EXAMS!

Well its finally the end of the semester and all that stands between me and a month break is 3 finals and a presentation! Sounds pretty simple when I write it in one little sentence. Well not really.

This week's agenda:

-Meet with our communication coach Tuesday morning for presentation practice

-Cumulative Accounting FINAL Wednesday at 1

-Cumulative Econ FINAL Thursday at 1

-Lunch with my cousins and Christmas party Saturday (HAVE to have a little fun mixed in!)

Next week:

-Final Communication Presentation Monday at 8am

-Final Statistics Exam Tuesday at 8am (Not cumulative, thank goodness, however the hardest of the 4 tests)

THEN I will officially have 1/4 of an MBA Degree! It's only 8 days..but it will be a fairly hectic 8 days! Been a great semester so far...and it all boils down to 8 more days....

Already Demember??

I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving break. This semester has absolutely flown by! In a little over a week, it'll be December? The past week and a half has been a little rough...

We’ve only had:

-a Research paper

-Econ Midterm

-Case Study

-Final Presentation

-Final 12 pg paper

-Accounting Quiz

-Paper analyzing a speech

-Powerpoint Slides

-Final Exam

No big deal. It was a little stressful at the time, but through the semester we’ve learned better time management and each other’s strengths/weaknesses. A group of about 10 of us has started studying for all our tests/quizzes together, dividing up articles/chapters to summarize, and teaching each other concepts/problems. It’s a pretty good bet that the day before and the day of a big test/quiz, at least 7-8 of us are in one of 2 study rooms in the Grad area. We nicknamed them “Vegas” and “Rio” to liven things up a bit! It has worked out pretty well so far...I’ve gotten the best grades on tests after we all started studying together!

one week later...

Our relaxing Thanksgiving break is over now. I forgot my laptop when I left to go out of town, so it was especially relaxing! Now, it’s back to the grind. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (the first semester tunnel at least)! 

Only:

 1 case study,

Accounting Final

 Econ Final

Communications Presentation

Stats Final

stand between me and a 27 day WINTER BREAK!!

As excited as I am for winter break, its somewhat bittersweet. I know how fast 4 years of undergrad went, and we’re almost ¼ of the way finished! Crazy!

NC State going BOWLING?!?

NC STATE FOOTBALL=BOWL ELIGIBLE!!

Completely shocked and excited that we are going to a bowl game again! I have been pleasantly surprised 3 times this year.

First: a crushing win over Carolina

Second: a HUGE upset over Clemson

Third: The biggest comeback I have EVER seen this past Saturday over Maryland.

We were down 41-14. And then started to creep back into the game. Maryland missed an extra point, and my cousin made the comment, “with the way this game is going, that could be important.”

I was hoping he was right, but I didn’t know if we could come back from such a huge deficit. But WE DID. We came back and were winning 42-41. Then managed to score 2 more touchdowns (one on an interception), to seal the deal.

42 unanswered points?!?

Impressive SECOND HALF WOLFPACK!!

NCSU/UNC Annual Football game!

Since we have quite a few Carolina and State Alum, there has been some "talking" back and forth in our class! The first year students coordinated together and were able to get 3 parking passes for the Fairgrounds lot to tailgate the morning of the game. We sent around a sign up sheet for food/drinks and we ended up with cornhole, a grill, biscuits, bacon, eggs, pancakes, donuts, orange juice, bloody mary mix and a few adult beverages mixed in.

We carpooled out to the field at 8am, and started cooking breakfast. It was a little cold that morning, a brisk 39 degree to be exact but we still had a great time. It started out with 14 of us, and once it started to warm up more and more people came by. Before the game we had about 25-30 people out there! Everyone had a great time at the tailgate, then we all went into the game and watched the PACK absolutely dominate the Tarheels!

 5^th year in a row that the WOLFPACK come out on top!

Now, let's hope we can continue the momentum into basketball season...

