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Review these "Day in the Life of...," then take a look at

What kind of experiences you might have on the internship, with diaries from the following students:

A Week in the Life of an MBA student on an internship:

Amy Shang
Internship with: Mercedes Benz, Lisle, Illinois

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

Week 1 (Posted June 26, 2000)
It is so wonderful just to think that no paper is due, and no homework is to be turned in the next day. My internship started after a wonderful release from an extremely difficult quarter. Then I realized that it is too early to be happy about work life. It is so hard to get up at 6:00 am to catch the train to the west suburbs of Chicago. Keeping in mind that I need to get eight hours of sleep, I go to bed at 10:00PM when I used to turn on my computer to work on papers until 1:00AM last quarter!

Sitting in the 151 bus on the way back home, I saw so many people jogging along the lake or surfing on the water. I could not resist the temptation to go skating along the lake even though I was terribly sleepy. So, I advanced my intern salary for a pair of roller skating blades.

Week 2(Posted June 26, 2000)
I was introduced to the database of MBCC customers financial reports. That database is the starting point of the scoring model they use to determine the credit line to be granted to their customers. I plunged into spreading financial reports and scoring for the first two weeks.

When my roommate transferred into Accounting program from MBA, she told me that the demand for accountants is greater than the market supply. After spreading financial statements of more than 20 companies, I have come to believe what she told me. It took me about 15 minutes to spread an audited report but one or two hours to spread a company prepared statement. Some of the company-prepared financial statements are organized in such a funny way. Unbalanced assets and liability are just minor cases. The strangest income statement has negative income figures and positive expenses. So I had to turn my mind up side down to spread that statement.

Week 3(Posted July 3, 2000)
To continue my story in the first week, I have to tell you that I crashed when skating along a small pond close to my apartment. I wanted to skate to the lake but I didn't know that the road circling the pond had construction at one end where I normally headed for the lake. I slid from the smooth road into a construction area with a lot of wooden pieces. It was like a harsh brake while riding a bike. What will happen then? You will throw yourself down to the ground. I did the same. However, I still love skating and am doing quite well now. Summer in Chicago is wonderful, especially in Lincoln Park area by the lake. There are so many young people playing volleyball on the beach.

There was also a lot of fun in Mercedes-Benz Credit Corporation (MBCC). Last Friday was the traditional trucking day of MBCC. On the trucking day each year, various trucks produced by DaimlerChrysler are presented to the employees for tours. Along with the show, barbecued food is also prepared for outdoor eating. Surprisingly, the inside of those Benz trucks is almost luxurious. Drivers have very comfortable sleeping bed, closet, refrigerator, and TV within the limited space of the trucks. The trucks are almost as comfortable as mobile homes. The most interesting part was the dunking game. With the strength of a little tennis ball, you can throw a big guy into a tank full of water. It was a lot fun to watch those guys falling into the tank.

Now let me tell you a little about serious intern work. There are another four fellow interns. After two weeks, I have gained some insights into the organizational structure and the business processes here. I am very satisfied with the intern plan they have worked out for me. Since I feel quite comfortable with the spreading financials and scoring, I started to get involved in the reviews. Depending on the value of the deals, review of customer financial position is conducted in various frequencies. I am expected to do the reviews by analyzing the financials and presenting my recommendations to the committee who makes the final decision. This job requires not only solid knowledge of accounting but also good analytical skills. However, the check of credibility is only the beginning of a deal. Only when the pricing department comes out with the right term and rate, will a deal generate profit for MBCC. Therefore, the pricing department is also very important. I will be placed in the pricing department for about one week, during which I will learn how the terms and rates are determined to ensure 21% ROI for MBCC.

At the end, I will work with the marketing department. The innovative marketing is very successful to maximize the value of a used truck returned after a leasing contract ends. At certain point of my intern, I will be working with marketing department. It will be a very comprehensive internship experience for me, as it will involve both finance and marketing areas.

Week 4 (Posted July 24, 2000)
Before I went to the "Taste of Chicago", my colleagues warned me about the crowds. I don't believe there is crowd place in the states for me since I came from the real crowd country- China. "I won't be scared." I told them. It turned out that it was really crowded in Grant Park, even by my definition. However, I enjoyed the food part. Cheesecake is my favorite!!

MBCC is where I intern to get some experience of working in an American company. In some sense, I am also interning in all kinds of places to experience the life in America. So many machines are run by coins. I like it because I can get a Coke instantly when I am thirsty. I hate it when I can't do my laundry because I am missing only one quarter. I get entertained when I tried to wash car by quarters. It is not available in China.

At the car wash place, no one serves us. We drove the car into the tunnel. There is a little box on the wall. Different color indicates different steps in the whole car wash program. We inserted 7 quarters, soap water under low pressure came out first. Without informing me in advance, my friend moved the bar to soap water 2. I was totally scared when the high pressure soap water popped out. Seven quarters run really fast, I have not covered the whole car with soap water 2, there was only 1 minute left for the rest brushing, rinse and wax program. So I stared to circle the car in a hurry with all kinds of tools. At that time, I wished that car can rotate by it self. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. When I was still rinsing the car, it stopped. Such accurate timing!!! For the rest of the wax, we had to pay 7 quarters again. Forgot to tell you, I like the machine in grocery store with all the stuffed animals. If someday I finally get an animal out of that machine, I will definitely tell you. Up to now, I have not been successful.

Week 5 (Posted July 24, 2000)
The small business section is right next to my desk. They are dealing with small business owners. A major part of their job is to verify employment and credit worth information of those truck drivers or owners. There was a call by Jim who is the small business coordinator. He called a company's manager. As he turned on the speaker, everyone heard that interesting call. - Hello, this is Jim of Mercedes Benz Credit Corporation. - Hi. - I am calling to verify a driver's information. His name is Bill Peters. Does he work for you. - Yes, it is me! - ……. Ahh…. Thanks. Bye. I believe Jim seldom encounters such kind of conversation. Lucky him that it is rare case.

I am not only learning practical accounting and finance skills from my colleagues but also some English words. I made good friends with three ladies. One lady was very kind to offer me a ride to the train station. Normally I leave the company at 4:50 to catch the train at 5:36. We left the company at 5:00 and spent some time talking with other ladies downstairs. They have a cigarette meeting at the end of every day. Then she drove me to the train station. By the time I got out of her car, a train arrived. I jumped on my train like everyday. That train was much faster than normal. I didn't know there is something wrong with that train until it passed my town without stop. I realized immediately that it was not my train at 5:36 but the express train normally arrives at 5:05. That train would take me directly to Union Station. How could it happen? The express train was late and I arrived at the station too early for my train. I should have looked at my watch and asked the conductor. Anyway, I couldn't jump out of the window. You can't believe that I was not alone being so absent-minded. There is another guy made the same mistake. Both of us had to travel to union station and stayed in the train until it started again. By the time it brought us back again, it was already 7:45. What a long way to get home.

Week 6 (Posted July 24, 2000)
Up to now, I have been working in fleet section dealing with corporate customers. To supervise those customers' financial positions is to ensure that MBCC gets timely payment from the customer, Therefore, review of the customers' financial status is conducted on regular basis. My most recent accomplishment is four reviews with the value up to $30 million. Such review is like a quality check on incoming components. Though you are pretty sure that more than 95% of the components will be qualified, you still have to check all the components to find the 5% bad parts. One out of the four customers got a bad grade from my review. The leverage ratio is 48.5:1. What gave me the confidence to draw the negative conclusion was that this customer has default risk. In the capstone project, I clearly remember that team Erie has remained leverage ratio lower than 2:1. Taking Erie's leverage ratio as benchmark, I concluded that 48.5 is really bad.

The review is not always that easy as I have joked above. MBCC offers kinds of on-job training to the employees. I was invited to attend the " Deal of the Week". An old deal is chosen as an example to demonstrate what a credit analysis write-up should look like. Analysts have the chance to discuss how different approaches might have been taken if he or she did that deal. I like that training very much because it gives me many fresh views. For example, I have thought spreading financials is simple and sometimes boring. But through the example of this week's training, I realized that spreading financials in the right way is very important to ensure that the following financial analysis makes sense.

MBCC is DaimlerChrysler's national headquarter of trucking financing. So MBCC is supposed to finance trucking companies. The trainer asked us whether MBCC has provided $3.5 MM to a real trucking company. When we went back to the original financials, surprisingly that income from lottery, liquor, race horses, real estate etc. was a major part of his revenue compared to truckload business. This guy runs six different businesses! If default happens and this guy brings his horses or cases of liquor as collateral to MBCC, the remarketing department will surely have a hard time to sell that stuff.

Week 7 (Posted August 1, 2000)
The office building has a very nice lobby with an indoor garden. Out of the lobby, a small pond with a fountain gives another good place for lunch. We held a meeting yesterday by the pond. I wish such meeting can be held everyday to give us some fresh air. I was praised on the meeting for the last 6 reviews I have completed. The six deals I reviewed valued more than $900 Million. The six deals differ from each other. So each review required analysis of the company.

Week 8(Posted August 11, 2000)
One phrase, which has confused me since I came to the US, is " Credit History". When I called Ameritech to install telephone line for me, I was asked to provide my credit history. I have no idea what it is. I can't find a matching word in Chinese. Some financial institutes have the ads such as "We help you build up your credit history again". Why again? I didn't fully understand it until I was introduced to the database of small business.

