AdmitMBA360 Blog formerly Journey to my MBA
Journey to my MBA
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    MBA '07 Deadlines
    Chart form : (Includes '05-'07 deadlines) Web-- Excel
    View Google Calendar online Now
    Add to your
    For Mac Users: -iCal Help
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Babson(R1)Nov 15(R2)Jan 15(R3)Mar 15(R4)Apr 15
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Boston(R1)Nov 15 (R2)Jan 15 (R3)Mar 15
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Chicago(R1)Oct 18 (R2)Jan 10 (R3)Mar 14
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Columbia(EA)Oct 11 (R2)Apr 18
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Darden(EA)Oct 19 (R2)Dec 5 (R3)Jan 11 (R4)Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Emory(R1) Nov 1 (R2) Dec 15 (R3) Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Fuqua(R1) Nov 1 (R2) Jan 8 (R3) Mar 21
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Goizueta(R1)Nov 1 (R2)Dec 15 (R3)Feb 1 (R4)Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Kelley(R1)Nov 15 (R2)Jan 15 (R3)Mar 1 (R4)Apr 15
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *HAAS(R1)Nov 6 (R2)Dec 11 (R3)Jan 31 (R4)Mar 12
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *HBS(R1) Oct 12 (R2) Jan 3 (R3) Mar 7
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *INSEAD(R1)Oct 18(R2)Dec 6(R3)Jan 31(R4)Mar 28
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Kelly(EA)Nov 15 (R2)Jan 15 (R3)Mar 1 (R4)Apr 15
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Kellogg(R1)Oct 20 (R2)Jan 5 (R3)Mar 9
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *LBS(R1)Oct 20 (R2)Jan 5 (R3)Feb 23 (R4)Apr 27
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Marriott(R1)Oct 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *McCombs(EA)Nov 1 (Int)Feb 1 (Final)Apr 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *McDonough(R1)Dec 1 (R2)Feb 9 (R3)Apr 20
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Mendoza(R1)Nov 15(R2)Jan 15(R3)Mar 15(R4)May 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Merage(UCI)(R1)Nov 1(R2)Dec 15(R3)Feb 1(R4)Apr 15
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Michigan State(R1)Nov 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Notre Dame(EA)Nov 15(R1)Jan 15(R2)Mar 15(R3)May 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Rady(R1)Nov 17(R2)Jan 5(R3)Feb 9(R4)Mar 16
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *StLous(Olin)(R1)Nov 6(R2)Jan 8(R3)Mar 12(R4)May 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Rice(R1)Nov 1 (R2)Jan 22 (R3)Mar 26 (R4)May 14
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Ross(R1)Nov 1 (R2)Jan 7 (R3)Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Simon(EA)Nov 1(R1)Dec 1(R2)Feb 1(R3)Apr 1(R4)Jun 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Sloan(R1)Nov 1 (R2)Jan 10
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Smith(R1)Nov 1 (R2)Dec 15 (R3)Jan 15 (R4)Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Stanford(R1)Oct 25 (R2)Jan 10 (R3)Mar 14
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Stern(R1)Dec 1 (R2)Jan 15 (R3)Mar 15
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Tepper(R1)Nov 6 (R2)Jan 8 (R3)Mar 19 (R4)Apr 30
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Tuck(EA)Oct 12 (R1)Nov 30 (R2)Jan 11 (R3)Apr 5
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *UCLA(R1)Oct 25 (R2)Jan 3 (R3)Feb 21 (R4)Apr 25
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *UNC(EA)Oct 27 (R1)Dec 1 (R2)Jan 5 (R3)Mar 2
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *USC(EA)Nov 1(R1)Dec 1(R2)Jan 15(R3)Feb 15(R4)Apr 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Vanderbilt(R1)Nov 14 (R1)Jan 15 (R2)Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Wharton(R1)Oct 12 (R1)Jan 4 (R2)Mar 1
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    *Yale(R1)Oct 25 (R1)Jan 10 (R2)Mar 14

