JOHN McCLAIN

24

Most of the information on the website is at a macro level talking about everything you learn and experience while at Tepper.  I wanted to drill down in one of my posts and talk on a more micro level about some of the day to day activities that occur.  So what is a typical day for a Tepper student?  Well, the short answer is there isn’t one but this is my schedule for the upcoming Monday.  As you can see, time management skills are very important as we all try to create additional hours each day.

7:30 – 9:           Wake up, scan the WSJ headlines for any relevant information on several of the companies I am following (for any number of reasons) and get to school.

9:30 – 10:         Meeting with a classmate who interned at a company that I am speaking to soon.  I am trying to get a better understanding of the job description / expectations and the corporate culture. 

10:30 – 12:30:  Business Acting.  The first class of the week is quite enjoyable especially because there is no homework due.

12:30 – 1:30:    Quick lunch followed by some last minute interview preparation.

1:30 – 2:30:      Valuation.  I have to leave class early to make my 2:45 interview.

2:45 – 3:15:      First round interview with a Financial Services company.

3:30 – 4:00:      Weekly meeting with the Director of Facilities for the school.  In my role as GBA Vice President I sit down every week with the school’s Director of Facilities to discuss student needs / concerns.

4:00 – 4:30:      Speak with an Executive at another company about potential job openings, essentially an informational session.

4:30 – 5:30:      More in-depth reading of the WSJ, catch up on the day’s market activities.  Finalize my stock pitch for later that night.

5:30 – 6:30:      Dinner and some quick reading for any homework assignments coming up.

6:30 – 9:00:      The Investment Club is holding their first stock pitch.  I am an analyst for the Tepper Opportunity Fund covering the Financial Services sector this semester.  I will be pitching PNC Financial Services.  Based on my research they are a strong buy going forward. 

9:00 – 10:00:    Quick workout, head home.

10:00 – 12:00:  Homework.

1 down 3 to go

Is there anything as enjoyable as sitting in an airport waiting for a delayed flight?  Well mini 1 is over and I am officially 62.5% done with the program… time absolutely fly’s here.  After taking one of the most difficult tests of my life I felt like it was time to take a break and see my family before I embark on a heavy travel schedule over the next 6 months.  Kentucky was great but now its back to school for mini 2. 

In sporting news, the Tepper IM racquetball team is undefeated and looking for another win on Tuesday.  Unfortunately one of our teammates, Evan Keyser, broke his ankle on the court yesterday.  We’ve dedicated the championship to Evan.  CMU’s football team is also undefeated at 6-0 and I saw my first professional hockey game last week.  I must say that I am not a fan of the sport but seeing it life and in color was amazing, even though the Penguins lost 5-1.  I also read a great quote last week “The gambling known as business looks with great disfavor on the business known as gambling." -Ambrose Bierce.  Well it's time for day 1 all over again.

Quality vs. Quantity

Since the website was talking about style vs. substance I thought I’d talk about another important issue.  The decision between quality and quantity comes up frequently in day to day activities and I have been thinking about it with respect to Tepper and its class size recently.  This weekend is our Alumni Weekend and I am looking forward to meeting many of them and listening in on several panels including one on Hedge Funds and Private Equity.  I am a firm believer in quality over quantity and feel strongly that Tepper has made that choice and that it is the correct one. 

As I have been going through my job search this year, I have been extremely impressed with the quality of our alumni network.  I feel that this is due impart to the smaller class sizes.  Tepper students are genuinely friendly and caring before they get to school, probably a reason why admissions accepts them, during school, probably why my time here has been so rewarding, and as alumni, probably why I have such a sense of pride when speaking about Tepper.  Any successful job search involves contacting individuals in the company you are interested in and networking with them to figure if you really want to work for that company.  The same can be said for B-school applications as well, contact current students and alumni to help figure out if this is the school for you.   

Alumni are the first contact I try to make in an organization that I am interested in.  The alumni I have had the pleasure in speaking too have been responsive and unimaginably helpful.  Today I was able to speak with an alum for almost an hour during the work day!  The fact that busy individuals will spare time in their day simply to point me in the right direction is great.  These experiences create a type of virtuous circle that I will be sure to carry on with the next generations of Tepper students.  I could ramble on about a plethora of similar situations but I have my final Game board meeting tonight so I need to run.

