How to Succeed in Grad Business School

This post below was written by the former Grad Business Representative, Rebecca, and provided such great insight I thought I’d share it again! Enjoy.

--Elle




It is the first day of a new school year! This is a day to celebrate - the start of something new!

I have been asked by students over the past few years what advice I would give to them as they begin the journey of graduate studies (or continue in them) so I thought I would pass on some of what I have learned as a graduate student (as well as working full-time and being married) that I believe can assist in helping you become a successful student.


* Always work ahead. If you know you have 10 books to read during the semester, start early (talking to myself here as well). And if you finish one early, begin the next. If you know a test is coming up, don't wait until the night before to begin studying - start preparing for it early. This will give you more time to soak in the knowledge while not being incredibly stressed out the night before a test (you can actually get some decent sleep by doing this).

* Set early deadlines. This kind of applies to working ahead - when you know the deadline for submitting a paper, set an early deadline for yourself to finish it...like maybe a week early. This will give you time to review it several times, make all those nice grammatical corrections, and make your paper spectacular.

* Engage in the classroom. Don't just sit there. Be a sponge. Ask questions. Apply what you learn in the classroom to your life.

* Enjoy the process of learning. Don't wish away the class or count down the weeks until it's over. All that will do will leave you anxious. Instead, take in all you can and live in the now. It will do you no good to look so far ahead that you can't see what's directly in front of you. Enjoy the journey.

* Give yourself a night off. It does no good to burn yourself out from studying. I always try to schedule Friday nights as my night off from studying (unless of course it's finals week or something major is coming up the next week). Again, this kind of coincides with working ahead so you can have the night off, but do it. It will refresh your mind and allow you to be more focused later on.

* Get to know people in the program. Don't be an island. The people in your classes all have busy lives too, but they can be an immense encouragement to you during stressful times. Some people come from far-away places, some have years of experience, others have families or careers or both. Get to know them - especially since you will have group projects in nearly every class. Making connections now with your classmates can lead to a lifetime of friendships and connections around the world.

* Pray. Perhaps being in a graduate program already lends itself to giving you great opportunities for increasing prayer in your life, but this is definitely a time in your life that you don't want to forget to pray. Pray for your classmates, your professors, your families and friends, yourself...cast your cares to the Lord and trust in Him (but apply yourself too). He's got everything under control - even in the most stressful of times.

I know this is going to be a fantastic year, full of amazing discoveries, and memories along the way. And when you don't feel like doing that homework, just remember this is only a season and it'll be worth it in the end! (I know I will probably need to be reminded of this myself somewhere during the semester.)

Whether we're ready or not, it's time to welcome in the new academic year!

3 Ways to Maximize the Rest of Your Summer Break

Hard to believe, but summer vacation is about to come to an end as the new term starts in just 15 days!

Here are 3 ways you can maximize the rest of your glorious summer break:


1. If you haven't been having a lot of it already, make FUN a necessary element of these next two weeks!

Call your best friend or a long-long buddy you've been meaning to connect with, and try a few of these great summer activities.

• Go to a Drillers game



• Volunteer at a local charity like John 3:16 Mission
  


• Watch a Friday night movie on the Philbrook Museum lawn



• Catch $2 gelato night at Mod's Coffee & Crepes
  


• Bike on Riverside
  


• Maybe even squeeze in some lake time or a float trip!
  

2. Prep for the new term by doing all the new-school-year To-Do's.

Buy a few new pieces for your wardrobe to freshen it up, take inventory of your school supply needs, start thinking about what classes to take (and enroll if you want to ensure your spot!), and catch up on any chores, projects or big errands before your schedule gets super busy again.

The most important part is to start now so you don't stress yourself out the week classes begin!


3. Begin with the end in mind.

Start thinking about this upcoming term and see yourself at the very end of Finals Week in December. Ask yourself: What do I want to gain out of the Fall 2011 term?

Once you've identified a few personal and professional goals, write them down (frame it if necessary) and review them daily and weekly.

Plan to succeed, and you will!



P.S. If you are a new or returning student, plan to join us for Group Advisement & Orientation on Wednesday, August 10th from 10-11AM in GC4116.

It's very important that you attend; you'll receive advice on what classes to take, how to register for classes, your Degree Plan Sheet, validation and enrollment, and personal one-on-one advisement.

