“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” —Lao Tzu
Three weeks. That is how long I have been a student in my Master of Business Administration (MBA) program for so far. The journey started a couple of months ago when I was notified of my acceptance into the Georgia Tech Evening MBA program. I was very excited to be accepted and ready to start the program. First, however, came a chaotic couple of weeks in which I hurried to submit all necessary documentation. As a last-minute applicant, I was notified of my acceptance close to the program start date. This left very little time for me to get all of the necessary paperwork in so I could successfully start in Spring 2019. Luckily, I was able to complete this task in time.
A few weeks ago, I participated in a two-day orientation for the MBA program. I had the valuable opportunity to meet my cohort, learn more about the structure of the program, identify how to schedule courses, and overall hear about how to make the most of the program. We also had the opportunity to hear from some of our future professors, alumni that graduated from the program, and students currently in the program. Overall, the orientation was well-put together. It helped provide a lot of helpful information on not only how to navigate the program but also how to set ourselves up for success throughout the program. As I walked to my car after the last day of orientation, I could not help but feel a little bit overwhelmed. However, I was still as excited as ever to begin the program. Obtaining my MBA has been a goal of mine since even before I completed my undergraduate degree. Finally, I am now in the program and working to achieve that goal. But as I reflected on the past two days of orientation, a part of me knew that juggling a full-time career and a part-time program was going to be challenging.
Fast forward to today. I have officially completed three weeks of classes. This semester, I am taking a full semester long accounting course as well as two half-semester courses. The first half-semester course I am currently enrolled in is a statistics course. The second half of the semester I will be taking a marketing management course. These are all core classes that students are encouraged to complete first before enrolling in advanced elective courses. I anticipate completing most of my core classes in the first year (equivalent to three semesters). Thus far, the classes are going pretty well. The biggest challenge has been getting back into a “student” mindset with the reading, quizzes, tests, assignments, etc. Overall though, I feel pretty confident that I will be in the groove of things by the end of the semester.
This concludes my first official blog post as a student in the MBA program. I plan to blog my experiences over the course of the program, and also strive to become a better writer and blogger. Thank you for reading! If you have any comments, I would love to hear them below.
Vishal