Change in Plans

"My plan had failed. Suddenly, I was without work, enrolled in an expensive EMBA program with no corporate support"

By Megan Lum

"Tell me," the career counselor said. "Why did you decide to study for an MBA?"

The question, though not unexpected, left me silent for a moment. I'd always planned on answering this question. However, in my original plan, the questioner, time, and circumstances were different. I was supposed to be answering this question during a job interview after successful completion of my MBA. Instead, I found myself addressing the issue in a career counselor's office after my first year of the MBA program. It didn't fit my plan.

I moved to Seattle from the Midwest three and a half years ago after accepting a corporate-level position with a prosperous and well-known Fortune 500 Company. I'd spent my career in the environmental, health, and safety field. This position was the logical next step.

In my plan, I would work for some time for this company, prove myself, then pursue an advanced degree that would then allow me to continue my upward career trajectory. My ultimate goal was to become a C-level EHS executive in a Fortune 500 company. I wanted to be the one setting policy, not just implementing it. The plan seemed relatively straightforward at the time.

The first part of the plan went well. I did well in my job, received good reviews, and mulled which advanced degree I would pursue. I considered a law degree, an MBA, or an advanced degree in engineering. I talked to several people whose opinion I trusted. In the end, I decided to pursue an MBA because I believed that it would take me to an executive-level position within the company. Combined with my chemical engineering background, I believed an MBA would make me an attractive candidate to get where I wanted to go.

A Time to Celebrate

I talked to my employer, and they very generously offered to send me to school and to cover a significant portion of the costs. After much research, interviewing, and visits, I ultimately decided to apply to the executive MBA program at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. It had an excellent reputation, and I particularly liked the class schedule. Meeting once a week for eight intensive hours (along with a few extremely strenuous residence weeks) was very appealing to me as a working professional. Applying was an exhaustive and rigorous process. My husband and I celebrated when we learned I had been accepted.

On the first day of class, in August 2008, each student was interviewed by another student. I was asked what my biggest concern was upon entering the program. My response was that since I had an engineering background, I'd studied little to none of the traditional business classes, and I was concerned about learning a new "business" language. In addition, I had concerns (that were shared by just about everyone) on how to juggle a full-time class schedule with a full-time job. However, my answer was immediate when I was asked, "What are you going to do with an MBA? " Remember, I had a plan.

Soon after, the bottom fell out of the economy, and the stock market. So much for plans. My employer, a company extremely dependent on the housing industry, started hemorrhaging money. The company sold several divisions. There was talk of massive layoffs. The very week after I started my MBA classes, the department in which I worked was cut by 70%. I was one of the lucky ones. I survived.

My employer was not alone in this plight. In my class, there were a dozen students who deferred enrolling in the program by a year because of the economy. Many conversations in class started with the query, "How is your company doing?"

The Team Effort

Once classes started, however, there was no time to focus on much beyond class and work. I was very lucky to have been put in a study group filled with extremely bright and talented professionals. While UW called us the Purple Team, we dubbed ourselves the Phoenicians. We developed a team charter that we have stuck to so far. The five of us—Rebecca, Aidan, Dave, Eric, and me—have become an extremely effective team.

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