The First Day of the Second Quarter

After wrapping up the most-appreciated holiday break I've ever had, today marks the first day of the second quarter (out of a total of nine).  After reviewing the syllabi for the two courses we're taking this semester (Corporate Finance and Statistics), a couple of things are becoming evident:

• Homework is about to look little / nothing like it used to.  There are a lot of case-based assignments this quarter, and the term "case write up" just got a bit more intimidating.
• The intensity of the group-work dynamic of the program is kicking up a notch.  Where the first quarter saw the occasional group assignment, this quarter sees 1-2 per week.

On all of this, our second-year mentor offered some words of wisdom that I think are worth passing on to those considering their MBA:

• The concepts you learn early on will be reinforced over-and-over again as you work through the remaining core curriculum.  Many of us experienced "weed-out" courses in undergrad... These core classes are meant to set the stage for the management science and strategy work you will do later on - they are not meant to thin the heard.
• The volume of work is like mental endurance training.  Becoming a top manager is not about simply learning the most information and getting on the Dean's list.  It is about learning to process the most information, accurately and without being limited by mental fatigue.

And so, the mental Ironman continues today.  Interestingly, my teammates and I are all starting to think more about the non-class activities available to benefit us during our time as students - mentorships, career advising, professional organizations.  One thing's for sure: we'll have to make time for those things, because it will be easy to focus only on the classwork at hand.

If any of my classmates are reading - what were your big takeaways from AUT 2013?