Stressful: Struggle is Real, But It Was So Worth It!

Early this year, I have been working on acquiring an MBA degree.
So far, I have undergone a three month bridging course, which is mandatory since I came from a non-management background (I work in the IT Industry by the way).
Recently, I had just completed the first trimester of my first year in the MBA program.
And if I have a word to sum up the journey so far, "STRESSFUL"!

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When I joined the MBA Program, I was already aware that the program at UP was very intensive. And yet, I still went on with it, despite having a 3 month old baby. I remembered the time during the interview, one of the member of the panel asked me how sure I am in pursuing the program given my situation. And in a scale of 0-10, I gave them a definite 10. Not really sure where the confidence is coming from, because at that point I'm not really quite sure how I will juggle my time at work, for family and school.

If there's one takeaway that I want to get from this whole ordeal was "Perseverance". To be patient and hardworking enough to do the daily grind, reading and studying, despite the sleepless nights. To have the tenacity to continue moving forward, even when the odds are stacked against you. To constantly look up with the end goal in mind. And most importantly, to enjoy the process, because it is the process that brings growth.

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We have wrapped up the trimester, but allow me to share and give you a bit of a quick overview of what we have done in the class. I am hoping that I will be able to give justice to the beauty and the wonderful learning that we had.

Economic Analysis (BA 201)

In this class, we were introduced to quite a lot of concepts of micro and macroeconomics. My initial impression of the topic was that it will be boring (so bookish); but when we had our first lecture, I was completely wrong. The teacher that we had was very much knowledgeable and she had her own way of catching the class' attention. There were no gimmicks, she was not very lively or had a very loud voice, but she had all our attention. She has a way of simplifying concepts, making it easier for us learners to digest.

Through the course, we were able to understand how the economy works in general. Though time is a bit short, but we had more than enough to give us a basic understanding on how the market works, production efficiency, why consumers behave the way they behave, pricing strategies, incidence of taxation, GDP vs GNP, among others.
We had time as well to discuss the major issues that the global economy is facing today:
US-China Trade War, Brexit, NAFTA, TPP, and of course our favorite: the impact of Trump to the US, the Philippines and the international market, and what we can learn from it.

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Corporate Financial Accounting (BA 219)

Dubbed as the course that filters students who are worthy of the MBA Program. And it didn't disappoint, more than half of our class barely made it. Though we all passed the subject, some of us will be having a hard time keeping up, as we have a yearly GWA to maintain. This is a critical subject that we need to pass, so that we can proceed with the program as it is a pre-requisite to a lot of subjects in the future.

The main essence of having the course was to of course help us get started with managerial accounting. Even though the class was quite mixed, most of us were non-accountants, it is expected that all of us have a basic understanding of accounting. As future managers, each of us is expected to have some kind of knowledge on how to assess a firm's standing in terms of performance through a thorough and careful analysis of financial statements. Or from an investors point of view, assess whether to BUY or SELL shares of stocks of a certain firm.

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Organizational Behavior (BA 251)

This is by far, my most favorite subject of the entire program. OB basically is a study of human behavior in organizational settings. The style of teaching was quite different than usual as we are adapting a "Socratic Method" of discussion. What we usually do is have a lot of readings before the appointed meeting, and once in class, it will be purely a full-blown discussion. We will all learn from each other and not just from one person; we have a facilitator though who is in charge, to ensure that we have covered every important points that we need to discuss.

Through this course, we were given an opportunity to learn from the different experiences that each of us in the class have. It gave us an insight across different industries outside our respective organizations. But the greatest takeaway of this course was the realizations and learnings that we had in the class. We discussed quite a lot of theories and issues across any organizations, we talked about a lot of strategies to improve working conditions and have a great working relationship. And more importantly, we were encouraged to have a paradigm shift, to improve our own selves so that we can effectively bring about transformation in the workplace. Now the challenge for all of us here is how to apply and implement all these concepts and knowledge at a working level. Personally, I am not sure yet how to do this, but I am definitely getting there.

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That's a wrap everyone, 7 more trimesters to go!
Thanks a lot for bearing with this write-up.
One last final paper, and I can finally have my well-deserved vacation.
A little over a week to rest, and then back again for another trimester.
Have a great day!

Cheers,
Kaizen