Economics Review, Ending and Grades

Here is my, honest review of the summer “semester” as it relates to the Evening MBA program at Georgia Tech. Firstly, let me say, for the program to be completed in the very feasible and allotted time frame of three years, students taking two classes at a time MUST take classes during three summers. With that simple fact stated, the summer term was a shortened and very abbreviated version of the courses we signed up for. Because of the shortened classes, I felt like we missed out on some material.

The Economics class was divided into two classes of five weeks each; one Micro and the other Macro Economics. Five weeks: let me just say that five weeks is about 17 hours of material learned. The normal semester is 15 sessions or 45 hours of material. Now, Economics has been split into two courses for the entirety of the program, so half the normal time, or 22.5 hours would be expected to learn the same material as would be expected during the normal Fall and Spring Semesters.

I love Economics, the principles and Game Theory is exciting and very informative. The course felt rushed and with only one grade, the final exam, it was difficult to gauge my grasp of the material as we progressed. The professor was great. Professor Higgins was the kind of guy you would want to grab a scotch with, light up a stogie and chat about life and all of its infinite mysteries. Because he was so darn personable and easy going some of the people in the class (just one person) always found a way to ask pointless questions that derailed the train of knowledge. I know you have to answer student’s questions, but this isn’t a one on one learning environment. The rest of the class just zoned out when the kid talked, which made the focus and attention of an evening MBA very difficult, and at times frustrating. With that said, I don’t know how Professor Higgins could have altered that one person’s behavior, even though I feel the class’ frustration was evident.

Teaching, and learning, economics involves a lot of graphs and complicated equations and movements. The sheer nature of the subject makes Power Point presentations extremely difficult to follow. Professor Higgins understood this difficulty. He even came to one class two hours early to re-teach complicated topics to those of us who wanted to learn it. In this smaller group environment, he used the white boards and made “live” changes to graphs. When he taught in this fashion, the material clicked extremely quickly.

The course grades were assigned based on only one grade for each class. Because of the difficulty of the material and the short time frame, the professor gave us the opportunity to take the test in groups of two, to ease the burden. Boy, am I glad he did, because my partner had a much better grasp and understanding of the material than I did, he was able to help supplement the material taught in class. I ended up with an “A” in the Micro Economics class and a “B” in the Macro Economics class. Overall, I was quite pleased with my grasp of the material and the amount I learned in a short period of time.

Based on the limitations of the timeframe of a summer Evening MBA course, I give Professor Higgins a solid B+. Though, his willingness to extend the reach of his material to those of us who really wanted to learn it was just fantastic, the time frame limitations really hurt the class. Overall the Courses, both Macro and Micro got a “B” from me.

The Job Hunting Process

As everyone knows, I was laid off in February, due to the Economy, from a very small financial company. I spent essentially four and half months in limbo. I knew that I wanted to marry my girlfriend, so I proposed even without a future plan for getting a job. I will say that not knowing what was going to happen in the next weeks was a very scary thought.

I was enrolled in school that started in January, but without a job I didn’t know the benefit of being in an Evening MBA program for Professionals. My fiancé was extremely supportive as I looked for jobs that were a good fit for me to apply. In my time unemployed I applied to over 120 different jobs, I know this because I put each one, along with the description of the duties in my iPhone calendar, and I counted them. This means that I applied to 30 jobs per month… really, one job I was qualified for per day. I didn’t stretch on my abilities and I didn’t reach for positions I wasn’t qualified for.

Applying for jobs every day, and only hearing rejections is really damaging to a person’s self esteem. To the point that I talked to my fiancé about the possibility of switching to the full time MBA program if September came and I didn’t have an offer for employment.

Eventually, I branched away from my history in Hospitality and Finance and opened myself to the world of non profits, as I have always been interested in them. I did this in such a way that I would be applying for positions that fit my history and skill set. One of the first jobs I applied for in Non Profit was the one I eventually was offered. The process just took a while, as expected in this economy.

I am happy to report that after three weeks in this new position, I feel like I am building a career each day I am here, and not just working a job.

Data Analysis Review, Ending and Grades

The second course I took during my first semester was Data Analysis (an Excel based Analysis and Basic Statistic course). This course was fundamentally awesome. I have no background using Excel as a tool, so every bit of material was really quite useful.

I would say the book for the course “Data Analysis & Decision Making 3e” was definitely worth purchasing, all of the material covered in the course is covered in depth in the book. The book also came with a disc with additional free add-in material that helps with real world application and shows the reader the usefulness of Excel as a business tool.

With all of that said… The book was a better resource than the lecture. The professor, Robert Burgess, is articulate and detail oriented. Unfortunately, this type of material can only be covered in a certain way. So, at times the lectures, dragged a bit, although they were easy to follow. The professor did a great job of using off topic material to keep the class fun, which is very much appreciated from the student’s point of view.

There were three tests in the class, all of which gave a really good overview of the application of the material. This is a technical university, and because of that, I am happy this course was added to the core requirements.

The largest percentage grade in the class came from a group presentation using all of the material learned in the course. The interesting thing about the organization of the groups, is that the professor had us each take an online survey to find information on our personal backgrounds. He then put our groups together in a way that created the most “chaos”. My background was in Hotel Sales, my group mates ranged from Marine Biology to Engineering to Finance. The group worked very well together, as unlike undergraduate studies, everyone was enrolled in the MBA program for the same reasons: to learn.

