Get an MBA

I’m now half finished with my MBA. At this point I’m ready to be finished, so it was really a good decision to stop working so that I can concentrate on school and finish full-time. I should be able to graduate in April! This is exciting, but I won’t be truly excited until I get through the Fall. Campus recruiting has me fairly stressed out (as it should-my future depends on this!), and the nerves are really going to my head. I hope I can calm down enough to get through the next 3 months-then it should be smooth sailing.

Well, I’ve officially decided that I’m going to finish up my MBA full-time. I’m about halfway done, so going full time I should graduate in April (or June). Eeee!

33 more to go. In just a few short weeks, I’ll be halfway done!

I am currently enrolled in a part-time MBA program (and working full-time), but am strongly considering switching to school full-time. My main reason for starting school part-time in the first place was that I wanted to continue to gain work experience so that I would be more competitive once I graduate. But I’m now so unhappy in my current job (which also does not pay my tuition) that it’s making more and more sense to just concentrate on school.

It’s such a big decision. And if I do it, I’ll have to act fast, since recruiting would be this fall (!) if I’m going to finish school next spring, and I’m not nearly ready for that. I have an appointment with an academic advisor and plan to talk to my financial advisor as well, so I hope to figure this all out very soon. Eeek!

After nearly a year and a half (with two more to go), I’m starting to get weary. It’s not new and exciting anymore. Instead, I’m counting down the time (and credits) to the finish line, and it could not come fast enough.

Maybe it will get better. Maybe I just need a little break. This Spring/Summer should be a little easier and lighter, so hopefully that will be all I need to keep going.

I decided that groupwork is the devil. Maybe it’s meant to be “practice for real-world projects,” but it really isn’t the same thing because there is no structure of power or final say. I believe it is necessary for someone to have a final say. Otherwise, you just get 5 headstrong MBA students together who just argue about stupid little details. It never works to have an agenda, or to pick a leader, or to have goals for a meeting, because they never happen. Everyone always just argues and nothing gets done. Then you have to set another meeting, which is not only just as useless, but it takes time away that you could be using to actually get something done on your own.

I believe this is why people drink.

I’ve been taking advantage of all of the presentations and panels offered by the school, and have learned a lot about how to make the most of my time in B-school and ensure that my recruiting experience is positive and ends with the best job offer. I think this will be invaluable information, so I look forward to sharpening my skills. I will become a networking queen!

This last semester was pretty brutal. I just barely passed one of my classes, and the disappointing part is, I’m not sure how much material I really retained to use in a practical manner later. I’m sure other classes will be better, but this semester sure did take an emotional toll on me. Now I’m worn out, and the end seems so very far away.

I’m about 1/5 of the way through. That accounting class was pretty brutal.

This fall will be pretty tough—finance and two marketing classes. Doing this on top of working full-time really is like having two full-time jobs.

Everyone tells me that the time will really fly once I get going. It’s difficult to see things that way when I’m at the beginning of the program and all I can see is the long road ahead of me. It’ll take me around 3 or 3 1/2 years, since I’ll be working full-time while schooling part-time.

It’s a little scary, hearing from so many people that an MBA is not a sure thing to a great job. But I’m putting a lot of money into this education, and believe I have a pretty good plan for making a well-rounded resume and doing full research into companies I might be recruited by so that I can make sure I’m the perfect candidate for my perfect job. But it’s still scary. And it still seems like a long road ahead.