I hear the door close as my wife heads off to work…it must be Monday. I slowly climb out of bed and wander over to my laptop to check my calendar. It looks like another day full of classes, group meetings, club meetings, and career workshops. The biggest change from professional to student life is the amount of involvement possible at Haas. Before school, I worked for a large consulting firm, a consumer marketing and analytics company, and a couple of start-ups. I decided to head back to school to leverage my background in technology in an entrepreneurial or finance capacity. From day one at Haas, I have been presented with an incredible amount of career change options.

First up this morning, I have to do some reading and prepare a case for class. The threat of the “cold-call” and the fear of falling behind are great motivators. I spend a few hours preparing for my classes and then start getting ready to head out the door. I quickly glance at my Outlook Tasks and realize I need to follow up with the salespeople at Kirkwood, a Lake Tahoe ski resort. A few of us were able to convince about 90 of our classmates to order a Kirkwood season pass for the upcoming winter. I have realized that whether I am organizing a ski trip or heading to the symphony, there is always someone from Haas (or 90 someones) who is interested in joining me. I finish up the call and head out the door knowing that a good portion of Haas is going to Kirkwood this winter.

Once at Haas, I grab a cup of coffee at Jimmy Bean’s Café and quickly say hello to friends before my accounting class. I see a couple of people from my cohort and head over to class with them, relieved to find they are just as confused as I am. After accounting, I have to rush to a lunch session on career opportunities in business development. For someone like me who is looking to change careers, these workshops are a great way to find out all the possibilities available to MBA students.

One more class and then the meetings for the day begin. My first meeting is for the Berkeley Business Plan Competition (“the BPlan”). The BPlan is the premier entrepreneurship competition at Berkeley and one of the top business plan competitions in the nation. As with most clubs at Haas, the BPlan is a student-run organization; we call the shots, and we must follow through. My fellow co-chair and I meet to discuss our team’s fundraising efforts and the intellectual property workshop we will be hosting on Wednesday. The entrepreneurship program at Haas is second to none. In addition to my leadership role with the BPlan, I am also the tech chair of the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC). The GSVC is similar to the BPlan, but focuses on promoting socially responsible, sustainable businesses around the globe. The GSVC was created by Haas students and is now run jointly with students from Columbia and the London Business School. After about an hour with my BPlan co-chair, I realize it is already 5:00 p.m. – another day is flying by. I quickly head over to the Bank of America forum to meet with my study group. We have a project due on Friday, so we need to make sure we are all on track. We manage to spend about half of the meeting talking about everything except our project – it is amazing how close my group has become over the semester.

After a quick bite to eat, and I do mean quick, I head over to the Faculty Club for a corporate presentation from a top investment bank. After learning about the bank and meeting alumni who now work at the bank (with whom I will definitely follow up later), I am tired. I decide to walk the two miles back to my house just to unwind a little bit. On the way home, I think about all the people I have met over the semester, the knowledge I have gained, and the crazy but typical day I just had. I came to Haas because of the people I met during my visits, people with amazing backgrounds and inspiring goals. Everyday, I interact with these incredible people and learn from their experiences, sharing my experiences when I can. I continue walking, thinking how lucky I am to have two years with my classmates, and how glad I am I chose Haas.

Back to students...

It is 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning, and the alarm clock is ringing. I hit the snooze button until 6:30. My husband Siva, who has already been up for two hours, comes into the room and tells me I have to get up. At 7:00 a.m., he comes in, shuts off the alarm, and actually makes me get out of bed.

Before Haas, Siva and I lived in Atlanta, where I was an IT consultant with a small company called Jacada and he was a Bell South systems engineer. After four years in the IT industry, I was ready to move to strategy consulting, so I applied to business school. My husband was able to work out a telecommuting deal, so he works from California during East Coast hours, occasionally flying back to Atlanta for the week.

I spend the next hour and a half feeding and walking my beagle Shadow, and getting ready for the day. At 8:30 a.m., I get to the bus just in time and jump on. I live in Rockridge, which is a great neighborhood just south of Berkeley. Several of my fellow classmates live in the area, and as the Route 51 bus goes up College Avenue, I end up discussing the marketing case with my classmates and having an impromptu study session on the bus.

I get off the bus at the Recreational Sports Facility (RSF), the new modern gym complex here at Berkeley. I try and get in a short workout in the morning before class. It helps me stay in shape and keep off the freshman 15; it’s not just for undergrads anymore! I’m done at 10:00 a.m. and walk briskly up the hill to Haas.

I run and grab a quick non-fat, no-whip mocha from Jimmy Bean’s Café and run into marketing class. Promptly, at the beginning of class, Professor Glazer starts cold-calling to ignite the discussion. While the cold-calling is intimidating, the discussion is invigorating. The main reason I came to Haas is the people. Students have such diverse backgrounds and bring different points of view to the table. It is great to hear the different viewpoints and how they all come together to see different angles in the same case. As usual, our chatty cohort goes over time, and we leave class five minutes late.

