It’s now mid-July and we are all finally closing the books on our graduate work! This year was a little funny for us as they let us walk the stage at graduation even though we still had to finish up our credits during the summer sessions. It seemed like almost everyone was finishing their year up differently… Some of us took all of our summer courses during the first session, others spread it out through July, and all the while most were simultaneously involved in their internships. I actually decided to finish up all my work during June because I was able to line up a fulltime position at a consulting firm in New York and I was scheduled to start in July. Talk about a hectic June! I moved into my apartment on July 4th and started work on July 6th (not the best planning haha). It was all worth it, and I couldn’t be happier as I was hoping for New York since we first began the program back in August.

Ever since I started my career here in New York, I keep getting asked the same question: “what in the kMBA program most prepared you for your position?” Well I’m sure this answer is different from each graduate, but I would personally have to say that I believe it is the confidence and presentation skills that I will most value. There is a degree of professionalism that you acquire within the kMBA program that is difficult to acquire through undergraduate work alone. Though at the time we all dreaded getting dressed up and standing in front of the room a couple times a week to give our presentations, it truly was one of the key take-a-ways I received within this program.

As far as some closing words go, I guess the one thing that comes to mind is “It was worth it.” When I was first considering this program one year ago, there were a lot of different scenarios running through my mind…“Should I get a job right after college? Should I take some time off? Should I look into any more programs?” Well as far as I’m concerned, I made the right choice. All of the goals that I set back in August have been accomplished. So again, as far as closing words go for prospective kMBA students contemplating the program and asking themselves the same question, I can honestly say “believe me, it is worth it.”

Well…its now mid-April and here in the kMBA program, we are in the process of making our final big push as the end of the semester is racing towards us. It seems that every day our calendars are getting more and more filled with black ink bringing a new final paper or exam to our attention. At least they are some of our FINAL finals!

Despite all of our other plans, it seems that most of our focus lately has been placed on finalizing the business plans that we have all been working on for the past few months. For me and my team, this refers to our work creating a business plan for a property management venture for Rhode Island non-profit Crossroads Rhode Island. The good news is that by now we are all starting to see everything come together. What started out as a collection of deadlines is now turning into a defined single deliverable.

With my spare time, I have been traveling down to New York to straighten out some post-graduate work opportunities, and enjoying my last few months living in Newport. The weather has gotten a lot nicer here in Rhode Island and I know most of us are looking forward to being able to do some of our research in the sun at the beach. Probably the most exciting thing, however, is the growing feeling that we’re just around the corner from completing our degree! I will be sure to write another update as the summer rolls around as I’m sure there will be plenty to write about…

So here we go again! We have started a brand new semester, and again we have hit the ground running. As my B.S. is in Marketing, I was able to waive out of that class this semester and I am lucky to have only four courses as opposed to last semesters five.

We are all in our same teams that we had developed last semester, though for some there have been changes. My team in particular lost a great talent when one of our best editors left to finish her MBA in Providence. Though we lost a member, we have little time to worry about it and we have to do what any business student is taught to do: reorganize and leverage our remaining assets.

Classes seem to be fairly interesting this semester. Our consulting management class in particular seems as if it is going to be a good experience in that the main focus of the class is developing an actual business plan for a Rhode Island business. I very much enjoy practical experiences like that because I always felt as if they offered a much greater return than can be gained from a classroom.

All in all, I am hoping for another enjoyable semester. I am still completely satisfied with my choice to be a part of the kMBA program. Though I know it will be a difficult few months, I know it will be well worth it when we walk across the stage in May.

One thing that I can say about my winter break during my time in the kMBA program is that it was definitely one of my most well deserved breaks of my whole collegiate career! By the end of the first semester, everyone is very much looking forward to a few weeks off with no deadlines, some travel, and the blank slate that comes with a new semester. Just like it was during my undergrad, everyone seemed to have a different idea of what "relaxing" meant over his or her break. Some of the international students had plans to travel back overseas to see their families, others were buying lift tickets and ski jackets, and still others had just planned to do nothing more than throw their alarm clocks out for five weeks.

For me, most of my winter break was spent traveling to New York. As I am looking for employment there following the program, I figured it would be best to get a head start on my goals while I had the time on my hands. As I had planned on being in NY for the holiday anyways to visit my girlfriend's family, I thought it best that I take full advantage of each trip. Towards the end of the fall semester had I tried to make as many reservations for conferences, events, and job fairs in New York as possible, so even though class was over, I had a full calendar.

Though it was only a few short weeks, the winter break was just the refreshment that everyone needed. The good thing about being part of the kMBA program is that everyone is rather eager to get back to work, if only for the fact that we are all coming up on the home stretch. Though I am grateful to have had the time off, I do hope that I am too busy with a new job next year to have the winter off!

One thing that I can say about the end of the first semester of the kMBA program is that it comes at you fast! Final exams and presentations approached like a speeding truck in December, and it turned out to be the best lesson I have ever had in time management. It is not so much that there were any surprises surrounding the final assignments, they just all seemed to be a lot less exhausting on paper. All of our deadlines were given to us way back in September so unfortunately I cant blame my exhaustion on being unaware of what was expected of us.

