Every year in September, I ask the same question: "Where did the summer go?!" I just landed back in Ann Arbor yesterday and couldn't be more excited to be back at Ross as an "MBA2" (strange to say that...) Interning full-time during the summer made me really appreciate how awesome Ross is and how much I've missed everyone here.
That said, I had a great 12-week brand management internship at SC Johnson in Racine, WI this summer, working on the Glade Plug-Ins brand. I worked on three challenging projects (strategic, analytical and creative - all current business challenges at the company) and also had the opportunity to attend weekly training sessions and mentoring meetings with senior management. I learned a ton at SCJ and felt as though the combination of my first-year knowledge from Ross plus my brand management training enabled me to create final projects that exceeded my personal expectations. Feel free to email me at alvh@umich.edu if you are interested in learning more about brand management internships or my experience at SCJ.
In addition to my internship, I had the opportunity to travel and catch up with friends and family after the MBA1 whirlwind year. I started by spending time with my family and friends in NJ and NYC in May, followed by a quick trip to the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave and the Badlands in Colorado and South Dakota with my sister. Post-internship in August, I led an MTrek to Iceland with three of my friends from Ross, where we hiked 50K from Landmannalaugar to Porsmork and bonded in Reykjavic with 11 incoming MBA1s (who I can now call my friends - it's an awesome experience, and I highly recommend attending and/or leading an MTrek when you come here). After Iceland, we met up with other friends from Ross to travel throughout Spain - Barcelona, Valencia (for the Tomatina festival...ask me first before you decide to go...), and Madrid. After spending a few more days back in NJ with my family, I'm now back in Ann Arbor with a seemingly endless to-do list for clubs and classes that I'm more than excited to get started on.
Sunset over the Badlands in South Dakota
Lindsay and I at Rocky Mountain National Park
Trekking through Icelandic rivers
It's nice to now be able to customize my class schedule outside of the core curriculum. In the Fall, I'm taking New Venture Creation, Valuation, Advanced Competitive Analysis and The World Economy to build on my other interests outside of Marketing. I'm also involved in several leadership positions in clubs, including VP of Case Competitions for the Marketing Club and Career Couseling through the Office of Career Development (OCD). These committments, combined with attending conferences and events through other clubs (i.e. Net Impact, Zell Lurie Institute, Triathalon Club, Michigan Business Women, Wine Club, etc.) will help accomplish my second-year goals of learning material "outside of my comfort zone," continuing to meet classmates with eclectic interests, and helping MBA1s navigate their first year experience at Ross.
So, what's on the agenda for this week? Picking up course packets for the first day of class on Tuesday, getting a much needed haircut, making calls to organize the Marketing Club case competition, volunteering at the Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) for first-year students, attending Career Counselor training, going to the Eminem/Jay-Z concert on Friday, and heading to the Big House on Saturday for the first home game agains UCONN. All in a week's work of a "typical" Ross MBA.

