By Morgan Holl T'16
Morgan hails from the Washington, D.C. area. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia where he majored in economics and Spanish. Prior to arriving in Hanover, Morgan was a civilian employee in the Department of Defense, most recently in Germany, where he led financial planning efforts for military programs in Africa. After Tuck, Morgan hopes to transition into a management consulting role before eventually returning to the public sector to lead change management initiatives.
A prominent consulting firm describes it as a “virtual baby.” It is your red line. It is the thing that no matter how busy life gets, nothing gets in the way of it. For some, their virtual baby is squeezing in a workout during the day. For others, it could be a Wednesday night happy hour where they reminisce with old college friends. For me, my virtual baby, at least at the moment, happens to be a real baby.
About 5 percent of my T’16 classmates entered b-school with children—but only about .3 percent entered with a three-day-old child: that would be me. Yes, my partner and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into this world—our first child—just three days before the start of what most people already consider a veritable gauntlet of time sapping activities that make up the start of business school here at Tuck.
That gauntlet, or “Fall A” for us Tuckies, is a four-week mini term that, from an academic perspective, encompasses four complete classes including three midterms (yes, we have midterms after two weeks of class!), four finals, three projects, and multiple graded homework assignments. Fall A is also the time to get to know your 280 new friends in your Tuck class—not to mention the entire second year class that just arrived back in Hanover—over beers at Murphy’s (the un-official, but really official, Tuck bar), at Toga parties, and through tripod hockey tryouts. Tuck’s 50+ clubs all kickoff during Fall A, giving students yet even more opportunities to explore a professional or personal interest. Did I mention recruiting—that reason many of us came to school in the first place? Yes, recruiting kicks off in full force just two weeks into the start of school. Company presentations, networking events, office hours, and recruiting treks all provide fantastic opportunities to explore new industries and interests.
Exactly 699.5 hours lie between the kickoff of Fall A classes on the 1st of September and the turning in of your last Fall A exam on the 30th. One of the things that you will learn during this whirlwind month is that you cannot do it all. 699.5 hours simply is not enough time to:
Thoroughly read through every business case AND
Join every club that interests you AND
Meet with every company that sounds interesting AND
Socialize with all 280 classmates AND
Spend time with your partner or family AND
Actually sleep at night.
You get the idea.
Effective time management is not what will propel your happiness and success, but rather effective prioritization. There is only so much time in the day, and no matter how you manage that time, it will never be enough without first establishing clear priorities. As I reflect on Fall A, I think about the new friends I have made, about the world of employment opportunities, about interesting coursework, and most of all about how that new addition to my family has altered my priorities for the future. It may be cliché, but when you consider everything important, nothing then is important. Discover your virtual babies and let those important things drive the allocation of your precious time. My baby takes up a lot of my time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Look at that face and tell me you’d rather spend an extra hour at a TA review session than with this cutie!