Discussion With MBA Grad: Full-Time Queen's MBAst

When I asked Queen's to put me in touch with some of their alumni they were quick to respond. They even found someone who was a professional engineer, had graduated in the last couple of years, and was in a location where I could easily meet with them.

First off let me summarize that the individual I met with was very happy he took the MBA, would do it again in an instant, and was very happy with the results after graduation. The program he when through was specific to students who already had a degree in science or technology. Since then the program has been changed and now is not specific to people with science or technology degrees.

Queen's MBA

The individual I met with was a few years older than myself and had used the MBA to switch industries. Prior to going back he was working as a facilities engineer in a small city between Alberta and Saskatchewan for a major oil and gas producer. After he completed the program he was recruited by a private company that describes itself as, "a global, energy advisory firm that provides comprehensive Investment Banking, Acquisitions & Divestitures and Global Equity Capital Markets services." Basically, he now helps oil and gas companies buy and sell properties. He analyzes and creates sales packages for oil and gas properties that companies want to divest.

When asked about the international component of Queen's he said that a large majority of the international students were from India.

He discussed the merits and drawbacks of a 12 month MBA in contrast to a 24 month MBA program.

Merits of a 12 month program:

• Less time spent out of the workforce means the opportunity costs less
• Don't have to pay for an internship

Drawbacks of a 12 month program:

• No internship to try out an industry you have no experience in
• Program is so intensive and busy that finding time to look for work is difficult

He had known several people who had taken the 2 year MBA and they all mentioned that the 2nd year wasn't as busy as the 1st allowing them time to search for work. His only word of advice was that the program was very demanding and to be prepared to be too busy to look for work until after completing the program.

Other MBA Grads I had discussions with:

• Queen's Full-Time MBAst
• Queen's Part-Time EMBA
• Ivey Full-Time MBA
• Bath Full-Time MBA
• Haskayne Part-Time MBA
• University of Alberta Full-Time MBA

Desideratea

Desideratea

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --
Not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church"! -- see below

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

IF

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Brother Square Toes, Rewards and Fairies 1910

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

The Four Agreements

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you really mean. Avoid using the power of your word to speak against yourself or gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and kindness. Our words have the power to create ripples; to create an atmosphere of safety, respect, learning and trust. They also have the power to work against our goals and the common good or purpose. Choose your words with intention to create the sort of experience you desire for yourself and others.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality. When you are immune to the actions and opinions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering. Nor will you feel the need to get defensive and create conflicts. It isn't necessary for us to believe others' judgements about us-- even if they are positive. Approval needs to come from within. You can trust yourself to make the right choices when you also remember not to take your own opinions of yourself too personally.

3. Don't Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. Most of us have been socially trained not to ask questions at all; that it is unsafe or impolite or more than we want to know-- but making assumptions is the result that can often yield 10 times the level of discomfort-- including inner and sometimes outer conflict-- for no reason at all.

4. Always Do Your Best. Your best may vary from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply challenge yourself to do your personal best-- no more, no less-- in any given moment. By doing this, you will hopefully avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

(this is a brief summary of a book by the same name)

The Road Not Taken

This poem has inspired me for years. I find it very symbolic of a lot of life's choices, like taking or not taking an MBA.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;
5

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,
10

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.
15

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.
20

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Taken from: (http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html)

Why "Appleseed"? Why "Going the Distance"?

A few people have asked about the blog; How do I decide what to write, why I picked a pseudonym, why "Appleseed" and why I picked the title "Going the Distance". This is my attempt to answer those questions.

For starters, once I had decided to write a blog about my MBA journey I had to decide what the "scope" was going to be. From reading several other blogs and thinking about what I found useful and what I found useless/annoying I came to the conclusion I would try my best to keep the blog focused specifically on the MBA. By that I mean the classes, the leanings and the activities. I would try to keep my own personal opinion and circumstances at bay, but of course, everything being equal, one cannot help but have some bias. I would try not to post niche news article or other items (i.e. IT articles that were interesting, but only relevant to a given year) that would date the information and make it hard for people down the road to navigate the blog. I would commit to writing once a week to keep things regular and to keep myself motivated. It would only be 52 entries for the year and by keeping the blog sharply focused, it would be relatively easy to know what to write. Finally, I would post date items if required to keep the timeline authentic because this too conveys information. This made it much easier to blog even during the busiest of times.

