| Register/Subscribe Home |
|
UNDERGRADSMain Page2007 RankingsAdmissions Q&AsCareer Q&AsUndergrad ForumReading ListRecruiter Q&AsSchool Report CardsSchool ToursUndergrad 24-7Undergrad VideosNews HeadlinesPREMIUM CONTENT
| |
JULY 26, 2001 MBA JOURNAL: FIRST YEAR REVIEW Pablo Velazquez: Reflecting on the First Year of B-School "As I reflect on what I have experienced so far this first year, I remember thinking how much work this was going to be. I certainly have not been disappointed." As I reflect on what I have experienced so far this first year, I remember thinking how much work this was going to be. I certainly have not been disappointed. I'm glad I made sure my wife was aware of all the changes that were in store for us before I began applying for the program. I couldn't imagine not having her support. To add value to this entry, I will assume anyone reading it is aware of the sometimes-drastic life changes one must endure while at B-school, and focus on what's different about a part-time program and also what may be different at Cox compared to other programs. If you would like to read about the physical toll B-school takes on a person, see my previous entries. At this point in many two-year B-school programs, MBA candidates are starting on their internships for the summer. In this part-time (also known as the Professional MBA) program, we are halfway through our summer term. The lack of summer internships has caused me to think about any opportunities I might be foregoing. During this summer, first-year full-time students will have a great deal of opportunity to apply what they have learned. Working in Internal Audit at the Federal Reserve Bank I have been able to apply some of what I have learned. For example, different leadership characteristics covered in Organizational Behavior have helped me improve communication between management and myself. From Financial Accounting, I have gained a better understanding of how different accounts interact across a balance sheet. But for my day to day Audit work, I have not been able to apply a great deal of material. The same can be said for Economics and Statistics. The next logical step then, is to think about finding another job that might put me in a better position to take advantage of what I've learned so far. I still haven't made up my mind about making a leap right now, but if you are considering a part-time MBA program, I recommend you think about where you want to be when you finish and if any interim job changes will be needed to get you there. The upside of a part-time MBA program is that you can spend an extra year networking. I am thinking specifically of the mentor program here at Cox. As I stated in previous entries, this is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to this school. The idea of a small program having access to approximately 150 to 200 top-level executives and managers was extremely appealing. I did not start the mentor program last fall because I wanted to focus exclusively on my studies. I wanted to consider my first year at Cox a developmental period where I would acclimate myself to the new schedule. Coming up to my second year, I still have a whole two years of extracurricular opportunities to look forward to. Needless to say, I am extremely excited about this fall which is why I am not too concerned about making a job change so soon. There is still time to decide which direction I want to take my career in. For now, I will relax a bit before starting the last class of my first year at Cox. The first part of this summer was a bruiser. To sum it up, it was seven weeks long, we met twice a week, and our grades consisted of a midterm and a final -- that's it! Also, we didn't get a break after the Spring term. So if you were feeling a little burned out, you had approximately 12.5 hours to recover before starting the next class. This was the case for my section mates and me. Our Organizational Behavior professor gave us until 6:00 p.m. to finish our final and our first class for Finance was 6:30 p.m. the next day. I'm sure not everyone's finals went like this, but no one had more than a four-day break. One thing I did appreciate about Finance was not having to turn in homework. However, at the speed we were covering material, there was no choice but to keep up on all the practice problems lest you try and learn three or four chapters worth of Capital Structuring and Valuation the night before the final. For me, the jury is still out on this "modular" schedule. I liked having only one class to concentrate on, but it may have been just too fast for concepts to sink in. I will let you know how the Marketing class goes at the end of the summer. I really haven't run into any major problems here at Cox, although I do wish the part-time students would get special consideration for after-hours parking. For about two weeks this term we had to fight for parking with people coming for high-school graduations on campus. It was frustrating because we weren't given any official notice and for $5, people were allowed to park in our spaces. I haven't contacted anyone at the school about this, but in the past, concerns about these minor annoyances and other more serious concerns have been dutifully addressed by the administration. I hope to get to know the administration and other faculty a bit more as I emerge from this first year of my self-imposed period of acclimation. At the end of this summer, I hope to give a more complete overview of my first year at Cox as well as my game plan for the start of my second of three years. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | [an error occurred while processing this directive] Learn about your online education options |
 Copyright 2001, Bloomberg L.P.Terms of Use | Privacy Policy |
MBA Insider
Printer-Friendly Version
