Got an interview!

It’s been a while since I posted anything.  Frankly, because nothing exciting on the MBA front had been going on. I’m still taking the microecon class and tonight is my first test. Scantrons are still being used???? Wow, it has been a while since I’ve been in school.  I decided to try and take the Statistics class on-line along with the Financial Accounting class over the summer. 

But now I have some exciting news! I received an e-mail from UC Davis asking me to come in for an interview for their MBA program! I am so jazzed!  I’ve been out of town the last week, first to attend the Manager Tools Effective Manager Conference in Washington, DC (if you don’t know about Manager Tools - check them out!) and then to Indiana to visit family.  So it had been a while since I checked my personal e-mail but I’m so glad I did!  I’m scheduled for the interview on May 9th! Part of the interview is to give a five-minute presentation (without any visual aids) on a topic other than the program.  Of course, the topic will be something to do with podcasting!  I am not a very good speaker so I am going to beg and plead with my friend Wayne, who is a Toastmasters muckety-muck, to help me polish my presentation. Thank the gods (BSG fan?) for friends!

This interview is a very good indication that I will be accepted … as long as I don’t mess up the interview! In one of the admissions workshops I attended through UC Davis, one of the admissions directors told the group that they only extend invitations to the applicants they are planning on admitting.  I guess my 530 GMAT score wasn’t a complete deal-breaker! Looking good!

Okay, back to studying for the test tonight and catching up on all my work e-mail!

Technorati Tags: Manager-Tools, MBA, GMAT, UC+Davis, microeconomics, business+school, personal+development

 

I’m over the shock.

My last posting was a bit out of character. As you may have guessed, I didn’t do well at all on the GMAT. Putting it in financial terms, I didn’t receive a good return on my investment. I knew I was going to have trouble but I honestly thought I would get at least a 600 on the test. I ended up with a 530. So embarrassing…

Like I have said before, it is what it is. I did my best on my essays, submitted my application to UC Davis, and now it is just a matter of waiting to see what they come back with. If Davis finds me worthy because of my strong professional background, leadership potential, great references, my ability to pay the $60K for the tuition, and I work for a company that is a strong supporter ($) of their program, then I will step up proudly, work my keester off and get a Masters at an academic institution worthy of my time!

But, every smart girl has a Plan B …

Plan B1: Research other programs, pick a few others to apply to, and start my MBA program somewhere other than UC Davis.

Plan B2: Hire a tutor, study more for the GMAT, take the GMAT again and get a stellar score, reapply to UC Davis, get accepted and start the program in 2008.

Neither option for my Plan B is exciting me in any way, shape, or form, but those are my options.

I musn’t forget that I am still taking classes to support a successful start to my UC Davis MBA program! I had this last week off because of Spring Break (too funny! I can’t remember a time when I had time off because of Spring Break!) but back on the Microeconomic’s horse again starting tomorrow night. I was too busy licking my wounds all week to really do any reading, so in usual fashion, I am cramming all day today to make sure I am caught up to Chapter 5 in time for class. Missing out spending Easter with my family! I’m reading each chapter outloud and recording so I can do additional studying while I’m driving to and from work. Making my own audiobook!

Technorati Tags: MBA, GMAT, UC+Davis, microeconomics, business+school, personal+development

 

The GMAT sucks.

Is this something a 42 year-old woman should be saying?

Technorati Tags: GMAT, MBA,admission+essays, business+school, personal+development

 

T – 1 day and counting …

I will be taking the GMAT in approximately 25 hours. My admissions application will be due a day later. I don’t have my resume updated. I don’t have my essays written. I’m getting dumber by the minute … literally. I keep taking practice tests and each time I get a lower score. And yet, I’m moving forward. At this point, it is what it is. I will take the score I get, do my best to sell myself via 750 words or less, and cross my fingers.

Everything that I have struggled with this much in my life has always been worth it. I’m counting on this whole experience being worth it as well.

Technorati Tags: GMAT, MBA,admission+essays, business+school, personal+development

 

Maybe I don’t want to do this …

This weekend I really had a long talk with myself. I kept wondering why it is such a struggle to get things off my plate in order to focus on my studies. The GMAT has been haunting me, finishing up the application just seems too daunting, taking three classes before the program even starts, family time, my daughter isn’t driving yet, the two podcasts, work, Italian classes …. ARGGGH! Will it ever end???? So the question I asked myself was – do I really want to do this? Do I really want to give up so much of my free time? 

The answer was … No, I don’t.

Getting my MBA is very important to my professional and personal growth but I am very busy without the schooling and frankly, having too much fun with the hubby, my daughter and my podcasting.  It shouldn’t be this hard to give up time doing other things and focus on my studies.  If getting my MBA was really that important to me, I’d put aside the time, right? So, I talked with my family and told them that I was not going to pursue my MBA this year. They were pretty darn happy about it – much to my chagrin.

This is where is pays to really know yourself and keep asking the hard questions …

So, then I asked myself – am I really that overloaded and just don’t want to start school bad enough?  OR is it that my perfectionistic/insecure self is ticked off that I am struggling with learning math all over again and not liking the fact I am the oldest person in my Microeconomics class?  Hmmmmm.  Self reflection time.  And THEN I asked myself – if I didn’t have to take the GMAT and I didn’t have to take the extra classes, would I want to pursue my MBA this year? 

