First year ended in May and we had till September to relax, travel and do summer internships. I did two summer internships - one with an Energy Private Equity firm in Amsterdam and the other with the Leadership program of an Energy behemoth in Maryland and London.
The first internship was ok - a lot of finance, shitloads of modeling - the usual banking stuff - and a steep learning curve given that I had absolutely no background in energy. Energy seems to be the flavor of the season and boy, am I glad I am not doing banking anymore:-) Being in Amsterdam was much much more fun though, for the obvious reasons (!) and also because every weekend was a different country in Europe. On the whole I managed to cover Holland, Sweden, Norway and France during the first internship. Pictures will be posted in a later entry.
The second internship was nothing short of amazing. Going into the leadership program, I had been told that I would be rotated across different divisions of the firm, specifically doing projects that I had never done before. It sounded a little scary and I often had nightmares about not being able to understand anything that was going on! The learning curve was extremely steep but the amazing culture of the firm and the work-life balance along with the super-dynamic-yet-accessible people made sure that I absolutely loved the 10 weeks I spent there. It was also a great introduction to Alternative Energy (I spent the time in the AE division of the firm)
After multiple trips shuttling between London and DC and tanking up on enough miles to last me two return trips to India (yay!), I ended the internship just a day before school began.
Coming back to school was super good, for the following reasons:
1. Meeting everyone again
2. Taking all the courses that I really wanted to take and not be bothered about a course that I hated
3. Having 2 job offers from both internships (which I think is the main reason that 2nd year for me has been nothing short of heavenly - especially when I see almost everyone else currently super focused on getting a job of their choice in an environment that is infinitely more competitive with fewer jobs)
4. Focusing on things that I am passionate about: gymming, photography (yeah I have taken a photography elective in Penn which means that I have classes till 9pm on Mondays but its totally worth it!)
5. Getting to explore new interests: sailing, flying and golf.
6. Taking reins of the Wharton India club and trying to ease 1st years into Wharton along with trying to organize multiple events
7. Planning all holidays - Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring break - damn, I never imagined I would obsess and stress so much about planning perfect holidays, trying to travel as much as I can while I'm still in school!
I think this is a great time to be in school - all the turmoil on Wall Street is truly scary. While it is definitely not fun seeing classmates who were recruiting for investment banking scramble for every available job, it is great to get a ring-side view of whats happening and an insider's perspective on the the unfolding events from a world-renowned faculty in finance. Everything is cyclical and hopefully things'll be back to normal and this is a shout-out to all my classmates in banking - you'll soon be earning your multi-million $$ bonuses again!!
I'm still trying to decide which offer to take up for the fulltime. Thankfully I have till December to decide, negotiate and renegotiate so that eases things up for me. This week is the Final Interview Period for 2nd years and while I did interview with 3 more firms, it was so much more different going into the process with 2 jobs in hand.
I'm really hoping to keep the blog more current and updated from now on - hopefully all the extra-curricular stuff at Wharton will not be too busy to keep me away from here!!
Adios, while I step out to enjoy the last few days of sunshine in Koo Plaza:-)
The first internship was ok - a lot of finance, shitloads of modeling - the usual banking stuff - and a steep learning curve given that I had absolutely no background in energy. Energy seems to be the flavor of the season and boy, am I glad I am not doing banking anymore:-) Being in Amsterdam was much much more fun though, for the obvious reasons (!) and also because every weekend was a different country in Europe. On the whole I managed to cover Holland, Sweden, Norway and France during the first internship. Pictures will be posted in a later entry.
The second internship was nothing short of amazing. Going into the leadership program, I had been told that I would be rotated across different divisions of the firm, specifically doing projects that I had never done before. It sounded a little scary and I often had nightmares about not being able to understand anything that was going on! The learning curve was extremely steep but the amazing culture of the firm and the work-life balance along with the super-dynamic-yet-accessible people made sure that I absolutely loved the 10 weeks I spent there. It was also a great introduction to Alternative Energy (I spent the time in the AE division of the firm)
After multiple trips shuttling between London and DC and tanking up on enough miles to last me two return trips to India (yay!), I ended the internship just a day before school began.
Coming back to school was super good, for the following reasons:
1. Meeting everyone again
2. Taking all the courses that I really wanted to take and not be bothered about a course that I hated
3. Having 2 job offers from both internships (which I think is the main reason that 2nd year for me has been nothing short of heavenly - especially when I see almost everyone else currently super focused on getting a job of their choice in an environment that is infinitely more competitive with fewer jobs)
4. Focusing on things that I am passionate about: gymming, photography (yeah I have taken a photography elective in Penn which means that I have classes till 9pm on Mondays but its totally worth it!)
5. Getting to explore new interests: sailing, flying and golf.
6. Taking reins of the Wharton India club and trying to ease 1st years into Wharton along with trying to organize multiple events
7. Planning all holidays - Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring break - damn, I never imagined I would obsess and stress so much about planning perfect holidays, trying to travel as much as I can while I'm still in school!
I think this is a great time to be in school - all the turmoil on Wall Street is truly scary. While it is definitely not fun seeing classmates who were recruiting for investment banking scramble for every available job, it is great to get a ring-side view of whats happening and an insider's perspective on the the unfolding events from a world-renowned faculty in finance. Everything is cyclical and hopefully things'll be back to normal and this is a shout-out to all my classmates in banking - you'll soon be earning your multi-million $$ bonuses again!!
I'm still trying to decide which offer to take up for the fulltime. Thankfully I have till December to decide, negotiate and renegotiate so that eases things up for me. This week is the Final Interview Period for 2nd years and while I did interview with 3 more firms, it was so much more different going into the process with 2 jobs in hand.
I'm really hoping to keep the blog more current and updated from now on - hopefully all the extra-curricular stuff at Wharton will not be too busy to keep me away from here!!
Adios, while I step out to enjoy the last few days of sunshine in Koo Plaza:-)