During lunch, I am double-booked. I wait in the Bank of America forum to meet with Fernando Lopez, the outgoing MBAA VP of Diversity. The MBAA is the student body government, and the VP of Diversity is responsible for promoting diversity within the MBA community. I was just elected as his successor, and we are meeting to discuss the transition. After seeing how truly diverse the student body is and the success of the first annual Diversity Conference planned by Fernando, I am excited to take the job. As VP of Diversity, I hope to continue the momentum of the Diversity Conference, and plan several social and educational events with the VP of International and the VP of Academics for the current student body and prospective students. Fernando and I discuss my ideas for next year and how to start planning for next year’s Diversity Conference.

After the meeting, I head to room C220 to meet with Global Initiatives @ Haas. This is a new club started this year by students interested in International Development. We are planning a career trek to Washington DC over winter break, and we are having a status meeting to find out which companies have agreed to meet with us. So far, the schedule is almost full. It looks like we will have a great trip.

After the meeting, it is on to accounting class. Over the next two hours, I try to make sense of financial sheets. The wonderful thing about my cohort is that I feel completely comfortable asking questions when I don’t understand the material. Everyone around is always willing to help, so I spend a few minutes after class with a classmate to make sure I understood the accounting lecture.

I head back to the Bank of America forum to meet with my study group. We have finance class tomorrow, and Professor Stanton takes particular pleasure in cold-calling students. We spend the next two and a half hours going over the finance problems together. Thank goodness for a collaborative group. Without them, I would never make it through the fall.

At 5:30 p.m., we agree to call it a night and resolve to meet tomorrow at lunchtime. I head out the door and down the street to the bus stop. Soon, I’m chatting with some of my classmates. On the 51, I set up some case interview practice sessions. Several people are interested in entering strategy consulting, so we help each other out by practicing case interviews, a particularly grueling interview technique consulting firms use to understand how candidates solve problems. The career service office and the Haas Consulting Club have been an invaluable resource in understanding the difficult interview process and the best way to practice.

At home, my wonderful husband has cooked dinner. We sit down to dinner and talk about our day. Shadow sits waiting for food to fall. I then go over finance and try to read for marketing class, while my husband watches television. At 9:30 p.m., he goes to bed (remember, he works East Coast hours), and I stay up working. At about 12:30 a.m., I close my books and decide to get some sleep. Tomorrow I have to do it all over again.

Back to students...

It is 9:00 a.m., and I am starting my day enjoying breakfast and reading email in the sunshine on my balcony. This morning, I am catching up after being away for the weekend at a business case event, the Elite Eight Marketing Case Competition. Teams from eight schools were given a real-life business case, with 36 hours to analyze and present a solution to the sponsoring company. It was a weekend full of PowerPoint, quick research, creative brainstorming, and little sleep. It reminded me of my previous career in advertising, where I worked numerous hours on client pitches and new business presentations. In the end, our presentation for the competition came together, and we won first place! Today’s fatigue is surpassed by excitement at our achievement. Several emails in my inbox are from my Elite Eight teammates – after spending the entire weekend together, it seems strange to wake up without rushing to meet with them.

I head to campus, a 15 minute walk from my North Berkeley apartment. I am eager to hear about the weekend events I missed, and a friend shares a few key moments captured on a camera phone. We are still laughing at the photos as we head into organizational behavior class. Today’s discussion is on how company culture affects motivation and teamwork, and students with backgrounds from investment banking to non-profit offer their unique perspectives. After class, I eat lunch on campus at the International House, taking over a large table on the patio for an hour. I remind myself that it is snowing back in the Midwest and resolve never to take the amazing California weather for granted! Moving from Minneapolis to Berkeley was a wonderful weather and culture shock, and I am still adjusting to both. I am also adjusting to being a few thousand miles away from my fiancé, Pete. Although it is difficult, after a few weeks at Haas, I knew I had made the right decision.

Later in the afternoon, I meet with a teammate from the Berkeley Solutions Group. This organization provides student-run consulting services to Bay Area businesses. We are working on a growth strategy for an artist/small business owner who designs one-of-a-kind bathroom fixtures. Today, we are visiting boutique shops in San Francisco to speak with salespeople and merchandise buyers to get a feel for the marketplace. Our client has been very receptive to our recommendations so far, and it is exciting to know we will truly have an impact on the way her business is run. Having worked in advertising, I would like to transition into brand management, and this project is a great way for me to experience the sales and distribution side of marketing. One of the reasons I chose Haas was to be close to all of the unique businesses in the Bay Area and have the opportunity to work on real-life projects.

Back in Berkeley by sunset, I go for a run before diving into tomorrow’s economics case. My mind is racing with the excitement of the case competition win, today’s class discussion, and thoughts on a merchandising strategy for the consulting project. A quick route in the hills with my favorite play-list clears my head. After a phone call to Pete recapping the day’s events, I am ready to prepare for tomorrow.

Back to students...