NAWMBA Lunch & Learn

Today was my first Lunch & Learn through the National Association of Woman MBA (NAWMBA). Typically NAWMA consiststs of women in the MBA program, but our chapter is tryig to expand to the men as well. It was great to have about 8 guys attend the lunch & learn session! Each semester the lunches are held at the SCRC building right across from Nelson. Industry professionals are invited to speak with students about their job function, experiences and perspective on successful techniques and tips for the career search.

The two speakers today were:

v  Amy Rumford, Director of Global Supply Chain General Procurement Operations at Lenovo

v  Marirose Steigerwald, President of Elinvar

They both spoke about their career paths, and had numerous tips to share with us. Although their jobs and career paths were very different, they both still were on the same page as far as what to look for in a job. They emphasized a job that would make a great fit for YOU specifically because everyone has different goals.

Marirose suggested sitting down and thinking of a list of “must-haves” in a job, and not to settle for less. Since you spend so much time at your job, you need to love going to work everyday. She also heavily emphasized networking because that was how she landed multiple opportunities.

Amy focused on staying true to yourself and your goals, and giving back whether it be to your family/friends, community or employers. She also interviews candidates regularly and was able to give us some great insight on what she looked for in a great candidate. She said that the experience and your resume will get you that interview, however a candidate’s communication skills and how they fit in with the company culture is what really set them apart.

Overall, it was a great experience. I was able to hear their stories and advice, and it really helps me to be able to dig deeper into what I really want from a job. I’m still in my first semester, but it has already flown by so I really need to start seriously thinking what exactly I would like to do when I graduate. These two women have great success stories, and it was great to be able to talk and interact with them in the smaller setting!

JD/MBA Program

We have 3 students in our class that are working towards their JD/MBA degree. This is the first year the program has been offered, and it is very unique because it is a collaboration of two completely different schools-NC State and Campbell University. The program is 4 years, instead of the typical 3 for law school and 2 for MBA.

Students spend their entire first year at Campbell in law school classes, and then the second year is all at NC State for MBA classes. The 3^rd and 4^th years are a combined MBA/Law classes. These students get different classroom experiences (Socratic Method in law school, team based for MBA), that will help them succeed in their careers after graduation.

The collaboration between Campbell and NC State is great for the students for a number of reasons. First, it provides endless career opportunities to have both a law and business background. It also allows the students the opportunity to network with twice as many people as well as people from different career backgrounds. It also provides the students with two separate alumni bases as well as two separate career resources departments to assist with internship/job searches.

http://poole.ncsu.edu/mba/academic-programs/dual-degree/jd-mba/

Registering for Classes

Class registration started this week on Tuesday @ 8am. Registering this semester was a breeze compared to undergrad for numerous reasons. The obvious being of our 6 classes, 5 were already chosen for us. All we had to do was pick 1 elective to add to the set schedule. Per the 2^nd years’ advice, I signed up for Product Brand Management class on T/Th. I was told it was a good class to mix in with the hectic second semester, and it sounds like an interesting class. Our class will be split up for the elective, but I know a lot of us chose the Brand Management class!

The new registration system was new to me. Now, we can register for a “wish list” before the actual registration starts. So on the day of registration, you’re not scrambling around entering class numbers and trying to find the time that you originally wanted.

Undergrad was a whole different ballgame. We used to wake up at 7:30 to make sure we signed in right when the clock turned to 8:00. A limited number of people could log in at once, and we didn’t want to wait in line. None of our classes were selected for us so it was a fight to get into the class you wanted at the best times.

The wish list would have made my life so much easier trying to register for classes in undergrad! Next semester, I will have more control over my schedule/times so the wish list will be a great tool to help me keep everything straight before registration.

October Already??

So Fall Break is already over. We’ve already had 2 quizzes, 3 tests, a presentation and one more midterm this week.  And one week from tomorrow, registration for classes next semester starts!

This semester is FLYING by!

