Sudden Life Changes

As you know, I have been working towards my Masters in management since July. This was in anticipation of a gained sense of business know-how that would aid in my quest to manage theatre.

Yesterday morning I withdrew from the program.

The program in and of itself is not a bad program, but it wasn’t right for me. It is the first year of the program, so there are still a lot of kinks to get worked out, the biggest of them being the recruitment/advertising problems. The program was billed with the tagline of “put your passion to work,” and they recruited people using the examples of people wanting to manage theatres, art galleries, etc.

However, upon going to classes, we quickly realized that the program was more geared at people who wanted to expand their knowledge into business for career purposes. We were requested to pick a field that we wanted to work in – human resources, marketing, investment banking, etc. None of those have anything to do with a previously conceived passion. The focus of the program is very much a corporate business focus.

The course work was IDENTICAL to the first year MBA coursework – same syllabi, same professors, etc. Had I known going into the program that that was the way it worked, I never would have applied. However, it being the first year, there was no way to get a testimonial, and I was forced to take what the recruiters were saying as fact.

For months I have been growing more and more miserable. The work is extremely difficult (I’ve never worked so hard in my life), extremely boring, and extremely not me. I haven’t been enjoying it for quite some time, and in the past couple of weeks I’ve come to the point where I couldn’t talk myself into staying any longer. Also, the courses are mostly based on group assignments and a final exam. The only real indicator of personal achievement is the final exam, and I was slowly discovering that my exam grades were not to my personal standards of success. Why slave away at something I don’t enjoy with no sense of accomplishment? It was a downward spiral.

So, after much deliberation, I withdrew. My family and close friends all support my decision, and I trust them very much, so that has helped with the process.

Now I’m faced with the fact that I’m not in school (for the first time in 20 years), and I have to do something. I have to get a job (which, of course, I wasn’t expecting to be an issue for at least 8 more months), and I need to start being a grown-up for real. And I have no idea where to begin.

So I am sorry for my absence, but there has just been too much going on in the decision-making department lately. However, I feel like a huge load has been lifted from my chest, and I am eager to see where life takes me now.

Please pray for me as I try and discern where I go now.

And now, back to blogging. I feel like I can get back to where I was before!!!! I missed blogging, and all my commentors! Life online is simply too addicting ;-) !

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3 Responses to “Sudden Life Changes”

  1. Brittany 03. Nov, 2006 at 11:05 am #

    Whoa! A real post AND a big decision! Well, I’m glad you’re happy now & have done what’s best for you :-) You’ll find something soon! Just don’t leave W-S quite yet, k? Next semester, when I’m gone, that’s fine :-)

  2. Geggie 03. Nov, 2006 at 2:16 pm #

    Congrats on your decision, I know it was a tough one to make. Keep your chin up, keep praying and the perfect opportunity will present itself!

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  1. Suspension of Disbelief » Thursday Thirteen #32 - 08. Nov, 2006

    [...] I’m back to Thursday Thirteen-ing! Yay!!! 1. Since I withdrew from grad school, I need to get a job. And I have no idea where to start, cause I thought I wouldn’t be doing this search for another 8 months. Any ideas? Know of any jobs in North Carolina? 2. Now that I’m not going to school every day, I’ve got a lot more time on my hands, and I’ve been accomplishing a lot at home. I’ve sorted through a lot of things and I’ve gotten a lot of cleaning done. 3. With that free time I managed to buy ALL my Christmas presents! As in, I’m done! Unless something pops up last minute, my presents are finished. 4. I’ve also gotten all my Christmas cards addressed – still haven’t written them, but the addressing is done. 5. And since I’m updating on my life and goings on, I should mention that I’ve made progress on my 101 in 1001! Today I am 32.47% through with the time, and I’ve completed 37.62% of my tasks. I’m pretty excited about that! Since I last posted about the 101, here are the things I’ve finished: 6. I completed #2 – regularly updating my faith blog, Reading Red Letters. I would still like to update more often, but I have been doing well thus far, and hopefully it will continue to be this way! 7. My brother Bo is a freshman in college, and #7 on my list was keeping in touch with him. Not only have we kept in touch, but we see each other fairly often – once every other week or so. It’s been great, I’m so glad that he’s up here! 8. I’ve also got #14 down – I’m regularly flossing, LOL! 9. And regularly taking my vitamins (#16). 10. Well, #28 was to set up a new place to live after graduation, but now that I’m not in school, I guess that I completed that one back in July, LOL! 11. With my new budget I’ve maintained saving $5 a day (#32) – hint, I take it out of my account as soon as I get my check. 12. #49 was to maintain cleaning apartment at least once a month. Now I have FlyLady. ‘Nuff said. (P.S. – you should ALL be FLYing!) 13. One of the best things about living with Matt and Ben is that Matt is very into politics, and he knows that in general I am not an idiot, so I can ask as many stupid politics questions as I want and he won’t judge me. So I ask them all the time – check off #51! [...]

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