What is Jump Start?

JUMP START – as the name suggests, this event was a kick on the d’arrière and a friendly reminder to get moving. In more ways than one, it was a preview of things to follow. Jump start ran from Sep 19 through Sep 23 and covered topics in Statistics, Accounting and Finance with the aim of giving a quick brush up of the basic concepts and an overview of the course content for the Fall quarter. Throughout the build up to the beginning of the session, second years kept driving the point home- come fall hit the ground running; those of us who didn’t take the advice seriously were surely rocked off their feet a bit. The five full days of intense instructions, covering a depth and breadth of the topics, were not for the faint of heart- especially when most of us were returning to school after a gap of five to seven years. Having said that, jump start gave a good perspective on the academic requirements in the course and where one stood with respect to those requirements. It was also a good time to bond with fellow students before the going got busier and tougher. This perhaps is the last time when the entire batch is together before it is split into sections and you see less and less of each other. The Happy Hours, sponsored by various clubs with an open tab (which I missed most of the time), were a good release and also a reminder of work-life balance in the busy schedule that lay ahead.
One has an option to skip either one or all Jump Start sessions by passing a qualifying exam with a 90% score. However, Jump Start delivers beyond academics and even if one can clear all the qualifying exams, it would be a good idea to attend at least couple of session to get in the groove.

Special thanks to Professors Gilbert and Kennedy for bringing order to the chaos and making Jump Start a fruitful experience.

~Guest blogger, Piyush Jain, Full-Time Class of 2013