    B-School Multimedia
    Video Interviews of B-School Deans
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Fun side of B-Schools Mix
    More B-School Videos Mix
    More B-School Videos II Mix
    More B-School Videos II Mix
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Arizona (WP CareySAID) Online Info Sess
    Babson Audio/Video@Bottom
    Berkeley (HAAS) Online Info Sess
    Berkeley (HAAS) About The Berkeley MBA
    Chicago GSB Overview Video
    BYU Overview Video
    Cornell (Johnson) Student Video Interviews
    Cornell (Johnson) Real Impact Video
    Dartmouth (Tuck) Student/Staff Video Interviews
    Duke(Fuqua)Video
    HBS Class Video - Discussion - Info
    HBS Alum & Misc Videos
    Indiana-Kelley Curriculum-Life-StudentsLife-Culture-Academies-Career
    McCombs Videos on Plus program
    Michigan (Ross) Student Video Interviews
    Notre Dame (Mendoza) School Facilities Overview
    NYU (Stern) School Video
    Oxford (SAID) Dean Audio Interview
    Stanford GSB Dean Joss:Why a Stanford MBA?
    Stanford GSB Intro of Sloan Program
    UCLA Brief Video about Leadership
    UCLA Discover Anderson Video
    UNC (Kenan-Flagler) Student Video Interview
    U. Wash MBA Overview Video High / Low
    Wharton Slick Overview Video
    Wharton Slick Overview Video
    Wharton West EMBA Tour SF Facility
    Wharton Welcome to Phil-Wharton
    ------------------ School Guest Speakers----------------
    Arizona (WP CareySAID) Dean hosted Topic Podcasts
    Berkeley Guest Speakers - Podcasts
    Chicago Podcasts Sharing thoughts on Business
    Dartmouth (Tuck) Topical Speaker Podcast
    Michigan (Ross) Topical Speaker Videos/Audios
    Northwestern (Kellogg) Speaker Videos
    Stanford Tech Ventures - Podcasts
    VirginiaTech Topical Speaker Podcast
    MBA Programs (B-Week Rank '06)
    Wiki's of US B-Schools
    BusinessWeek B-School Profiles '06
    TheMBATour School Profiles
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Arizona State- PR News-Wiki
    Babson-Olin- PR News-Wiki
    Carnegie Mellon-Tepper (16)- PR News-Wiki
    Chicago (1)- PR News-Wiki
    Columbia (10)- Alumni News-Wiki
    Cornell-Johnson (13)- PR News-Wiki
    Dartmouth-Tuck (11)- PR News-Wiki
    Duke-Fuqua (9)- PR News-Wiki
    Emory-Goizueta (23)- PR News-Wiki
    Georgetown-McDonough (22)- PR News-Wiki
    Harvard (4)- PR News-Wiki
    Indiana-Kelley (18)- PR News-Wiki
    Michigan State-Broad (29)- PR News-Wiki
    Michigan-Ross (5)- PR News-Wiki
    MIT-Sloan (7)- PR News-Wiki
    Northwestern-Kellogg (3)- PR News-Wiki
    Notre Dame-Mendoza (26)- PR News-Wiki
    NYU-Stern (14)- PR News-Wiki
    Pepperdine- PR News-Wiki
    Purdue-Krannert (24)- PR News-Wiki
    Rochester-Simon (28)- PR News-Wiki
    Stanford (6)- PR News-Wiki
    Texas-McCombs (20)- PR News-Wiki
    UC Berkeley-HAAS (8)- PR News-Wiki
    UC Irvine- PR News
    UCLA-Anderson (12)- PR News-Wiki
    UC San Diego-Rady- PR News
    UNC-Kenan Flagler (17)- PR News-Wiki
    USC-Marshall (21)- PR News-Wiki
    U. Maryland-Smith (25)- PR News
    U. Penn-Wharton (2)- PR News-Wiki
    U. Virginia-Darden (15)- PR News-Wiki
    U. Washington- PR News-Wiki
    Vanderbilt-Owen (30)- PR News
    Washington Univ./Olin-St.Louis (27)- PR News
    Yale (19)- PR News-Wiki
    ------------------ Foreign MBA Schools ------------------
    Asian B-School Wiki's
    Canadian B-School Wiki's
    European B-School Wiki's
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Queens (Canada) (1)-Wiki