Mid-semester Tips

Spring Break has been over for a week, the weather is getting warmer, and graduation paraphernalia is beginning to be seen on campus. That only means one thing....we are getting closer to the semester - and the year - being finished! In fact, only five more weeks remain of the spring 2011 semester. Now before you begin to stress out about all the things left that need to be done (myself included), here are a few tips that may help in finalizing those research papers or reading assignments...

In my experience with the capstone level course of Strategic Management, I feel I have picked up a few tricks of the trade. To give a background of what this course entails, a company is given to you for you to research just about every single item of, to perform multiple analyses, and the select strategies for the company to pursue. Honestly, I don't find it extremely difficult in terms of the information to produce; what I find difficulty is the time it takes to perform one of these research projects in the very limited amount of time I have: about 3 weeks. It is not uncommon to have about 200-300 pages of information. So how do I organize all this research into a nice and neat orderly paper?

Well, perhaps to the chargrin of environmentalists, I print a bunch of information (but don't worry, it is one recycled or scrap paper!). I organize my findings by category and then by group. After compiling the sources together, I then take my lovely fat yellow highlighter and a colored pen and begin reading away. As I highlight information I write in the margin what it pertain to within my research. Does it apply to the mission of the organziation, it's capabilities, a financial aspect? After going through my research with my handy dandy writing utinzels, I then begin organizing my findings through a bulleted format in a Word document while also citing every point. As I write the bullet point I am putting it into my own words, thus avoiding the evils of plagerism. After spending some time going through all of my highlighted sections and rewording them, it is then time for the paragraph formation.

I generally look for trends or topics that seemed to repeat themselves and group them together before writing the sections. I have noticed that through this approach, sections that I once thought would take hours, don't take quite as long...they still take hours, but I can write about a 15-18 page paper in under 2 hours using this approach. Granted, that doesn't include the time it takes to do the research, read/highlight it, and then type it into my own words, but I love the fact that I can organize and write a spiffy paper in what feels like less time. Perhaps this system may help you, maybe not. I just felt like passing on the tip since it has helped me.

With just several weeks left of the semester, it is important to make sure you don't let your time get away from you. It can be hard to stay motivated, but you can do it! Keep pressing on, keep working hard, and remember that what you're learning now will be beneficial sometime in your future.

Snow on ORU

Today Tulsa is expected to hit 60 degrees. Last week we had over 14 inches of snow on the ground. Is it possible to have a snowball fight while wearing shorts? In Oklahoma it is.

Two weeks ago Tulsa received the most snow it's ever received in a 24-hour period: 14+ inches. Two days later we hit with a 20% chance of snow flurries becoming 4 inches. Last Tuesday the winter weather came again, giving us another 6 inches of snow. So within a ten-day period, we received two feet of snow. Now, for some folks who live up North, 2 feet may seem like nothing, but to us here in Tulsa, this is something that had never happened before. Schools and businesses were shut for days (in fact, the Tulsa Public Schools didn't have school for almost 2 weeks!).

Among all this snow, we also had our Homecoming events on campus. Nearly 100 business alumni braved the snow and Arctic temperatures to meet up once again for our Power Luncheon. Quite a number of ORU alumni gathered for the Homecoming Banquet and then cheered as our basketball team on to a great win.

With the higher temperatures coming Tulsa's way and melting what has been on the ground the last two weeks , these pictures now seem but a memory, but I hope you still enjoy them!

Spring Semester

Well, the spring 2011 semester is now in its fourth week. A big welcome to our 20 new MBA and Master of Not for Profit Management students this semester! I am excited about what is in store for this semester...maybe not so excited about the amount of homework I'll have, but I am excited about the concepts I'll be learning and that in just a little over 3 months, I'll be graduating (wow, lots of stuff to finish before then!).

My classes this semester consist of the capstone course Strategic Management with a co-requisite of Management Simulation and Business Ethics...a good healthy dose of everything business related. So far, I'm really enjoying these classes; granted, I did just get swamped with project assignments in Strat, but I feel like I'm learning and that's a good feeling. I'm not sure how this semester will unfold, but I'll just take one week at a time...and in some cases, one day at a time.

I hope to post little blurbs on here to keep everyone connected with things going on at ORU. For example, right now is a great time to begin working on getting an application in to join us next fall - especially if you qualify for scholarships. Our scholarships are not guaranteed but are awarded based on the availability of funds, the type of scholarship, and the date in which students are accepted. So don't wait too long before beginning the process. It is terrible to miss out on free money if you qualify for it. The application is online at https://webapps.oru.edu/gradapps/business/. Happy spring semester!

