MBA Gala was held on 20th April, 2012 at the Rosewater Club in Downtown Toronto.

We had an MBA gala recently, at the Rosewater Club in downtown Toronto. It was the celebration of completion of the MBA program for many. Having just completed all the exams and most of the assignments, this was a relaxing event. A time to celebrate our achievcements.

This is also a period where all the students are awaiting internship placements and are waiting to graduate in a few months. It was an occasion to find out who has been placed where, what is going on in general, catch up with the gossip a little bit and so on... :)

It was good to see all our classmates dressed in formal wear. The men in suits and the ladies in evening gowns. It was a formal event with formal dress code. It was good to meet the spouses or boyfriends / girlfriends of some of my classmates. And it sure was good to see the babies of some of my classmates. This was a nice social gathering. There was the Dean of the school and some professors as well. There was our beloved director of the MBA program, Prof. Jim. Such a wonderful and humble person! He won the Mr.Popular award for staff member popular among us students.  

There was a 3 course meal served (entre, main course and dessert). For the main course, there was the option of chicken, steak or vegetarian. I had Risotto as my main course (kind of a pasta in white sauce, with mushrooms). Had white wine with the meal and switched to beer (Heineken) after the dinner. For a guy, a bottle of beer feels more "cool" than a glass of wine in the hands, LOL. There was a DJ playing music and dancing at the end of it all. The cost of the ticket was $60. One had to buy his / her own alcohol at the cash bar. No, I did not dance. This was NOT the time for dancing, for me. I was in a pensive mood. I was trying to figure out what to do with my internship and my career. This is a time for contemplaton.

There were some awards given out - some serious, some funny. Serious ones included students with high grades, best student with a family, student most likely to become CEO (all this was based in voting) and the silly ones included student who attended least amount of classes and student most likely to be found shirtless or sleep in the grad room. Yet, it was hilarious. My classmates are awesome! I love the energy and enthusiasm. We are good kids / students, LOL. We are a family, all of us.

Overall, good experience. Good evening to remember. We should have had more of these formal events, in my opinion. The events we had during the program were mostly informal events. Yes, we did have formal events, but not as many as some other schools have. But it is ok. We are located in downtown Toronto and we do have a urban feel to our place and people are polished. It is not like we are located in a rural or subarban area.

I am not done with all my courses yet. I shall not be graduating with this batch in October 2012. I have a course scheduled for Summer 2012 and one more for Fall 2012. I am taking the time to learn all that I need to learn before I graduate. Taking an extra course. Do not want to graduate in a hurry, LOL. The good thing about our MBA program is the flexibility. You can schedule the courses you like, the way you like it.

Have a few plans for my internship, as well. One does have a feeling of insecurity when you hear of some of the classmates placed in some good companies. While you are happy for you, you can't also help feeling a bit insecure. I would love to work for Bain & Co / KPMG / E&Y / McKinsey / PwC / Deloitte myself. I think I deserve to work for one of these companies. But when you do not get places in a well known company, you feel let down.

Will keep trying. Let us see what happens :) Will try to post pictures of the celebration, if I find any that I have permission to publish. No, I did not make a YouTube video of the event. In all of the content that I have created, I have been careful not to publish unauthorized content. Do not want to get into legal trouble, LOL.

Gerry.