Page 272 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

Not only did classes start at 8 a.m., and in some cases end at
midnight, but you have to remember that not only had I never
been to university, I hadn’t even sat an O level. I hadn’t written an
essay since I was sixteen and that had probably only been 400
words long. The course assumed you had the ability to write
5000-word reports and analyses: Jemma and Hanah were more
familiar with the concept of ‘contrast and compare’, and I found
it tough. It didn’t help that most of the other students had degrees,
if not MBAs and Ph.D.s. Of the 110 people on the course, 109 had
corporate careers and experience of writing reports and analyses
for their boards. I had thrown myself in at the deep end, and it got
even tougher when one our first assignments involved preparing a
set of accounts. I had always had them prepared for me: I knew
how to read a spreadsheet but not how to compile one!
I went to see the professor at the end of the class.
‘Small problem: I’ve always employed people to compile these
for me. Is there someone on campus I can pay to do this? Are there
secretarial services here?’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘No problem, James. We run courses here
on spreadsheets. I think it’s two hours a night. I’ll book you in.’
By ten o’clock at night I was completely wiped out. I just
couldn’t concentrate with enough intensity after that, so I started
getting up at 5.30 in the morning and doing two hours of study
before I jumped in the shower. Besides, one of the reasons for
doing this course was to get to know the other students: if I’d
studied all evening I would have missed out.
We were all staying in halls of residence on campus. The AMP
quarters are a cut above the average student accommodation, but
it was still pretty basic: a small room with a single bed, a
wardrobe, a desk and a shower cubicle. There were eight rooms
to a floor and they had been designed so that you would spend as
much time in the communal rooms as possible: talking about the
course and learning from each other was all part of the Harvard

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