Guess what the answer was.  Of course I would!!!!  Epiphany time.  I am struggling and I feel like I am failing.  What Dina does, Dina does well.  What Dina doesn’t do well, Dina doesn’t do.  If being 42 pays off in some area of my life, it pays off in really knowing myself.  So, Dina does not have to be perfect and it is okay to be uncomfortable.  Being uncomfortable means I am learning and growing. 

I’m still moving forward.  Yes, I want to do this.  Much to my family’s chagrin …

 

Back to school at twice the age …

I started my Microeconomics class on Monday evening at Folsom Lake College. FLC is one of the local community colleges in my area, close to work and a beautiful campus.  It is an evening class so I figured there would be other working adults (not “legal” adults – actual adults) in the class. I was completely wrong.  I was literally, by far, THE oldest student in the class. Other than the instructor, who was probably old enough to be my dad, I was the oldest.  I was so uncomfortable and embarrassed!  And I was amazed that I was so uncomfortable and embarrassed.  Why should I be? It was all totally in my head but I felt really out of place. Even the instructor wasn’t really making eye contact with me – he probably thought I worked for the college and was there to check on him!  I know I’ll get over it but it was a very weird experience.  I felt really OLD!

But, the class is going to be okay in terms of the content and delivery.  The instructor is very engaging and entertaining and the text book is pretty good!  One plus of being old as dirt is that when the instructor references things from back in the 60’s and 70’s, he and I are the only ones in the class that know what he is talking about!  Too funny!  I’ve already read through the first couple of chapters of the text book and started using my MindManagersoftware to take notes for studying.  I love MindManager!!!!! 

Just adding in this class to my already hectic schedule has been challenging.  My husband and daughter have started some mild complaining about my time away from home.  My Mother continues to tell me that I can’t do all this.  I have to start taking foreign language classes (Italian – bene!) in May after work one night a week for a future work project I’ll be working on. I’m still working on the On Demand Learning program for my local PMI chapter not to mention my own podcast (6 interviews lined up in the next 30 days). Throw in a regular work day and STILL studying for the GMAT … Something has got to give but I don’t want to give any of it up! 

The GMAT is looming ahead – April 3rd is the day!  I’m taking the day off again tomorrow to do some more studying.  This time I am going to sit down and take a full practice test to see how it looks.  I’ve said I was going to do this but I just haven’t yet.  Have to start writing my two essays and rewrite my resume for the application, as well.  So much to do and no time management skills to make sure it gets done! 

Tags: mba gmat UC+Davis Folsom+Lake+College microeconomics personal+development

 

Microeconomics class coming right up!

I failed to mention when I started this blog that in addition to all the studying I am doing to take the GMAT, I will be taking a few classes through my local Community College system. This Monday evening, I will be starting a Microeconomics class! It’s one of those accelerated semester courses where I will go to class Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 6pm – 9pm for six weeks.

In one of the admissions events that UC Davis hosted, I had a chance to discuss my background and goals with one of the Assistant Directors. She strongly recommended taking at least three classes before starting their program: microeconomics, statistics and financial accounting. Especially if one is “quantitatively challenged”, and/or with a technical degree … which I fall into both categories! She said they look very favorably on those applicants that show a willingness to really make sure they are prepared for the program. And that these classes may help to offset any issues that may pop up on the GMAT – like a low quantitative score!

So, I’m off to school on Monday evening with the Statistics course starting in April (another accelerated class) and then I will follow up with a Financial Accounting class over the summer.

I’m really not sure how it’s all going to turn out, but I’m still along for the ride! Still studying for the GMAT, working on finishing up my application (two essays to write – yuck), starting new classes, working on my personal podcast, working on a podcast program for my local PMI chapter (didn’t know about that one, did ya?), starting a new high-profile project at work that may be a +40 hours per week, while managing to keep my marriage in tact and making sure my daughter stays on the straight and narrow.

How am I going to do it all? I’m not sure yet.

Technorati Tags: MBA, GMAT, UC+Davis, statistics, microeconomics, financial+accounting, personal+development

 

You never know until it happens …

I was having lunch with a friend of mine yesterday. We were discussing her experiences with getting her Masters degree – I think it was in Organizational Behavior? And the difficulties it placed on her relationship while she was in school. She’s been in a relationship with her partner for over 20 years and towards the end of her school parade, her relationship almost took a nose dive. She was working full-time, going to school part-time, and towards the end, she took on an internship. Not exactly the same situation I’ll be in but very similiar and it got me really thinking …

Am I willing, really willing, to give up so much of my personal life while I pursue my MBA? Don’t get me wrong, I am a very ambitious person and want to continue to move on up that ladder. But I really like my personal life. I still adore my husband after almost 22 years of marriage and want to spend time with him. My daughter is pretty darn good considering she’s a teenager and I like to spend time with her too. I love doing my podcasting and having the ability to connect with like-minded PM’s from all over the world. I have a lot of great stuff going on right now. Will pursuing my MBA be worth giving all that up? At this point in the process, I am not going to be delusional in thinking that I can still have all my fun, personal stuff and include school in the mix as well. I will have to give up a lot of my activities and time with family.

