Tag Archives: O’Neil Peart

The Back 9

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It’s crazy to think that I’m on the back nine of my time at Mendoza, but I really couldn’t be happier with my decision to come back to Notre Dame for my MBA.  First and foremost, it makes me truly happy to see Notre Dame excelling both on and off the football field for the first time since the first couple Weis years.  Our football team is undefeated, the undergraduate business school is still #1, AND the MBA program has made a significant jump to #20 in the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Rankings.  Being a Domer through and through, I’m proud of my alma mater, and hope that we’re able to keep this positive momentum going for many many years.

All of Mod 1 and the first half of Mod 2 have gone by so fast.  My internship at Huron Consulting took me right up to the beginning of classes, so I really had to re-adjust back to graduate school life on the fly.  I thought that all of my classes were great, but I really have to single out my Marketing Analytics course as the best one because I really feel like the modeling that we did in Excel will come in handy as I head back to the professional world.  On top of classes, there were my MBAA responsibilities, and my own career development to take care of.  I wouldn’t have had it any other way though because in my 6th and last year as a Notre Dame student, I want to really be a part of this program and help to make it better before I leave.

At this point however, a lot of the things that I spent time on over the first Mod and a half are coming to a close.  I’ve been meeting with 1st-year students over the past week or so who are interested in running for my position in the MBAA (SVP of Career Development).  Those elections will be happening in the coming weeks at which point all will transfer my responsibilities to whoever wins the election.  I actually just mailed my signed offer letter from BTS, a strategy implementation firm, so the hunt for a job is over for me.  I’m very excited to be returning to Chicago after school, and to come back to visit Notre Dame next fall for a few home games.

The final big commitment for me to keep is to go out and give it all in my 4th and final year of participating in the Bengal Bouts tournament.  I plan on raising as much money as possible for the Bangladesh Missions.  I also plan on leaving everything I have out in the ring, as this will probably be the last time I’ll be taking part in structured training for a significant athletic endeavor.  After a couple decades of playing organized sports, this is a pretty big deal for me.

Outside of Bengals, I’m really just looking forward to getting to know the 1-year and 1st-year class better, and continuing to spend time with 2nd year folks.  I’ve already met and hung out with people from the other two classes, and I’m not surprised by the quality of person in those classes.  It’s the biggest reason why I came back to Notre Dame, and I haven’t been disappointed.

I implore you to reach out to me if you want a completely biased view of the school.  Otherwise, good luck in whatever endeavors you’re currently undertaking, and I wish you all the best.

Love thee Notre Dame!

O’Neil Peart
2nd Year Student from Freehold, NJ
Concentrating in Consulting
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Consulting for the Summer in Chicago

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Where has the summer gone?  I seem to remember moving into my apartment in Chicago thinking that I had all summer to get some great work experience, take some trips, and still have some time to catch up on sleep.  Fortunately, the only thing that I haven’t been able to do this summer is rest up for my final year of business school.  This summer has been full of great experiences, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you over the next 500 words or so…

Internship experience: My time as a Summer Associate at Huron Consulting Group has been just about everything I could have asked for.  The experience that I’ve gotten from my work with Huron has been amazing.  I’ve been able to not only take part in client work, but have also been able to work on a couple of practice development projects that have really given me a great feel for the different kinds of projects that Huron works on.  It has also given me a great feel for the type of work that will be expected of me if I join them full-time.  The office is very collaborative, so I haven’t had a problem getting my questions or the support necessary to complete my deliverables.

My final presentation is actually this Friday, August 10, and I’m feverishly working to get it done by Wednesday so that I can have Thursday to give it a few run-throughs.  The only thing that wasn’t what I expected was the amount of travel I had to do this summer.  The client project that I was on only required two weeks of interviews on-site, so I was only down there for one week.  However, the city that I got to go to for the project was Charleston, SC (amazing city for too many reasons to list).  It was a great trip, and would be more than happy to go into more detail about it in person or via email.  The low amount of travel allowed me to enjoy my time in Chicago, which I’m not going to complain about at all.  It has truly been a great internship experience and I can only hope that the rest of my classmates had as much fun this summer as I did.

