As 2010 was winding down to a close I reflected back on my first full year out of school and was immensely disappointed in what I had accomplished during that time. Not only had I not furthered my career or education in anyway, but I had not gone on any truly noteworthy adventures. Never one to settle for complacency, I immediately decided to embark on another foray towards a degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Having completed my undergraduate work there and given its close proximity, I felt that it was the best choice for me to complete my first graduate degree. Due to the rules involved in my employer’s educational reimbursement program I decided to take the GMAT less than a week after I made the decision to pursue my MBA in order to keep the expense on the 2010 calendar year and ensure that I could apply the maximum benefit amount allowed for 2011 on my tuition and fees. Rather than try to cram for the test, I decided to instead learn how the test works and get a good nights sleep the night before. Ultimately this strategy paid off as I ended up getting nearly a 700 on the test. Once I received my test scores I immediately filled out the application and sent it off for admission. Strangely, the admissions process took much longer than expected and the major hold up was UTSA’s Graduate School having a problem getting my transcripts from UTSA’s Undergraduate School. Finally in early April I was accepted into UTSA’s MBA Program!
Always up for a challenge and never wanting to waste time, I set the goal of completing my masters degree in under a year. The degree plan required the completion of twelve courses with eight of them being core courses and four of them being electives. Further, one of the core courses, the “Capstone Course”, had to be completed in the last semester and could only be taken after the previous seven core courses had been completed. This meant that if I wanted to complete my goal of graduating in under a year, I had to take four classes per semester for three semesters and that the first two semesters would have to include the first seven core courses in order to grant me the ability to register for the capstone in the third. As easy as this sounds, finding a schedule that worked without any class overlap was no simple task. I had to create a spreadsheet and list out every core class available for the first two semesters in order to find a way to make everything work. Ultimately I was able to find just a single arrangement that fit my needs and with some luck and a prayer I was able register for my first two semesters before any of the necessary classes filled up.
My first semester was the summer semester of 2011 and my class schedule included Managerial Accounting (ACC 5023), Organizational and Behavior Management (MGT 5043), Ethics and Globalization (MGT 5253), and Decision Analysis and Product Management (MS 5023). All four of these courses were core classes and I found myself in school during the evenings of Monday through Thursday from just after 5PM to 10PM and on five Saturdays from 9AM to 4PM. The ethics course represented the five Saturday sessions and while its scheduled meeting times were a major bummer during the summer months, it turned out to be my favorite course of the semester. All of the professors were great and even though I was still working full-time, I was able to manage everything well enough to earn a semester GPA of 3.75!
My second semester was the fall semester of 2011 and my class schedule included Managerial Economics (ECO 5023), Financial Management (FIN 5023), Health Care Management (MGT 6123), and Marketing Management (MKT 5023). I felt much more comfortable the second semester and fell into a groove that helped me work through the massive workload. Still balancing a full-time schedule at work with a full-time schedule at school, I was able to keep everything organized and ultimately managed to earn a semester GPA of 3.67!
My third and final semester was the spring semester of 2012 and my class schedule included Real Estate Investment (FIN 5433), Investment Theory and Problems (FIN 5633), Leadership (MGT 5093), and Strategic Management and Policy (MGT 5903). I was already beginning to feel a bit fatigued after having gone the prior seven months working every day and going to school every night so I knew I had to push just a little bit harder to make the best of my last semester. I made it my goal to get an overall GPA of a 3.75 and worked as hard as I could to make that a reality. When the dust finally settled and the results were in I ended up earning a semester GPA of 3.92 which gave me an overall GPA of 3.77!
Although it was definitely not the easiest thing I have undertaken, getting my masters degree was still a great adventure that introduced me to new concepts, new people, and most importantly, new opportunities! If anyone finds themselves in a position to take their education to the next level, I would highly recommend it.
OVERALL GPA: 3.77