In counterpoint to my other, uncharacteristically sentimental, article looking back on my time at HBS, I feel the need to lighten the atmosphere by taking a slightly tongue-in-cheek look at all the things about HBS that right now look infinitely preferable to the big, cold, scary world out there.
So, here are the things that really make HBS better than “real life”
-Having to attend four hours of class and run a DCF analysis that afternoon is considered a really tough day
-Ninety people clap when you make a particularly funny comment
-Nobody cares if you decide to take a nap on a couch at lunchtime
-You can walk into any one of the nearest five bars to where you live and be pretty much guaranteed to find friends in there
-There is always someone nearby to borrow a laptop charger from, as we all bought the exact same IBM Thinkpad before we arrived
-It is possible to stay in bed until 11am and still make it to class on time if you put enough thought into your EC course picks
-The only times you have to wear smart clothes are to steal the canapés at recruiting events
-You can always find people to go drinking with on a Monday night
-You can always find people to go drinking with breitling superocean replica on a Tuesday night
-You can always find people to go drinking with on a Wednesday night
-You can always find people to go drinking with on a Thursday night
-You can turn up hung over every day for a week, and not only will you not get fired, people may not even notice
-In the real world people don’t have to put up their hand before they interrupt you
-Taking a ten hour flight to Munich for four days tag heuer replica for sale for Oktoberfest is considered perfectly reasonable
-You can make jokes about accounting terms and (some) people will find them funny
-Trying to figure out whether the sushi line or the pasta line is longer is often the hardest decision you’ll have to make all day
-It is possible to go for a lunch date, coffee meeting, squash game, wine tasting, birthday dinner and karaoke night all on the same day
-Retreats involve drinking games, hot tubs and silly costumes instead of meditation and yoga
-People clap when you introduce your parents
-You don’t have a boss, line manager or performance-related bonus to worry about
-You can turn up in sweatpants and a hoodie www.replicabestsale.co.uk, a suit and tie, or anything in between, and no-one really cares either way
-Your living room has four fireplaces, huge leather couches and is almost always full of interesting, smart people
-HBS Treks: some of the best vacations one can possibly have, and pretty much all you have to do is turn up and get on the right bus
-Everyone gets a free miniature bell. (uh?)
-People know what the H-Bomb is (even if it doesn’t work)
-You know which club most of your friends will be in on any given weeknight
-You can spend three hours a day on Facebook and convince yourself that it counts as research for your Managing Networked Businesses class
-You can get away with writing silly lists instead of proper articles, and people will still say nice things to you about them
-Steak nights! OK, maybe they have those in the real world too.
-You get to have Spring Break!
-You get to have Spring Break again!
-You can usually find out where you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to be doing just by logging in to the Course Platform
-You have a whole section to send the pictures of your new baby too, and at least a third of them will offer to babysit immediately!
-You can collect a full set of umbrellas with consulting company logos on them
-If, despite having a full set of umbrellas, you still forget to bring one on the day it starts pouring rain right after class, you can usually find someone who lives on campus to lend you one
-You can relive college life, only with more money, less parental interference and a better cafeteria
-You can get engaged to someone by mistake on Facebook, and have thirty people congratulate you the next day
-You can refer to someone as a ‘Partner’ without feeling (too) weird
-You can be confident that all the information you need to solve a problem is contained in one twelve-page case (and maybe sometimes the exhibits)
-The HBS Show – the most fun you can possibly have in Burden Auditorium with your clothes on
-If you’re stuck in Mexico because you forgot your visa form you can get a copy faxed to you by the amazing people at the International Office
-You’re rarely stuck not knowing people’s names, because they have a six-inch-high namecard right in front of them
-You can find a great post-party any Saturday night just by wandering into SFP and following the noise
-The average intelligence and attractiveness of your potential hookups is pretty high, even if actual hookups remain elusive
-You can buy tickets to everything important with PayPal
-You have access to a gym that not only has wood-panelled walls, but where no-one thinks it is strange if you are reading both The Economist and US Weekly on the treadmill
-There’s always somebody to share a cab home with
-There’s always something to gossip about, even if its just two people innocently sharing a cab home
-In real life people don’t say “building on that point” before disagreeing with you totally, and there is no Professor to appeal to for right of reply
-Section OJ. The best 91 friends it is possible to make in eighteen months.
