Independent Study – A Business Education Option

As an Evening MBA student the curriculum is somewhat pared down to ensure that you are only taking classes that are essential. This is how an individual is able to complete two years of schooling at ½ the pace in only 50% more time (That’s 2 classes at a time instead of 4 in 3 years instead of 2). Since the schedule is pared down, I have made every attempt to take classes that I really feel are worth the ~$3000 each that I pay in tuition. This quarter I am doing something that I considered to be a waste of that $3000 only 2 short years ago… an Independent study course.

So, why am I choosing to steer my business education in this direction? Especially when I am in the last quarter of my program? Well, because I wanted an opportunity to use all of the different things I have learned across disciplines on one project.

The Independent study project that I will be completing this quarter is a farm to table delivery service. I made sure to include a full fledged marketing, operations, and financial plan as part of my project requirements. Obviously a certain amount of business strategy will also be involved in the project. I am doing this because the Evening Business Education often lacks a capstone course. Full time students usually have an internship and also complete large projects at the end of their program- there are no real equivalents for evening students unless you make your own way- hence the inspiration to do an independent study.

I look forward to keeping you updated on the project throughout the quarter in addition to my classes. Hopefully the lessons I’ve learned while spending the last two years in classes and close to $60,000 will prove to be valuable. Looks like we are going to find out together :)

Heading Back to Business School – One Last Time!

Hello, it has been almost a year since my last blog entry! First, let me apologize for taking so long to write- it has been a crazy year. Since my last entry, I was hired on permanently at the hi-tech company I mentioned interviewing for in my last entry. Then I got a taste of the 60 hour work week. This combined with business school worked out to a temporary hiatus for this blog.

So, here’s what happened this past year... I moved from core classes to electives, which has allowed me to concentrate in Finance. I’ve taken classes like Entrepreneurial Finance and Problems in Corporate Financial Planning as a part of that emphasis. In these classes, I focused on things like establishing a healthy growth rate, financial forecasting, capital structure for corporations, venture capital, and more. Most of this work was case based and a solid challenge. Another highlight was a leadership course centered on the 6-domains leadership model. The class was half academic and half workshop – very practical.

So where does that leave me? Well, it leaves me with 1 quarter of business school remaining! I graduate in about 11 weeks. Amazing. It seems like just yesterday I was blogging about my experience taking the GMAT. Now, I am ready to hit the road – MBA in hand. So, look forward to some more entries this quarter. Topics will be centered around pricing, a business idea that I am pitching as an independent study, and as always current events in the business world.

So stay tuned… there is a lot to say as I head back for my final quarter of business School.