My Ashford University Experience : work

Routines and Rhythms: The keys to your success

Cajun — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:50:00 GMT

I’ve said it before I’ll say it again, two things you need to be successful as an online student, especially one who is also professionally employed, is good scheduling and time management skills. The thing that I use to meet the rigors of...(read more)

Get your MBA the quick and easy way

Cajun — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:58:00 GMT

My title got you didn’t it? You’re reading this blog post thinking “can I really get my MBA quick and easy?” Sure you can. It wasn’t too many weeks ago I interviewed a guy who had a degree from a wholly unaccredited and un-wonderful university (which shall go unnamed) and he told me how quick and easy it was to get his degree after he discovered through “casual conversation” as I escorted him out that I was a student. First a note to those of you who are interviewing or will be in the future, the interview isn’t over when they say it is, it’s over when you shut your mouth and leave, but that’s another post for another day.

In this case I didn’t recognize the name of the school listed on the resume. So of course I immediately asked questions all of which he answered with nothing raising a red flag during the official interview. I always check schools out after an interview if I do not recognize them through a handy little search engine provided by the U.S. Dept. of Education but in this case I almost didn’t even need to. Why? Because the interviewee in question openly and boastfully told me about how he didn’t even need to do coursework. No, instead he simply filled out an application, sent in a resume, did a brief phone interview and before you know it, he was a bona-fide graduate. The school itself may have been legal, after all they did ask him to write a paper or two and his degree probably made his mother proud, he was the first college graduate in his family. The problem is that the degree was worth less than the paper it was written on in the professional world (or should be) and he will willingly tell you it was “easy”. He wasn’t challenged into learning new things, he wasn’t tested on his applied knowledge, he pretty much left the same way he went in and that is a sad testament to the quality of this school.

Fact #1: There is no quick and easy degree that is worth its salt. There are quick degrees to be sure, such as a 10 month MBA program, but they are FAMOUSLY grueling.

Fact #2: A real college with real teachers and real coursework will change you. There’s no getting around it. Being forced to learn new concepts, new ways of thinking, new knowledge and then be tested and held to a diverse set of expectations by (at times) seemingly masochistic professors who thrive on your agony…will change you. You will become something other than what you were when you went in if nothing other than slightly fatter and balder from stress. Testing situations cause people to learn things about themselves…

Fact #3: Colleges and Universities are easy, easy, easy to check out. Hiding behind obscurity will not work if anyone in hiring cares to take more than 2 minutes looking into a school. Don’t take shortcuts. You may get the job only later to lose it in a sea of disgrace…but most of all, you’ll know you took those shortcuts even if everyone else doesn’t. Maybe that doesn’t bother you, but don’t let someone who spent 7 years getting to the Masters alum level find out you did it in 9 months. It won’t win friends and they will not be impressed.

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A Fresh Outlook, a New Start and a New Puppy

Cajun — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:04:00 GMT

I’ll admit that over the last few months I’ve been a bit frazzled beyond what is probably good for my health. Recently however I have been able to decompress quite a bit. All of the work stress is still there, in fact this week has been particularly stressful but because I am now in somewhat more familiar territory in my studies and have finally settled into my new house I have been able to finally relax. Sure the school work is demanding but I actually enjoy reading managerial books especially those concerning themselves with leadership. At times it hardly feels like work. But numbers? Not so much.

It was an odd sensation spending the first month in my new house. Believe it or not I actually got lost a couple of times coming home from work the first week. I would bump into things in the dark and could never find the light switches. I would take a shower and half expect some stranger to pop in and demand to know why I was in their house. Everything I owned, including my books were in various boxes scattered throughout the house and something as simple as finding a matching clean pair of socks was akin to the search for the lost temple of Solomon. It’s much better now that things are unpacked, I know how to get home from virtually anywhere in my immediate block and I know exactly where my clean socks are. Why just today I finally got my new washer and dryer correctly installed and working. No more Laundromat for this guy, bygone are the days of the mysterious spots on my shirts fresh after wash.

And to put the cherry on the cake I have a new dog. His name is Church, he is a brindle English Mastiff and though he is huge and intimidating he is just a big drooling bundle of love. And don’t tell anyone but he tends to be a little sensitive too. His favorite pastimes are fetching the ball, and then chewing it to pieces when fetch gets too mundane, chasing my cats and of course lying on the floor next to my chair as I type this blog and do homework.

Class is going well. I received last week’s grades and scored 100% on everything so I’m hoping for a repeat for my efforts this week. I have noticed that in the discussion posts my peers have really stepped up their game forcing me to of course respond in kind. What can I say? I’m a born and bred competitor.

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Is Getting an MBA Online a Mistake?

Cajun — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:15:00 GMT

I read an interesting interview of an executive recruiter over the value of the MBA. I recommend you read it as well, but in a nutshell, the MBA has real value. It has the most value in investment banking, consulting work and finance but can be a cross industry asset as well. The MBA is being more sought after by being “preferred” but not necessarily a requirement in applicant desirability but on the flip side of the coin, there are a lot more MBAs running around in the market diluting the value somewhat. Lastly the MBA says a lot about the applicant. This recruiter likes to see someone who left a lucrative career in order to invest in themselves for a couple of years at a top business school.

