The Rotman Philosopher ?

So my classmate placed a link to my blog entitled - The Rotman Philosopher, hold your applauses please. Little does she know I am more like the Rotman Procrastinator! I can think of one hundred ways not to prepare for an economics quiz, surprisingly I did better in the more difficult quiz that the first one which was easier by far. I anticipate the last quiz to be the hardest and God have mercy on us for the final exam.

Honestly I’m relieved that we finally completed those supply and demand curves. I started having nightmares about those graphs. Interestingly enough, the game theory concepts are intriguing since it’s applicable to real life – life is an infinite repeated game of birth and death – the wheel of ‘samsara’ (according to East Indian philosophy) where we reap some benefits after every repetition, anyone caught deviating from the standard agreement would be punished for an extremely long time. Compare that to the Western philosophy – life is a single game – one shot to benefit – one chance to go to heaven. Like the saying goes, everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die.

So more to the fun stuff, accounting! For our individual accounting assignments we are to select to companies in the same industry and analyze their financial statements, comment on their financial heath, performance etc. Being a telecommunications geek, can you guess which companies I choose? Yup that’s right, the 2 main competitors in the US, Verizon and AT&T, with operating revenues of $88 billion and $63 billion. Someone is going to have fun crunching some numbers and spitting out ratios.

On a final note, what’s the deal with Bear Stearn’s High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund worth $6 billion? Come on Merrill Lynch, don’t ask for $800 million in collateral, ride the wave of risk on a fund with a 23% decline.
Which reminds me, the other day I went to my banker to purchase units in a Latin American and Asian Growth funds and she laughed in my face at said "Why these risky funds?", "I'm allowed to take risks in life aren't I". Perhaps I'll do a Merrill Lynch and withdraw upon alarming declines.

Journey from Island to Rotman via London

So I opted for a career changed from engineering to finance. I was London bound for postgraduate studies in finance at City University. I was excited about leaving my tiny island for the glory and splendor of London. Summer 2005 was the turning point in my life. What originally intended to be a summer trip in Toronto, ended up as a permanent move due to a last minute residency application approval by the Canadian immigration. I decided to look for a job in my field and depending on the success factor I would defer my plans for London. After a working a few months in one of the top 4 international accounting firms and making a deposit on the future purchase of a condo, I considered myself a “Canadian” and thus kiss my London dreams goodbye.

Immersed in my mundane IT job, and paying my mortgage, my dreams of pursuing finance as a career slowly faded. A random conversation with a current MBA student at Rotman sparked my interest in an MBA. There was light at the end of the tunnel after all. Early December 2006, I decided to prepare for the GMAT. My score in the January exams was not as I expected but I decided to pursue my Rotman application. The lone B-school I applied for. Living and working in the heart of the financial district echoed the sentiment – Rotman or bust.

Being the procrastinator I am, I submitted my Rotman application on the deadline. Did I mention I wrote the application essays only the night before? A week later I was called for an interview. To me that was a good sign. It was more of a social meeting than a formal interview for me. A week later, I received the “you are on our waiting list” letter. As far I was concern, I felt a sense of rejected – that’s what you get for not adequately preparing your B-school application.

Almost 2 months passed by, no news is good news right? My MBA dreams started to fade away, oh well I guess I would re-apply next year.On the day of the alleged MBA orientation, I received news over the phone that I was off the waiting list. “Ok so what does that mean?” I asked. “It means that you have been accepted!” Finally and it’s about time! I guess I beat the odds and this islander was granted a place amongst the 3 Year MBA students, the crème de la crème of Canada’s finest.
I completed 2 MBA courses and have several more to go; I’m in greater financial debt now that ever before. I’m supposed to be reading my financial accounting notes but I opted to resurrect this blog.