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Midterm Week at Kellogg

Midterm week for the first quarter at Kellogg is finally under way. While most people here at Kellogg want to perform well, not everyone is immersed in their books. But this doesn’t come as a surprise. After all, business school is not only about doing well in school its also about balancing that with a myriad of other things, professional, cultural, and social.

For the most part, campus was a lot emptier this weekend that it would be during the week. A lot of people are doing their studying at home, and others aren’t studying as much as the rest of us. That’s because the level of student preparation for midterms will probably vary pretty significantly. Some students may be sponsored (or JD-MBAs who recruited in law and have jobs at law firms) so grades are less important relative to their classmates. It’s also because some students have academic backgrounds in business already and so those students may not need to put in as much time. That’s especially true for subjects like stats, accounting, and finance. And finally, some people here are just really smart, so some of them are able to do their work in just a couple of hours.

At the same time, just because midterms are here, doesn’t mean everything else comes to an end. Last week was one of the busiest weeks we’ve had here on campus so far  in terms of extracurricular activities, and next week it doesn’t stop either. On Monday, BCG is here for a campus presentation. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs and Monitor Group are coming to campus.  And most of us have homework assignments due in a couple of classes too. And that’s in addition to the meetings some people have for clubs that they might be involved in.

Compared to the law school, more of my peers seem a lot more calm and collected here than they did last year at law school. I think the same is true for JD-MBAs, in large part because the culture of business school is so much different than that of law school. As for me, things still feel pretty hectic, but that’s in part because I’ve got a lot of things happening on multiple fronts, and because I like staying busy. Personally, I’ve been spending a lot of time at Jacobs, unlike many of my classmates, since I tend to work better there than I do at home, and because I like running into people on weekends, while I’m doing work.

It’s been a pretty interesting past few weeks, but we’re still only midway through the first quarter. I suspect things will seem a lot busier next quarter when we’re balancing all of this with recruiting.

But while the schedule of Kellogg, and of the JD-MBA program, may sound brutal, my opinion is that we’re are pretty fortunate to be at Kellogg given the opportunities it will afford, no matter how grades end up playing out. So I encourage everyone to stay optimistic and enjoy the process. I also plan to keep writing posts over the next few weeks, no matter how busy it becomes. So I hope you’ll keep reading.

Good luck everyone taking exams!