Confidence

After speaking with a few of my first year classmates about how they should conduct their internship search, a few common themes kept occurring.  The first was that the people actively involved within the Tepper community ended up with some of the most interesting internships.  Going along with that theme, the people actively involved were able to strengthen their leadership skills. 

I made a concerted effort to take on several leadership positions within the school and have gained a great deal of confidence in my abilities over the past year plus as a result.  Prior to B-school I hadn’t had the opportunity to present in front of large groups of people and like many people, I didn’t particular want to.  I overcame that issue very quickly and have had numerous opportunities to present in front of crowds ranging from 50-200 plus people.  Practice definitely makes perfect and being able to practice in a controlled environment takes away a lot of the anxiety. 

Having participated in several inter-MBA events and collaborating with MBA’s from all across the world, I’ve also come to appreciate just how valuable the coursework and learning environment in general is at Tepper.  Whether I am presenting in class or to a C-level executive I am confident that the analysis I have done is top notch and I can back up any conclusion I’ve reached.  This is extremely important when challenging conventional wisdom.  Tepper students are confident but not cocky and that distinction really helps the view of our program from a recruitment prospective.  When I go into new situations I don’t look to provide canned answers.  I look to the people who know the situation first and then apply the tools I have to help add value.  I look back to myself 14 months ago and realize that I have progressed immensely because of the program and because of my commitment to challenge myself and I encourage everyone who attends B-school too really push themselves because “walking is easy when the road is flat”. 

New Opportunities

One of the biggest selling points for Tepper is the school’s size.  In a small program every individual has the opportunity to make a major impact in shaping the program going forward.  Many of my classmates have stepped up to this challenge and have created new programs through clubs and student government that have greatly improved the overall experience of the program.  These individuals contributed lots of time and energy to better educate both classes inside and outside of the classroom.

The Investment Club has been busy over the past few months.  We now have the Tepper Opportunity Fund.  This fund is being used to teach our classmates how to approach fundamental and technical investing.  I was lucky enough to be chosen as an analyst and am covering the Healthcare sector.  Each analyst will prepare stock pitch’s for the club’s board and based upon our recommendations the fund can chose to invest in the company’s we pitch.  This type of experience is extremely rewarding.  Not only am I continuing to learn about how to analyze companies, combining classroom learning and working with classmates, but I get to practice delivering pitches before interview season roles around.  Additionally, the club has arranged several visits to local buy-side companies.  We recently sat down with Mellon Equity and Standish Mellon and got an insider perspective of how the Asset Management industry functions. 

Several members of our student government have put together a new program this year called the Tepper Prepper.  This program is entirely student run and its goal is to help prepare our first year students for their internship hunt.  The president of the Graduate Finance Association recently delivered a presentation on how to effectively network.  Following the presentation first year students were paired with several second year students where they practiced elevator pitches and learned about how we conducted our internship searches.  The idea is to pass along our best practices and to prevent their class from making some of the mistakes we did.  Several other events are scheduled including practice behavioral and case interviews. 

These examples really highlight the momentum the school has.  Every day, week, month, year the program continues to get stronger and sometimes I wish I was just starting.  That thought is very short lived though, as I am ready to get back into the business world and make an impact immediately. 

Lesson Learned

Well I had several blogs that should have been posted to the website but I committed a huge error that has had me scrambling for the past week and half.  I'd like to offer this advice to everyone, regardless of whether you are applying to B-school or not, backup your information on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, my hard drive fell out of my laptop and all my information went up in smoke.  Luckily, I had some of it backed up but I lost everything from mini 4 of last year and mini 1 of this year.  Re-doing Game models is not fun especially with so much going on.

As Vice President of our student government I am involved in many of the events going on at Tepper.  On Friday the second year students held a resume review for the new class to help them polish up those documents as they begin their internship search.  The interaction between the two classes has been great thus far even though our schedules are completely different.  We also had a second year vs. first year kickball game and I am in the midst of helping to plan Casino Night.  This was one of my favorite events last year.  Professors deal black jack, students show up in tux’s and people from all of our programs get together to relax and have a good time.  I am looking forward to the addition of Poker to the assortment of games, as there are several Prof’s that I would thoroughly enjoy beating.  Time to run; I have to prepare for my Negotiations class tomorrow.