Search Results matching tag 'Norwich'

My Final Post to the Norwich Blog

WheelCipher — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:47:00 GMT

Today marks the end of my postings on the Norwich University blog at eLearners. In the next few days, I will begin my new blog that will focus on my next “adventure in education” as I earn my Doctor of Business Administration at Walden University. I have already enrolled and begin classes on June 29. As I write this, that is a mere six hours away. Even though I have not done any work, there is already a lot to write.

I want to close out this final post on my Norwich blog with the following statement:

When I decided to go to graduate school, the word “Norwich” had never crossed my mind or my lips. Living a few thousand miles away from Vermont, I believe that I have a valid excuse. I already had my choice of schools narrowed down to three and Norwich was not one of them.

Then I received an email informing be about Norwich. After doing some investigating, I signed up for the MBA program. Being a school that was nearly 200 years old, I knew the education I would receive would be of high quality. I was not disappointed. The 18 months I spent in that program was more challenging than four years of undergraduate work. Moreover, the residency program at the end was an event that made it all worth it.

During this adventure, I met some of the most interesting people and learned things that I do not know that I would have been exposed to at another institution. Everyone on the faculty, administration, student body and ever nook and cranny of Norwich has been a pleasure to work with.

The visit to Vermont was something I will never forget! I have lived in the city and in the country. I have seen mountains and desert. Nevertheless, I can honestly say that Vermont is unique in a way that I cannot explain. It is a beautiful, humble place that I will visit in the future.

Now I am on to other challenges. Of the three schools I will have attended when I graduate with my D.B.A., I will only wear the Norwich ring. I will look back at Norwich as my most memorable experience.

Norwich Forever!

My Norwich GPA

WheelCipher — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:56:00 GMT

I was fortunate enough to find out what my final GPA was for the Norwich MBA program! It was not stellar, but certainly not bad, either. I earned a 3.36 GPA throughout the entire program. That is a borderline B+ / A- and from what I hear, is about average for most students. That equates to around an 84% - 85%. I was hoping for a low A, but it was not to be. The program was challenging and I knew that earning an “A” with the other responsibilities in life (working full time, family, etc.) was going to derail that.

What does this GPA mean to me? It means I will not be going to MIT or Harvard. Nevertheless, I am OK with that. What I am planning on doing, after several months of research on a quality doctoral program, is to enroll in Walden University. I am aiming at the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program.

I spent most of the last few days on the phone with representatives from several schools and this one seems like the best one for me. I do not foresee any problems getting into Walden, but like strategic planning in business, the smart person will have a “Plan B”. My “Plan B” is the PhD program at Capella University. But I am well on my way to fulfilling my entrance requirements at Walden.

I got an unofficial copy of my transcripts sent from Norwich. They did that very quickly and I do appreciate it. The time constraints here are short. I filled out the online application over the weekend. Next, I will send them my resume and a letter that explains why I want to be in the program. I will get that done in the next day or so. The program starts in a week or so. I have no time to waste.

Back Home Safe and Sound (PHOTOS!!!)

WheelCipher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:59:00 GMT

I am home at last. After a very exciting week at Norwich, we received our diplomas Friday morning. It was a defining moment for everyone I talked to and probably for everyone there. In order to have some free time, I took an extra day and did not fly back to Texas until Saturday afternoon. I am glad I took the extra day.

With that extra time, I was able to visit downtown Montpelier (the state capital) and get some great photos. (The following photos were taken at the capitol building) SEE NORWICH PHOTOS HERE - There is a link to the whole gallery after the last photo

I flew from Burlington to Detroit. After some delays, I was finally on my way home. I arrived in Dallas at around 11pm. My promise to myself to read a book while I was gone was delayed by a week because of all the activities at school. But on the way home, I was able to read “A Class With Drucker”. For anyone who is interested in the father of modern management, I would highly suggest this book.

I must say that one does not often appreciate the very nice climate until they are exposed to the opposite extreme. When I walked out of the Dallas airport to catch a bus to the parking lot, I thought my face was going to melt off.

It was a miserable change from the pristine atmosphere of Vermont. At 11:30pm, it was still 90 degrees. In my whole time in Vermont, it only got into the low 70-degree range with low humidity. I was dying and wishing I was back in Vermont. Or maybe the North Pole. Or perhaps Canada. I wanted to be anywhere but Texas.

Alas I am stuck.

But the good news is that I have decided what I am going to do in the next step of my educational journey. Read the next post for the details. I am filling out my FAFSA today.

Norwich Residency Day 5

WheelCipher — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:40:00 GMT

It is the end of another long day. I did not write yesterday because by the time I got back to the dorms, I had just enough energy to shower and crawl into bed. They are indeed keeping us busy here. We are also eating like pigs. The cafeteria-style dining facility is great. I need to get one of those for the house. I am really surprised that I am not 500lbs by now. But I digress.

