2015

2015

In late 2012 I made a decision I had been mulling over for quite some time.  Yes, I proposed to Anissa and she said yes, but that story is for another time J  With a lot of encouragement from Anissa and my family I decided to apply to the Working Professional MBA (WPMBA) program at Ohio State. 

 

 

I got in and started classes in January 2013.  It seemed to all happen so fast.  And since January I just cannot seem to keep track of time.  Life is whizzing by and I’m pretty sure school has something to do with it.  I mean, how many of us got our undergraduate degree only to lament how fast those few years flew by?!  So I started trying to figure out why time was flying by so quickly.  When you’re busy, the clock always seems to be ticking away twice as fast.  So I wanted to quantify just how busy I’ve been with school and here’s what I came up with.

1.       As of December 9^th I will have earned 20.5 credit hours this year, or 43% of the required 48 for my degree.

2.       Ohio State ruffled the feathers of the WPMBA students when it switched from quarters to semesters recently.  With a shortened summer offering, Ohio State offered “sprint” courses in May (during the 4-week “time off” for students to recharge) to supplement the offerings in the June/July timeframe.  Why am I telling you this?  Because I have not had more than 2 weeks off of school since I started classes over 10 months ago.  And the 1 2-week period I had in August was full of preparing for the start of Fall semester including early assignments, readings, etc. (keep in mind this is a working professional program – I am still working full time while getting this degree).

3.       Since I began, I have taken 12 exams, given 6 formal presentations, written 1 comprehensive marketing plan for a not-for-profit start-up organization, written 4 formal negotiations and 1 formal debate, and met with my project groups outside of class about 30 times.

4.       I have been to class 2 times per week for 40 weeks this year except for 7 weeks this summer when I went 3 times per week.  In total I have spent 262 hours in class, excluding any out-of-class presentations, exams, groups meetings, etc.  It is estimated that students spent 3 hours out of class for each hour in class.  I think I spend more like 2 hours, which means I’ve spent somewhere around 525 additional hours on schoolwork, whether it was reading, writing, doing practice problems, or researching.

5.       Including in-class and out-of-class hours, and all those exams and group meetings I think I’ve spent 20-25 hours/week on school since I started.   Assuming I work 40 hours per week (ha, I wish!) that would be a 60-65-hour week every week without a break.  I’m ready for the month off between the end of Fall semester and start of Spring semester!

So now that I have some numerical context for what I’ve done in school this year, I feel much more accomplished and quite proud.  In all my futility, I do actually have something to show for my efforts even if I don’t have my degree yet.  So when will I graduate?  My plan is to graduate in May, 2015.  Our wedding is in July 2014 so I have planned to take off the Summer 2014 semester.  I will have 3 more semesters once I finish out this semester on December 9^th (Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015).  This will not be an easy path (I actually need to increase the number of classes I take each semester to hit my goal), but I know I can do it.  With great support, superior organization skills, and determination I am REALLY looking forward to commencement in May, 2015!