What's the most random thing you used Excel for outside of work?

I normally use it for budgeting and purchases, but lately I had some time and a while back for a class I had about 70 or so friends take the test / tell me their MBTI personality results. The results were pretty interesting, but not so much before I realized how sad this was. Anyways, most random thing you used excel for? I recall one of the main characters in The Big Short kept a spreadsheeet of all the sushi places in New York and his ratings of them.

48 Comments
 
Going ConcernI have a giant movie spreadsheet with virtually every film I've ever seen and want to see, with various data points, filters, conditional formatting, the works. It's pretty nice.

Check out Foundd (no typo, free web/ios app). I had a similar excel file, but started using them lately. Essentially it does exactly the same in addition to movie suggestions based on your historical data.

 

I have a spreadsheet with the 500 largest restaurant chains in the US, and track how many I've eaten at, because I am a consulting stereotype.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points
 
David Aamesgirls i sla.... er i mean bills/monthly payments etc

was considering starting one of these...

My drinkin' problem left today, she packed up all her bags and walked away.
 
Kenny Powers
David Aamesgirls i sla.... er i mean bills/monthly payments etc

was considering starting one of these...

Let me guess... You got down to cell A3 and decided you really only needed a Post It note for the list.
 

Defintely a spreadsheet of my tuition bill

I like to keep track of how much money I'll have to pay during the year as well as how much aid i'll be receiving.

Also i've helped some family friends out, get a preview of their car payments prior to purchasing, how much money must be contrubuted towards down payment in order to pay X amount a month at Y interest. Pretty basic stuff.

 
JDimonHave a simple spreadsheet that keeps track of my poker wins and losses

so do my friends and I some of them who play significantly often even account for the amount of time played, location/venue, stakes, type of game,...etc. and just calculate hourly win/loss rate at a specific game/stake at a specific venue and analyze their habits and trends

some of them look more like accounting income statements at a glance from far away

 

I built a model to calculate peoples' chances of getting into an M7 MBA program. I plugged in all the analysts and gave it to my MD. I also calculated the chances of analysts leaving for the buyside in their first year. I also reported these results to my MD. Why? I get a rush from closing dinners.

 

-Personal monthly and annual budget with income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement -Model that forecasts growth of all investments I own and debt repayment schedule -Spreadsheet of all material things I want to own someday with prices for each item -List of all my professional contacts divided by industries that tracks all the activity with them -About a dozen models for potential ventures I am thinking to start someday

 

I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my golf handicap. It lets me select the course from a drop down and then a second drop down will provide the tee locations (forward, middle, back; red, white, blue, black) for the selected course.That was the part that took me the longest to figure out, but eventually I got it. This spreadsheet has saved me a few times when my official handicap record with GHIN was accidentally deleted.

 

Not outside of work, but the guys (including VP) at my old firm made a spreadsheet using sophisticated formulae and statistics to determine how probable it would be to bang the women in our office. Variables included relationship status, attractiveness, friendliness, rumours etc. and it was sent around to all the men and each person made additions and tweaks. Turned out to be quite accurate.

 

A consulting friend of mine did a catalog of her wardrobe. Still haven't heard anything better than that. Personally, I DCF'd myself once. May have gotten aggressive with the assumptions.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 

I have a model that I use to value players in my fantasy football league and create my draft order. Last year was my first year using it and I won the league (12-team) and this year i'm the #2 seed in the playoffs (12-team again).

 
trisomy18I have a model that I use to value players in my fantasy football league and create my draft order. Last year was my first year using it and I won the league (12-team) and this year i'm the #2 seed in the playoffs (12-team again).

Haha impressive

I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought- GG
 

Had to create a spreadsheet to track my mother's bandwidth use. After being introduced to TV streaming sites she managed to blow through 75 gigs a month.

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
 
Going Concern
honeyoak87Had to create a spreadsheet to track my mother's bandwidth use.

You seem like a nice guy so I won't say something dirty, but...

Don't put your hand on the holster without intending to pull the trigger. Write something creative/funny and related to WSO, not just "your mom watches midget porn".

