The LGO Years: Life as an LGO in the fall

Fall is a time for change in Boston. The temperature, along with the foliage, is slowly changing indicating the start of another class of MBA students at MIT. For an MBA student at Sloan, the time in the beginning is some of the most exciting, as well as the most demanding. At MIT, a first-year (a first year MBA student) begins the Sloan Core. The courses are Economic Analysis for Business Decisions, Financial Accounting, Communication for Leaders, and Operational Processes. The core is special at MIT as you get all the classes that you need to take finished in one semester which give you incredible freedom in what you can take later on in the program. Although you work pretty consistently during the week, you also find time to network and build relationships with fellow students. This is usually through an activity such as a C-Function, trek, or simply going out to a local pub. As an MBA student, your network is just as important as the skills that you pick up in class. So the impetus for building this network and making connections should be given equal weight throughout the program. As an LGO, I find that one of my greatest challenges is to balance what I like to call the "activity deluge." To put it simply, you have to decide what NOT to do instead of what to do. For example, any given day of the week that ends in y, you could potentially be: 1) Getting caught up on reading, studying, engineering/business homework 2) Going to a company informational session 3) Attending a hackathon or start-up meeting 4) Playing a sport with other sloanies 5) Partying with other classmates celebrating being done with step 1 (only for a night) 6) Attending a guest lecture on some interesting subject 7) Going to a club meeting such as the MIT dance team, or cycle team, etc 8) Getting caught up on sleep :) 9) the list goes on. There is literally something to do every minute of every day you are in this program. This forces you to use some sort of organizational tool to schedule everything you want to squeeze in during the week. I prefer gmail calendar but some folks get by with gasp, a written calendar book. Truly, deciding what not to do is a great position to be in and you can pick out the things that matter most to you. For me personally, I want to experience everything that Sloan and the LGO program has to offer. This usually means less sleep and rest. I couldn't be happier. Here are just a few fun photos: This is from the Polar Beverage Plant Tour (awesome experience)