Tag Archives: grad school

I got mine the hard way…

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So I was sitting in a meeting a few days ago (because that seems to be my professional raison d’être). I won’t go into the specifics of the discussion, but the general topic was the virtue of in person training versus “virtual” training delivered online. As I was only tangentially involved in the discussion, I quickly found myself engrossed in whatever notes I had previously scribbled onto my yellow legal pad.

What pulled my attention back into the conversation was a crack out of nowhere about not really thinking of academic excellence from people who get online degrees. Now what you should do when someone five steps above you on the org chart says something that ruffles your sensibilities is sit quietly and do absolutely nothing, lest in responding you incur their wrath. Sadly, as many of you know, sitting quietly and keeping my mouth shut is something I tend to struggle with on an almost daily basis.

I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t go to Harvard, or Columbia, or the Wharton School of Business. I took my classes one at a time in the evenings and on weekends, while working full time, and traveling 2-3 weeks each month because that’s what Uncle said he needed me to do… so if you want to talk to me about academic excellence, I’ll be happy to go a few rounds with you on the virtue of an online education. Now I can be as elitist as anyone else, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m the one who got mine the hard way and if that doesn’t satisfy your century old notion about what constitutes “real” education, well that’s ok because I’ll be around long after your Paleolithic point of view is consigned to the pages of history.

I could have said more on the issue. That part of me that likes a good fight desperately wanted to go a dozen rounds, but I had to satisfy myself with looking an individual in the eye and telling them that as the holder of one of these online degrees, I didn’t feel educationally slighted in the least. I scored my point, but it wasn’t particularly satisfying. I didn’t want an apology or even a “present company excluded.” I simply wanted to provide a gentle reminder than no matter how high and mighty, it’s always best to know your audience before firing off at the mouth and losing credibility in the eyes of those who you would lead.

Hippies, sickness, and grad school…

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OK, so I’m not going to lie to you guys. I got a good laugh out of at least two of this morning’s archive posts. There’s something about hippies that always makes me want to bash heads together and grad school, well, that experience so very often has the same effect. Still, they make for good blogging so I should probably be thankful.

For those following along at home, over the last few Sunday mornings we have made the transition from my original MySpace blog to the far more “grown up” blog hosted for a while over at Blogger. That doesn’t really change much in terms of style or content, but it does help set the tone and atmosphere of where these old posts come from.

At any rate, go ahead and enjoy this morning’s update from the end of March 2007. Next week we’ll start into April and feature blogs from my last trip to Italy. I know you’re not going to want to miss that… because frankly there isn’t much that makes for better copy than an American in in a foreign country.

Posts…

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There have been a couple of events competing for my attention this last week and as you’ve seen, my posts have slowed to a bare trickle. In an effort to condense three or four posts into one, here’s the update:

1. Fence posts were set this morning… Woohoo!

2. Memphis is getting its ass kicked all over the place by tornados tonight… It’s the middle of winter. Weird.

3. It’s Super Tuesday… Being something of a political nut, I’m totally engrossed.

4. And finally, I have two weeks left as a grad student and am in the middle of drafting my final paper… Most of my time dedicated to writing for the last week or two and from now through the middle of the month will go towards churning out a monster paper covering topics I don’t care so much about.

So that’s it in a nutshell, my friends. I know I’ve been promising for a while, but once things settle out, I’ll get back to the serious business of blogging on more of a full time basis.

The American Plan…

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I’ve been focusing on some minutia in my last few posts and realized it was probably time for a new rant. Not an epic rant this time, but still, it’s a start.

I started taking my first grad class yesterday. I’m working on an MBA through U. of Phoenix. I’m pretty much up to speed with the internet and working “virtually,” so I figured it couldn’t be all that hard to take classes online too. I may have made a slight tactical misunderestimation of the level of work that was going to be involved. I was expecting a cakewalk… a wham, bam, thank you ma’am, here’s your degree kind of experience. I’ve spent the better part of the last two nights reading my online “book” and responding to a stack of discussion questions, posting my biography, and saying “hello” to my new classmates. I didn’t sign up for this to be hard. I wanted something for nothing. I wanted the American Plan, goddamnit.

Oh well, what the fuck is one more thing to do every day. Bloody hell.

Change in Status…

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It’s just before 9:00 AM. The last assignment is posted. The last course evaluation is turned it. My status is changed from MBA student to MBA candidate. Once the final grade posts, I can apply for graduation.

I’m battered and tired, but I’m done. Tomorrow is a federal holiday and somewhere out on the Atlantic, the sun is over the yardarm. It’s time for a tasty adult beverage and I’m heading to the casino.

3600 words and counting…

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I’m in the midst of my big push to the end of this interminably long MBA program. With 3600 words down and probably another 2000 or so to go, I can say with unmitigated giddiness that I am totally over this whole process. I’m ready to be done. I’m ready to have my weekends back. I’m ready to have another pretty certificate to hang on my “I’m wonderful” wall. Still, somehow, I can’t quite quiet the small voice inside my head that spends its days whispering “what’s next?”

I haven’t given it all that much thought yet, really and at this point I don’t really want to. Just now, I’m basking in the reflected glory of knowing that in 9 days, I won’t *have to* do anything. I’m thoroughly looking forward to a stretch of only doing those things that I want to do for a change.

A rant revisited…

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I’ve covered this ground once before, but feel compelled to go across it (at least) one more time. Let me begin by stating, for the record, that Phoenix is grad school for slackers. I recognized that when I started the process and each class serves as a reminder of the fact. Theoretically, however, I also recognize that everyone who is taking these classes has an undergraduate degree and has at least three years in a “professional” workplace. I am consistently amazed at the inability of these, theoretically, educated individuals to string five hundred words into a coherent thought or argument. Need to meet a deadline? Forgedaboudit.

We all have things we would rather be doing after work than tapping out a well-reasoned argument for why human resource management sucks in most organizations, but goddamn it already. Suck it up and get it done, already. I really don’t think I have abnormally high expectations of people and never expect anything from anyone that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself.

I’m tired of hearing that your boss made you work late (I put in an hour and a half on OT this afternoon). I don’t care that tonight is your wife’s birthday (Nothing like a little forward planning, huh, ace?). And I don’t care that little Suzie had the sniffles last night and you’re tired (When did your personal life become my problem?). I’m interested in results and you asshats are making me look bad. There ought to be a law that keeps these kind of fucktards from drawing down the resources of the productive members of society.