    IMD (Switzerland) (2)-Wiki
    Insead (France) (3)-Wiki
    ESADE (Spain) (4)-Wiki
    London Business School (UK) (5)-Wiki
    Western Ontario (Canada) (6)-Wiki
    IESE (Spain) (7)-Wiki
    ISB (India)-Wiki
    HEC (France/Paris) (8)-Wiki
    Rotman - Toronto (Canada) (9)-Wiki
    AGSM (Australia)-Wiki
    Rotterdam (Netherlands)-Wiki
    SAID (UK)-Wiki
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    B-School Reviews
    Online MBA Programs
    Auburn University
    Baker College
    Bellevue University
    Capella University
    Colorado State Univ.
    Drexel Univ. LeBow B-School
    Duke Univ. Fuqua B-School
    Golden Gate University
    Indiana Univ. Kelley School of Business
    Jones International Univ
    Keller Graduate School of Mgmt
    Marylhurst University
    National University
    Nova Southeastern Univ.
    Ohio Univ. MBA Without Boundaries
    Portland State Univ.
    Pfeiffer University
    Purdue - Krannert School of Mgmt
    Regis University
    Suffolk Univ. Sawyer School of Mgmt
    Syracuse Univ. School of Mgmt
    Tiffin University
    Univ. of Baltimore, Merrick B-School
    Univ. of Colorado, Colorado Springs
    University of Dallas
    University of Florida
    Univ. of Maryland Univ. College
    Univ. of Missouri, St. Louis
    University of Phoenix
    Univ. S.Alabama-Mitchell B-School
    Univ. of Texas TeleCampus
    Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater
    MBA Related Blogs
    League of MBA Bloggers
    League of ISB Bloggers
    Clear Admit (MBA App Advice)
    Stacy Blackman (MBA App Advice)
    BusinessWeek MBA Blog (Scott Shrum)
    GMAT Club (MBA/GMAT Tips)
    Accepted.com (MBA/GMAT Tips)
    Harvard Knowledge (Bus. Articles)
    Knowledge @ Wharton (Bus. Articles)
    Columbia @ Work (Bus. Articles)
    Knowledge @ Emory (Bus. Articles)
    Knowledge @ INSEAD (Bus. Articles)
    Knowledge @ W.P. Carey (Bus. Articles)
    MBA Advice (MBA Hopefuls Advice)
    Wharton Student Blogs
    Deanstalk.net
    MBA Alum Blogs
    (Chicago) Steve Shu
    (Emory(Goizueta) 2000) Kerry Morris
    (Fuqua 1992) The Business of America
    (Kellogg 2004) Scott Shrum
    (NYU 2006) Life at 44 West 4th
    (Santa Clara 2005) Richard Upton
    (Wharton 2003) Laura Bennett
    (Wharton 2005) Veli
    B-School Profs Blogs
    (Chicago GSB) Becker & Posner
    (Darden) Dean Robert Bruner Blog
    MBA Student Blogs
    E-mail me about adding your Blog or
    for corrections/updates.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    (Arizona 2007) Daniel
    (Australian GSM 2006 EMBA) PJ
    (Babson 2007) SN
    (Baylor) Group Blog
    (BYU 2007) Jason Carson
    (Carnegie 2007) Kita
    (Chicago Group Blog) Taylor/Halle/Meghann/Alison
    (Chicago 2006) Jeremy
    (Chicago 2006) Daily Travails
    (Chicago 2006) Natasha
    (Chicago 2007) Alator
    (Chicago 2007) Bloghorn8
    (Chicago 2007) Dipthong
    (Chicago 2007) Le Voyageur
    (Chicago 2007) Noah Potter
    (Chicago 2007) PowerYogi
    (Chicago 2007) WakeChic
    (Chicago 2007) Matthewsmcleod
    (Chicago 2007) Dirty Canuck
    (Chicago 2007) Mandar
    (Chicago 2008) Sorebrek
    (Columbia 2006) DeeUniverse
    (Columbia 2006) Hermes
    (Columbia 2007) Build-up
    (Columbia 2007) Columbia Live
    (Columbia 2007) Margarita Luvr
    (Columbia 2007) Dirty Martini
    (Columbia 2007) DrooDoggie
    (Columbia 2008) AxeChick
    (Columbia 2008) Katahdin
