Post Secrets

I don't know, it just made me feel good:)

Too continue the MBA or Not

I’ve been really struggling with the MBA program that I chose.  As you know, from previous posts, I have not been happy with the first class I was in. Last week I completed that class and was crossing my fingers that the next class would be much different. 

I received my new books last week and I was actually getting excited. The book appeared to be at the MBA level unlike my previous class. 

This Tuesday, I received my syllabus and my heart sunk. I only read the first three workshops in the class and once again they expect you to write 3 papers a week and the content was, once again, at a lower level learning. 

The first workshop is teaching you how to create a powerpoint presentation. REALLY??!! I’m talking it goes into detail about what type of font you should use and what colors work better than another color . I learned this back in high school, why in the hell are they, at an MBA level, teaching this again. How much money am I spending to be taught high school material? TOO MUCH.

The following workshops start talking about non-verbal communication. AND AGAIN….REALLY??!! They want you to right a paper on how your non-verbal communication can be used during conversations at work. UMMM… had this class during my bachelors program and it was called Communication instead of Decision Making and Business Communication. 

After really thinking about everything, and believe me I dwelled on it. I decided on Thursday to withdrawl from the program. I know, it’s socking and believe me it was a hard decision but in the end I made the right decision.

Here’s what the decision boiled down to…I’m unhappy. I’m unhappy because the program is not teaching my anything that I didn’t already know and I feel like if I’m going to spend that much time and  money on the MBA program it better darn well teach me something.

I was unhappy with the amount of work they required on top of attending class for four hours a week. It appeared to me that the syllabus they were using for the live class was the same they used for the on-line class. Of course, minus the assignment of posting twice on a discussion board. 

On-line class’s traditionally had more busy work to make up for the time not spend in class. So why in the world would I want to attend a 4hour class and do the same work as the on-line class? Which, I did think about switching over to an online class however the content being taught would still be the same.  

I talked to several people who have completed the MBA program at other schools and their experience from day one was fulfilling and insightful. The other schools actually treated their students like they are adults who have experience with basic computer skills. They treated their students like they were intelligent college students who have successfully achieved their BS degree and who have been in a professional career. 

With all this playing around in my head I realized this was not the path for me, at least not right now. So here’s the revised plan: Take a break, figure out a few things and then develop a plan. So MBA is on the back burner for a while.

Fall Break!!!

Not really fall break but I did complete my first class...yay me!....and we have a week off between classes. So what did I do this weekend?

Cleaned and organized my house.

I wish I would have taken before pics but I didn't so you'll just have to deal the after pictures. On Saturday I cleaned up and organized my exercise room. It took most of the day to do this but it needed to be done.

This room has a small walk in closet so my original thought was to put shelves on both sides of the closet, empty out the dresser and move it into the spare bedroom, then place all my extra stuff in tubs and organize by sport.

However, with every good plan, things change. I decided to put up shelving on one wall instead of two. It worked out really well because I was able to find extra shelves in the garage and didn't have to use the new ones. I ended up returning half of the items and saved 50% of what I originally spent. It made my pocket book smile.

Now instead of having all my weights and stuff out in my room I've placed them in the closet. This leaves the room for the big stuff which is only a treadmill, weight bench  and small stand that I keep towels, water and a very old radio on.

 I put all my hand weights in the plastic tub with the ball in it. The shelf that is currently installed is what the builder installed. Doesn't give much room for storage. This is where the dresser was as well...it's looks better in the spare bedroom.

These are all the shelves I installed. There are a total of 5 shelves which almost reach the ceiling. All this stuff was crammed into my closet, on the floor, stacked on top of each other. Now it's organized and some what easy to get to. There are some tweeks that need to be done but it's regardless, it's awesome.

Today I've cleaned up my back yard, disassembled my patio swing and trashed it. A couple of weeks ago a wind storm took it across my yard and tore it up. I couldn't repair it and I couldn't use it so I took it apart and tossed it today. I cleaned up my bedroom, dust and all. I worked on the garage for a little bit but in order to get it the way I need it I will need to spend a whole day getting organized. So that will be on hold until next spring.

Then I started on my office. Now that is a real mess. It ends up being my "catch all" for all my paper and books. Plus I don't have a filing cabinet so all my paper work is stuffed into totes. It's just so disorganized and it's on my last nerve. So I started to shred all paper work with personal information on it however after an hour of this my shedder over heated and turned off. I'm waiting for it to cool down. 

It's been a long time since I've taken the time to focus on the interior of my house and it feels great to get things more organized.Even though I've really made a lot of progress this weekend I still feel like I have ton more to do.

