A Day in the Life

Amy Ellis 

Hometown: Greenfield, MA
Where I lived and worked prior to Stern: At Panera Bread as the Manager of Marketing Analysis in Boston
Summer internship: Kraft Foods in Brand Management

7:30 a.m. I wake up about ten minutes prior to my alarm going off… it is actually pretty annoying because I would love to sleep in, but my body just won’t let me. It knows there is not enough time in the day. 

8:30 a.m. After getting up and dressed, checking my email and looking at my calendar for the day, I grab a granola bar and head for the train. On the way to the train I drop my laundry off at the cleaners – “Wash and Fold” has saved my life. I live on the Upper East Side, so I have a short 25-minute commute downtown to the Kaufman Management Center (KMC). This morning, I enjoy the train ride because I can finish reading that marketing article and also read an article on Kraft in the WSJ". 

9:00 a.m. I walk into KMC and head straight to Sosnoff Lounge to grab a quick cup of coffee and catch up with my friend Emily. We are in the same study group for a bunch of my classes, so we discuss meetings and projects for next week. Scheduling has become a full-time job. During my first semester with classes, club meetings, social gatherings, recruiting and informational interviews, I realized that I could not live life without a Palm Pilot. Yes, yes - everyone has a Blackberry or a Treo at b-school, but I just didn’t want to be followed around by my email all day. So, one night in the middle of it all I broke down and headed to Best Buy at about 10:30 p.m. and bought a palm pilot.  It has changed my life. I think I am working my way up to the Blackberry…Ok... I check the clock, and it’s time for me to print my slides and head to class. Em and I decide to finish our stories at our “family dinner” later tonight. 

10:30 a.m. My first class: Judgment and Decision Making Marketing. This course puts a creative spin on a marketing class that looks more at the psychological aspect of decision making and how consumers use different decision making processes when making a purchase or budgeting their money. Our final project will be to write a business plan bringing together the judgment and decision making theories that we are studying.

12:00 p.m. I have an hour and a half break before my next class starts, but since time is precious my finance study group has a lunch meeting to go over the concept questions. We give ourselves 20 minutes to grab lunch and then meet in a 4^th floor study room.

1:30 p.m. My second class: Foundations of Finance… or what we at Stern call the “Bill Silber Show.” At 1:30 p.m. sharp, the doors are shut and locked. The Teaching Assistants hang a sign that says “No Admittance,” and that is no joke. Professor Silber has been teaching for years, and he is a no-nonsense kind of guy and an amazing professor. If anyone could make beta, arbitrage or risk aversion exciting, it is Professor Silber. I am feverishly taking notes for a solid hour and a half… and then class is over.

3:00 p.m. I print out a Managing Organizations case, and review my notes from Finance. I also pop up to the Office of Career Development to chat with my career advisor, Katie Volz. I like to check in with her to say hello and hear about new companies recruiting on campus. Just by being in New York City, so many companies are readily accessible.

4:30 p.m. I head to a Finance Review that is held by the Teaching Assistants. I usually try to go because it is a nice review of the finance classes of the past week, and Professor Silber always joins us at the end of the review. It is amazing that the professors really make time for the students and their questions. 

6:00 p.m. Off to a meeting of Stern Women in Business (SWIB), one of the strongest and most widely-recognized clubs on campus. As a school, Stern has one of the highest percentages of women per class. I believe my class actually has close to 40% women! It is amazing to be integrated into a school that has such strong support for women in business. At the meeting, we discuss the SWIB conference and upcoming social events like spa night and bowling at Chelsea Piers.

7:30 p.m. After my meeting I head over to Jane restaurant on nearby Houston Street for “Family Dinner.” I have made such amazing friends at Stern that we actually refer to ourselves as a family and organize dinners to catch up with each other every couple of weeks. We started doing this during recruiting when we were all so busy and didn’t have as much time for each other. We designated a night for Family Dinner when we can all get together and talk about life in general. Tonight there are ten of us, and we are probably a little too loud for our neighbors… but when we are together we just can’t stop laughing!

9:00 p.m. As I leave dinner I realize how grateful I am to have such amazing friends at Stern. I really thought that at age 27 it would be much harder to find people I truly relate to, but I was very wrong. I couldn’t be luckier… I walk over to the No. 6 train on Bleecker Street and hop on. I pull out my case and start to read...

9:30 p.m. I arrive home and get started on my work for the next day. I am never sure if I am going to get it all done, but I always try! I have learned that you have to prioritize in b-school… and somehow my priority of getting to Power Yoga today did not work out. But hey, there is always tomorrow, right?

12:00 a.m. It’s been a long day and I am sleepy. As tradition, I check in with my friend Dory to review the day, and then head to bed. Before I fall asleep, I check my email one more time, look at my schedule for tomorrow and ask myself: Should I get up an hour earlier?… Nah.