The Small business division differs from the fleet division in the way that it deals with individual customers. A decision on whether a credit is granted to individuals is based on the person's credit reference investigation but not financial statements as for corporate clients. The major part of the investigation can be done in computer. The database is linked directly with a credit bureau that allows an instant credit check. Simply input the social number of the customer and click "check" button, all information about his/her mortgage, bill and debt payment will be shown on the screen. If someone had bankruptcy, the record is there. If he/she didn't pay the medical bills, it is shown there. Such records normally stay there for at least seven years. So for an irresponsible person, a credit history means "black list", which will go along with him/her and block his/her access to further financial help for the following years. Credit history is the natural result of credit consumption. Since credit consumption was not available until recently in China, you can understand why I had no idea about credit history.

I think the partial reason is that the traditional culture teaches people that owning money to others is very bad. Another reason is that a comprehensive information network was not existing in China to support the credit check. After almost one year living in the US, I have seen how the credit makes consumption so easy and convenient. It is really a good way to boost consumption. Since mortgages for housing, cars and education became available in China early this year, the deflation has finally turned to slight inflation. My parents told me that they applied for a housing mortgage and bought a house for my brother. I think China is really experiencing great changes if the conservative generation of my parents starts to touch mortgage. However, credit consumption requires people to be disciplined and responsible. Otherwise, credit checks would be unnecessary.

Mathew, a colleague told me that he just denied an application since a person's credit history shows that this man didn't pay his children's care bill. It is hard to believe that he would be responsible for a truck loan since he doesn't even care his kids. It looks like psychology study will help credit management.

Week 9(Posted August 22, 2000)
I remember that once my classmate asked me how I enjoy the freedom in the US, which I was not supposed to get in China in his impression. But I think he should ask me another question, how I feel about the democracy in the US, which should be very different from the government administration in China as I supposed before I came to this land.

I watched the Conventions of both political parties on the TV. All the presidential candidates and the guest speakers have excellent public speaking skills. I don't remember such passionate public speaking by a Chinese government leader like Bush and Gore. It seems that if you don't have good public speaking skills, you don't have access to the public servant position. Is it a must? I wonder.

Listening to those speeches is a good way to learn vocabulary, I found out. Because some of the words are just repeated from time to time, by both Republican and Democratic candidates. Some of the most frequently used words are " Dream", " Believe me", " the door for everyone". It appears to me that America is a country where everyone dreams, but whether the dreams are the same as the ones Martin Luther King and Kennedy had, the politicians didn't make it very clear.

Anyway, I only have one "dream" up to now. I want to go to bed around 1:00 AM and get up at 9:00AM. Different people do have different dreams. For example, Mathew next to my desk dreams some day he will regain the control on the remote control from his girlfriend. Erica, another colleague dreams that she can figure out which type her contacting sales people should be classified as in terms of psychology, so that she can get the information some easier from them in a tricky communication way.

Week 10(Posted August 22, 2000)
I noticed August is something special here. If someone is hungry, there is great chance to find chips, cookies, cakes around our floor these days. There are two ways to find that good stuff. Sometimes, there is an e-mail telling you "there is extra pizza available" or " We got plenty of food here, come to share with us". Or you can just walk around the floor, if you find color paper band hanging above a desk decorated with some balloons, there must be some good food around that desk.

Except for the leftover food from the training, most of the time the food is brought by the colleagues for all the good reasons. Either someone is celebrating a birthday or a job transfer or " happy Friday". I enjoyed this kind of corporate tradition quite well, because I tried some American food and also had great fun from "scaring" my colleagues by strange Chinese snacks. I think it is a very innovative way to promote communication among colleagues. If not for the attraction of food, people from different sections will not stop by the section with food so often within one day. After they grab something, normally they will talk with the colleagues sitting around about the food and by the way about the problems they had. Isn't it a good way to communicate within the company?

Today, we got enough food almost for a big party. The reason is about me. But I am not celebrating my birthday, but for my last day at credit department. Next week, I am moving to portfolio risk / marketing department. I am very happy that I made good friends in this region and learned a lot from the experienced analysts during the past ten weeks. I am also very grateful that they all take care me in such a kind way. What gave me a lot fun is how they react with the Chinese snacks I brought.

It is very strange to me that Chinese food in restaurant is so commonly accepted and even popular here, but people dare not to try those Chinese food in little packages. I still remember the "New Product Theory" explaining the globalization trend. It says that America has experienced extraordinary development because Americans like to try all the new things. Therefore, most of the new technologies were applied in the US and then sold to other parts of the world. But it seems that this theory doesn't hold true for food. They are just wondering and persuading others to try but not touching those "sliced lotus root, green pea with white skin, dried plum…" They do sound somewhat strange, don't they? The cultural difference is so huge, not even to mention other aspects. Well, in the food aspect, I found "common language" with a Korean colleague, who brought me a kind of drink made of rice, corn and sesames.

I am also happy that I finished a review at the highest value I have ever done. I think a $140 MM credit line review deserves little bit more analysis, therefore I came out with two pages of review, which is normally only one page. Erica, one of the fleet analysts, told me that I have done too much. Maybe she is right. But I really need to work hard to digest all the food I kept sending into my stomach since the early morning.

 

 

 

 


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