All Finished

So that's it. I am now an Oxford MBA for real. I really can't believe that it is over. What a whirlwind year!

The Capstone week's lectures weren't bad and it was a great excuse to meet up with everyone again. Our presentation went well (the two Japanese in our group were randomly selected by the school to present, and they did very well). The individual 3,000 word essay was straight-forward (well, at the end of the MBA writing 3,000 words is like shelling peas). And as expected, we partied every night.

The Turf for the last timeThe final black tie party was fantastic and the school pulled out all the stops. It was easily on a par with any other party that I have been to this year. As a strange twist of fate, Esther and I were asked to make a speech each, which we did and actually enjoyed quite a bit. I always find it quite difficult to follow her (we did our EP together) as she is an amazing speaker, so in a perfect display of teamwork, she went deep and meaningful and I went light (very) and funny (somewhat).

Me speaking

Esther and meNamiko, Akiko and Arima san

So I now have a couple of months to have a baby (well, watch Namiko have him), move house and prepare for my new job (which I am very much looking forward to).

And I suppose that this will be my last post to this blog. Its funny, looking back, it was a great decision to write it. I re-read it from time to time and it reminds me of everything that has happened over the last 15 months. Its hard to imagine that in such a short space of time my life would change so much, that I would meet so many fantastic people who I can call friends and that I would now be preparing for a job in a company such as McKinsey.

Money well spent, is all I can say.

Cheerio.

End of the summer, only the Capstone to go

The summer is over, and this evening I will travel to Oxford for the final week of my MBA; the much anticipated Capstone Course.

Since my last post we have completed our SCP. It was an amazing experience! The final week involved us presenting our findings to the DTC Executive Committee, which went surprisingly well. You know when you have done a good job when the Managing Director's comment at the end of the presentation is "brilliant work!". We all left the room feeling suitably content. The week following involved us submitting our written document which ended up being a 60 page thesis. Actually when I look back on the experience, the amount we learnt about the industry in such a short period of time was amazing. I will never look at a piece of diamond jewellery the same again.

In addition to the SCP, I have been working on selling our current house and buying another. Despite being tremendously time consuming, it has (so far) gone reasonably smoothly and so I am hoping that we finalise soon.

Other activities include preparing for the 2008 MBA welcome panel. To briefly explain, during the first week of the course last year a few 2006 MBAs came back to present their experiences to us and offer the opportunity to ask questions. So now it is our turn to present our experiences to the next year's class (and so it goes on). Due to the fact that I am not starting at McKinsey until November, I seem to be taking the lead for this panel, and so have been coordinating a few of my fellow students to produce some slides... Hopefully it will all be alright on the night.

In addition, I have been trying to write a speech. Our final formal dinner will be held on 14th September (in Templeton College) and Esther and I have been volunteered to make a speech each to reflect on our experiences. Hmm, writing speeches was never my forte and so I seem to spend more time procrastinating that actually writing. Luckily (?!?) I only have 7 mins.

So that has been the summer. I am now an uncle (my sister's first child) and will soon be a father (Namiko is now 36 weeks pregnant), so I suppose that there is a lot of change there as well.

Thomas Chambers (No.1 Nephew)And finally, it seems that the Oxford University 2008/9 MBA brochure has been released. Spot the chap on page 19!