Recently in Sheryl Category

*whew* Wow, first semester is down.  I feel accomplished.  So, having survived it, here are my tips for anyone that is new and just starting the evening MBA program...

1) This is not an undergraduate degree.  What I mean by this is that while you probably will expect to go off of your undergrad experience (I know I did, it was all I had to judge by), it will NOT be the same.  Professors are different, grades are different, expectations are different.  It's just... different.

2) Grading is based more on how the entire class is doing than on a specific scale.  From what I can tell so far, most teachers will give you a loose grading scale.  The scale seems like it is probably approximated based on how previous classes have probably done.  But grading is more based on a curve than anything else.  You can do horrible on a test, and if the entire class did horrible - well, it won't be as bad as you think.  The professors are only permitted to give out A's to a certain percentage of the class, so the A's will go to those that are the best of the best - not all of those that get a certain grade.  This is all from what I can tell of my experience of my first semester, of course.  The jist of all of this is that if you think you are doing badly in a class - you are probably not doing quite as bad as you might think.

3) The little things determine the big things.  Remember as part of your undergrad how you usually had some form of homework to do and turn in at least every other class period?  Not so here.  Most classes will have around four or so things that your entire grade is based on.  Some classes have a participation, some don't.  All have homework/reading for pretty much every class, but it is usually not turned in.  Instead, the homework builds on the bigger things, the things that your grade is based on, such as projects and tests.  Find out what these bigger assignments are early, and stay prepared for them by doing as much of the homework as you can, even if it doesn't have to be turned in.  It's difficult to stay on top of all of it, but make sure you can at least follow the discussions in class.

4) The rest of the class very likely feels the same way as you do.  I mean this in a way as feeling overwhelmed and like you are not doing as well as you think you should be.  I'm very hard on myself, and I got pretty good grades in my undergraduate career, so in the back of my mind, I expected the MBA program to go just as smoothly.  And well, I felt kind of like I crashed and burned early on.  But the outcome was better in the end.  And from talking to fellow students, almost all of them had similar experiences and concerns.

5) Hang in there.  It's expected that you go in not knowing what to expect.  How could you?  This is your first MBA program (I'm guessing) and probably even your first masters degree.  So just pay attention, go with the flow, learn from each test/assignment what is expected of you, and go into the next test or project prepared.  You will survive, and it will be a learning experience that will help you through the rest of your MBA career.

Well, I am now officially halfway through my first semester of the evening MBA program.  And it's been tough.  Classes like economics and accounting are requiring some certain part of my brain that doesn't seem to like to be used.  But then there's that other part, the one that really enjoyed the class I had this weekend.  That's right, I had a class over Halloween weekend.

BUS X511 (with a course description of "Seminar in Management Issues") is a required course for all beginning evening MBA students at IUPUI.  It is offered over the course of a weekend on Friday evening, Saturday all day, and Sunday all afternoon.  And no, you don't get to choose the weekend - it's chosen for you.  And for my cohort, the weekend chosen was also the weekend that Halloween happened to fall on this year.

I went into the weekend not entirely knowing what to expect, but having been warned by a fellow co-worker that took the class last fall.  He didn't seem to be too fond of it.  Our class was asked to choose our individual preferences as to what positions we would prefer to hold in an imaginary company.  I chose mostly marketing positions, and ended up being both a VP of Marketing Services as well as a VP of Administration, handling human resource issues and such.  We were all assigned to a team or "company" and given a bunch of memos to read before the weekend began.  Then we were turned loose to see what decisions we made as a part of this company.  It all ended up with a presentation on Saturday afternoon followed by feedback from our peers and facilitators on Sunday.

Overall, I really enjoyed X511.  It was a great opportunity to learn more about myself and what directions I think I would like to go with my MBA.  It also gave me a good chance to learn about how I interact with people, particularly in a professional environment.  It was a welcome change from the numbers of accounting and statistics (which don't get me wrong, do have their own place) and I look forward to using what I learned from it as I advance, both towards my degree as well as in my career.

Since this is my first post as a Kelley "BizBlogger", I thought I'd take it as an opportunity to introduce myself, for those that might be curious as you continue to see blogs from me pop up on the Kelley page.  So here goes...

My name is Sheryl, and this is my first semester in the Kelley Evening MBA program.  I'm a part of the Fall 2009 Carmel cohort.  My undergrad is also from IUPUI, except a Purdue school - the School of Engineering & Technology.  My major was in Computer & Information Technology.  I think it's pretty cool that when I'm finished with my MBA, I'll have degrees from both Indiana and Purdue.

I decided to pursue my MBA because I wanted something more.  Currently, I'm a software engineer for a company on the north side of Indy, in Carmel.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still very interested in IT, but I wanted to learn more about the business side of things as well.  So far my interest lies in marketing, and I'm highly involved in social media, which makes sense as it mixes IT and marketing very well.  You can find links to my social media network pages on my personal blog, found here.

I look forward to taking on the MBA experience, as well as writing about it for you to read here.  This first semester is definitely starting to ramp up, as I'm almost finished with my first 1.5 credit hour class, J501 (Developing Strategic Capabilities).  I've learned quite a bit so far, and it's only just begun.  I've heard the MBA program can be a challenge, especially when it comes to time management... I hope I'm ready to take it on!