At the start of orientation, we started talking about our internship search and now I’m beginning to see why. All of our resumes are done, so that is step 1. But that’s the only step I’ve really completed. I find myself so concerned with grades and tests and readings for that particular week, I forget my ultimate goal of this year…to land a Marketing internship. Since it’s just for the summer, I’m pretty open to opportunities in different locations. I just need to start making connections through info sessions and reaching out to my friends and family members who may have additional contacts. I know that at least 2 classmates that have worked in the Marketing/Advertising industry and could be great resources for me.

In our career resources class, we started an internship discussion forum. Each person is assigned a week to post on an assigned topic to enhance our internship search. Everyone keeps saying that our classmates are our best networking resources, so we may as well utilize each other and our diverse backgrounds. Hopefully this will jumpstart each of us into researching more for internships early so we won’t have to worry and stress out late second semester!

Happy Hour

Now that our big Stats and Econ tests are over, we have a reason to celebrate!

Really, we just use Thursday night as an excuse to stop working and enjoy our 2 years in grad school. Since the first week of school, we have chosen different places each Thursday night to go for Happy Hour. So far we’ve hit Raleigh Times, Cameron Village Bar & Grill, Natty Greens, Hibernian, Tobacco Road & East Village.

Tonight is the Village Draft House!

We typically meet around 6ish and have a couple drinks to relax and unwind from the week, and tonight should be our biggest turnout! Everyone has been studying around the clock for our two tests today, so it will be a great way for us to socialize about things other then school.

Our class is very social, and I think its a great way for us to get to know each other. Other then happy hours, we have standing Tuesday Trivia nights, and various other activities through the semester.

One of the first pieces of advice the 2nd years gave us during Orientation was get along with your classmates. Our class is off to a great start in the first 6 weeks!

BSG Simulation

Our very first class was MBA 508, the Global Simulation Class. The Simulation has been done at NCSU for 47 semesters, and it changes every time. Basically, we were given the task of running an athletic shoe company with wholesale, internet and private label markets. All 10 teams started in year 10 with all the same stats and market share. Our group had to come up with a strategy that we thought would enhance our market share which producing a quality shoe.

My team (iDominate), decided to make a few big moves the first year:

• Building an additional production plant in Latin America
• Taking out a hefty loan
• increasing the quality of shoe in our Asia Pacific plant.

It paid off fairly well for us, but when we realized we had only built a 1 million dollar plant in LA and a competitor had built a 4 million dollar plant, we took drastic measures. We added another million to our AP plant and completely took ourselves out of the private label market. This put us in 2^nd to last place, strongly competing with two of the top companies in the class so it forced us to change our strategy once again.

We started making small changes to break away from our competitors and gain a competitive advantage. After 4 years, we were back up in 4^th place, and after 5 years our stock price had more than quadrupled. It was only a game, but I definitely learned a lot about business decisions especially financially.

This class was a great start to the semester! It eased us into the frameworks of everyday business decisions, and we had to deal with real problems and issues that come up in business every day. We also had to make a group presentation on our marketing strategies, regional differences, financial decisions, and what we may have done differently. This was our first (of many) presentations, so it gave us a good feel of how we presented and what we need to work on for future presentations in the MBA program!

I-Cubed

For our MBA 530 project, we are required to work with a company to help them fix a problem they are currently facing. We were encouraged to reach out to companies and see if they would be interested in working with us for the semester. Through various contact and LinkedIn, Brian found out about a company on Centennial Campus...I-Cubed. Grant Williard, a NCSU Alum, started the software company in 1984. He developed the technology that led to the created of I-Cubed while working on his senior design project sponsored by IBM. Since then, I-Cubed has grown to 75 employees and expects to reach about 125 within 5 years.

We met with their HR Manager, Erica and CEO, Donald to find out the areas they were looking to improve. Their main concern with the rapidly growing company is the communication. Hierarchy structures have been put in place, and effective communication between departments and managers haven’t come as easily as they would like.

Our job is to come up with a strategy to break down the communication barriers and have more effective communication within the company.  It’s a semester long project, so we will have meetings with I-Cubed fairly often. We’re excited and up for the challenge!

http://www.i-cubed.com/

Groups

During orientation we were separated into small groups of 4-5 people that we would be working with for the entire year. That made me a little nervous.