Then I started to think about what I as the author should call myself. The question came to mind, "what is in a name?" When I began to consider this idea I realized a name means a lot. Depending on my name a reader would make certain conclusions about me even before reading the information I was providing based on their background and past experiences. This in turn would affect how they would interpret what I had written. Consider the following names for a moment:

• Achmed Mohammed
• Arjun Singh
• Deep Sivakumar
• Jeff Williams
• Antoni Lombardy
• Frederich Schneider

These names may not "mean" anything to you, but you might be able to make a reasonable guess as to where the background or ancestry of these names may be and that would be enough to "taint" or "colour" the information these individuals might author if but subconsciously. By choosing a pseudonym I could avoid this problem all together.

Therefore, I decided a pseudonym was best as I didn't want my name to interfere with what people were taking away from my blog. After a few nights of brainstorming the idea of a "seed" struck me. Essentially that is what I would be offering people. Information on the "idea" of taking a MBA. This "idea" was essentially a "seed" and that "seed" could grow, bear fruit and offer more "seeds" to others or not.

The idea of the apple seed sprang to mind quickly afterwards. The apple has been depicted as the "fruit of knowledge" from the Bible. It was an apple that supposedly hit Isaac Newton in the head, which resulted in his theory of gravity. Apple seeds sprout, grow into trees and, after few seasons, bear fruit for many years afterwards. These apples contain seeds, which can in turn repeat the process. This began to mirror what I saw in my blog and thus "Appleseed" was born. In addition, I decided not use any other "picture" other than that of an apple, apple tree or apple seed.

To further clarify this idea I found three quotes from philosophers/writers/figures-of-significance in three very different centres of the world: One from Europe, one from North America and one from Asia. They are at the bottom of the blog and I use them as part of my signature when replying to people who e-mail me, but I will post them here again:

“Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed. -- Herein lies the difference between them that create and them that enjoy.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” - Napoleon Hill

"If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it's the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past. " - Bodhidharma

I hoped this would help to cement the idea of the "seed" and bridge any cultural/philosophical gaps between my readers and myself. The use of a pseudonym would also leave me with some of my privacy.

The title was a different matter. I had another title, but it just seemed too unoriginal and it didn't encompass what I had hoped it would. So I kept searching. I came to rest on "Queen's MBA: Going the Distance" because it said it all. The symbolism seemed to fit both literally and metaphorically: (1) It was a blog about the Queen's MBA, (2) I was literally travelling a large distance to complete the program and (3) I saw the one year MBA program as a journey to be completed that was similar to hiking a long trail or climbing a mountain. Therefore, "Queen's MBA: Going the Distance" it would be!

I hope this has clarified a little bit more about this blog and conveyed the thought, care and dedication that went into creating it. With that I will leave you with one final quote that I like so much I am adding it to my three others:

"Words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think." – Lord Byron

The Start.

Welcome.

This blog is to document my journey taking a full-time Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada starting in May 2008 and finishing in April 2009.

I am writing this blog with the hopes someone will find the information useful. After discovering a blog that did something similar I realized how useful it was to be able to refer to someone's experiences. The blog is linked and documents his journey through the program a few years ago.

The program has been totally revamped and now is no longer just for individuals with science degrees. They accept everyone who meets the new entrance criterion and the result is a very diverse class resulting in a broad range of people.

I will attempt to post weekly and keep my posts on topic and to the point. I will attempted to keep other topics and issues to another blog to ensure the purity of the information posted here remains high. In this way I hope others are able to find and use this blog as I did the aforementioned blog.

The true birth date of this blog is Nov. 15, 2007 at 9:29 PM mountain standard time. I have back posted entries to recreate the timeline of the events because I think this information is important.