School’s out

Since the last time I blogged, my schedule has been the craziest possibly in my entire life. All the big name I-banks came out with their lists and it was good or bad depending on who you ask. It was very clear where I had spent my entire semester on because I came out very satisfied with the number of lists my name appeared on. There was even one I got on that I really pleasantly surprised me. It was completely unexpected because a lot of people had told me some stuff about certain things that the bank is particular about.

Anyway, we all got over that phase and had to face 5 exams including one on a Saturday. I have not had up to 5 hours of sleep in the last 2 weeks. I suppose that is what you get when you try cram 8 weeks of classes into a few nights. The janitorial crew and I have become buddies since they always meet me studying at 4am everyday in school.

To make things even more dramatic, some lady rammed into my car from behind on the day just before my last exam. It was exactly one year ago that someone rammed into my car and completely wrecked it under the same set of circumstances. So I got a car very big and loaded with all sorts of safety features earlier this year. It was a wise decision because this time, I didn’t have to suffer the physical injury I had to endure last year. The lady was expecting me to freak out but I did not. She couldn’t help but say it out. I laughed and told her that I have one million things going on in my mind including an exam I had to study from the beginning till end that night (reading 75% of the materials for the first time too).. and oh I had a first round interview that I needed to seriously prepare for in NY 2 days from the day of the accident. So the last thing I needed to do was freak out and lose control. We called 911 and the cops came and made it clear that it was her fault. We exchange insurance information and I drove off with my dear bashed car.

The next day I went into the exam and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it will be. After the exam, I ran back home, packed up and rushed to the airport en route New York again. I had blogged about a bank that I was in talks with but doesn’t recruit for I-Banking from my school. I had a first round interview with them today and I have to say that it pays to prepare well for these things. I met two bankers and we started with the good old resume walk. Then came the technical part. We breezed through those until my second interviewer gave me a question that absolutely threw me off. He later said he got the same question during his interview and there’s no real answer.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of the TV series, 24. My second interviewer looks remarkably like Keifer Sutherland (Jack Bauer). Since the interview got quite casual and we were both laughing in the last 5 minutes, I was sooo tempted to ask him if they were related. Reason prevailed and I chose not to take that chance. I’ll definitely ask him if I get to meet him again.

So now, school’s officially closed for the year and I am relived. I’m at JFK now on my way back to Chapel Hill. I plan to sleep till1 pm tomorrow. Get up and eat a big lunch, go back to sleep, watch movies and go back to sleep again. One Alum I met recently confirmed that this period was also the busiest in his life. He has not even been this busy since he started work as an I-banker. Interviews start on the first day of school and I’ll have to spend time preparing for these. I have mixed feelings when I think about the fact that all these will be over by mid January! I am really going to golf next Mod. I pray everything works out as planned. Big thanks to the second year students who have been of tremendous help drilling me with mock interviews (even though I felt hazed when I had a two on one with them… you guys know who you are). One actually met with me during my exam for 3 hours between 11pm and 2am! This is what I love about Kenan-Flagler Students. I will gladly do the same thing for first years next year.

Congratulations to the early admits

Congratulations to the early admits to the class of 2009. I got my admission offer exactly one year ago and I can still remember the feeling. Of course a lot has happened since then. Everything happens fast…I mean VERY fast at UNC. Today was meant to be judgment day for everyone seeking I-Banking internships but a few closed lists were released ahead of time yesterday. It was mixed feelings as I saw those that made the list very elated and many that didn’t make it downright pissed off especially after they were shown some love with dinner invitations and the likes by the I-banks during the ‘courtship’ period. I'm beginning the see everything predicted by the second year students starting to play out. The good thing about this is that everyone gets to roll over to plan B very quickly if I-Banking is not looking good. In case you are wondering how yours truly fared…I was one of the lucky ones…. I’ll have more on this later today when all the lists come out.

It was a good day

It was great news galore today. First I found out today that Foxxy (my wife) just got promoted. Then I also got an email proving to me that my NY trip earlier in the week was not in vain. I made the closed list for the first round interview! This is a big deal around here because even though the firm in question comes to Kenan-Flagler for several of their business units, we are not a core school for their I-Banking Group. In addition, all other closed list results do not come out until around Christmas break. The challenge with this however is that I have to take the interview before Christmas and I have exams coming up in two weeks. This good news has just given me enough vigor to take me through the tough weeks ahead. It was a good day.