Of the entire article I have to disagree with him on one quote when asked what an MBA says about an applicant he responds by saying that“…they (the applicant) have made a sacrifice, and they are a highly motivated person. Depending on the reputation of the school, it can be a marker of how bright they are and how much value they place on it. If someone quit their job and went to Wharton, it tells me something different than if someone who went to a lesser-known school out of convenience, as opposed to seeking the best training.”-Walter E. Williams.

Here’s are the issues I take with the above quote.

1.) It lacks perspective. Mr. Williams assumes that he/she who would quit their job in order to attend school at Wharton or the like are making a greater sacrifice than one who would be willing to work full time and study full time or part time. Is working and going to school less of a sacrifice? I would personally disagree. If I could cram my wife and I into a little apartment and focus soley on school I personally believe that I would be under a lot less pressure. My wife probably would have to make more of a sacrifice but me personally? Nah. But then that’s just me.

2.) Mr. Williams talks about how important it is for someone to have professional experience before undertaking an MBA program however I’m not sure that he has considered how valueable it may be to apply what you are learning at your current position. This has aided me in getting perspective on how my new skills apply to the workplace as I learn them. When I do decide to transition in employment in an attempt to utilize my MBA I feel I will be a little more realistic and seasoned than my peers who quit work to study as I have seen where the application of this new knowledge fits and more importantly, where it does not.

3.) Not everyone will make the kind of money that would be necessary to recognize a return on investment in just the tuition cost of a school like Wharton alone, much less the opportunity cost of forgoing a couple years of work and experience. The tuition? About $72,000 for the year of 2007-2008.

4.) There are perfectly viable alternatives to a traditional brick and mortar B-school without having to sacrifice name recognition or quality. Penn State for example or how about the Duke Fuqua School of Business? Hardly blow off programs. Online does not equal less rigor and quality, only that it is online.

Overall I do believe the article conveys a ton of useful information to mull over if you are seriously considering an MBA. However what we all need to keep in perspective is that the MBA is really just a sheet of paper. The person behind the degree, the man or woman are what adds value to the credential. The degree is but a small part of an overall much more complex picture. Sometimes I think we place too much emphasis upon a degree program like it is some magic potion to success. It most certainly is not.

Check out the article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/C60825MATTIOLI.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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The Essential Element to Success…Planning

Cajun — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:57:00 GMT

As most of you already know I closed on my new house last Friday. Even though this was a newly built house, my wife and I decided long ago that we wanted porcelain tile and stone mosaic floors throughout the entire structure, even in the washroom and bedrooms. As you can imagine this was/is very, very pricey. Today I was telling a fellow that I work with about the house and the upgrade to it when he commented something to the effect that I must make a whole lot more money than he did. I responded by saying no I didn’t but that I had been planning and saving for this little upgrade for over a year. He looked at me kind of funny and said “you knew what you were going to do a year ago?”

I don’t know why the above conversation struck me as odd but it did. Today my wife was speaking to another friend of ours about the project and his response was that he thought we were taking on too much debt financing the project. She said that we were in fact paying cash and that we do not finance (borrow for) things anymore. He replied “how the heck did you do that?” Again, we planned and saved for over a year which seemed to mystify him as well.

About 2 weeks ago a guy that I worked with was talking behind my back (he doesn’t know that I know). He was saying that he and I do the same job and earn the same money, that I keep going to school yet make nothing more than he does and he felt I was just spinning my wheels. He exclaimed that I will be the only doctor in the department and still only be a Sergeant. What he doesn’t know is that my degree is part of an overall much bigger plan. Which doesn’t include me even sitting in the same zip code as him in 5 years.

So what separates me from my peers? The same thing that can separate you, in short, planning. I contrive a plan, research the best method of execution, work through the plan, delay gratification and ultimately see the plan through. During that time I will watch my peers run around, having a good time spending their money and time on things less substantial. Then when my plan comes to fruition they stand around wondering how the heck I did all of that. The God’s honest truth is that they watched me do it every day but didn’t understand what it was I was doing, to them my vision was just too far off, too uncertain or too abstract. Everyone has plans, but a lot of people talk of plans as they would a wish. It never goes from conception to execution to completion. Almost any plan worth making and seeing through will also require sacrifice. In this me, me, give me, give me, now, now, now society we are in, delaying gratification for something bigger is almost an alien concept. I explain it to people I work with and friends and it’s like I’m speaking a foreign language. Often I am dismissed as being “lucky” or coming into a windfall. Often people refuse to believe that I, they or anyone can achieve what they dream of through sheer hard work, sacrifice and resolve. It is easier to make excuses and point out for how much easier it was for me or someone else than it would be for them.

Do you really want to know the #1 tool I have at my disposal that I have used time and again to get my BS, then my MBA? It is planning. Not the kind of wishful thinking “some day over the rainbow” crap. But real honest to goodness, research oriented, goal focused planning that takes for granted and accepts that sacrifice will be part of the bargain. If you can get your head around that and understand it, you’re more than halfway to whatever it is you wish to do. Even get an advanced degree when you barely finished high school.

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