Since Five Years Is A Long Time To Not Be A Student
Hey, remember that time I said that a government agency wants to give me bucketloads of money so that I can get an MBA and that I needed to write the GMAT and then apply to the program and then hopefully I’d actually get in so I can have the aforementioned bucketloads of money? Yeah, that all happened. Schools starts for me in January.
Now, before you all going telling me (again) that I’m a Crazyface McGee, it’s merely an intensive 28-month, part-time program that I’ll do while still working full-time and that costs $41K+. You may now all call me crazy. But only half crazy, really, because of the aforementioned bucketloads of money.
Not the actual pile of money I’ll be getting. Mine will be Canadian.
After the crushing level of student debt I incurred to get my first three degrees, I swore I’d never borrow another penny for education again, but when I found out about the scholarship to do an MBA, it was really too good of an opportunity to pass up. Especially given that I actually won the scholarship!
I just found out about my offer of admission last week, celebrated on Friday with a fine wine and a three-year-old cheese, both of which I picked up in Oregon in the summer and have been saving for just such a momentous occasion, and paid my tuition fee deposit yesterday. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what this time commitment will mean for my life and a lot of planning of how I’ll get myself organized to juggle my life, work, and school, but the reality of the situation is really starting to sink in now. Expect some think-y blog postings about such topics over the next little while – please bear with me! Or, you know, tell me I’m crazy.
Image Credit: Posted by docwonder on Flickr.
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Tags: academia, book learnin', finances, MBA, Nerdery, school, student debt, student loans, studenthood, Teaching & Learning
I want to see you before I never see you again!
Congratulations Beth! I know you have been looking forward to this.
Crazy girl!
LOL! Yes, we totally need to get together very soon! It’s been waaaay too long since I last saw you!
Remember to keep your head in there. American stupidity has blighted business education curricula the world over. Don’t be afraid to point out that the somewhat intangible value of a reputation for quality is no reason to dismiss that priority completely in the face of opportunities for immediate profit-taking. Also don’t be afraid to ask questions about the wisdom of rapid unrestrained growth for executive pay while the real purchasing power of workers continues to shrink. A great 90-day plan of action is no excuse for a horrible 5-year outcome. Intellectually myopic MBA holders, moreso than any other identifiable group, fubarred my homeland in a big way. Stay subversive about it, and you might be able to slow the process in your homeland.
I definitely have plans to stay subversive. First and foremost, I’m going in with an eye to what I can learn and apply to our publicly-funded health care system (and I don’t mean “how do I privatize this?”), where we aren’t for profit, but we do need to find ways to be effective and get the most bang for our taxpayers’ dollars. Plus, I’m in Public Health, so I expect I’ll be bringing up things like “What about inequities?” and “How will this affect vulnerable and marginalized populations?” Should be interesting times!
Congratulations!
I have another Captcha that is ridiculous enough to merit a screenshot, by the way.
Update: the fresh one I requested is worse!