Making A Life

I have been busy studying for exams the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately because I had taken a 3 month hiatus from school after learning that I had a brain tumour I had to re-learn most of the content before I could write exams. I figured that it would be in my best interest to write the exams before surgery because who knows what state I might be in post surgery.

To progress in my program (Masters of Business Administration) I need a B in each course to move into the September semester which is a tad daunting without Timmy (my tumour) inhabiting my brain space. I also have dreams of winning a scholarship/award to help pay my ridiculous tuition, so the grades are rather important. When I decided to go back to school full time last year I did a little number crunching and determined that I would rather spend the $24,000 over 2.5 years on grad school tuition, rather than daycare. YES the cost of day care and university tuition for a MBA are roughly equal. The return on investment of grad school versus daycare is a no brainer but it meant that I had a two year old home with me almost everyday while I attempted to learn subjects which were foreign to me.

I have very creative background with a Bachelor of Design, a diploma in furniture design and photography. Over the course of my career I became more interested in the business aspects of the furniture industry and that is how I ended up pursuing a MBA. Most of the students studying in the MBA program come from with a background in business, finance or engineering (at least some prior education requiring the use of a calculator). With Economics, Statistics, and two Accounting courses on the agenda I knew that the math was going to be a bit challenging for me, and then Timmy showed up. Whoa is me. Thankfully my husband (who is an Aerospace Engineer) tutored me through Economics (we got an A) but for the rest I was on my own. I am not sure how I did in Statistics yesterday but the exam was brutal, my fingers are crossed for a pass.

Regardless I feel pretty good about completing the first year of grad school with a two year old at home and a brain tumour. I learned a lot about business and even more about myself both were worth the price of tuition. On a super positive note right after I got back from writing my last exam I received an email stating that I had in fact been selected to receive a $3,500 MBA Entrance Award, now all I need to do is pass that Stats course.