And Life Just Keeps Going

Apparently I'm in that stage of life where there has to be more to life than just going to work and coming home. I'm now on a search to find myself and what I want to do when I grow up.

In my quest to find myself I have stumbled upon a Life Coach. To be honest I never saw myself going to someone to help me with my life but here I am, officially going to a Life Coach to help rediscover myself.

She really is great. She is able to asked all the right question to really make you think. Just in the first session I was able to reconfirm a few things about myself and then I also came to some type of weird realization.

Its something that I've known but never really understood the impact it was having on me. And what was the realization?

Glad you asked, I'm too hard on myself!

I knew I was hard on myself but I never really understood what that was doing to me. So the Life Coach made a list of things I was talking about and then after I was done she ran down the list and explained how each of them impact me when I focus on it to much. As she was reading the list and telling me the impact I kept thinking to myself...."yep I do that and yep that is how I feel".

Guess what, I don't have to be perfect! Yes, the light bulb turned on and there it was...the elephant in the room staring right back at me.

I keep wondering how I missed that giant grey mass but some how I did and here comes this Life Coach who helps take off the blinders.

Now, not only am I going for my MBA but I also thought I would work on rediscovering myself at the same time.

Speaking of school, I'm jumping off and going to actually focus on some school work.

MBA update

Well to be honest it is not what I expected. Let me try to explain and keep it short.

The amount of paper you have to write is ridiculous. We have to write 3 paper each week that are 2-3 pages in length. In the APA format and with 2-5 references to support you paper.

OK...I can be a big girl and wear my big girl panties and write the stupid papers. Which I have and then the other day I thought about testing if these papers really mean anything or if they are just busy work.

So, me being a smart ass, I wrote a paper off the top of my head. Not using any references, not checking grammar or spelling and not using the APA format. This paper was so poorly written that I was almost to embarrassed to submit it. But I did...and guess what.

I GOT AN 100% and a comment that said "Good work, Thanks"

REALLY!!!! The instructor should have sent it back to me and said it was unacceptable for the MBA program let alone a high school student. But nope, I receive a 100%. So what is the purpose, again, of me writing 3 papers a week and spending a number of hours researching and providing a strong paper when I will get an A regardless of the work I do.

So, now, I don't spend nearly the amount of time it should writing these paper. Which has taking a huge amount of stress off of me.

The next issue is the content in the classes.
There are 7 workshops for this class. Now keep in mind this is an MBA program that is an on site (not online) class.

The first workshop was spend explaining the Blackboard, which is system we use to submit our homework and get our grades and anything else we need for the class. The entire 4 hours of class was spent on that and the instructor talking about his childhood and all his credentials. I think he just likes to hear himself talk.

The second workshop they brought in the librarian to review the Online Library. which I have to say I was impressed the services of the online library. However the librarian spend half the class showing sp how to use a filter. She showed up how to open up the documents. she showed use every link and all the filter in the library. Hummm...last time I checked, we are all adult and probably know how to use filters!!! I don't remember what was talked about the rest of the class because I jump on solitary, when I saw everyone else on facebook.

The third class we spent the entire time reviewing the APA format. I'm taking in detail. He even was nice enough to show us how to use word and adjust the margins. He showed us how to insert a header and add a page number. UGH!!!! we are not 2nd graders using word for the first time. I believe we are all adults that work some type of professional job so we should know how to format word.

At this point we have written 6 papers and have not yet talked about the 6 chapters we have read. Nor have we talked about any of the papers.

I missed the fourth workshop because I was sick but everyone let me know I did not miss anything.

I attended workshop five and wrote two of my paper during class just to get them done. They are better than the crap paper I submitted earlier but still not worth much. I've also stopped reading the chapters because so far everything in this book I already learned in my bachelors program and we don't really talk about the material in the book.

This last class I played solitary and mind sweep to keep myself busy. Other's were on facebook or googling stuff. I know one other girl was writing her papers in class so that she didn't feel like she was wasting her time.

Next week is workshop six which I already have one paper written and I plan on finishing another before tonight is done. Then just one paper to write next week!!!

Workshop seven I may miss or leave early. I have a feeling 50% of the student will not show for class the last night.

I'm holding out for the next class and if it is anything like this class I'm dropping out of class and going to look into other schools. This class is nothing but a bunch of busy work and I haven't learned a thing.

Also if this was supposed to be an introductory class to get you familar with the university and writing in the APA style then is should have been listed as an introductory class and not applied management.

And yes, I am going to contact the adviser and voice my opinion. I think its important for them to know this class is not up to MBA standards as I thought it should be