    (Columbia 2008) Marina
    (Darden 2007) Emmanuel
    (Fuqua 2007) Atta Girl (Japanese)
    (Fuqua 2007) Fuqua Days
    (Fuqua 2007) Simba
    (Fuqua 2005 Executive) Giles Shih
    (Georgia 2007) Sebastian
    (HAAS 2006) Chunky Pitbull
    (HAAS 2007) Cal Grad
    (HAAS 2007) Jeff Chang
    (Harvard 2006) Mark
    (Harvard 2007) Harry
    (HBS & Sloan 2007) MbizA
    (HEC 2006) LeMBA
    (HEC 2008) hWeb
    (HEC 2008) MBA Guru
    (IIMA 2007) Paresh
    (IIM 2008) Nits
    (INSEAD 2007) Alex
    (INSEAD 2007) Stefanos Zanat0s
    (INSEAD 2007) Le Optimiste
    (INSEAD 2007) Inivisible Ink
    (INSEAD 2006) INSEAD06
    (INSEAD 2006) Michael Ohr
    (INSEAD 2005) Willy
    (IMD 2008)MBAFarbe
    (League of ISB Bloggers) ISB Bloggers
    (ISB 2006) Way2Top
    (ISB 2006) Vijay
    (ISB 2006) Amit
    (ISB 2006) Ford
    (Johnson 2006) JD
    (Johnson 2007) EMC
    (Johnson 2007) Aregon23
    (Kellogg 2007) Majalo
    (LBS)LBS Student and Staff
    (LBS 2006) Around the Dot
    (LBS 2006) Jordan
    (LBS 2006) Karibu
    (LBS 2006) MBA Europe
    (LBS 2006) Miss N
    (LBS 2007) Being Philosophical
    (LBS 2007) Future Guru
    (LBS 2007) Gaurav
    (LBS 2007) KV
    (LBS 2008) Angel Angie
    (LBS 2008) EHFM
    (LBS 2008) Patxi
    (LBS 2008) Wheels
    (LBS 2009) Wince
    (LBS 2007 Exec) Farhan Lalji
    (LBS 2007 Exec) Joel
    (McCombs 2007) MBA Houston
    (McCombs 2007) Metal's MBA
    (McCombs 2007) Bankers Hill
    (Melbourne 2006) Tim
    (Michigan 2006) Zachary
    (Michigan 2006) Techie Dude
    (Michigan 2007) Nate
    (Michigan 2007) Ben
    (Michigan 2007) Hawkeye
    (Michigan 2008) MGalBlue
    (MIT 2007) Cyber Sam
    (MIT 2007) Integrative Stream
    (MIT 2007) James Kelm
    (MIT 2007) Llana
    (MIT 2007) Megatrond
    (MIT 2007) Tom
    (MIT 2006) Robbie
    (MIT 2006) Yoav
    (NYU 2007) Duke Kim
    (NYU 2007) Philip
    (NYU 2007) Jersey Dude
    (NYU 2007) Jewellsnake
    (NYU 2007) Risitos
    (NYU 2008) Rubeo
    (Pepperdine 2006) Jeff
    (Rice 2007) MBA Story @ Rice
    (Said (Oxford) 2006) Vaniah
    (Santa Clara 2005) Kaleemaziz
    (Santa Clara 2008) Manish
    (Santa Clara 2007) Thyaga
    (SMU 2007) SMU MBA
    (SMU 2007) SMU Cox MBA-Group
    (Stanford 2006) Joost
    (Stanford 2006) Marquis
    (Stanford 2007) Cali
    (Stanford 2007) Cliff Clavin
    (Stanford 2007) Dolphin Lady
    (Stanford 2007) GSB 2007
    (Stanford 2007) Hugging Trees
    (Stanford 2007) Lady Rattler
    (Stanford 2007) MBAWana
    (Stanford 2007) Tiy
    (Stanford 2007) Mbwana Alliy
    (Tepper-CMU 2007) Kita
    (Tuck 2006) Demali Rhett
    (Tuck 2006) Tagad_Tale
    (Tuck 2007) Vold
    (Tuck 2007) Arthashastra
    (UC Dublin 2006) EuroMBA
    (UCLA 2006) Naveen
    (UCLA 2007) JDiddy
    (UCLA 2007) H. Caulfield
    (UCLA 2007) Dewa
    (UNC 2007) Buckyhoo
    (USC 2005) 54 Monkees
    (USC 2005) Neener
    (USC 2006) USC Chicks
    (USC 2006) Wade
    (Univ. Dallas 2007) dpcbb
    (Univ. Wash 2005) Gavin
    (Univ. Wash 2007) Mike
    (Univ. Wash 2007) Sure
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Owen Aggregate Blog
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Asif
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Doug
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Edmundo (Span/Eng)
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Heather
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Isaac
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Isha
