A Whirlwind Start
We are back to our regularly scheduled content: sharing my MBA experience for other artists who might be considering this path (and my future self, hopefully looking back fondly). And boy, what a welcome back- Year 2 hit me like a truck, and I feel like I’m still catching my breath. It has been challenging but rewarding. Here’s a quick update:
The most exciting news is that I landed a development internship at an-LA based film studio. I spent the summer applying like crazy to fall internships, and am so glad to have ended up in this role at this company. Highland does a little bit of everything in the industry, and I’ve already learned so much by being on the team. My main responsibility is writing script coverage, which involves reading incoming scripts or watching films and writing an assessment of the creative and commercial merits of the project. This is such a satisfying mix of creative and business thinking, and I’m feeling even more inspired about working in the film/TV industry after graduation. This job has been everything I hoped it would be and is a highlight of my semester.
On the school side of things, getting this internship required me to pivot my plans for year 2 slightly- I changed my concentration to one that needs fewer credits so I would have time to commit to the job each week. I’m only taking 2 classes right now: a film industry class and a product development class. The film class is the perfect accompaniment to the internship. It covers the history of the business of Hollywood and provides a broader view for the work that I’m doing at Highland. I chose the product development class mostly for its time slot, but it has also been fun so far- it brings together designers, engineers, and business students in small teams to design a product over the course of the semester, competing for a cash prize. It feels like a class version of a tech jam; it mostly covers content I’m already familiar with from last year, but it’s fun to work with a team to go through the development process and try to solve a real problem.
Overall, this semester has felt like the opposite of first semester last year in many ways. MBA year 1 is all about building connections within your cohort, and the program starts with plenty of group activities and shared experiences. It’s very effective for creating a sense of community, which carries through the whole first year as you share most of your classes with the same group of people. However, Year 2 has felt much more adrift so far. There weren’t any activities to welcome back Year 2s, and I haven’t seen most of my cohort yet because my classes aren’t at Ross. It feels like we can glom onto the stuff the Year 1s are doing, or stick to the smaller friend groups we made last year. I’m not sure if it’s a different story for the rest of my cohort- maybe most of them are taking the same classes this semester, but I don’t get that impression. The year feels like it started with a shrug, and I find myself looking forward to the end of the school year. Maybe that will change as the year progresses.
Overall, the start to the year has been a bit of a mixed bag- fun classes, a great internship, lots of work, and less socially-oriented. I continue to be impressed by UMich as a school, and I am proud that I will be able to call this place my alma mater in a few months. Despite the whirlwind of work to keep up with, life is good. I’m glad to be where I am right now. Looking forward to a beautiful autumn in Michigan- talk to you again at Halloween!