Preparing to come back to Notre Dame:  Since my internship is coming to an end, I’ve started to get prepared for my return to good ole South Bend.  I’ve begun to prepare for recruiting season, and as the Career Development SVP, I’ve begun to work with the Career Office to get the CAGs (Career Advisory Group) organized and ready to go.  There really isn’t much downtime for me since my internship goes right up until school starts, but I’m excited to come back and hear everyone’s experiences.  Another great note is that I didn’t bulk up while in South Bend, so I’ll be ready to jump into Bengal Bouts training once it starts up this winter.  Before that, I’ll have to help the Dean Woo Tang Clan defend its flag football championship this fall.  Looking forward to seeing everyone…Cheers.

O’Neil Peart
1st Year Student from Freehold, NJ
Concentrating in Consulting
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Consulting in Chicago

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Well, as I sit here in my apartment at South Bend about 10% packed for the summer it’s very cool to think about how I got to this point and what lies ahead.  I mean, year one of business school is over, I’m moving to Chicago tomorrow, and I’m starting my internship at Huron Consulting Group on Monday.

So much happened over the first year of business school but the thing that really stood out to me was how much closer our class had gotten in such a short time.  Over the course of nine months, we have gone from complete strangers to a tight knit group that really looks out for one another.  It was really cool to see people helping out their classmates with all sorts of things, and building bonds that are going to help the relationships formed in business school to last a lifetime.

After school ended, I went home and hung out with my family in NJ for a few weeks and managed to meet up with a few classmates in New York City.  While it was really nice to be at home with nothing to do except shore up my Excel skills, I definitely got a little bored and was looking forward to the start of my internship.  The internship with Huron will start on Monday, June 4th and I’ll be working within their Higher Education practice.  While I have no idea what my project will be, I do know that I’ll be traveling for a portion of the summer, which is pretty exciting.  What is not exciting is that I’ll actually have to wake up before 11 AM.

On a more personal side, I’m looking forward to living in Chicago for the summer and introducing my friends from business school to my other friends that live in the city.  It’ll be a lot of fun to live in a new area and explore parts of the city that I didn’t get a chance to when I used to live there.

Well, I should probably get back to packing…adios!

O’Neil Peart
1st Year Student from Freehold, NJ
Concentrating in Consulting
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Time Flies

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Wow, time flies when you’re having fun…but also when you have a lot going on.  I’m sitting here in my apartment and thinking about everything that happened in Mod 3.  I had 4 classes, I trained for and participated in the Bengal Bouts tournament, and I landed my internship for the summer.

Mod 3’s classes were fun and challenging, but I have to say that my favorite classes were Prof. Mannor’s “Strategic Decision Making” course and Prof. Holt’s “Religion and Spirituality in the Workplace” course.  While the courses were very different due to content, I really enjoyed the open discussion in both and feel like I’ll be taking and utilizing a lot of what I learned in both with me as I continue my career after graduate school.

“Strong bodies fight so weak bodies may be nourished.”  This is the motto for the Bengal Bouts.  Bengal Bouts is a charity-boxing tournament that raises money that is donated to the Bangladesh missions.  Coaches and student senior captains teach students how to box and train them 5 days a week leading up to the tournament, which is held in February and March.  It’s an amazing opportunity and I would implore you to give it a shot if you have any interest at all in boxing.  They also have a woman’s boxing tournament called the Baraka Bouts for any female prospects that might be interested as well.  Unfortunately, I didn’t win my fight this year, but I’m definitely looking forward to doing it next year and don’t regret the time that I spent training or raising money during Mod 3.

Throughout all of Mod 3, I was also interviewing with various consulting firms trying to lock up an internship for the summer.  A couple of things that I took from this experience were that taking advantage of Notre Dame’s expansive alumni network and practicing cases are really important.  There were quite a few interviews in which I was able to lean on valuable suggestions and insights that I had received from ND alums.  I also took the time to practice 20+ cases before I had my first case interview.  Looking back, I definitely feel like all of the networking and case interview practice that I did in Mods 1 and 2 paid off, as I was able to lock up a consulting internship in Chicago this summer.

All in all, Mod 3 was very busy.  Looking back, it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to Mod 4!

 

O’Neil Peart
1st Year Student from Freehold, NJ
Concentrating in Consulting
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