All these questions were going through my head: would we all get along? Would we hang out outside of class? Would there be one person who slacks off? Would we have a person that wouldn’t get anyone else get a word in? Would we work well together for two entire semesters??

Wednesday right before lunch we were handed a sheet of paper assigning our teams. I was placed on Team 9 along with Donavon Boykin, Mark Frazier, Brian Kubis and Peter Landis. My first reaction was, well I’ve only talked to Mark, and that was Monday morning for about 10 minutes so I know nothing about any of these 4 boys. Within 5 minutes I realized I was stuck with 2 TarHeels, a Pirate and thank goodness another NCSU Alum (who is unfortunately graduating at the end of the year).

Throughout that day at the ropes course, we started to get to know each other better and realized we all had completely different backgrounds. We each had so much to bring to the table and we are willing to work hard, but also wanted to have fun. 

And so “Team Dominate” was formed.

Well 3 weeks into school, I couldn’t be happier about my group. We laugh, have fun and joke around...but more importantly we support each other and push each other to the limits in order to reach our full potential. We each play to our own strengths, and help each other in our weak areas. These groups are designed for not only class projects, but also for studying and keeping up with class materials. I’m excited that we all get along so well and are able to joke around while still getting our work done.

Meet Team Dominate 

Brian, Donavon, me, Mark & Peter

Earthquakeee

Sitting in Econ class Tuesday, Professor Newmark was talking about Americans’ love affair with big cars (examples of supply and demand) when Nelson started shaking. The projector screen was swinging back and forth, everyone was looking around wondering what was going on.

. . . E a r t h q u a k e . . .

Yes, an earthquake on the East Coast with a magnitude of 5.8 was confirmed at 1:50pm. It was about 150 miles NE of Raleigh. The brunt of the quake was in Mineral Springs, VA but major cities like Richmond and DC also felt the effects. It was pretty mild here, but still a big deal on the East Coast.

So we get through the earthquake, and 3 days later - - -Hurricane Irene- - - decides to pay us a visit.

Raleigh was pretty lucky. It was a long day of rain and it was pretty windy at times, but it cleared up by late afternoon. I've seen plenty of tree branches down and a few trees here and there, but no flooding and minimul power outages. Other areas East and even North suffered a lot more with the flooding and power outages. Still awaiting news on the fate of the Outer Banks..

MBA Interview!

Written February 27, 2011

Wednesday afternoon, my Dad and I drove down to Raleigh for my MBA Interview and the NCSU/UNC basketball game!

In my opinion, one went better then the other and since we lost...its pretty obvious which went better. I walked into Nelson and felt like I was in a time warp. I hadn't been in that building for 4.5 years and it had definitely changed! 

I met with the Assistant Admissions Director, Jen Arthur for about 30 minutes. I was pretty nervous on the drive down there...didn't know what questions she would ask, if I would answer the "right" way or even ask the right kinds of questions.

But it really was just a conversation about my working experience and why I want to go back and pursue an MBA. Pretty easy questions for me to answer. There was 1 that threw me for a loop, but hopefully I recovered quickly!

It was great to sit down and talk with her because I learned a lot more about the program and was able to ask some specific questions I had about the program.

Picking a school is a pretty important decision, so I'm glad I was able to make the trip down there and talk to her in person rather than on the phone.

After the interview, I walked around campus for a little bit then went to dinner with my dad and on to the game. Obviously I wished the outcome was different, but overall it was a pretty good day!

**Grad School**Grad School**Grad School**

Written February 4, 2011

 

Pretty much the main thing on my mind these days.

I try to distract myself with other things (photography, working out, work, happy hours and anything else I can do to keep busy), but really all I can think about is whether I’ll get asked back for interviews, whether my GMAT score is good enough, if I’ll be ACCEPTED!

