The 100 by 30 project

The value of B-school: none?

The Times has an article arguing that business school is a waste of time and money for anyone aspiring to be a Master of the Universe. They make two main arguments:

1. if you have a job in finance, a cost-benefit analysis will reveal B-school isn't worth it
2. if you do go, future employers will reject you for having bungled said cost-benefit analysis

The caveat is that if you're trying to transition into finance from, say, engineering, business school might not be your blackball.

And, of course, none of this necessarily applies if you aren't looking to be one of the hedge fund superstars.

Building a professional wardrobe (with pics!)

The advice I was given about dress for my summer job is "business casual, but you should wear a suit on the first day", suggesting that they lean to the business side of business casual.

I've been a graduate student for two years, and worked in research for four years before that. My business casual wardrobe is non-existent, so I've been doing a lot of shopping.

Here's what I've settled on:

1. Three of these wrinkle-free, tall stretch shirts from Eddie Bauer. At $5 extra for the tall, they're $54.50 each (but if these are half as great as my husband's wrinkle-free dress shirts from L.L. Bean, they're well worth the price).
   
2. These wrinkle-free chinos from Eddie Bauer at $54.50 (again, $5 extra for the tall!)
   
3. This lightweight wool twill suit from J. Crew in navy at $386.
   
    
4. This chino khaki suit from Banana Republic for $236.
   
5. This black and brown reversible dress belt from Eddie Bauer for $39.50.
   
6. The $60 J. Crew blouse that caused so much hand-wringing. It's not even wrinkle-free, but damn do I look good in it!
   
7. A $170 briefcase:
   

That's $1110 for two suits, three pairs of pants (if you include the suit pants), a belt, a briefcase, and four dress shirts! Luckily I have a good number of stylish pairs of business dress shoes, so at most I need another pair or two. Plus some dress socks, and possibly a necklace or two. All in all, that should run another $150 or so, for an approximate total of $1250. And that doesn't even include enough shirts to get through the week without doing laundry! And lucky for me that this is summer only, so I needn't worry about a nice professional coat or sweaters.

Could I have cut the price? Well, certainly. But two factors worked against me:

1. Time. I start work in exactly two weeks, but I'm not done with school yet! This week I have to give a presentation on my research this year, and then I will officially be done. This meant that I had to go with known quantities; while J. Crew and Banana Republic aren't the finest clothiers out there, I knew that I could order online and have a reasonably well-built suit show up at my door. I'm sure there are hidden treasures at JC Penney or Sears or Macy's, but I don't have time to play the order-and-return game to find them.
2. Sizing. As I discussed in detail here, I need tall sizing. Talls tend not to make it to the clearance rack, at least not in consistent sizing. For example, I couldn't get the black chino suit from Banana Republic because, even at regular price, you can see here that while they still have regular blazers in every size and petites in half the sizes, the only tall jackets left are size 2! (The same thing happens with shoes: tens are always sold out. I ask, "Why doesn't the store order more tens, if they know they'll sell out?" Response: "The manufacturer sends them in a batch, we don't get to pick sizes." So why doesn't the manufacturer throw in more tens?! Very frustrating. And Banana Republic has no excuse as they're both the manufacturer and the retail distributor.)

On the plus side, in between using http://naughtycodes.com/ and calling from the store to place an order, I managed to spend only $15 in shipping, including all the returned clothing that didn't make it into the final cut above.

When shopping is no longer loathesome

At some point between the end of college and a few years ago I managed to convince myself I hated shopping. Being in malls was repulsive. I did pretty much all my clothes shopping  online.

But something strange has happened lately. Sixty dollar shirts aside, I am loving shopping for my summer work clothes. I spent hours yesterday, fingering the fabrics, deciding whether to go with the linen or chino suit.

So I think the attitude that developed over the past few years was that I hated to buy stuff I didn't need, and since I really didn't need any clothes over the past five years (not even, say, a black dress for a funeral or a suit for a job interview), all shopping was superfluous. Honestly, if need be, I have enough clothing to last me for years.

But once I actually need something and it doesn't feel like I'm wasting money, shopping is fun again. That pleases me. If I have to spend the money anyway, I don't mind enjoying it!

The $60 white cotton shirt

Yesterday I did something I never thought I'd do: I spent $60 on a white, cotton work shirt. It's amazing how quickly costs ramp up when I refuse to compromise on two things:

1. Tall sizing. I'm tall. I want clothes to fit. I don't want to flash belly at work. 'Nuff said.
2. Relatively slim fit. Clothing makers don't seem to understand that tall does not equal weighing a quarter of a ton. Even when I buy tall clothing in my fairly average size (for tops I usually go either with a medium or a 12, depending on how it's sized) the cut seems to be adjusted for "Women's" cuts, as opposed to "Misses", even when I'm ordering a "Misses". I'd be perfectly happy to buy non-tall short-sleeved blouses from JC Penney, but they all have weird billow fits going on in the abdomen. I sometimes feel like I wandered into the maternity department.

So I know people often rationalize expensive clothing purchases with claims like "it's a keepsake" or "paying for quality is better in the long run", but those don't really work here. It's a white cotton blouse. Before long it'll have pit stains or I'll stain it beyond repair or the cleaner will ruin it. It's just a financial sacrifice I have to make as a tall person who wants to look professional.

Adjusting to life in the corporate womb

My summer job starts in very early June, and with the rush of finals, qualifying exams, and finishing up research papers, I recently realized I hadn't done anything to prepare for the logistics of moving to Summer Job City for three months.

"I might as well go ahead and book my flight," I thought, "before prices shoot up." So I did. I tried to balance price versus not leaving too early (maximize time with the husband) versus not leaving too late (minimize move-in stress) versus convenience for my in-laws (who will be picking me up from the airport). In the end, I found a reasonable round-trip ticket for $260 that has one layover in each direction.

But today I get an email from summer job telling me that, by the way, they'll be reimbursing us for travel costs to the job! 1. Sweet. 2. Why didn't you tell me earlier?! Maybe I should have guessed, but although I'm familiar with companies flying me out for interviews, I never imagined that they would pay for my travel costs to the job itself.*

I could get used to this sort of surprise.

And the more I realize how much money this company seems to have available to throw around, the more I really want knock their socks off this summer.

Updated to add: I do know that companies often pay for moving expenses; in fact, both my moves were covered by my new employer. But they never paid for my plane ticket, and I never got any sort of assistance for my summer jobs in undergrad.