Columbia MBA Status
-As expected I received the denial note from Columbia this week!
-I was not as disappointed as I thought I would be considering that Columbia was my first preference. Maybe I had agonized about not receiving an interview 2 weeks ago so much that I was mentally ready for it.
-I would have liked to go to B school in NYC but it is what it is. The key now is to realize and correct issues with my Columbia app for Wharton/MIT/NYU. And I do think there are a bunch of things to correct.
-My assumption is that my essays at Columbia did not make me stand out from the applicant pool. They were dry and lacked a personable story-telling feel to them.
-Plus since it was my first application I did not do enough due process before submitting the application. Not a good idea to submit the first application to your first choice!
-I am hoping that it is due to these correctable issues that I did not get in. Let's see how it turns out.
iPhone
-Well, I convinced myself over the past 3 weeks that I NEEDED a new phone. So why not an iPhone, this little voice inside me told me? So why not? I bought one last weekend. And needless to say it is way too cool.
MLB Playoffs
-I am not sure what makes me more happy in baseball. Am I happier when the Spankees lose than when the Red Saaawx win? Is that abnormal?
-That you feel happy at the misfortunes of someone you do not like rather than feel happy for someone you like-is that one of commandments or something?
-Anyway who cares! I do feel all tingly inside when the Spankess lose, especially in extra innings to go down 0-2 like they did last nite!
-The fact that ma boy Manny hit a walk-off 3-run homer later last nite made it all the more satisfying last nite!
-I am busting out my original Manny MLB jersey this weekend!
Markets
-With all my time being occupied with essays and other application related issues I have not followed the markets closely these past weeks. But I did pick up on a few things.
-It looks like the European based IBanks finally started showing their dirty linen so to speak. UBS and Deutsche Bank over the past 2 weeks came out and revealed their exposures to the sub-prime and credit fallout. The strategy there was to get this out of the system as early and quickly as possible so that the markets can gain some confidence that they are being transparent. Not sure if that will ever be accomplished but the revelations (and related firings) did soothe and in some cases boosted the markets.
-US based financial institutions took the hint and started washing their laundry in the public as well. Merrill, Citi, and MS all showed their write-downs from the crisis. The markets took that as a positive sign and quickly rallied! Ah the vagaries of the financial markets!
-One thing that is going un-noticed amongst all this is that the % that the DJIA has risen since the August "crash" is more than the % it went down in August. It is interesting that there is not much hoopla when there is a spike upwards compared to a downward spike. I have to look into all the volatile periods in the last 20 years and analyze it.
-Crude continues to hover around the $80 area consistently. Here is one thing that caught me by surprise. All indications were that the crude inventory in the US was going to be lower than expected by the latest report showed that in fact it was better than expected! Go figure. Tells you how much power these firms that report these things and the media have. I need to look into this.
Corporate Finance
-Here is something interesting that my professor in the Corporate Finance course talked about this week in class. Market efficiency.
-Market efficiency is simply the efficiency with which financial information, once it is out in the open, is transferred to the prices of equities/bonds etc.
-It is an interesting theory whose implication is that no single individual or investing group can consistently beat the market.
-I had a discussion with the professor on this and his take is that any market inefficiencies tend to correct themselves within minutes or hours.
-So if we assume this, for the hedge funds and others who hire these quant type people to make money of market inefficiencies they have to act quickly to spot these inefficiencies within seconds else they will not have head start on anyone else.
-Of course the currency markets and other areas where arbitrage chances arise are another story.
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1 comment:
Dude, I understand. There are so many times when I'm happier that the Yankees lost than if the Sox won. Everything's OK if they don't do better than us :)
Like now. Top of the 9th, Indians up by 3, two on base, 2 out, and 2 singles against Rivera. While I woudl have preferred that the Yankees win this and then lose in the 5th, so that CC can't pitch on Friday, I'll be fine if the Indians hold on and win this. C'mon Blake, get a couple more runs.
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