One-Year at Goizueta: Erin Nusbaum Rehm – Introduction
Week one of classes – check.
At first, I was nervous about Foundations Week; then I was nervous about Orientation Week. At that point, most of my classmates and I were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. I mean, we were paying (a hefty fee, even) to learn an entire year’s worth of knowledge in one summer. Needless to say, we were all a little nervous about week one. Dean Brian opened orientation week by saying, “This will be like nothing else you have ever experienced.” And he was certainly right.
Allow me to take a step backwards.
My name is Erin Nusbaum Rehm. I am a 28 year old Emory Eagle with nearly six years of Corporate Finance experience under my belt. I am also a Vanderbilt Commodore with a BA in Economics. I decided to enroll in the One Year Program at Goizueta because of the world-class education offered and because of the passion that radiates from every alum, faculty member, current student, GBS administrator and heck, even the custodian. I wanted to be part of that community and share that passion. Everything has led me to this moment – this exhausted, sleep-deprived, enriched, enthused moment.
I am not sure why I was nervous to attend Foundations Week. I was able to meet and bond with some of my classmates, reacquaint myself with being in the classroom and freshen up on some concepts I hadn’t needed since before Twitter was even invented. And to boot, I found that everyone else was in the same boat as me! It was great. Then, again, with this nervous mess about orientation. After two long days of logistics, preparations and personality testing, we loaded the bus to head to Oxford campus for an overnight excursion, ripe with team-building activities. Luckily there were no trust falls or blindfolds involved, but we did get a unique opportunity to get silly, bond with our teams and really learn each other’s names (as opposed to “guy with the hair who sits in the back” or “girl who asks good questions and always has coffee”). The highlight would have to be the evening luau. Between the limbo, the karaoke, the multi-cultural dancing, the bilingual conversations and the consumption of the universal tie (beer), we really got to know each other. The good, the bad and the tone-deaf. It was glorious. With two weeks of misguided expectations under my belt, I was ready, nay, excited for classes to begin.
Team #2 at the Orientation Luau!:
Nobody was exaggerating when they said the one year summer “core” was intense. I have only had 5 days of real class and can certainly attest to that. We are basically in class from 8:30-4:00 every day. After that, we meet with our 5 person team and knock out some group work and then part ways and keep that homework train going. Luckily, I have been finishing before midnight each night, but some of my classmates have been putting in work until 1-2am each night. And I’m sure my time will come. That will be a two coffee day. What I didn’t anticipate was how excited I would be for each class, how I actually don’t mind the Socratic method, or how professors will lovingly grill you until you reach an acceptable answer. How incredibly gifted all my classmates are in their fields. How much I can learn from the people sitting next to me. How lucky I am to be here.
I wonder how my enthusiasm will fare over the next few months. It is safe to say that there will be many more late nights and group meetings in the tiny study rooms. But I can’t wait to drink it in!
Room 204 – our home all summer:
