Decision Science, or DecSci, is a spreadsheet modeling course that all first years are taking this Fall B term and it-is-AWESOME! Granted, the only model I’ve built so far is a spreadsheet that calculates the profits for a fictional raisin company (the raisins aren’t fictional; the company is). I genuinely enjoyed it a lot, and I have to believe that it will get even better once we move on to the really exciting dried fruit (see prunes).
I know it sounds a little nerdy to get excited about spreadsheets, but I’m not alone. There are many of us! Optimization and sensitivity analysis are very exciting, and I think it takes some years in the work force to have a full appreciation for it. Which leads me to my next point: coming back into an academic environment after having spent a considerable amount of time in the ‘real world’ has made my experience at business school all the more enriching. The work experience has given me a context for everything I’ve learned. I can assign faces to the characters we read about in our cases, and I can draw parallels between projects I worked on in my former life, and the ones I submit as homework assignments here at Tuck. So that when I calculate profits for a fictitious raisin company, I know that while the raisin company may not be real, the lessons truly are. I cannot say that I had the same perspective in college.
I not only benefit from my own work experiences, but from those of my peers as well. Class discussions and study group sessions draw on a vast pool of business experience and knowledge that can only be learned in the trenches so to speak.
Spreadsheet modeling may not sound like a blast, but if you’ve ever struggled with a spreadsheet model at work, or wished there were a simpler and more effective way of calculating something complicated, like raisin profits, then DecSci is basically Mardi Gras. What I most appreciate about the class so far is that besides learning all of the neat tools that excel has to offer, the major focus of the course is to learn how to structure a problem and a solution so that it’s not only easier for you to solve, but also easier for you to explain, and ultimately easier for someone else to follow. You know what I’m talking about! You’re at work and someone emails you a model that you need to work with and you can’t figure out if it’s a spreadsheet or that ‘Matrix’ screensaver that everyone at my last job seemed to have. The lessons extend beyond spreadsheets though, and I’m looking for ways to apply the techniques generally to all sorts of problems.
The point is: DecSci, I love you, and now that I’m older and more mature, I can appreciate what we have together.
Read the full article: My Fall B Crush: Decision Science