My MBA program begins + back in the running saddle!

Last night I had my first class of my MBA program at Chapman University.  Well, first class of the semester.  Last Saturday I had a 1-unit class on Competitive Advantage.  But last night was the official kick off to my MBA program, and it began last night with Accounting!  It was so much fun!  I'm sure not many people think accounting is "fun," but I was a Finance and Econ double major in undergrad, so numbers are kind of my thing...I love finance, and accounting is the language of finance and business for that matter.

So we stared with a guessing game of poker chips (betting real $) that my Prof so eloquently related to accounting...things like prices are determined by perceived odds and risk aversion, information is valuable but only if it can be used to guide decisions, and asymmetric information and conflicting incentives reduce value (otherwise known as agency costs).


Now I won't sit here and bore you with an accounting lesson.  I will however tell you this:  I LOVE GRAD SCHOOL!!!  Given my limited experience in the program thus far, it is significantly different than undergrad in my opinion for several reasons.  Here are my key takeaways thus far and why I love it!


1.  I love to learn.  Yep.  I love to learn.  And grad school is 100% catered to my career, which is a career in business.  So I know I will absolutely love what will expand my knowledge to help me advance in my career.


2.  The Profs treat you like a peer, not like they're "babysitting" you.  In undergrad, there was a lot more hand-holding and more hounding the students.  In grad school, the Profs treat you like an adult, because, well, we ARE adults.  We are all working adults who have chosen to pursue a higher degree to better ourselves in our career path.  If we miss a class due to a business trip or a personal thing, they understand...life happens.  The Profs know that and respect that, and thus treat you more like an equal while teaching.


3.  The Profs @ Chapman WANT you to succeed.  It's apparent in only having 3 Profs thus far (my Sat class was broken into two sections with 2 Profs since it was a 9 hour day), that they really are there to teach the material.  And they teach it not through lectures, but through real case studies, and even media like TV (Daily Show with John Stewart on newspapers going out of business and the Godfather when Don Corleone is approached by the Turk to get into the drug business, or expand his market, and why he declined).  They don't sit and lecture, instead they present us engaging material that we all analyze and discuss.  Pretty cool.


4.  My fellow students rock!  I've met some pretty cool people who I will be spending the next two years of my life with (my program is two years, year round).  They're smart, ambitious, and we each have different skill sets which will benefit us all when we begin our study groups.  Yes, we already formed our study group-there are 6 of us and we picked our day of the week and times to meet, with locations to be determined...we like the idea given to us by a soon-to-be grad of meeting at various happy hours!  Great idea!


5.  It's FUN!  I have wanted to get my Masters in Business since I was 7 years old.  Did I know what that meant then?  No way.  But my parents had theirs and I wanted it.  Plus I was always keen on math, and as I got older the facets of the business world riveted me.  Career path:  FOUND.  And here I am, pursuing my career, while beginning the road to earn my Masters in Business :)  And I am having a blast!!!!

News flash on the running front:  I am officially back in the running saddle!

On my way home from work I stopped at the bay to get my run in.  I took the last two weeks off due to my foot injury, and had been training for the Long Beach 1/2 marathon primarily on the bike.  But this week I decided to get back into my training plan week 4, which means I got to run 3 miles today!  I was so ready for it!  I planned on stopping half way to do some core work and pushups.  I ended up doing the following after running the first 1.5 miles:
4 sets of 25 sit-ups
3 sets of 25 bicycle crunches
3 sets of supermans* held for 15 seconds
3 sets of 15 pushups
Then I ran the 1.5 miles back along the marina and felt an extra bounce in my step!  I wasn't wearing my Garmin but I think I was running about a 10:30min/mile pace.  It was a great workout and I'm very happy :)


*For anyone who doesn't know what a superman is, here is a picture:

And I just want to give a shout out to someone who is always there for me cheering me on at races, encouraging me to do my best, nursing me back to health when I'm injured (his massages rock!), and for supporting me through everything, including my decision to go back to school.  Sean O., I love you so much and you are the absolute best boyfriend in the world.  I love you :-D

xoxo