bad, so hopefully I did well on that.

Then I had marketing, took a break for lunch, took a jog out at clark field (it was such a pretty day after the rain cleared!). Then I went to my TC for plan II about investments and warren buffett. I was originally interested in the class because I thought it'd go into the social aspects of business and investing.. however, it turned out to be a review of investments and financing and then reading buffett's autobiography.. it's not the most interesting 3 hour class for a monday afternoon.

Anyways, after that, I had a call with the conuslting firm to run through a practice ccase with him and give feedback to prepare me for my interview on Thursday.

Ok, that's it for today. Overall, good day, but now I still have a bit of hwk to get done. Oh, but i forgot,,.. how i met your mother is at 7:30 on monday's but Obama had a 1 hr press conference from 7-8 about the economy so HIMYM was skipped.. UGH. I am mad at Obama for that. =(

I guess Shane is having issues with the job search, just like me; except I'm searching for "consultant."