A summary of the 12 weeks

The semester has ended a week ago and I still haven’t felt I rested enough. Possibly because I dived straight into work?

Anyway, to summaries a whole 12 weeks of being absent from my beloved blog: I hit the ground running, and didn’t stop until the 16^th. It was a HUGE rollercoaster. The main reason for it is because I enrolled at the last minute, so I was behind for almost a week. And anyone doing MBA can tell you: there’s a LOT you miss when you miss just one week of materials.

Hero was neglected, and I struggled to keep a balance between my personal life (which means Hero), studies and work. I struggled really, really, really hard. This will never happen again, I’ve learnt my lessons.

However, I refused to let it consume me. Compared to others, my plights are nothing. I have full time career mum in my class who are doing their Masters/MBA at the same time and I can’t imagine having kids in my mix…but they have and it’s not optional. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be done with my MBA before I have kids, because I know I can never do what they do. I see them with a mix of admiration and horror.

I was lucky in that Hero is very supportive. For 12 weeks he made do with irregular meals, and coming home to a very messy home. Sometimes last minute laundry. I learnt to make time with him for dinner most days, and then resume studying when he’s sleeping.

I cut back on work.

I learnt A LOT in my first semester. Doing an MBA is definitely different than doing a Bachelor. My first day in class, we were warned that a business bachelor degree prepares and groom you to be a business executive. An MBA “grooms you to OWN and MANAGE those executives under you. This is not a training class for business people. These are classes for future chief executives.”

No kidding. It was THE hardest semester in my tertiary life so far and for the first time in my tertiary education, my draft papers were returned to me with so many markings, so many improvements to be done. Let me tell you, my ego took a bit of a bruising because throughout my Bachelor degree I always thought that I write good papers. My Bachelor’s best was not good enough for an MBA and I count no less than 8 returns on my draft for each subjects, with instructions on how to better it. After I got over myself and my ego, I took those advice to heart and honest to God, I submitted possibly the best papers I’ve ever written in my tertiary life. I got High Distinctions on ALL papers, and I was gobsmacked.

Those serve as a lesson for me. I went into MBA program thinking that it would just be a continuation of my business degree. While it was useful groundwork to have a business degree and be familiar with the jargons and the industry, that was probably as far as it got me. In writing papers for all my three subjects last semester, I found out that I had to seek out professionals in the field and pick their brains, which was both very exciting and intimidating. On the other hand, I found out that the phrase, “I’m researching for my MBA paper” makes it easier for people of station to want to see you, lend a few minutes of their time to pass on their knowledge and take an interest in what I’m learning.

The outcome: by the time of writing, I’ve been mentored by at least 5 important people in the industry, for free, with no obligations, simply because they have met me, saw the drive and interest and decided that I’m worthy recipient of their knowledge and connection. I have a lot of gratitude for my first mentor, the one who introduced me to the second, and who introduced me to the third and so on.

With those connections, my eyes have been opened so wide that I now see opportunities everywhere. I will possibly blog about it, possibly not. We’ll see how this goes.

Anyway, that’s the summary of it. I’m taking summer break to work and save up for next year’s fees so I’m not due back til March. I’m making sure this time around I’m fully prepared and by January, I’ll start reading textbooks!

Alright. End of commentary and will resume the Mad Penguin self in subsequent posts. Here’s The Mad Penguin thanking you for reading those abovewritten craps.

P.S: I SO missed everyone so I’m doing my rounds next week!