|
|
 UNDERGRADSMain Page2007 RankingsAdmissions Q&AsCareer Q&AsUndergrad ForumReading ListRecruiter Q&AsSchool Report CardsSchool ToursUndergrad 24-7Undergrad VideosNews HeadlinesPREMIUM CONTENT
| |
FEBRUARY 2003 MBA JOURNAL: YEAR TWO Drew & Megan Hess: Academics, the Placement Process, and More "The reality of today is that nothing is as it was. Several of my classmates have accepted positions at or below the level from which they resigned." -Drew "So, what are you guys doing next year?" I get this question at least once a week, and every time I have to shrug my shoulders and answer, "Well...it depends." Right now, everything depends on where Drew is accepted for Ph.D. study. I have been trying to stay in the job market by interviewing with companies in the cities where Drew is applying. So far, I have been fortunate and the job interviews are going well. I am really excited about going back into the workforce with my new MBA perspective, and I think the interviewers have picked up on this enthusiasm. Still, jobs are scarce and the pay is far below my most conservative estimates. We will have to make our decisions in just a few more months, and I have no idea what direction we will take. I have total confidence that it will all work out...I just don't know how, yet. The second year of classes has really been nice. After the structure of the first year, where you are assigned teams and courses, the second year is quite liberating. We can take just about anything we like as long as it meets our graduation requirements. I have elected to pursue both Supply Chain Management and Marketing concentrations, so my courses have run the gamut of Strategic Marketing to Information Technology in Supply Chain Management. Next semester, I am going to take only one Marketing class and spend the rest of my time solidifying my financial analysis skills in courses like International Finance and Financial Statement Analysis. I think that the ability to analyze a business decision using a discounted cash flow model is perhaps the greatest tool we have learned here at the MBA program, and I want to make sure that I have dedicated enough time to this subject. You can tell that I am already worried about forgetting all of the useful things we have learned. With so much information shared in so little time, it is no wonder that only a few lessons really stick. What are they? I guess the biggest single lesson that every class has touched on is that every decision we will make and every tool we will use has to be taken with a grain of salt. Nothing is as it seems; every decision can be and should be second-guessed, and confidence is as dangerous as ignorance. Drew's journal talks about how humbling this year has been for our class in terms of our future opportunities. I believe that humility has also been one of the great lessons of this program. Perhaps the convergence of events that we have experienced together - September 11, Enron, the tough job market - has imbued our class with humbleness, a quality not often found in MBAs. Drew: No one likes to be humbled. While I would hate for one of my last journals to become a cautionary tale, I cannot with good conscience make it appear that the MBA has been a free pass into the good graces of corporate America. I cannot tell you that it isn't heartbreaking for my classmates to go to job fairs and stand in line next to last year's graduates. The truth is that the MBA represents two years of blood, sweat, and tears (oh yeah, and a whole lot of money) for a completely uncertain reward. The true irony of the situation is that you only learn the tools necessary to make such large-scale decisions after you have already made them. The decision to go back to school, regardless of economic conditions should not be made without first answering the following questions: Is my present condition so bad as to warrant losing it all? And, have I given it enough time to make such an assessment? This last point is why I feel business schools require four years of work experience prior to admission. The decision must be made keeping the altruistic risk/reward principal in mind. For some, it may be smarter to keep the job and pursue an evening MBA. For others, the diminished risk of financial uncertainty more than outweighs the reward of the full, two-year graduate school experience. In the past, it seemed as though getting an MBA all but guaranteed promotion, higher pay, and the possibility of successfully navigating a career change. The reality of today is that nothing is as it was. Several of my classmates have accepted positions at or below the level from which they resigned. Megan has been fortunate to get several offers...none of which are either as much as she was making prior to school or as much as last year's graduates received. This is the reality of the choices we have made, and I would suggest that unless you can answer "yes!" to both of the above questions, you should seriously consider other graduate school options. Emotionally, the last year of business school has been trying. The only thing certain about our future is that we won't know it until it gets here. A few lucky peers were given offers in the fall and know where they will be after graduation. Megan and I, however, are waiting to hear back from Ph.D. programs, and as such, we have no idea where next year will find us. The waiting game with doctoral programs is the same as it was for undergraduate programs. The only difference I am finding is that now, instead of wearing a path to the mailbox to check for the "big" envelope, I am wearing down the "refresh" button on my email inbox. Looking back, I would still make the same decision. I dreaded my job, and because of that I never gave myself to it. One thing you will learn in business school is that without passion, consistency is unattainable. For me, there is no hyperbole to the statement that the last two years have given me the vision and the tools necessary to find this passion. Business school has indeed humbled me, but more importantly it has opened my eyes. Megan and I can now say without hesitation that the experiences we have gained and the individuals we have met at Texas A&M have more than outweighed our current struggle to plan a clouded future.  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  | | FEBRUARY Learn about your online education options |
 Copyright 2003, Bloomberg L.P.Terms of Use | Privacy Policy |
MBA Insider
Printer-Friendly Version