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Jose (Spanish)
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Kat
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Sam
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Sharran
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Tony
    (Vanderbilt(Owen) 2008) Tyler
    (Wharton)Wharton's Adcom Blog
    (Wharton 2006) Future MBA Girl
    (Wharton 2006) JP
    (Wharton 2007) Brit Chick
    (Wharton 2007) IceMan07
    (Wharton 2007) MBAHermit
    (Wharton 2007) Kurt Johnson
    (Wharton 2007) Kgmakai
    (Wharton 2007) bskewl
    (Wharton 2007) Hamtastic
    (Wharton 2007) Panda
    (Wharton 2008) Melissa
    (Wisconsin 2007, Univ of) MarketWizWannabe
    (Yale 2007) J.B.
    (Yale 2008) Imaginary Engineer
    MBA Applicant Blogs (Class of 2007)
    E-mail me about adding your Blog or
    for corrections/updates.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Swoop
    Unchained Thoughts
    Raver LA (--MIA--)
    MBAGirl (--MIA--)
    Barnstormer
    Catholic MBA
    On My Way (--MIA--)
    Beowulf (--MIA--)
    A Pink Dream (HAAS, Kellogg Admit)--MIA--
    Sathyaraj (--MIA--)
    MBA Applicant Blogs (Class of 2008)
    E-mail me about adding your Blog or
    for corrections/updates.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Aeroslick
    Alex
    Andrew Pickett
    Angie
    Ash
    Ashisb
    Anynrand
    Azaka
    BBirds
    BSchool Diva
    Cartload of BS!
    Catalina
    Cest la VieCatalina
    Chill
    Cman
    Crack-GMAT
    Creativenits
    Destination MBA 08
    Die4MBA
    DJ
    Drifting Life
    Eric
    Foobarme (Part-time)
    Franky
    GrBSer
    Grik
    GunnerMBA
    Gzoink
    Ivan
    John
    Laserlikefocus
    MBA Cutie
    MBA Jackass
    Muni-Nerd
    My MBA mis-adventures
    My life (Japanese)
    Nixe
    One Girls Journey
    Online Musing Re-app
    Paaji
    Pathfinder
    RedWolf056
    Resolute
    Roxs71
    Sghama
    Take Two Bskook
    Thefamilyguy
    The Honey Drops
    Ty Coon
    Tyler Seluga
    Vatsa
    Venky
    Vinod
    Yetti
    Yukta
    MBA Applicant Blogs (Class of 2009)
    E-mail me about adding your Blog or
    for corrections/updates.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Abisurd
    Anand Rao
    Army Commo Guy
    Anastassia
    Autopilot
    BombayDude
    Brian Hoberg
    Clinton
    Cornfed MBA
    Daniel MBA Online
    Delisle
    Dharu
    DhoomKetu
    Dream Merchant
    Dreaming of Picasso
    Forrest
    Ganja Turtle
    GuyMBA
    FSM
    Hilibilly
    Hobbes
    In Blue
    iday
    itobean
    Jat Warrior
    Jennifer
    Johny Cage
    Juggler
    Katrina
    Kent Torokvei
    KM
    KoolJaek
    Maelstrom
    Math_guru
    MBAHighway
    MBAHunt
    MBASaga
    MBASalsera
    Median
    Merusavarni
    Monkandmonkey
    Nivi
    Pupstar
    Reddy
    Righty
    Rohit
    Rungee
    Rusgirl
    Scarecrow
    Scuba Steve
    Stress Tensor
    Suser McLosero
    TJ
    Tom Vu
    Tweetsnat
    UCSD
    Uniqpath
    Vishal
    Wandering Yogi
    Whitney Miller
    MBA Applicant Blogs (Class of 2010)
    E-mail me about adding your Blog or
    for corrections/updates.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    B-School in Cyberspace
    Itobean
    Dave's Personal Blog List
    TV Squad Blog (TV show commentary)
    Stargate TV Show
    KQED My local NPR Radio Station
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    Journey to my MBA