Finding a Need and Filling it...Airport Security Style

We hear it on a semester basis - that one of the keys to successful product implementation is to find a need and fill it. Sometimes marketers can create a need and fill it, but some only need to be creative enough to find a need in the market and then do something about. Marc Carey is one such individual who has done this.

During the holiday season, a time of air high travel for Americans, scanners considered intrusive by some travelers were set up at airports while at the same time a more thorough pat-down was approved for TSA members to use. This created a stir all over the radio waves, television, newspapers, social media...some argued that other forms of security could be used, that some should not have to take part in either one of the security options, that this was violating the rights of travelers, and some even said that it would hurt the air travel industry. Instead of joining in on the speculations and complaints of new security procedures, Mr. Carey decided to take action and create a product that would allow travelers to pass through the scanner while still retaining a form of privacy. Thus entered Scannershirts into the market.

These Scannershirts have a special ink printed onto the shirts in areas that flying travelers want to keep to themselves. When they pass through the scanner, the areas on the product where the ink has been printed will show up as blurred on the monitors that TSA members review. According to Scannershirt's website, TSA is okay with certain areas of the body being blurred.

The demand for this product skyrocketed as people began to hear more and more about this choice in the privacy of traveling. Marc Carey didn't just create a product that fit a need though, he chose to create his product solely in the United States in order to create more jobs. In addition, 20% of his net profit from sales will be going to the children effected by the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Carey realized there was an open market for his scannershirts and combined with his American patriotism, created a product that helps other Americans and also protects the privacy of travelers who fly.

While this product may seem trivial to some, to others it gives a deeper sense of security. Travelers can now fly free of the worry of someone peering too deeply into their screened image while knowing that their physical safety is being protected on a higher level. Considering the amount of travel I do and the hours of business learning I have done, I found this product to be innovative, creative, and one that fills the demand of protection for personal rights while still maintaining a high level of security during air travel.

A Taste of Europe

Last week I was wandering the old cobblestone streets of Bavaria. Between Munich and Salzburg and everything in between, I was able to catch of glimpse of life for these bustling European towns - whether through gleaning information through its history, experiencing the culture, learning more of its position in music, eating extremely calorie-filled pastries (and thoroughly enjoying them!), watching business in motion or just observing people in their everyday lives, I had seven full days in Central Europe - with my family of 20.

We did almost as much as any group could do in the time that we were there, but one of the things that stands out to me that took my MBA studies and brought it into real life was walking through the BMW plant in Munich. Due to competitive intelligence, no pictures were allowed on the inside, but what I saw took accounting principles into action, brought management to life, and even touched on the concept of "going green."

The first part of this two hour tour with a distance of over 1.25 miles within the plant begins with viewing the blocks of metal and then watching all sorts of robotic engineering inventions start to form the vehicles. I could have watched just this one area for at least one hour. I felt like all those movies that deal with robots may have gotten their ideas from watching something like this. Incredible! Throughout the tour, I learned interesting facts, such as BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works, it takes 40 hours to produce a car (11 of these hours spent just getting painted), a car is ready for sale every minute on the plant, over the time period of one year and when considering all of the other locations where BMW makes vehicles, less than one ton of waste is produced.

I found the cities of Munich and Salzburg to have a reverence for their histories as well. Many buildings we explored had been demolished during World War II, but in an effort to restore life as normal, these buildings were reconstructed as they had once been. The area was not taken to construct something new and it was not used to create a modern development. Throughout the centuries, churches or cathedrals which had existed prior to the medieval period are still standing today.

Some of the structures are more recent than other. For example we explored Neuschwanstein, which by other European standards may be considered new as it is only around 200 years old. We also explored features underground as we experienced an Austrian salt mine near the town of Hallein. Before this adventure which required the wearing of large baggy pants and a frumpy top, I had only visited gold mines or coal mines. My perception of any mine being the same was crushed as my family delved into the land beneath the border of Austria and Germany, used salt mine slides, and developed an understanding of how salt had been used to expand cities.

Not too be outdone by all of the history and adventures experienced, we also caught of glimpse of the life of music within Salzburg through a Mozart and Advent concert we enjoyed at the top of the city as well as touring Mozart's Residence.

There's nothing like experiencing history when you get to see and experience it yourself. As I prepare for finals, it's nice to glance through my pictures and remember the warmth of hot apple cider on snow-covered cobblestone roads lined with Christmas trees among centuries-of-old architecture.