April 2007 Archives

None of the first year ACFIN students assumed returning to graduate school after a significant amount of time would be easy, however, some of the challenges they faced were not quite what they expected.
After years of working in a professional field, most students had to reorganize their wardrobe for more comfortable clothing, especially since they would be busy getting lost on bus routes, or driving for hours to look for parking. Well, maybe not hours, but getting to campus wasn’t an easy task. In fact some students missed the bus, while others took the bus the wrong direction. At least one student had to walk an extra mile home because the bus route she finally figured out changed. Those living farther away circled the streets for a half an hour at times searching for a parking space that wasn’t restricted to the two hour parking limit on many Madison streets, while comfy parking spaces below Grainger Hall, and lots nearby only requested payment for an open spot. Eventually, most students did find a routine which fit their schedule.
Once in Grainer, another search was on: finding the mysterious staircases. Students were told they existed, knew that with modern fire codes they had to be somewhere in the building, but staircases climbing higher than the second floor were nowhere to be seen. The elevators were weighted down with many clueless students with the same thought in their mind: “If only I knew where the stairs were!”
Fortunately, the hidden staircases are not needed to get to any of the first year classrooms, but that doesn’t mean that finding the right room was easy. The identical looking rooms which each host a different cohort at the same time have confused many. Students have sat in the wrong class; stood in the doorway early in the morning (without a sufficient amount of coffee in their system) while they try to recognize the faces as those in their cohort, or not; and have even followed a member of their cohort (who apparently didn’t have his morning coffee) into the wrong classroom! Once in class, the hunt for a seat begins with the hope that there was at least one more open that didn’t squeak. Finally it was time for class and for the real work to begin.

Last week was a busy week for ACFIN. On Friday, we had a guest speaker during our weekly Bagels and Finance meeting. Doug Baird, an ACFIN board member and Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets at Banc of America, spoke with us about investment banking and the current state of the equities business. Also, I got to meet prospective students Andrew Bruno, Kevin Urbani & Armah Ngafua who were in town for the “MBAs on Wisconsin” weekend and were able to attend Bagels and Finance with us.

Later that day, fellow ACFIN first and second year students took a trip down to Milwaukee to watch the Brewers take on the Houston Astros. After J.J. Kern and Mark Stuart worked their magic at the grill, we headed for the game. The game was close throughout and tied in the 9th inning but unfortunately the Brewers couldn’t come back from the grand slam home run they gave up in the 9th and ended up losing the game.

On Saturday night, the Graduate Business Association held their annual Spring Ball at the Overture Center. Awards were given out in various categories like best professor and student most able to explain CAPM to his/her grandma. For those looking at the ACFIN – don’t worry, you’ll hear about CAPM soon enough. After awards were given out, it was on to the dancing. It was a fun night and great to see everyone dressed up, relaxed, and having a great time.

The coming next two weeks are the last two weeks of classes and full of fun things like finals and studying! I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.