Yesterday, we took a tour of Rock of Ages. This is a company that mines granite and transforms it into many products. Do a Google search for more info on them. I took some great photos of the largest hole in the ground I have ever seen. I will post them next week. We also had some other events scheduled in the morning and in the evening. They were more for fun than any academic purpose. But a good time was had by all.

Today was graduation rehearsal day. We also attended a ceremony where we were hooded by the leadership at the school. It was a great moment. It was the next to last activity before graduation. That comes Friday morning. Everybody is anxious in anticipation of graduation. We are also ready to move on with life. We have all had a great time. Now we want to go do something with our degrees. Being part of the Norwich family and carrying on that tradition is important.

I have met a lot of great people here. I have enjoyed the scenery. It is like nothing else I have ever seen. It makes me want to come back at some point just to visit. I am also seriously considering taking a certificate course from Norwich so that I can obtain teaching credentials. But that is a discussion for another day.

Graduation comes early. Need to sleep!

Norwich Residency Day 3

WheelCipher — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:29:00 GMT

Day three at Norwich was very interesting. We started the day out with breakfast and followed that up with a whole day of debates. The teams were mostly made up of four grads, one team pitted against the other. Our topic was about taxation and our position was “against”. We put up a good fight. And we are told for the first time in Norwich history, all four teams that debated our topic actually tied. So there was no winner. I guess that is better than losing.

The panel of judges consisted of professors and other academics. It was a great time and we learned a lot. In the evening, we had a few lectures. The economics lecture and the organizational behavior lecture were quite interesting. One of the topics discussed was “The Peter Principle”. Google that phrase and read up! It’s great stuff if you are in the business world!

I got back to the dorms after that affair and did a load of laundry and I am now preparing to hit the sack for what promises to be another exciting day.

The weather is not cooperating today. It was overcast, drizzly, and quite chilly. I think there is enough humidity in the air that we can’t actually label it “cold”. But it is certainly a relief from the near-100 degree weather back in Austin, TX.

Tomorrow is the day we are supposed to take a tour of the company that was a major focus of our program. Each seminar required us to write a considerable amount based on research we conducted, conference calls with the company itself, etc. Since we spend so much time analyzing this organization in so many different ways, I am anxious to see how they operate. This should be good!

I will reiterate and paraphrase what I said in my last post regarding residency programs. At one time, I thought residency might be an inconvenience. After all, what are “online” programs for? After a few days here, I see how actually stepping on campus, having lectures and other academic activities ties everything together. I have only been here for three days, but I feel like it has been a couple of weeks. Everything is coming together here and has made the 18 month journey well worth it.

If you have an option of getting an online degree with a residency option, I would highly suggest it. The week here is just as valuable to me as the whole 18 months I spent online.

Until tomorrow … good night!

Norwich Residency Day 2

WheelCipher — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:50:00 GMT

It has been another busy day at Norwich University. The started with breakfast around 6:30am. That was followed by a presentation about how to conduct an academic debate. The remainder of the day was spent with our debate teams devising a structure to present tomorrow. Dinner happened at 5pm and I am down for the count. This trip is refreshingly exhausting and I am loving it.

I have a new perspective on distance education. I used to think a residency didn’t matter or might be somewhat of an inconvenience. It is “distance education” after all, isn’t it? I am only two days into this trip and the festivities have really yet to begin and I don’t think any distance education program should go without having some brief residency attached to it.

We’re not only getting to meet the people that we worked with on the student level through the last 18 months. We’re also getting to meet some of the professors that taught us throughout the program. We are getting to meet the faculty and administration people that we previously only knew by e-mail. This is really a great experience.

Tomorrow is “Debate Day” where all grads argue a point against each other. We will have three judges made up of faculty members. My debate is at 1pm and will last an hour. I am looking forward to it.

But I am serious when I tell you about the value of some type of residency. In two days I feel like I have been here a week because of all the things packed in. Meeting new people, bonding with the new “family”, taking in the beautiful scenery in Vermont, and more. You cannot put a price on the value and experience of this type of interaction. These are friends that I will have forever and it makes me glad I went to Norwich.

I will write again tomorrow about the events of the day. I am off to sleep now. I am exhausted as usual. And that is a good thing!

Norwich Residency Day 1

WheelCipher — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:38:00 GMT

Sunday, June 7, 2009

I have arrived at Norwich University!

Vermont is a very beautiful, majestic place like never I have ever seen. I have been to a lot of places, but Vermont is very unique. The mountains and pastoral farms have my undivided attention. I am sure lots of photos will follow. But not right now. I am beat!