Not to mention the fact that most people at work are not aware that I am planning on going back for my MBA, and most likely will not be doing a part-time program in Richmond.

And then there are my parents and extended families’ opinions on pretty much everything.

Is going back to school the best thing for me?

After I graduate, will I make enough $$$ to pay off the loans quickly?

Is an MBA really going to put me in a position to get my “dream” job?

Should I go back full-time or work full time and go back part-time?

And the list continues…

So it’s somewhat of an internal fight with myself everyday because I really do want to go back and get my MBA (and I’d rather do FT), but the small doubts are still there in the back of my mind. Best case scenario for me is I am accepted to every school and offered a graduate assistantship.

The GA position will not only help with the funding part of the MBA, but I think will also allow me to develop a better relationship with professors and the career services department. Working with undergrad students in their specific concentrations will only help me to better understand the subjects and with my working experience, I will be able to actually apply the things I learned in undergrad. I will be able to give the undergrads real scenarios from a perspective other than a professor because let’s face it, its easier to relate to your peers then professors at times. From my recruiting background, I also think the opportunity to work with the career services department would be beneficial for both undergrad and graduate students. I could help with resume/interviewing tips because I’ve been on the other side of the process and know certain things to look for and things to make each candidate stand out.

So when looking at schools, this was a big focus of mine. The best GA program I found for me personally is the one offered at NC State. The Jenkins MBA program will “hire” a certain number of full time students to work up to 18 hrs/week in different areas such as career services/admissions, classroom assistance, research and IT support. It includes tuition, a stipend and health insurance.

What I love even more is the Social Media GA.

Pretty much my idea of a perfect GA position.

In this role, the GA will help to market the Jenkins MBA program through different social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr etc).

First-I’m already pretty big in the social media world being on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr already.

Second-Marketing is the area that I want to concentrate in and in addition to receiving a top-tier education, I will be able to gain valuable experience in the marketing field. I plan on pursing an internship between my 1^st and 2^nd year, but to gain the experience WHILE IN SCHOOL is priceless, not to mention I wouldn’t think of this position as “work.” I know I would spend a lot of time working with the different social media tools, but to me its fun. And when something is fun to me, I work harder, longer and am MUCH more dedicated.

So the first step is being accepted in the NCSU MBA program…

NCSU MBA

Written January 14, 2011

Right now, the main thing I’m focused on outside of work is applying to grad schools. I want to go back to school for a MBA, and it definitely has been a long process. When I started looking at schools, I really had no idea where I wanted to go. During my undergrad, I remember hearing things about the NCSU MBA program, but it was so new (started in 2002) that they hadn’t really taken off yet. In just 8 short years, the program has jumped to a #66 ranking (Us New and World Report)…which in my mind is extremely impressive in that short of a time period.

NCSU prepared me extremely well for my jobs after I graduated undergrad. Just thinking how my best friend Claire and I would spend every day (sometimes ALL day) in Nelson makes me miss college so much. The workload was heavy, but it was an amazing experience that I would not give up for the world. So I started thinking….if I loved undergrad at State that much…wouldn’t grad school be even better?? I started researching the Jenkins program and was pretty excited about what I found.

The opportunities are endless with this program. I want to focus on Marketing, and the focus and flexibility of this concentration are perfect for me. The main focus is on Value Identification, Value Creation and Value Delivery, and then I would pick certain electives that focus in on the type of company I am interested in. The marketing concentration allows students to work on REAL projects and work together to find REAL solutions that will prepare me for a job after graduation.

So now, my application is finished and I get to wait for a decision from the Admissions board…

Back to NCSU..

Back to Raleigh.

 Back to NC State.

 Back to Nelson Hall.

I was sitting in my classes today and fell right back into student mode. Same building, same classrooms, different material and different people. My road to grad school started about a year ago with the GMAT. Not exactly my favorite test I’ve ever taken, but hey I achieved my goal of getting into school.

The next step was deciding on a school, the application process and interviews. The following are blogs from the past year and how I ended up back at NC State!