This MBA program has been rough. Consquently, I have not had much time to blog. However, I am learning a lot, and I hope to get to a regular posting schedule in the near future. Term 1 ended a couple of weeks ago, and Term 2 seems more manageable. Challenges abound, but I am glad to report that I am still in the program!
Today was the first part of the statistics boot camp. I remarked on Twitter that, while I love math in general (especially calculus), I never liked statistics. However, statistics is a critical part of the business world, and I plan to master it during my time in the MBA program.
Orientation has been a very positive experience for me. I am already familiar with many of the people in my class, and I feel much more comfortable with getting around the Texas A&M campus in general, and the Wehner building is already becoming the familiar spot that it should be to a business student. I have to admit that I initially thought that a two week orientation was a bit much, but it has already proven beneficial even though I haven’t even completed the first week!
Day 3 brought some fun to the orientation. We did various team-building excercises with my team (Beta 7) and another team (Gamma 7). One of the challenges involved touching number in a certain order with only one person going into the area where the numbers were stored. You really had to see it to understand, but I think that my group set the best time for touching the numbers.
We also did a skit about what we learned during the team building exercises. I wish I could have recorded it, but I couldn’t get my camera phone ready in time. I’ll have to be quicker on the draw next time!
Powered by Twitter Tools.
I learned quite a lot from the faculty who spoke today. Particularly interesting was Rogelio Oliva who brought a level of passion and enthiusiam to his presentation on the case method that I found exciting and refreshing. We also had an open panel that included Dr. Oliva as well as Arvind Mahajan, Shane Johnson,and Michael Wesson. The head of the 16-month long communications course was there as well.
Overall, the faculty was very impressive. I also learned that I will be in the Beta Cohort on Team Seven (Beta Seven). My team members and I have a great mix of background and skills, and I look forward to learning more about them in the upcoming weeks.
Beta Seven Team during Lunch - Tina, Anjuan, Ping, and Deepa. Not pictured is Philip
My hope is that we work so well together that we hate to go through the mandatory change of teams during the next term.
We also received a tour of the computer lab (Texas A&M is definitely an Apple house), and I also received my student badge.
I’m happy to report that I just upgraded this site to Wordpress 2.6. It was a very straightforward process which speaks to the strength of the open source WordPress product.
On Sunday night, the MBA Class of 2010 had a reception at the George Bush Presidential Library. The Library is quite a nice building.
The reception was nice with a non-alcoholic water bar. It was the first time that I saw the entire class in one place, and I was impressed by everyone that I met that night.
Today we had the first day of orientation. It was very informative, and I enjoyed hearing from all of the speakers. I definitely have a lot of office visits to make! Fortunately, the Director of the MBA program has two comfortable chairs in which I am sure I will spend my fair share of time sitting.
This is the audio recording of my networking interview with Dennis Miller. No, he’s not the famous comedian, but he is an entrepreneur who left one of the word’s largest consulting companies to work for himself and gain a better work-life balance.
One of the “preparation” assignments for the Career Services Center of Texas A&M’s Mays Business school is to conduct a networking interview. This is designed to expand the network of MBA students and put them in contact with those who have accomplished what they are setting out to do: obtain an MBA and get a job commensurate with the credential.
I have identified a contact who agreed to do the interview. Below are the questions I will ask:
• Where did you get your MBA and in what year did you complete it?
• What were your goals for pursuing an MBA?
• How long was your MBA program?
• Did you do a summer internship?
• If you did a summer internship, what made the experience valuable?
• Were you involved in any extra-curricular activities?
• What were some of the key lessons you learned from pursuing your MBA?
• What are some of the mistakes a student should avoid while pursuing my MBA?
• How did having an MBA affect your career progression?
• What was your strategy for navigating the interview process?
• Why did you accept the offer of employment given you by the first company your worked for after completing your MBA?
• Who is your current employer?
• How would you describe your current role?
• In what way does your MBA training help you in your current role?
• What skills and qualifications are vital to your position?
• What advice would you give someone who wants to follow the same career path you took?
• What are you long term professional goals?
• Are you a member of any professional organizations? If so, how has your membership helped your career?
I have worked a number of years in the professional world, and I had to chose between an executive MBA program and a full time one. The executive MBA program is offerred by several top schools, and it would have allowed me to gain the academic training and credential of an MBA while continuing to work full time. Despite the large financial benefit of continuing to receive my full salary, there were four reasons for my decision to become a full time MBA student.
While the financial impact of going with a full time MBA program is the biggest drawback, I plan to mitigate this impact through financial aid.