Just as I was about to walk into the Opus College of Business to begin new student orientation on Tuesday evening, I received a text message from my cousin in Chicago who is working full-time while pursing his own MBA. During the past few months I have been seeking advice about time management from as many people as possible who have juggled full-time jobs and graduate school. Knowing that I was a little nervous about how I would handle a new role at the office and going to class at night, he reminded me that although it will be a challenge, “the juice will be worth the squeeze.”
“You’ll be fine,” he wrote. “Lots to balance, but if it were easy everyone would do it.”
His words really resonated with me and I thought about what he had written a lot throughout orientation. There are so many wonderful things that the Evening UST MBA program encourages: developing advanced business acumen, improving critical and creative thinking and reasoning abilities, polishing presentation skills and being able to apply what is learned in the classroom to what is occurring in the business world and at our respective companies.
While orientation provided insight as to what is expected of new students (now officially considered “MBA candidates”), perhaps the most valuable part of the evening was making connections with other new students in the program. Though our individual reasons for pursing an MBA vary--either for career advancement, improving our business skills, or an intrinsic love of learning--we all seem to believe one thing: The juice will be worth the squeeze.