I will add one more item to commend the professor, he gave a group project that was extremely open ended, which kept the class interested and was a great end of course presentation / case study on how randomly thrown together groups could interpret the exact same set of directions differently. The presentations and group project was really a lot of fun. Doing the group project was at times frustrating and difficult to see past the insanity of the open ended project. Once you could catch a glimps to the professors end game everything became much more clear. On the final day of class when all the groups presented, everything that wasn't cleared up prior to that point, instantly clicked.

Ultimately, I walked out of the class with an “A”. I feel that is the perfect representation of my knowledge on Excel after completing the class. I would also give the overall class a “B+”. The professor did a great job of making the material interesting to the students, but as the class applied to lecture, it was hard to handle at times. I have a hard time believing that any of the other core courses will be able to take such drab material and apply them in such creative ways; thank you to Professor Burgess for a well thought out and interesting class.

Accounting Review, Ending and Grades

Let me tell you a little about this last seven months. I started school at Georgia Tech, I took two classes in my first semester. I believe that Accounting is extremely important, this class was a combination of Financial Accounting (first half of the semester) and Managerial Accounting (the second half of the semester).

***Firstly, the book was an absolute waste of time; the professor just went off of her own notes… Don’t buy the book; it is of no value to the course.

The Financial Accounting information as taught was awesome. The material taught me the ability to look at a company’s financial statements as a means to find “red flags” that would indicate trouble in the future. Since I was laid off in February and actively looking for employment, I focused on applying my knowledge to find a large successful company that I wanted to work for. So, for me, the application of the material was almost immediate and extremely useful.

The Managerial Accounting portion was a little easier to apply. Since the class was focused on how to react and record transactions from an inside the corporation view point, the material wass a little more intuitive, falling in line with my personal background.

The material for both courses was covered in traditional lecture, small group projects (2 people), and exams.

Ultimately, I ended up with a “B” in the class. It wasn’t the grade I wanted, but with the personal distraction of being laid off mid semester, the week the second exam was due, really distracted me from performing my best. I learned a large amount of information and believe that all of the material is applicable (almost immediately) when transferred to the business world.

On a more financial based grade scale, I would say that I would give the course and instructor, Debbie Turner, a solid grade of “A”. Sometimes in education, I would say that although my grade was not, ultimately what I wanted from the class, I left with the belief that my knowledge taken from the class is more on par with an “A”. In all reality, it was what I learned and can apply that is directly related to how I feel about the course. I would say that I am very happy with my first MBA class at Georgia Tech.

Everybody Loves Murphree

I spent four months trying to prioritize my needs for my new job including what industry I wanted to join. I had experience in Hospitality (Restaurants and Hotels) and Finance (TPA Firms), but ultimately the one common denominator is my passion for Sales. The principles of sales supersedes the industry. With this revelation in mind I could peruse any industry of my choice.

So, I spent about five or six hours per day looking for a career in non-profit. What did I do with the other two or three hours a day?

Everybody Loves Raymond.

I have now officially seen every single episode of this show in syndication. I know the plots of each show now based on the opening scene. I enjoy Robert, Ray, Marie, Frank, they are like my little TV family. I watched shows like According to Jim, Yes Dear, King of Queens, and Friends.

I know every sitcom joke from the 1990's. I can recite entire scenes from each of the shows, ultimately a horrible truth to admit. I watched shows when the lovable lead male lost his job and the entire episode was about his lackluster attitude or his schemes to get reemployed. I took those episodes to heart as they always seemed to hit a little too close to home.

I have developed a new attitude about people searching for work. In the past I felt like they were laid off because of their lack of effort, but the reality is that it may not have been through any fault of their own. I don't find people unemployed to be humerus anymore.

I would have spent more time with Murphree, but the reality is that he literally sleeps all day. While I would love to wake him up to play with me, it would be a bad choice because I really, deep down, thought I would return to employment sooner rather than later. His sleepy attitude will serve him well when he is guarding the house all by himself.

A Proposal

In February I was faced with a challenge. I was let go from my job February 24 and I had a choice to continue with my plans to ask my girlfriend to marry me (as I already had the ring) or to postpone the inevitable until I got a job.

Instead of accepting the role of victim of my own circumstances I decided to continue with the proposal as I already planned. This is a big leap of faith as not only was I just let go, I had to have faith that she would want to marry a man that was bringing nothing monetary to the table.

I convinced her to go on a walk with me to Piedmont Park, and it was there that I dropped to a knee and told her she made me the happiest man in the world and I asked her through my own tears of emotion to marry me. She said yes.

I am uncertain if the following four months were the best times of our lives or the absolute worst; we struggled financially and emotionally at times. But I know that if we could get through this period with the same love we had for each other when it started then we can get through any challenge that will be presented to us. I am the luckiest man in the world as my fiance and I have faced a challenge and persevered.

Begining of a New Era

It has been a while since my last post. I believe that I can justify this period of inactivity due to the fact that this blog is about balancing a professional life a personal life and the Evening MBA without losing my mind.

In February I was the victim of the economy. There was a time when I thought people who work hard everyday were not the people who are cut when the money gets tight in a company. Turns out I was actually incorrect in that original thought. Economic choices that executives make are fueled by the bottom line. I took a very negative view of the world of business based on this experience. Since I was not employed I viewed the world from that perspective, the perspective of sending resumes into cyberspace and not hearing anything except auto rejections.

The only thing I knew for a fact was I have worked for a very large international corporation and a rudy-poo little mom and pop shop. If ever I had the chance to begin working for a large corporation I would jump at the opportunity due to the innate problems with the politics of small companies.

Over the next couple days I will explain what I did during my unemployment.