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
 
Best Response

Used to have a list of people to contact with follow up comments, etc. when I was looking for a job Had some outside-of-the-classroom fun in College with a BAC level spreadsheet that a professor provided Used to have my monthly budget in excel before I learned about mint.com (11235813 - Foundd seems like a very good find) Made a DCF/IRR on myself - if I go to b-school I will need some really aggressive assumptions to get my IRR to respectable levels. There are some amusing and interesting ready made banker/hedge funder DCFs that, I've found on WSO
Have a list/roulette of the best NYC restaurants and joints to eat at (including the 53d street guys back when they were good) Showed my dad what he's really getting into when buying an apartment w/ w.o. mortgage. I think it was the first time he cought a glimpse of a vague idea of what I do for living Use spreadsheets to figure out in which notes to invest on LendingClub faster Use a spreadsheet for the last European and World Cup brackets (won them both) Liked what this guy did: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2131808/David-Merkur-dating-s…

 

I also have the golf handicap tracker, but added a few features to mine. My sheet also tracked fairways hit, greens in regulations, number of putts per hole, up and downs, etc.

 
bitter_bobI also have the golf handicap tracker, but added a few features to mine. My sheet also tracked fairways hit, greens in regulations, number of putts per hole, up and downs, etc.

Golf sabermetrics? That's probably a good idea if you want to truly know where to focus your practice efforts. I may start doing this myself.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 
bitter_bobI also have the golf handicap tracker, but added a few features to mine. My sheet also tracked fairways hit, greens in regulations, number of putts per hole, up and downs, etc.

Yeah, I forgot to add that I added those columns as well. On the top of the sheet I have high/low/average for score and averages for putts, fairways, and GIRs. There is also a handicap calculator that gives you a course handicap when you input the course slope.

 

Right now I'm working on a spreadsheet that will put out a bunch of key statistics on each team in march madness then should ultimately decide who has the better chance of winning. I hope to finish it this weekend and then spend next week back testing/tweaking it.

 

Consectetur voluptatibus velit sunt dolores eum non. Aut aut amet qui pariatur expedita laboriosam magni. Et repellendus sunt laboriosam in et omnis consectetur.

Perspiciatis voluptas delectus ad dignissimos ratione non. Illo magni praesentium adipisci et aut cupiditate ut. Qui suscipit vero aspernatur et delectus sint qui. Eveniet nihil quibusdam atque quo.

Et veniam id quia. Et similique quaerat ex sed rerum aut quia. Non officiis dolores asperiores distinctio. Eveniet explicabo a et dignissimos eveniet in. Animi aliquam quia fuga dolor aut quisquam quas omnis.

 

Doloribus et soluta consequatur cum. Qui possimus magnam sed aut quis quis. Itaque ut aut deserunt natus fugit rerum. Qui quia laudantium ratione.

Officia et voluptatem nemo soluta dolores eum voluptatem enim. Voluptatem accusamus accusantium ex magnam repellat dolorem aut sint. Officia illum quis nostrum sunt quasi. Autem ipsam eos alias fugiat molestiae.

Saepe sequi molestiae corporis cum laboriosam pariatur. Id quaerat velit explicabo harum dolorem. Minima enim reprehenderit est voluptatem. In deleniti doloremque quos est quod sit delectus.

Quo alias minus eum aliquid esse. Consequatur quasi iusto voluptas nam facere. Placeat repellat voluptatibus deleniti est. Omnis sed consectetur inventore ipsum incidunt.

 

Dolores sunt consequuntur et recusandae occaecati doloremque. Eum dolor voluptatem ut magni ipsa adipisci nostrum. Voluptatibus qui iusto pariatur magnam aut eligendi. Error nihil qui soluta veritatis repellat ipsam reprehenderit. Iste recusandae sint eius id praesentium omnis molestias.

Quod temporibus voluptatibus modi atque nisi. Fugit quae ad recusandae accusantium quam quia. Tenetur reprehenderit sit repellat eaque laboriosam ipsam natus saepe. Voluptatibus quo qui optio aliquam. Qui voluptatum aliquam perspiciatis nesciunt rerum voluptatem quia ut.

Reprehenderit hic illo accusamus in animi delectus. Atque odit veritatis dolor consequatur voluptas voluptas. Facere adipisci error doloremque iste provident. Explicabo aut veritatis reiciendis fugiat omnis unde animi. Porro eaque qui quisquam molestias.

Consequatur aut aliquid aut vero molestiae. Sunt nostrum iste nesciunt incidunt aliquam eligendi aliquid. Laudantium velit amet repellat. Dolore natus quia explicabo et corporis porro laudantium.

[quote=Matrick][in reply to Tony Snark"]Why aren't you blogging for WSO and become the date doctor for WSO? There seems to be demand. [/quote] [quote=BatMasterson][in reply to Tony Snark's dating tip] Sensible advice.[/quote]

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”