Life at Smith: A Typical Day for an MBA

How exactly do Smith students spend their time? Join Will Christman, MBA 2005 as he navigates a typical day.

7:00 am - Will wakes up, showers and dresses – business casual today, since the Graduate Marketing Club is hosting a luncheon speaker from Proctor & Gamble. After collecting the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post from the front door, Will scans the headlines and eats breakfast with his wife before she leaves for her job at a downtown law firm. Will makes a note to check the portfolio he’s tracking for the Mayer Fund after seeing news of currency fluctuations on his Blackberry.

8:00 am – Will commutes to College Park from his apartment in Silver Spring. He could take the free University of Maryland shuttle bus, but today he drives so that he can deliver the club materials for the luncheon.

8:45 am – Ducking into Rudy’s for a quick cup of coffee, Will joins his Finance team to go over the project they’re completing – an equity analysis of Intel. Laptops open, they access the net from the café, pulling in financials from the Smith school’s virtual financial databases. By 10, they’re ready to hash out a buy or sell recommendation.

10:45 am – A wireless building means Will can order a quick print out of his lecture notes that the professor posted to Blackboard last night, picking them up on the way to his 11 am class.

11am – 12:15 pm Entrepreneurship class is outstanding today. Starting with a team presentation on attracting venture capital, Will notes that his own business plan is nearly ready to pitch to faculty and staff at the Dingman Center. He inputs a reminder note to his calendar – every Friday, students pitch business ideas during lunch. This week, he’s going for it!

12:30 – 1:30 pm Today’s speaker touches on the importance of smooth ERP systems to maximize data exchange for insights into customer service. The digital economy connects the pieces for Will, who is switching from IT engineering to financial management, eventually hoping to run his own small firm. So glad I came to Smith! he thinks.

2:00 – 3:15 pm During the day’s second elective, Equity Analysis, Will and his team go over the highlights in the market. The professor reminds the class that the bus trip to New York to meet with Smith alumni in investment banking is next week. She reminds them to have their resumes ready.

3:15 – 5 pm Like many second year students, Will holds a part-time job, called a Graduate Assistantship. Will assists the Office of Career Management. This afternoon, he pulls together an analysis of recruiters who have visited Smith during the previous Spring, and the number of offers students received. The numbers are up in both categories he notes – a good sign for his own job search.

5 -6 pm – Just enough time to answer the day’s emails and order his free student basketball tickets to next week’s game before heading to the gym for a quick workout. Will likes the spinning class, but opts today to lift weights before heading home.

7:30 pm – After supper, Will studies for a few hours. He accesses tomorrow’s reading assignment through the Smith web portal, where he also uses the analytic software to run a regression on his marketing project.

10 pm – Checking email, Will notices that the Finance Club’s resume book seems to be generating some interest – two recruiters have sent meeting requests. Will logs onto SOURCE, the Smith job site, and schedules the interviews.

11 pm – One last scan of the text book for tomorrow’s class, and Will calls it a day. Thinking how fast it’s all going, Will promises to have dinner with his team and their families on the weekend. Team members come from four countries and are planning an international potluck. Will falls asleep feeling grateful to have met such wonderful colleagues – friends for life, he thinks.