After three and a half years at MIT, I have convinced myself it's finally time to take it easy for a semester. During my undergraduate studies, I never took fewer than 5 classes a semester, and sometimes up to 7. If I could go back, I wouldn't change a thing, but I wasn't able to enjoy college as much as if I had taken my foot off the gas for a little bit and stopped to smell the roses.
Now, however, I am taking four classes, and two of them are H1, meaning they are first half of the semester only. Seeing as we are three weeks into the semester, those two classes, Mergers and Acquisitions and Entrepreneurial Finance, are already half over. M&A is a really interesting class for me, plus I feel I bring a little bit of a different insight after working on a few deals over the past few summers. Speaking of which, the other deal I was working on this summer went through! (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/07/us-goldman-dwight-idUSTRE8161T320120207) I'm enjoying Entrepreneurial Finance because I'm learning how VC's actually value deals, and the start-up I'm helping out on (usecloudtop.com) will potentially need funding soon.
My full semester classes are taking up more of my time, but I still find myself with more free time than I've ever had at MIT. I'm in Robert Merton's Retirement Finance class, and although I find the subject matter rather mundance, Professor Merton is an amazing lecturer and I love going to that class. My last class, the last of my 30 total units this semester, is probably my most difficult class, Valuation with Stewart Myers. Professor Myers is one of the fathers of corporate finance, and he has forgotten more about valuing companies than I could ever hope to learn. This class is definitely my favorite so far, since we are valuing an oil field, then next week moving on to valuing the Indiana Toll Road privatization project.
I should probably take this opportunity to explore new things at MIT, but to be honest, I'm relaxing as much as possible before I start in June at Morgan Stanley. The great thing about MIT is that even if I'm not looking to get involved in new things, something always ends up pulling you in and getting you excited. For me, that was the AGC M&A cup, which I competed in with a group of fellow Sloans students a few weeks ago. Things like this will come and go, and they really give you the opportunity to step back and realize how amazing a place Sloan is.
As always, good luck with admissions, and feel free to ask me questions at rdixit@mit.edu. Good night everyone!