A few weeks ago, I published the first few weekly reports from my summer internship at BCG. I was first inspired to write these weekly recaps by a UCLA professor of mine as a way to keep track of my growth during the internship, and I’ve had a blast writing them ever since.
Here was I first described these reports back then:
Basically, at the end of each week of my summer internship at BCG, I write a weekly report to my managers and the other interns to keep things fun and interesting. They’ve become surprisingly popular, with people hearing about them from colleagues and requesting to be added to the mailing list.
I figured I’d share them here for y’all to enjoy as well, and maybe even inspire y’all to write your own!
Now, I’m back to share the reports from the second half of the internship.
Let’s go!
Note: Information that could identify my teammates, client, or project has been redacted for confidentiality reasons. Pictures included in this post were attached to the relevant weekly emails. Enjoy!
Subject: Dennis Gavrilenko Weekly Report: 7/22 - 7/26
Where in the world did the time go? I feel like I was just in the Seattle office doing our group intern training at the beginning of June, and here we are, 7 weeks later, almost done with the summer internship. Time sure flies by!
Let's dive into the weekly review.
What I did:
Co-located with my case team in SF. The office is so cool!
Set the high score on the Pacman machine in the SF office. The score to beat is ~22,000 (picture attached)
Learned that there's a ton of great Thai food in SF. Yum
What I learned:
How to use [a cool digital tool] more efficiently. There's a ton to learn there, and I'm just scratching the surface
That whiteboarding on a physical whiteboard in a shared office space is a lot easier and more efficient than doing so on a virtual whiteboard
Tokyo was the second BCG office, after Boston. There's a massive 60-year-history coffee table book of BCG in the SF office, and I read the entire thing after work on Thursday
Outside of BCG:
Ate some delicious ramen with my sister in SF. She lives and works here, and it was so great to see her!
Got drinks with my UCLA college buddy living in Chinatown (the picture is of an Italian flag garage we saw)
Took some sunset photos with my sister at the Painted Ladies. Nice!
And that's it for this report! Let's make the most of the last three weeks 💪🏽
Best,
Dennis
Subject: Dennis Gavrilenko Weekly Report: 7/29 - 8/2
Happy August to those who celebrate. T-2 weeks to go until the end of the internship, CRAZY!
A couple exciting updates before we get started, in the order of how excited I am about them:
Home Depot delivered 192 retaining wall bricks to my house today. I CAN'T WAIT to build the retaining wall this weekend!
A few folks reached out to me this week on Slack requesting to be added to this email list. Welcome to the show!
I booked my plane tickets to Anchorage for a 10-day Alaskan adventure after my internship ends. A week in the Denali wilderness, anyone?
Ok, glad we got that out of the way. Let's jump in!
What I did:
Co-located with my case team in SF for the second week in a row. I feel like I live in California again!
Made some banger slides that I presented at [client meeting] and received compliments for. Nice!
Presented my summer case to the other Seattle interns at our intern case sharing breakfast. The bagels were yum and the cases were interesting.
What I learned:
That [a cool digital tool] might be the greatest thing ever. How I ever went with the Insert --> Insert Chart option before this summer, I don't know
You gotta come in early to claim your favorite desk in the SF office. Trust me, I learned the hard way!
You can add custom emojis to your Slack "away" message! I now have custom ones for going to lunch and for a quick walk (a polar bear walking)
Outside of BCG:
Ran the SF marathon on Sunday. Read about the adventure here!
Went on a nice 12-mile bike ride on Monday to recover from the Sunday marathon
Played a lot of cards with my little brother on Monday. I was working from home in the Bay!
Thanks everyone for tuning in to my updates again this week. Just two more to go, and then I'm off to Alaska, then back to UCLA to finish my senior year!
Best,
Dennis
Dennis Gavrilenko Weekly Report: 8/5 - 8/9
Boy oh BOY am I feeling pumped right now! I'm coming off the endorphins high you get after an amazing workout, which just so happened to be climbing the ENTIRE stairwell of the Seattle office's building.
You read that right, folks --> I climbed up all 54 floors! The time to beat: 9 minutes, ~30 seconds
This is the second-to-last weekly report that'll be landing in your inbox; next week, the internship ends and I'm off to Alaska for a 10-day Denali adventure. Crazy!
Let's dive in:
What I did:
Organized the stair climbing event you read about just now. 6 of us started and finished successfully, all in under 15 minutes. Go us! (check out the attached picture of us victors!)
Led a Breakfast & Learn session in the Seattle office Friday morning. The topic was hot peppers, and you can see the deck here [presentation link]
Had an amazing team dinner at Ivar's Acres of Clams along the Puget Sound waterfront. The clams were clamming, the sun was setting, and the conversation was fantastic (check out the attached picture of our table location)
What I learned:
How to use [a cool digital tool] more effectively. After I made some PowerPoint slides this week, I thought they looked so good that Bill Gates himself would've been impressed
That you need to have all participants of a 54-floor-stair-climbing-challenge sign a waiver that specifies, in great detail, all the bodily harm that might come out of said challenge. Fortunately, no one suffered "damage, injury, or death"
That watching USA come back and beat Serbia in a men's basketball Olympic semi-final will make you feel extremely patriotic
Outside of BCG:
Built the coolest retaining wall EVER in the front yard of the cooperative house I'm living in this summer. You can see the 20-second timelapse of its construction here (check out the attached picture)
Started watching Breaking Bad. That show is SO good!
Read another 150 pages of Atlas Shrugged, the amazing book I'm reading currently. We're in the home stretch now!
And just like that, another weekly report is done. I'm looking forward to writing one last one next week.
Thanks so much everyone for staying tuned all summer!
Best,
Dennis
Dennis Gavrilenko FINAL Weekly Report: 8/12 - 8/16
Dear person reading this email,
Today is the last day of the summer internship; as such, a day of reflection and of thanks.
I was first inspired to write these weekly recaps by a UCLA professor of mine and writing them has consistently been a highlight of the week for me. If you're reading this, it means we interacted in some way over the course of the summer and my internship experience improved as a result. Thank you for being part of my BCG journey and all the great times I've had.
So for the last time, let's dive in!
What I did:
Cranked out a bunch of slides for my team. The big client board meeting is in two weeks, home stretch!
Drank an average of 6 kombuchas a day. I LOVE kombucha
Had networking calls with a few UCLA students going through BCG internship recruitment now. Some of them had their final round interviews today, and it's crazy cool to be on the other side of that process
What I learned:
That if you get a return offer from the BCG Seattle office, you get a cool waterproof bag. Bag, secured! (the pictures from the following photoshoot with Ray are attached)
How to really quickly use all the alignment tools in [a cool digital tool]. I'll really miss using it
That there is a huge boulder erratic in the UDistrict that was transported there by a glacier tens of thousands of years ago. I biked to it and attached the picture here!
Outside of BCG:
Set up a picture collage in the house I'm living in. The pictures are from the fun summer project of remodeling the (now completed) front yard. Hooray!
Finished reading Atlas Shrugged. It was over a thousand pages and a brilliant book
Went to the Burke Museum, right by my house. It was so cool!
And so, we made it to the end. I'll miss writing these emails – they've been a great way to stay in touch with everyone, keep track of my progress and growth, and wrap off each week with something fun. Looking back now and reading those early emails, it's crazy how much I've grown!
But don't worry, I'll still be writing plenty. If you'd like to stay tuned, please subscribe here! You can read all about the different adventures I embark on there.
So thanks one, thanks all, for a great summer. It was a memorable one, that's for sure!
