Back to School

I have this odd feeling.  I think it is being well rested.  If only daylight savings was a daily occurrence this whole work/school/life/sleep balance would go much smoother.

So business school.  Thus far, other than the sleep deprivation, I am really enjoying myself.  I am taking two classes accounting and organizational behavior.

Accounting is well accounting.  Some of it is new, but much of it are things I have learned before.  The professor has a very particular order of teaching things, which has limited correlation to their actual logical order.  The professor can be entertaining, but it is a dry subject taught in a lecture format and she has a tendency to repeat herself.  She does focus on the ability to read financial reports rather than create them, which is a worthwhile skill.  We are supposed to move more more into managerial accounting in the 2nd half of the class, so hopefully it will get more interesting.

The professor in the OB is great.  He repeatedly has told us to not care about grades, and only worry about learning*.  He is willing to adapt the class to the students and what is going with their lives.  He is obsessed with the concept of self awareness and teaches the class through that frame.  We have done numerous self assessments to learn more about our values, leadership, and skills.  It is the type of thing that requires buy-in from the class to work.  One of the very nice things about grad school is that everyone really wants to be there, so it does in fact work.  It has been valuable to have a better sense of self and talk about it with partners and groups in class.  Becky even is getting something out of this as I bring many of the exercises home.  She has been enjoying her vicarious MBA.

*I've had a little trouble with this as I wanted to actually try for good grades this time around.  Plus it is killing my competitive instincts. 

My classes all have the same 54 students, and will throughout my first year.  It is a fascinating and diverse group of people and it has been great to get to know them.   I'm not sure if all MBA classes are like this, or mine is just particularly personable bunch.  It is nice to have the support and encouragement of  group of people at similar points in their life.*  It is a good start to the next three years.

*Support comes most often at Cornwell's, the unofficial bar of B.U.