Look Mommy, Look! The little girl squealed in delight as she tugged away at her mother's skirt for attention. She was straining her neck to see the F18 waltzing right above her. Fully in control, the F18s swooped down from 15,000 feet and almost touched the tip of the water before it lifted up effortlessly.

 

Within the very first few days of orientation you will be told, retold and told again about how brutal the first year is. By the end of the first week your head will be filled with thoughts of textbooks, pub crawls, picnics, readings, assignments, midterms, club memberships, case competitions, corporate presentations, formal suits, home, free food, Friday beers, networking, house parties, long distance relationships, moving, unpacking and furniture.

 

 In the first week itself, you will also be told about how soon the time flies by. When I joined school last year, I bought into everything that everyone told me during orientation except that the first year will dash past you and it will all be a blur. How can time possibly fly when you are thousands of miles away from home and loved ones, when the city freezes over, when you are stuck poring over books and are surviving without a pay-check? In November, while walking out of the library one cold snowy afternoon, I remember my friend remarked in frustration - "Everyone says time flies by, it is mini 2 already and the time is crawling. When the heck will it pick up speed?" But boy, were we wrong! Time does fly by when you are having fun doing whatever you are doing. It may take a mini or two to figure out the most optimal way of having fun (don't know if I should attribute that to the optimization class in mini 2?). Once January is here, the internship recruiting season picks up pace. Before you know it, it is time to head out for your internship.  You come back and suddenly find yourself dishing out free advice to the new 1st years (look who's talking!)

 

Come May 2010 and you will be ready waltz through tough business problems. Not just waltz through it but you will even be able to make it look effortless because of all the hard work you put in now! Come 2020 and you will appear on the front page on WSJ. Welcome to Tepper!