Are MBAs the Scourge of Humanity?

I saw this in BusinessWeek and just had to take a photo!  We are Masters of the Business Apocalypse!  I feel very scorned.

Aesthetics and the Program

I’ve always been a creative person.  I like writing, painting and generally creating things.  Aesthetics are very important to me.  These skills are however hardly valuable in an MBA program.  The only time my creative and aesthetic streak comes in is when we need to make slides.  I’m the official slide creator in my team and while I know no one else wants this job, I actually enjoy it.  I enjoy putting slides together, making sure that the colors are thematically sound and consistent.  Images need to be of good enough quality such that they feature well on a projector.  More than that, images should always always blend in well with the background.  Nothing irks me more than images with a white background on a grey slide.  Yew.  All boxes in a group of slides should fall in exactly the same spot so that when you move from slide to slide, you don’t see that “jump”.  I use gridlines.  Yes I am THAT anal.

Case Competition

So I decided for god knows what reason to join the MBA case competition. Its basically a competition where as a team, you have 24 hours to analyze a business case, come up with recommendations and present it the following day. So its 15 to 12 and we're still working on the case.

Do I win money? Nope. A job? Nope. Fame? Hardly. Friends? Doubt it. If anything else, you make more frenemies. Why do I do it? At this point, I don't know. I'll tell you tomorrow after we put ourselves out there.

Why B School

As much as I mentioned that I'm somewhat crippled by the thought of not being able to cope with the work at b-school, I'm actually quite thrilled at the thought of packing, moving off, and starting a brand new life in a brand new place.  Michigan is tremendously different from Singapore so I imagine this really means I'm starting on a well-polished new slate.

Which brings me back to the beginning of sorts.  To make a long story short (I'm writing this in the middle of the night and I really want to get to bed!), I was pretty much muddling my way through work (had work but didn't quite have a career per se) and for all the good turns I've taken in my life, in school in particular (gotten scholarships, did my Masters and all that), I wasn't getting very far, if at all.  And it didn't make feel good about myself.  Had many a conversation with a friend who found herself in pretty much the same situation.  She was a brilliant student, went to top colleges, was a pre-med student, got her straight As (her grades were far better than mine!) but somehow never quite achieved lift-off.  We concluded that while you could have done all the right things, ultimately, it all boiled down to drive, good decisions and a course you stuck to.  

That kinda shook me, in a disturbing way sort of way.  I didn't want the sum of everything I've done to be just this, in this small place, with these small experiences.  I realized then that I needed to do something with myself - to literally find a good direction (this was new to me, I never really had one...), drive there and keep on that road.  The meandering turns I've taken most of my life has left me in pretty much the same circumference I started in.  

So I began to think about what I wanted.  Yes I know this all sounds very melodramatic, but this was honestly how it all happened.  I decided to start over, go to school, get a masters in something that could help with my moving forward and well, the rest followed from there.

And now its really late, and I really need to call it a night.  Thanks for reading. 

Harvard Business Courses

So basically the school has given us some online courses by Harvard Business Publishing to complete prior to starting school, and well right now, I'm not sure I'm going to survive b-school.  Given the fact that I have problems adding 57+82 in my head, the quant is absolutely killing me!  And this course is from Harvard!  Damn, if I had wanted to kill myself, I would have applied to Harvard.  (Ok sure I wouldn't have gotten in, but still you get my drift...)  Financial forecasting?  The only thing I forecast is what to eat tomorrow!  All this isn't doing much for my confidence level and I'm flying off to school next week.  Dang.  Ok nose back to the *&#^$(@*^% grindstone.

Any by the way, we hope you enjoy your experience?  Seriously??

Updates, albeit a really late one

I"m terrible at maintaining a blog. I wanted to document my journey into b school and all that and I haven't even started school and already I'm lagging behind in blog posts! I could never make a living writing I tell ya. Sure its fun one in a while, but anything more than that, I start resenting it.

Anyway been busy trying to work out the logistics of the move. Got my US plug adapters. Got my housing settled. Got my bags half packed. In essence I've pretty much got my life basically packed into 2 suitcases and ready to be shipped.

I'm start to freak out about the move really. The reality of cutting off all my ties here and uprooting myself is beginning to seriously sink in and I am FREAKING out big time.

In 2 weeks time, I'll be done with work. In 4 weeks time, I'll be on a plane to Michigan. In 6 weeks time, school starts.

Somehow this countdown seems more terrifying than it is exciting. Is that a sign?

Michigan It Is Then.

Decided. Michigan. Sent in my I-20 visa application today. Finally.

Michigan Weather

Its the middle of March and the weather forecast is minus 1??? Crap, something tells me I'm going need a whole lot more clothes...

Class of 2011

 

Got my admissions pack today and its actually says "Welcome Cheryl! Class of 2011." Oh my goodness... class of 2011!

B School Here I Come!

 

A blog is almost an expletive these days. It seems to me that everyone has one (I had one for a long time coming), most people don't need one, and even more people don't care for it.


I've always enjoyed blogging simply because it lets me air my head, talk to myself without necessarily invoking the need for men in white to come after me with a harness. Plus now that I'm going to move miles away, I really should try to keep in better touch with the few friends I have back home. Yes, you! Stop looking around, I'm talking about you!


So here goes, my life in b-school. By the way, I hear b-school (that's short for business school) is a no walk in the park (of course I have to say this...) but seriously, I've heard from people who have attended b-school, its great, but you'll be grateful if you a good 6 hours of sleep. I'm just prepping everyone in case I start off this blog with a big bang, only to trail off into the sunset... you'll understand right?


So b-school, here I come! (By the way, I haven't even decided which one I'm heading too... Michigan, Indiana or Toronto... that is the question...

Busy... studying

Been busy studying for the freakin GMAT...
Have I mentioned how much I hate high school math?
Plus I can't reason mathematically so I'm basically screwed.
Lots of study time ahead.  Damn.  

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