    Sunday, July 11, 2004

    Why an MBA Now?

    I’ve decided to limit my blogging for the next couple of weeks to 2-3 day intervals instead of the pace I’ve been going at which is once a day. I have two very important tests coming up, (GMAT and Class Test) over the next two weeks and as much as this Blog helps me process, it also takes quite a bit of time. In fact, I just read an article on blogging burn-out. I enjoy this weblog so much. I just can’t bear the thought of it becoming such a barrier to managing my most important immediate priorities.

    Anyway, I just wanted to answer one last question about myself as I promised before slowing down my pace of blogging. The question I’ll be answering is, “Why an MBA now?”

    Dave, your 36 years old… why now?

    First some background.
    After graduating from college, I was heading for Medical School and my world sort of turned upside down. I ended up not going. During the application process, I ended up taking a job to bring in some cash. I took a job that I thought would be so easy for me to do. It was to be a computer retail sales guy. I did that for a year. As it turned out, I was quite good at it. In fact, I was the number one retail salesman in the NorthWest (4 states) region of my company among all it’s 2800 affiliate branches spread across the U.S. My gross sales beat everyone. I honestly didn’t stay up late working at it either. I came to work, did my thing and left. I got raises and bonuses sporadically that year. It was weird to me how I was doing it. I merely tried hard to be a customer service oriented guy and I spent some time coming up with interesting analogies to explain computer jargon to people coming in saying they were computer illiterate.

    I had been dating my current wife during this time and that computer sales job was up in Washington State where my parents were. After about a year and a half, I moved down and took a job in California to be with her. I had gone to school in the area and grew up in Southern California, so it was essentially home to me. My parents moved up to Washington State in my junior year of college.

    Now, the why…

    Since 1993, I had progressively taken on more and more computer technical roles at companies. I studied on my personal time to improve my knowledge and so this took a bunch of my time until, I went to a Church where I was invited to work and mentor College students. The idea was a good direction for me I thought. I always felt that College age students really needed good mentoring and encouragement. It’s challenging because college age to post college years requires a good deal of emotional growth in being able to manage all the adult hood things of life like money, work, relationships and education.

    So began a journey of working with one pastor to find the first student and start a college group from scratch. I guess you could say it was a business startup. Fast forward 6 years and the result was a group of 150 students, 5 additional staff and activities, continuous ongoing strategy meetings, 300 e-mails a day, mentoring and meeting up with 10-12 students individually a week. The group ended up being 3 times larger than any Christian organization on the primary school we had targeted. I had student directors, staff members, ministry activities leaders, various other groups all reporting to me. I was spending no less than 30 hrs a week doing all this. Last I checked, the group is now at 300. It's interesting how a group can grow rapidly once it hits certain size milestones and you bring in the right mix of leadership and creativity. There 15 other Christian groups on this schools campus. The largest one compared to this group I help to start is 40 people now. Many of these groups had previously existed on campus for over 25 years.

    Take a step back a bit now. I was working in IT. IT is sporadic in hours. Sometimes, you hit 60 hr weeks and sometimes less. I went from a help desk position early in 1993 to Senior System Engineer years later. With all the time I was putting in with College students, I had very little time to think about career development. There were many weeks when my hours at work and with college students would both kick up so much that I could count the hours of sleep I had on my two hands.

    I know I should have put more thought into my career. My vision of where I wanted to be in the 5 yr , 10yr picture always had College students tainting my own personal goals. So I was only thinking about positions that could allow me to work and have time for College students.