This being said, all of the all-nighters and study hours are well worth the returns. A semester's worth of work had well prepared us for the exams we were taking and papers that we were turning in. Just like the end of every semester I have in school, I was nervously waiting for my grades assuming the worst only to realize that we all did fine.

As far as words of advice that I can attempt to give, I would simply say make sure that you don't procrastinate too much. As I said, the last few weeks come at you fast, and the last thing you want is too much on your plate. Even though it is a lot of work, there is nothing like walking out of the doors after your last final!

As I woke up this morning, I figured that right about now would be a good time to make another blog entry. I have always felt that, as with anything in life, that it always takes more than just a few weeks to really get the feel for something. Being that it is late October, I would say that the eight weeks of experience that I now have with the KMBA program are more than enough to give an accurate view of my experiences.

In my first few weeks in this program, I remember being very caught up in the entire concept of both the KMBA program itself, and graduate school as a whole. I have found that as you come closer to the end of October, this �novelty� feeling starts to fade. The reason for this is the concept of conditioning. Like any major change, your life is greatly affected at the time that the change occurs, but as soon as this happens you begin to adjust. If any of you exercise, the start of this program is very much like the first time you started going to the gym. You wake up the next morning feeling tired, achy, and the last thing you want to do is get out of bed. But after a few weeks, your body adjusts and you feel better for it.

As I said before, I feel that late October is a good time to give an update on the program. I say this because by now, we have had at least one major assignment or exam in each class. So with this, I'd like to try to relate my personal experiences to your particular situation.

FOR THOSE COMING STRAIGHT OUT OF UNDERGRAD: For those of you who would like to take this program straight out of their undergrad degree, my best piece of advice would be to not lose your momentum. Come out of senior year with the mindset that your fourth year in a five year degree. This will make your life a whole lot easier. When people ask me "how's school?" I generally reply with "Its fairly similar to my undergrad, its just faster and more practical."

FOR THOSE RETURNING TO SCHOOL AFTER TIME OFF: From what I have heard from my classmates, the longer you are away from the material, the more and more you forget. I would have to say that my one advantage in this program is at least having a slight familiarity with the material that we cover. For those that wont be familiar with the material (i.e. non-business majors), make sure that you keep up with all of the readings and work.

As I have said before, there aren�t any surprises in the KMBA program. Syllabi are followed, exams are as to be expected, and group projects are still group projects. My best piece of advice would be to keep up with your work. Any personal feelings of being overwhelmed have come from my own procrastination with my assignments. As far as my overall feeling about the workload and experience, again I'll return to my typical response of how I would describe the KMBA program: "It's fairly similar to undergrad, it's just faster and more practical."

Hit the ground running.

I can honestly say I was surprised with the orientation week here in the MBA program. As I walked up to Ballentine Hall I figured that I knew exactly how this would all play out. My expectations were that I would be spending five hours a day filling out paperwork and watching the clock tick. I had gone through various orientations at the university, and I had even been an orientation leader myself. My vision however, was far from the reality of what the week would actually be.

As far as my experience, orientation was more comparable to being dropped in the trenches than it was to a slow day of busy work. We received the week�s schedule and after brief introductions, we moved right into the day. I felt a sudden and constant feeling that morning: �this was grad school.�

The week was very well laid out. We were given a schedule, and every event was planed to the hour. We were also assigned to a team right away and were told that these people would be our close colleagues throughout the entire year for each and every class we would be in. I remember thinking that I liked this method because it would make it easier for all of us to schedule our work. As an undergrad taking six classes a semester, it was always a hassle having six different teams and having to balance everyone�s individual commitments.

Throughout the week we participated in a variety of seminars (writing, speaking, et cetera), career service presentations, and team building exercises. Right away we were assigned two projects that seemed to be set in place to refresh a variety of skills that may have gotten dusty from the summer vacation. The first was a reflection paper that was assigned to establish a sort of �five year plan.� This both forced us to focus on our career objectives and hone our writing skills. The second was a group presentation on a case study. This led us to start thinking in terms of group work and also let us shake off any presentation jitters. Though this was the final task of orientation week, it seemed as if the culmination of our week�s efforts happened the day before. We were all brought to the ropes course.

The idea of a ropes course always interests me. This wasn�t the first time that I had been put into this situation and I was interested to see how it would play out. For those who have never been, a general ropes course is basically a physical environment with a variety of hands-on activities that often involve more problem solving that physical ability. In my experiences, all ropes courses generally have the same effect: everyone goes in skeptical, and everyone comes out with a change of heart. It�s interesting to me that the act of figuring out how to get all team members over a fifteen-foot wall helps in a classroom setting when giving a verbal presentation about company reconfiguration.

After the week was over, everyone in the class felt like a grad student. We had all written a paper, prepped a presentation, attended seminars, and identified our objectives in the program. The ball was rolling. With that, we were all told to enjoy our long weekend and "be ready to hit the ground running" when we got back. After the past week I'd had, I figured that hitting the ground running would prove to be a reoccurring theme throughout the program. So, with all said and done, I went home to a nice four-day weekend and got ready for everything to come on Wednesday.