I got to Burlington, VT last night about 10:30pm. After grabbing my luggage and a car, I hit the road. It was almost an hour to my hotel. Since I missed the exit, I added another 30 minutes to the trip. I was beat. I had been up since very early that morning and was running on about four hours of sleep. I knew that when I finally found the hotel, I would pass out.

Instead, I lay in the bed until 5am unable to go to sleep. At 5am here on the northeast coast of the USA, the sun evidently rises and is fully operational at 5am. I learned this the hard way. At 5am I was able to pass out for a few hours.

I got to Norwich at 1pm for check in. I met some people including the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. I also met several of my classmates. This part is very exciting to me, and I am sure it only gets better as the week goes along.

The weather here is great. When I left Texas, it was getting up to around 90 degrees by 11am. The temperature has been fluctuating between 55 and 70 here today. It did drizzle a little bit, but who cares? This is great weather.

We rounded out the night with a big welcome ceremony. We saw a “past and present” slide that was very cool. I can tell that this residency and the on-campus experience that I anticipate will make all the hard work well worth it.

Right now I am going to get some sleep. I will write again Monday evening.

On the Way to Graduation

WheelCipher — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:37:00 GMT

The first leg of my journey to graduation is over. As I write this, I am sitting in a very nice Holiday Inn Express near the Dallas airport. Tomorrow, I am off to Atlanta, then to Burlington, Vermont. Saturday night will be spent in a Comfort Inn and Suites in Montpelier, Vermont. I don’t expect to get there until very late. Due to dead time in Atlanta between flights, I won’t even get to Burlington until 10:30pm (if everything runs on schedule). Seeing as how I have to go through the Atlanta airport, I don’t have much faith. If you have ever seen that airport, you know what kind of circus that place is.

Preparing for this trip involved more trips to WalMart than I’d like to admit. My packing list is pretty simple, but I brought a lot of clothes. I probably will only use half of them, but I like to be prepared. Other than the clothes and various other items everyone takes on a trip, I packed my HP Mini 1000 netbook computer (being used to write this posting), my camera and a couple of lenses, my iPod Touch, my iPhone, and a couple other gadets.

The one thing I am somewhat looking forward to is the layover in Atlanta. It will give me some time to read a book. I always come up with excuses not to read. I have no excuses this time.

Keep an eye on this blog over the next week. I’ll be posting on a daily basis if it is at all possible. I might even have some photos to share. I hope the schedule is not too hectic. I want to do a little sight-seeing while I am there.

Cap and Gown

WheelCipher — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:26:00 GMT

UPS delivered my cap and gown this week. It is very cool! When I go to Norwich next weekend for graduation, it will mark the first time I have ever worn a cap and gown. I skipped my high school graduation because I was not into that kind of thing when I was 18 years old. I was just happy to get out of high school.

I did not go to my undergrad ceremony when I graduated from Kaplan University a couple of years back. It was “somewhat” important to me, but I could not get the time off from work. I was not too disappointed about it. I would not miss this graduation for anything. I not only look at it as graduating with my MBA, but the culmination of six years of work.

In other news, in looking for online resources that might help distance education students, I came across a nice set of tools from Google. Google Books has over 10 million resources to browse. In addition, there are millions of articles that can be used as reference material. I have used some of these resources in the past, but did not write about them.

In closing, I will be spending the next week packing and getting everything ready for my trip to Vermont. I am really looking forward to it. The only drawback is the flight there. I have to drive to Dallas, go through Atlanta, and then on to Vermont. Sounds like it might be easy, but the downtime between flights turn this into a 12-hour trip.

Getting Bored!

WheelCipher — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:32:00 GMT

I am bored.

That could be a good thing or a bad thing. In the last week or so, I managed to complete my final assignment for my MBA program at Norwich University. Now I am sitting here with no job to go to and no homework to do. I do not know what to do with myself. I am going insane!

For the last assignment for the program, we were allowed two weeks. It was somewhat of a “comprehensive” assignment where we were to include elements of everything we learned throughout the MBA program. Not having a job allowed me to pace myself and do a little bit of work each day or so on it. When I got down to the final period of the final sentence, a year and a half of work was over. It was somewhat of a relief.

Now I sit here waiting for graduation. That takes place in the second week of June. I am really looking forward to visiting Vermont. I have never been there and from everything I have seen and been told, it is a beautiful place. I have actually allowed myself an extra day there so I can take pictures.

I got a 92% on the final assignment. I am not sure what my overall GPA is throughout the program, but I am sure it is pretty decent. Hopefully it will be good enough to get into a PhD program if I decide to go that way.

I am working on some other writing projects to keep me busy. I have been hanging out in Houston quite a bit as well. Don’t get me wrong. Having some freedom (no job and no school) is a good thing. But I am the kind of person who can only take so much. Until next post, I’ll sit here and twiddle my thumbs.