The Bear Necessities

“It’s like comparing apples and oranges; they’re both delicious.” -Cyd Charisse

 Core 1- the first semester of the program- is absolutely nothing like foundations. The summer was a continuous stream of similar information and homework. Do the homework. Go to class. Do the homework. Go to class. That’s not what the program is at all. But, instead of explaining it to you in a straight forward, easily understood, and boring way, I’m going to use food (because I’m very hungry right now).

People don’t like comparing apples to oranges; I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing. They’re both fruit, basically all-around good for you, delicious in juice form, and I don’t eat them enough. Maybe they’re different colors, have different vitamins, taste, and texture, but they’re more similar than different. Possibly people can’t get over the fact that two things in the same category (fruit) could be so different from each other. I mean, using any of the five senses, it’s apparent that they are vastly different. But finding common ground is important, it gives a platform to stand on. You can’t find how differently they are from each other without first establishing where the starting point is.

So, if we’re going to use apples and oranges as an example of comparisons, I should start off by giving you some similarities between foundations and core 1. To start, I still study in relatively the same places (although the graduate lounge is a little more packed in the fall), I still have a lot of the same people in my classes, coffee is still caffeinated, and the work still takes quite a bit of time to complete. But, that starting point can be a little deceptive. While I study in the same places, I spend a lot more time in each place. Foundations people are in my core 1 classes, but a lot of us are split up into two sections because of the people who didn’t take foundations. Coffee is always caffeinated and will never change (decaffeinated coffee is irrelevant). And work does take a lot of time to complete, but not in the same way.

The difference in the work done is the most important distinction. I see it like the difference between ravioli and spaghetti (surely you didn’t think I was done with food). In foundations, we had chunks of studying and class, mixed with exams. There were big, discrete bites of work, with a ton of information in each [ravioli]. In core 1, you have slightly more time to learn each thing, but there are several more classes at a time. So, instead of separate bites, you pull up the fork (to-do list) and get a mix of different classes, projects, presentations, exams, readings, etc. It’s a more complex, but necessary, delivery system. I guess the difference depends on if you prefer ravioli or spaghetti. Personally, I came into the program looking at it like a cookie; one that I couldn’t quite make out as chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin. So far, that cookie has given me nothing but chocolate chips. But, hey, I guess that’s just the way the Baylor cookie crumbles.

“Orientation is for the week” -Dylan Petty

                It’s been a couple weeks since orientation ended. I’ve waited to write about it so I would be able to evaluate how much it prepares students for their first semester. Turns out, it does a great job of it! Orientation has a mix of fun, with meeting people, and some work thrown in. Anything done throughout the week is under a very specific time constraint, usually not as long as you’d like. But, classes do the same thing. You’re put under time constraints for most things during, and even outside of, class. Also, nearly everything I’ve done for classes has been with the people I met during orientation week (So, make a conscious effort to remember their names. Name tags don’t last forever).

                Quite a few people would probably say the fun parts of orientation week were just there to entertain us, and they don’t translate to the classes, but I would disagree. While they may have been there for the sole purpose of entertaining us in the moment and to create team building, I analyze things too much, so you get the exciting opportunity to read my psychological analysis (I’ll contain myself to an abstract).

During the MBA Olympics events, the pure fun day of orientation, there are quite a few team building activities. Without spoiling anything, these events have many opportunities to explore how you work best within your team, and the role you play best during specific situations. It’s important to consider these things before coming into an MBA program, so it’s no surprise that this was part of orientation. However, it seemed like there was slightly more to it than the situational role-playing aspect. The objectives were all challenging in diverse ways. It was as if we were also testing which situations we enjoy being in; which do we react best in, regardless of position within the team. Drawing a line from that aspect to the classroom, it’s easy to see how the entertaining parts of orientation were also preparing us. It’s their way of showing us that, while there is work to be done, there will be courses where work seems more like play. It’s dependent on your team dynamics and areas of interest.

So, that’s orientation for you, in a nutshell! There was lots of team building, some work, and some play. Since orientation has ended, the amount of time spent at play has significantly decreased (another reason I didn’t post earlier), but that is settling down. Starting anything new takes some adjustment. A graduate program just takes a little more adjustment than most other things I’ve been a part of, including business foundations. A couple weeks in, I’ve caught up on my work and I think I will have a solid two days before I get behind again. Luckily, two days is a very long time (almost 48 hours), I might even get a chance to go outside during the day. I’ll have a post next week talking about the differences between business foundations (over the summer) and the first fall semester.