A milestone event passed this week with little fanfare: 800 days until graduation.
I'm not sure how or why it happened but a couple of weeks ago I was pondering my future (and I suppose my past) and began to think about what life was like without school. Overall, I'm enjoying the program and I'm definitely learning a lot but it's beginning to take a bit of a toll. I checked the Kelley website and figured out that graduation is in May 2010 and that is a long time from now.
It's not like it was a secret. The curriculum is available online and the "2.6 year" length of the program was prominently mentioned during orientation. However, much like the amount of study time involved, there is a fine line between merely acknowledging such facts and recognizing their impact on your life.
Talking with several of my friends in the program I've heard the term "burn out" quite a bit lately. If we were freshman basketball players or NFL rookies, it would probably called "hitting the wall". Whichever cliché works for you, I'm feeling it.
Earlier this evening, I took a midterm exam in Financial Management. Last week, I took a final exam in Microeconomics for Managers. Both tests were among the hardest that I've ever taken and I'm relieved I'm past them (though I'm not sure I want to see the Finance grade). That means it's officially Spring Break and I'm glad to have slimmed my non-family commitments to just "work", if only for a week or so.
While the skills are no doubt valuable, I'm the type of person that finds Econ and Finance very draining. Other than prepping for the GMAT, I've basically ignored long-hand math since high school. The only math class I took in undergrad tested via #2 pencil and bubble sheet. I'm not a numbers guy and when, like tonight's exam, you take away my Excel I can downright struggle.
Thankfully, with the arrival of Spring Break we're more than half way through the "hardest semester" of the program and that much closer to the classes I'm passionate about, like strategy, marketing, leadership, law, etc.
Here's to the next 799 days!
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