MBA Update

I wanted to give everyone an update on my MBA experience thus far... I just finished my first semester of school and have 3 more left. Thus far, there have been some challenging experiences, but nothing unexpected. Two of the biggest differences from undergraduate education at BYU is first, the emphasis on group study and second, curve-balls teachers throw out on tests. There are more but those have stood out. Everyone is very very competitive and studies quite a bit so the faculty needs to extend the tests beyond what we may comprehend to be able to get a curve and reward those that turly comprehend the material. Grades seemingly don't matter, but I have tried to get As in each class. We will see if that came true soon enough! TO SUM IT UP I HAVE INCLUDED THE PICTURE BELOW.... "Who wants to drink from the fire hose???"


The first semester was Accounting, Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations, and Leadership, much like a general emphasis course. Next semester I will be able to take more specified classes like Market Research, Field Studies, Brand Management, and Pricing and Positioning. I really liked my Marketing and Finance teacher's lectures.

Business Week MBA rankings came out a few weeks ago and BYU jumped into the first tier or top 25 at #22. SMU and BYU, I think, were the only schools that jumped up that far. We passed USC, Yale, ASU, and Emory. We are right behind schools like U of Texas, Darden (Virginia), UCLA, and NYU. It is always amazing to see the rankings and the data next to it. The tuition will go from 95k, 93k, 85k, to 20k and back up to the 80s. Quite a difference! The study showed BYU did really well with placement, salaries, recruiting, and faculty, but needs to improve in intellectual capital and student quality work experience. My opinion, and executives have said the same, is that we are taught to be humble and work hard, but then there is a disconnect when we don't take credit for things we discuss in interviews. So now they are trying to place a lot of emphasis on Leadership and playing to our strengths. The break will be nice and we hope everyone has a Happy Holiday season!

If anyone is thinking about going back to school, let me know if I can offer up any advice.