Math Camp

A friend and fellow blogger reminded me today in no uncertain terms that I've been crap about updating. Were this a competition, I'd be losing the update battle. Thus the double-posting today.

So far, I'm 3/4 of the way through Math Camp (alternatively known as "Nerd Camp", "Geek Camp", "Math Review", "Summer Camp", "Get used to being back in a classroom for hours on end Camp", "Try not to fall asleep Camp", "Don't worry about the homework Camp" or "Just another excuse to meet a bunch of your future classmates before actual classes start Camp". For the most part, it's been pretty good, and I'm definitely glad that I signed up for it.

Last week was kind of a waste, in terms of actual instruction. We didn't really cover that much material, and a lot of what we did I had already gone over in studying for the GMAT. But as you can see from my "alternate names" list above, it was good for both getting back in to the groove of things, re- school, as well as for hanging out and getting to know a lot of my new classmates.

It's strange how quickly you can get to know somebody in this situation. Even though I've only known most people for a week, a week and a half at most, I already consider many of them my friends. I guess it's a combination of attitude and commonalities that brings us close so quickly.

Yesterday, we found out what "cohort" we're in. A cohort is a 60-person group that you end up taking all of your core classes (like accounting, finance and the other required first-year classes) together with, so they end up being a big part of your experience, because you spend so much time together during the first semester. Despite the fact that I've already met a lot of people through Math Camp, it seems like I don't know that many people in my cohort. Which is sort of a bad thing, in that it means a lot of the people I've been hanging out with and that I like I won't be able to spend as much time with, but I guess it's also sort of a good thing, because it will expose me to new people, which is definitely part of what business school is all about.

Anyway, the past three days of Math Camp have been a lot more helpful in terms of material covered. We went over some of the basics of finance (bonds, discount rate, the time value of money, etc.), which I knew nothing about. Plus, the professor was extremely dynamic, and did a great job of keeping 150 people in a cavernous auditorium engaged, despite the fact that all we wanted to do was either a) sleep off our hangovers or b) hurry up into the production of new hangovers. Tomorrow, yet another professor takes over, for two days of instruction on accounting. Despite the unofficial "don't do your homework" policy that's not-so-quietly handed down from the second years (and probably tacitly endorsed by the professors), like with finance, I got nuthin' when it comes to accounting, so I'm going to try to struggle through some of the reading for tomorrow's session.

Wish me luck.