KJB, MBA
Thirty-two months ago, I thought I had it all – I was married. I was working toward a promotion at my job. I finally made it to business school – a dream I had had since I was 18. The future seemed so clear.
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When I was a freshman at Wake Forest University, I applied for the Kemper Scholars Program –
“The Kemper Scholars Program provides scholarships, internships and career coaching to high-potential undergraduate students enabling them to develop the practical and professional skills they need to successfully launch a career in business.”
– in hopes that someday I could begin a meaningful career in business and go to business school. I made it through all three rounds of interviews and was one of the top three candidates that year. In the end, I was not selected.
I still wanted to apply to the undergraduate business school my sophomore year. I took every course I had to in order to apply – calculus, statistics, economics, etc. – but, due to a bout with one accounting course, I was not eligible.
And I would be lying to you if I said that that did not hang over me for a very, very long time.
Ultimately, I found other academic interests that made me happy and graduated. Without a job. At the height of the Great Recession. And moved home. After applying to literally hundreds of jobs, I landed my very first job in the DC metro area and learned more about bad bosses and how-much-of-my-paltry-paycheck-can-I-spend-on-snacks-at-CVS-downstairs than I ever planned on. Eventually, I racked up enough experience to have a resume worth looking at, left, and joined my current company. But, business school always lingered in the back of my mind.
During all of that time…
I took the LSAT twice thinking law school might be the way to go. It was not.
I took the GMAT next, coming back around to my original business school plan, and was sorely disappointed.
I diverted and did a Public Health certificate thinking I would go into Public Health. I did not.
I revisited my business school plans again and took a GMAT course every week for months in hopes I would do better on the test. I did not do better.
…I started to believe that I was not cut out for my dream.
After much convincing from family, I finally decided it was now or never. I took an accounting course at a community college, logic being I would apply to business school anyway and either:
1) I would get in and I should prove to them that I really can do this, or
2) I would not get in and I should at least prove to myself that I really can do this.
I told you I would be lying to you if I said that the bout with accounting did not hang over me for a very, very long time.
---
Exactly this weekend last year, I moved into my new place with my heart heaving and my soul singed. I was two years into Tepper and the future was everything but clear. I went on autopilot just to make it through the work days and the school nights. It was a good day when my chest did not hurt from anxiety. I started this blog around the same time, for me – to take my head out of autopilot, to let myself hurt, and to find some peace.
And so, this weekend was about so much more than graduating with my MBA.
This weekend was about a dream that was always mine, the end of one of the longest personal and professional odysseys – the eight years it took to get to Tepper and the thirty-two months it took to finish – and the beginning of something better than I could have possibly imagined.
I do not think I will ever “have it all,” but, I know that I have so much more than I did thirty-two months ago.
And I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR accounting courses under my belt.
with love,
KJB, MBA
---
When I was a freshman at Wake Forest University, I applied for the Kemper Scholars Program –
“The Kemper Scholars Program provides scholarships, internships and career coaching to high-potential undergraduate students enabling them to develop the practical and professional skills they need to successfully launch a career in business.”
– in hopes that someday I could begin a meaningful career in business and go to business school. I made it through all three rounds of interviews and was one of the top three candidates that year. In the end, I was not selected.
I still wanted to apply to the undergraduate business school my sophomore year. I took every course I had to in order to apply – calculus, statistics, economics, etc. – but, due to a bout with one accounting course, I was not eligible.
And I would be lying to you if I said that that did not hang over me for a very, very long time.
Ultimately, I found other academic interests that made me happy and graduated. Without a job. At the height of the Great Recession. And moved home. After applying to literally hundreds of jobs, I landed my very first job in the DC metro area and learned more about bad bosses and how-much-of-my-paltry-paycheck-can-I-spend-on-snacks-at-CVS-downstairs than I ever planned on. Eventually, I racked up enough experience to have a resume worth looking at, left, and joined my current company. But, business school always lingered in the back of my mind.
During all of that time…
I took the LSAT twice thinking law school might be the way to go. It was not.
I took the GMAT next, coming back around to my original business school plan, and was sorely disappointed.
I diverted and did a Public Health certificate thinking I would go into Public Health. I did not.
I revisited my business school plans again and took a GMAT course every week for months in hopes I would do better on the test. I did not do better.
…I started to believe that I was not cut out for my dream.
After much convincing from family, I finally decided it was now or never. I took an accounting course at a community college, logic being I would apply to business school anyway and either:
1) I would get in and I should prove to them that I really can do this, or
2) I would not get in and I should at least prove to myself that I really can do this.
I told you I would be lying to you if I said that the bout with accounting did not hang over me for a very, very long time.
---
Exactly this weekend last year, I moved into my new place with my heart heaving and my soul singed. I was two years into Tepper and the future was everything but clear. I went on autopilot just to make it through the work days and the school nights. It was a good day when my chest did not hurt from anxiety. I started this blog around the same time, for me – to take my head out of autopilot, to let myself hurt, and to find some peace.
And so, this weekend was about so much more than graduating with my MBA.
This weekend was about a dream that was always mine, the end of one of the longest personal and professional odysseys – the eight years it took to get to Tepper and the thirty-two months it took to finish – and the beginning of something better than I could have possibly imagined.
I do not think I will ever “have it all,” but, I know that I have so much more than I did thirty-two months ago.
And I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR accounting courses under my belt.
with love,
KJB, MBA
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