Texas MBAs Talk

The first thing people said to me when I told them I was heading to Austin for business school were three words “Austin is amazing!” Having visited the city before, I knew this was the case, however business school started with such a bang that my goal of exploring Austin was quickly replaced the goal of learning finance and accounting and statistics.  You get the picture.  After first quarter finals McCombs was generous enough to give us six days off.  While several of my classmates used this time to go on career treks or head home to visit family, I decided to use this time to build my relationship with Austin.  After a week of studying, urban exploration never felt so necessary.  I treated myself to a show at the historical Paramount Theater, I finally went to the Continental Club to listen to some old Chicago Blues, I ate too much Home Slice Pizza, and I took some time to better acquaint myself with my neighborhood on the east side of Austin.  Austin is definitely an amazing city.

The second thing people told me when I decided to head to Texas was “Austin is not really Texas.”  I did not completely comprehend what they meant until last weekend.  Last weekend was the Red River Rivalry.  For those of you unfamiliar, the Red River Rivalry is the Texas/Oklahoma game and it is one of the most intense rivalries in college football.  In fact, they take the game so seriously that they play in Dallas every year as Dallas is equidistant between Austin and Norman.  The stadium is divided in two, with half of the tickets sold to OU fans and the other half sold to UT.  It is intense.  The intensity is only exacerbated by the fact that the Cotton Bowl is located in the epicenter of the Texas State Fair.  This means that football fans not only get to watch an amazing game, but we also get to see large livestock (think 2600 pound bulls), eat things like fried cheese cake and fried butter (yes you read that correctly), and then go on carnival rides.  It was definitely unlike anything I have ever experienced, not to mention it was a great way to ramp up for second quarter.

Texas/OU with fellow bloggers Dirk and Kevin

Don't try this at home.

Before I sign off, I thought I would end with a quick update regarding first semester survival. When I first blogged about being a non-traditional student at McCombs, I received quite a bit of correspondence wishing me luck and asking for updates after our first set of finals.  At this time I would like to take a minute to reassure any and all non-traditional applicants.  Although I am still waiting on a few grades, I can say with authority that I survived the extremely quantitative focused first quarter of business school . If I can do it, so can you.

Bring on round 2!