First "Real" Week

Phew! This week felt like it was much longer than 7 days! It was my first week of “real” classes, and I have to say the orientation definitely set the intensity expectation for the program.

Monday

This was my first Economics and Marketing class ever! Economics seems like it will be interesting. The professor broke us up into groups even smaller than our learning teams in order to play a semester-long business strategy game that imitates the athletic sneaker industry. Because we had to split up into groups smaller than our learning teams, I was re-assigned to another team. Throughout the semester, we will make seven decisions that will affect both the game and our grades. As the professor went through the vast amount of information that is given for each decision, I started to panic. This was certainly going to be a challenge!

After classes were over for the day, I went to the gym. I’ve hoping to do so 3 or 4 times a week to relieve stress. I jokingly refer to this as “Amy-needs-to-fit-into-her-wedding-dress session.”

Once my homework was finished, I watched the Patriots defeat the Dolphins!

Tuesday

I can already tell that this is going to be my favorite day! On Tuesdays, I don’t have class until 10:50, and even the professor called us her “Monday Night Football” section.  Although class starts later than every other day of the week, I went to the library during the time normally allotted for the early class in order to finish some accounting homework. In fact, we had a case study due on the first day of class! I think I’ll keep doing this to have more time to get homework done and study. It’s helpful that Jim has to wake up at the same time every weekday – gives me motivation to get up!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we had our first Management of Information Systems class, and we had a Marketing case due. I’ve never taken an MIS class before, so I was extremely interested in what this would be like, and I was surprised by how “into to” the case I was during class.

Wednesday was also my first rehearsal for the 2012 season for the winter guard I help teach. I was not only surprised by the number of students we had attend (the first few months of the season can be tough because many of our students participate in their school’s marching band), but also by the skills that they had managed to retain over the summer. I honestly thought I had a difficult short dance to teach them, but they picked it up right away. Looks like I’ll have to step-up my game!

Thursday

Thursday is my long day! The day starts with Human Resources Management, where we learned more about the 30 page deliverable that is due before Thanksgiving. This paper will follow all members of the MBA class through next semester and our Corporate Residencies. I promised myself while in this class that I would get ahead on this, so it wouldn’t come back to haunt me later in the semester. I’ll see how successful this is.

After HR, I have accounting, where we finished the case we started on the first day. Thursday finishes with an MBA skills class which has different topics each time we meet. This course seems like it will be extremely helpful for career changers like me who need to be reminded how to use some Excel functions among other things. This week, we discussed Northeastern’s honor code.

Thursday was not only long, but I felt exhausted all day. At first I couldn’t figure out why, but then, I realized that I not only was doing homework and staying up later than I usually do, but on Wednesday, I had gone to the gym and taught color guard. Needless to say, I slept well on Thursday night.

Friday

Friday started with some excellent news! Earlier this week, I had told the Women MBA club that I was interested in a leadership position. (Because the second year MBA’s are in their Corporate Residencies during the first semester, this gives a unique opportunity for first years to take leadership positions within these organizations.) On Friday morning, I found out that I got President!

Our only class on Friday is Career Management. We briefly went through the syllabus to discuss the various networking events that the Northeastern Career Center hosts. They must never sleep - there are so many opportunities for us to network!

We also had guest speaker, Suzanne Goldstein, the author of Carry A Paintbrush: How to be Artistic Director of Your Career, who both provided advice on how to build our personal brand and shared anecdotes from her life such as how she landed her first job and how she broke into Hollywood in six weeks. This session was inspiring, and I have to say, I will carry a copy of my resume on me at all times from here forward.

Friday night, was also celebrated Tanushree’s birthday at the Purple Shamrock. So many of our classmates showed up; I think we all needed to relax after the first week.

Weekend

Just to prove that the work of an MBA candidate is never finished, I’ve decided to provide a little insight into my weekend. I woke up at 6:30am on Saturday, thinking it was 8:30am. By the time I realized this, I was already awake, so I decided to do homework.

 On Saturday, I met with the second year president of the Women MBA club, Danielle, along with my fellow students Diana and Roopsi, the Vice President and Treasurer, respectively. We talked about the club and what was accomplished last year, but Danielle also answered many of our questions about the program.

Later on Saturday, I went to Jim’s nephews’ soccer game and birthday party. I had almost forgotten what 5-year-old soccer is like because both of my sisters played soccer in college. It was adorable to see dads playing goalie and children scoring on their own team’s net.

Sunday was “Spin with Sac Day.” (The organization I teach for is called Blessed Sacrament, so we are lovingly referred to as “Sac” within the activity.) At this event, all three Blessed Sacrament color guards learn dance and equipment work together. This year we had a great turnout!

I’m trying to get ahead on the homework, so once I got home, I worked. However, I was able to watch the second half of the Patriot’s game. Another victory!

Finally, my learning team member Habib requested a shout-out in the blog! Hi, Habib!

*The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Northeastern University, its staff, faculty or affiliates and are solely the opinion of Amy Foley.*