Life as a second year is different than that of a first year. No surprise there. At Tuck the first years start in late August and between orientation trips, orientation, and the earlier start of first year classes they have been in campus for several weeks before the second years return. It’s good for the first years to have this time to themselves; to get to know their way around the school; get to know their classmates.
When the second years (like me) arrive, Tuck moves into full-swing. There are recruiting events every day: lunch, afternoon, and often evening, too. Clubs start up in earnest. There are 250 more people to meet.
The biggest difference as a second year is that my time in business school seems short. I know how quickly the first year went by. Already it’s less than a year until I graduate.
My priorities have shifted. In order, I would list them as follows:
1. Spend time socializing with classmates.
2. Get to know my professors better.
3. Help run the Entertainment and Media Club.
4. Complete my fellowship with the Center for Digital Strategies.
5. Spend time socializing with classmates.
Notice the emphasis on classmates there? As a first year you are literally thrown together with everyone else. You are assigned a study group. You have hours of group work to do each day. As a second year you can be as busy as you choose. I’m almost as busy as I was last fall, but I have much more control over my day. I have to be a little more proactive to spend time with people. I have Fridays off so there’s no excuse not to enjoy the weekends rather than study most of the time as I did last year.
To prove my point, I’m off now to watch some Monday Night Football on TV. I don’t think I had time to watch any football during the week last year. It’s good to be a second year. It’s good to be back.
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