Term 1 got over today. Exams also done. It was like holding ur breath for 6 weeks. Just exhaled over a couple of beers in the term ending party. Getting back into academics after a gap of 7 yrs was tough. Also, considering the negligible studies for my b-tech course, this past 6 weeks came as a total revelation.
We had 4 subjects in this term
1. Marketing - Knowledge levels are pretty much the same, before and after the course. Just validated my belief that this subject is more arbitrary and general blabbering that nething else. Some important concepts were taught, but dont know whether there will be any practical relevance of the 5Cs and 4Ps. Can faff away on this here, but will stop at this.
2. Accounting - Learnt basic accounting. How to interpret the financial statements etc. Extremely useful course for people from a non-commerce background.
3. Statistics - Multiple Regression with categorical variables sealed it for me. If the proff. had gone up one more level, I may have shut down shop and headed back home. The course was from a high level, but coupled with the jmp software did help me in relating to the interpretation of data. A very useful course indeed.
4. Managerial Economics - Only takeaways were MR=MC and game theory. Both interesting concepts and well understood, but not sure whether I will ever go ahead and pursue a PHD in eco. Mainly convers basic economical decisions that a floor manager may face. Ex. whether to go ahead and increase the capacity of the plant from 100 units to 200 units.
The entire term was like a strong breeze of hot wind, blowing against the direction of ur motion. Pre-reads for the subjects, before the class was the key. I think I barely managed pre-reads for the first class. The remaining 9 classes were without pre-reads, thus grasping powers reduced in class, which led to further reduction in efficiency levels. Bottom-line will have to be - religiously go thru the pre-reads for the future terms. Classes were from mon-thursday. Two classes on each day, 2 hrs each. Professors were excellent. The best from across the world come here to teach. The speed of the entire course may have been on the higher side, but when you join a 12 month management program, that should be expected.
There were mid-terms and end term exams, interspersed with quizzes and assignments. Basically most of us were on our toes throughout.
Even though its just 7 weeks now, I can clearly see that more than the knoweldge, it will be the networks and friends I will build here that will stay with me. I have been lucky to have interacted with some of the most warm, stable and mature people around. Hopefully, I will have 8 times as many friends when I walk out of here after term 8. For me, it will not be the starting pay package or the kind of job or even the knowledge acquired. It will be the friends.