I could give up the podcasting for a while. That would be okay. But the time with family? That’s the part that scares me. I do not want to jeopardize my relationship with my husband or my daughter because I’m never around or if I am, I’ve got my nose stuck in a book or computer. They have both expressed their support of pursuing my MBA and have also articulated they understand how much time this will take. But do they really know? Will they really understand? Sometimes you just don’t know what something is really going to be like until it happens.

This is where being a good project manager should help. I first really need to determine if I still want to do this – now I understand more what the costs are. Need to do a CBA. If it is still a go on my end (being the Project Sponsor, I will make that decision), then I need to make sure I have a good communication plan in place for my major stakeholders that includes regularly scheduled face-time and asking the question “is this still working for you?”. It will be important to put aside time to spend with them and to make sure everything is still okay. If it isn’t okay, course correct. Build into the plan that course correction will happen. I will build a Project Plan for this endeavor! Why didn’t I think of that before? Be on the lookout for the plan coming your way soon!

Technorati Tags: MBA, GMAT, business+school, UC+Davis, Masters, personal+development

 

Quant Review day 2 … not complete

I wasn’t able to finish the class last weekend! I had a non-life threatening, family “emergency” to deal with on Sunday plus I was sick equated to leaving Palo Alto Sunday morning without getting to day 2 of the class. Ugh. What frustration! The instructor, Cliff, was really nice and e-mailed me the pdf’s for the handouts with an offer to do some phone tutoring. Talk about customer service! I whole heartedly recommend Veritas if you’re looking to do in-class prep. They’ve been a class act all the way.

One take away from the 1/2 weekend was a nice chat I had with Cliff over lunch on Saturday where I really decided to move the date of my test out as far as I could to give myself some more time to study. When I originally set the date for the GMAT, I didn’t know that UCD would accept the print out scores from the test on the application (with the official scores following, of course). So, I rescheduled my date to April 3. The very, very, very, last date I could take the test before I have to submit my application on the 4th. I know that rescheduling is a no-no but hey, I have to make allowances for my situation. It’s not like I have six more months to keep pushing the date out!

A positive in all this … I have been doing more studying and some of this stuff is starting to sink in!  My sentence correction scores have gone up and I am not so worried about that section of the test anymore.  The easier Quant problems I’ve been getting right without working on each problem for 10 minutes – even the word problems are starting to make sense.  I’m seeing a very dim light at the end of the tunnel … and no roaring train noises either.  Oh, and the flashcards are great!  Printed them out on card stock and I keep them in my purse and take them out whenever I have a free minute.  You’d be surprised how many free minutes here and there you have throughout the day! Filling up your car with gas, sitting in boring meetings at work, even standing in line at the grocery store!  I love multi-tasking!

This weekend is a great example of how life gets in the way. I so envy those very young, 20-something students that get to go through this program with nothing else to do but go to class! I know there are old geezers with jobs, family, hobbies, etc. that successfully get through their MBAs. Right? There are some? Somewhere? Without dumping to the curb for three years everything they hold dear?

Technorati Tags: mba, gmat, UC+Davis, personal+development, business+school

 

Quant review day 1 … complete.

I am so incredibly brain-dead.  It’s 10pm at night and just finished up my first day of the Veritas Quantitative Review prep class in Palo Alto.  The class is pretty good so far.  The instructor is very knowledgeable and does a great job explaining everything.  I just wish we did more actual problem solving instead of so much lecture.  I’ve read through all my study books umpteen times so I understand the concepts – I need more hands-on practice.  Today we covered basic arithmetic, algebra, and geometry with a smattering of data sufficiency thrown in.  9:30am until 7:30pm with a short lunch and some breaks along the way.  A very long day!

Tomorrow we’ll be covering more data sufficiency, problem solving (tips and techniques), permutations and combinations, probability and then wrapping up.  That’s it.  Yeah, right … that’s it.  I did realize today that I need to rethink taking the test on the 17th.  Now that I know all I need for my application is the print out from the day of the test, I may want to reschedule it for later in the month to give me more time to study.  And actually have a plan for studying!  What a terrible project manager I am!  I jumped into this without having a solid plan in place to follow.  Typical do what I say, not as I do!  I had a podcast listener e-mail me suggesting that I do a podcast on how to plan for taking the GMAT.  I would not be a very good role model for this topic right now!  But it was a great idea and did make me realize I have got to develop a roadmap.  I am all over the place with my studying and I am getting exactly nowhere. 

I printed up the GMAT flashcards from BeatTheGMAT.com’s site.  If you haven’t come acrossed it yet, you should check it out.  What a great resource for folks studying to take this beast of a test!  About three hundred flashcards covering both the Quant and Verbal portions of the test.  Very nice!  I’ll let you know how they work as I start looking at them!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!  I wonder if we can move our class out to the patio by the pool … supposed to be sunny and 71 degrees. 

Technorati Tags: mba, gmat, UC+Davis, personal+development