    I continued to do what I could at work to just get by in terms of knowledge at my job. This meant studying for computer certifications left and right when I could find spare minutes here and there. I studied during lunches, dinners while waiting for students to show up for appointments, even in the bathroom. I know that sounds vulgar, but I was seeking every spare minute to get the most done.

    On top of all this, I was still dating my current wife. We had our ups and downs, but that took quite a bit of time as well.

    All this time with college students and my work life changed 3 years ago when I got married. I started to realize that continuing with College students was leaving me empty. I was starting to think about what the core of my passions and gifting really were. I was always enterprising, strong in administration skills, strategizing, vision casting, creating new divisions of the College group to address different needs and recruiting students for different tasks and projects. I did this really well to be honest.

    The decisions to be made became clearer as I began to realize that I was being called to go with one of the pastors to start a Church in Silicon Valley 6 months after I got married. I felt the conditions were leading me to do it. So my wife and I left all our closest friends and her family to start this Church. I ran Operations, Finances and provided organizational structure management to the new initiative. But I wasn’t getting paid. I would work 40-60 hr weeks and I was starting to wonder about my career and my financial status. When you get married, money matters a lot more. Not in the sense of wanting to be rich, but more in the area of having enough to know that you can take care of the costs coming in and do some occasional fun things. The Church is now over 500 and is the fastest growing Church on the West Coast for our denomination which has over 3000 Churches. Once again, I see my leadership helping to grow organizations. Although… let’s be honest. God has a say you know!

    As I contemplated my future this last 3 years since moving to Silicon Valley, I started to reflect on my years working with college student and how my IT career advanced so little because I didn’t try that hard. (I kept looking for jobs that were stable and would give me time to work with students at night or be flexible to do lunches with students)

    Reflectively, I saw Executive leadership as something that I loved and was good at. Starting from scratch or building something up from nothing and knowing how to change the infrastructure of the organization to accommodate growth and prevent stagnation due the decision making bottlenecks and to invest into people to get to those levels.

    A couple of examples that show what I’m talking about were jobs where I was tasked to build consulting branches of IT companies that previously didn’t exist or to bring in more business. At one company, the gross sales in the first year alone exceeded 3 million dollars. Another company I went to had me initially managing 5 different companies IT departments. Dozens of introductory meetings with new companies later, it turned into 24 companies who depended on my being available to strategize with each company on IT utilization within defined budgets and support of existing IT resources. I would do some of the work, or I would bring in others from my company to help get the work done in a timely fashion. Eventually, when I left the company, 7 of those companies followed me and I ended up supporting them on the side.

    Ok, so now back to my situation in Silicon Valley. After about a year, I stopped working at the Church to take a job bringing in money. I was starting to get paid from the Church, but due to other reasons, I decided to pass the baton on to someone else of what I was responsible for and enter the IT workforce again. From that point till now, I’ve taken on numerous contracts because the job market here has really sucked so contracts were the best you could get if you were new to the area. But in the last 6 months was when I decided to stick my neck out and take action on a business school possibility.

    So you see, infrastructure, business, leadership, customer service, organizational change, mentoring… these are all things I’ve learned how to do and do better over time. It just makes sense to get the MBA and it seems that the decision to go get it is a natural step in my career growth.



    posted by Dave | 12:02 AM

    3 Comments:

    Blogger Dave for MBA said...

    I think I may have to post the answer later. A little too long to answer that here. But for the sake of simplicity. My core reasons are 1) Want to get the most out of the education without juggling work and school(My old room mate got his MBA from UCI doing the part time thing. He was miserable during that time with regards to the quality of his personal life. As I'm married I don't think I want to go through that experience) 2) IT is terribly inconsistant with time spent at work and consequently, would cause me to lose numerous hours to cause me to consider myself a poor candidate in that condition 3) I'd rather build the more robust nature of networking that full time allows 4)

    10:47 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...


    Hey,

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    8:55 AM  
    Anonymous distance learning mba said...

    Does the program provide a comprehensive preparation for the tests?
    Are there classes for all sections of the GMAT and TOEFL? Are there opportunities to learn strategies for taking tests on computer and computerized test-taking

    practice?

    9:42 PM  

    Post a Comment

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