Powerfool Grad School Progress

powerfool

I haven't been running any sort of thread for my grad school endeavors because they are not nearly as exciting as the prospect of completing the program in one term. Anyhow, I thought I would provide an update.

Today, I just submitted my group paper (final work) for this semester and I only have a peer evaluation left to complete. As of 11 May 2012, I will have a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity Policy. It is comprised of one-half of the MS in Cybersecurity Policy program, but I also have another course done. With that said, I am two-thirds through the overall program and have two semesters left.

Now, I have to decide if I am going to take the summer off and graduate in a year from now, or if I will push through and graduate in December.

The courses have been loaded with tons of work... and I can only see the courses staying at the same load, but building on the previous semesters.

Ultimately, this program does a few things for me:
1) It more than fulfills my personal development progress at work.
2) It will give me a piece of paper that will allow me to be an adjunct professor, if that is ever something I have the opportunity to do.
3) If I find that I need to get an MBA, just to have that piece of paper, I can do so in three semesters through UMUC.
4) And most importantly, it fulfills all of my CEUs for the CISSP.

Waiting only impacts me if I want to teach soon or if I want to look for a job and the MS helps me in the process... Since work is paying for most of it, waiting adds an extra 5 months to the time I must put in to "pay it back" to them. Also, their reimbursement policy won't cover all of a third semester within a year, so some will come out of my pocket if I push through. If I wait, they pay for my remaining course this year and the last course next year.

I get a three weeks break if I push through, before the next semester. In that period of time, I plan to finally finish up my 70-662 and maybe study for the PMP, which I still have to take (paid for it in June of last year).

I would also like to get it done sooner so that I can be more available for family. My oldest kid starts high school this fall. I do intend on starting an MBA before she graduates, but having the extra time in between would be nice.

Well, that is it for the update. I am going to think about it now over the next couple of weeks and see what I decide. I took last summer off, which seems like a mistake in retrospect, because I didn't get much done. If I had pushed through then, this summer would be my last semester...

MickQ

Are MBAs going out of fashion, or not? I keep hearing conflicting opinions on it, but I've had it in mind to do one at some stage.

erpadmin

powerfool wrote: »

I would also like to get it done sooner so that I can be more available for family. My oldest kid starts high school this fall. I do intend on starting an MBA before she graduates, but having the extra time in between would be nice.

Well, that is it for the update. I am going to think about it now over the next couple of weeks and see what I decide. I took last summer off, which seems like a mistake in retrospect, because I didn't get much done. If I had pushed through then, this summer would be my last semester...

First of all, I look forward to reading your thread as well. I'll be taking the summer off for the first time since 2010 (though, not by my choice...) I'm compensating for that though by going with your advice and CLEPing Accounting. I'm hoping that the CLEP is done by end of May if not by middle of June. Then I might get a headstart on the PMP (which will correlate to my Project Management class in the fall.) If it were me, I'd barrel on through and finish by December, if at all possible. One of my classmates did five courses while working full time (she's a PMP.) I told her flat out she's insane, but I also wasn't going to whine about my two classes either. There wasn't much whining to do about either, except for a couple of assignments from each course (one paper in particular.) Still, I got through them, and I'm excited to start the fall. But you'll be ok with whatever you decide; my vote is just get it over and done with.

MickQ wrote: »

Are MBAs going out of fashion, or not? I keep hearing conflicting opinions on it, but I've had it in mind to do one at some stage.

Don't let anyone kid you: MBAs aren't going anywhere. An MBA isn't just for people who want to be a CEO. As my org behavior professor explained to me when I went for a one-on-one, employers want to see people in leadership positions who possess not only a technical background, but a business background as well AND that also knows how to apply strategy and planning. An MBA program, whether that comes from a crappy school, or a place like Wharton or Harvard, will teach you that: how to deal with employees, the accounting and finance aspects, and strategic planning. In my case, since I'm not trying to be an Investment Banker, it was important for me to find an MBA program that would incorporate technology planning with that business focus so that I can leverage my 15 years of professional IT experience with that piece of paper into a leadership role at an organization that will require it. Doing an MBA with a Finance/Investment purpose does me no good, because that's not where I'm personally trying to go. I think that's where IT people get lost in the shuffle when it comes to MBA. It was also explained to me that the dot-com boom was responsible for these IT/MBA programs getting IN fashion. As someone who remembers (personally) that bust, I can appreciate the point being made: IT should NOT dictate business strategy, but rather align itself with the overall strategy and business. But an IT leader needs to know what the CFO/CEO is talking about otherwise IT will just be relegated as a commoditized function. I want IT to have a seat at the table, BUT not be at the head of the table--that's the CEO's job. That's why I ultimately decided to gun for an MBA with a Technology focus.

MickQ

erpadmin wrote: »

IT should NOT dictate business strategy, but rather align itself with the overall strategy and business. But an IT leader needs to know what the CFO/CEO is talking about otherwise IT will just be relegated as a commoditized function. I want IT to have a seat at the table, BUT not be at the head of the table--that's the CEO's job. That's why I ultimately decided to gun for an MBA with a Technology focus.

Very true, and I'd like the Accounting dept. to not decide on engineering quality, but that's a separate argument about quality goods nowadays

I'm looking forward to keeping up with your progress, too. Between this and the CISSP section, some interesting reading.

powerfool

There are a lot bad MBA programs out there that churn people out and simply give them a piece of paper w/o much in the way of entrance requirements and w/o rigor in the program. There are WAY TOO MANY of these folks. Going anywhere that gives you a decent education is good... going to a great school is even better.

Ultimately, I plan on going to Notre Dame for my MBA. It is a ranked program and I always wanted to go there... plus I will get tickets to the ball games. If I don't end up going there for an MBA, maybe I will go there for architecture when I am old and bored (as I decided that I would go to Notre Dame for architecture when I was ten... life just happened).

N2IT

Smart move PF if you can afford to do that. I have several high school friends who went on to get their MBA from a top 25 business school right after receiving their bachelors and I can assure you they are all doing extremely well. My closet friend Jason resides out in Arizona and is a top level financial consultant who makes well over 400,000 base a year. He graduated from Washington University, he also blew the GMAT out of the water and is a MENSA member. Some guys get all the luck. The others I am not so close to anymore so I would be guessing their salaries, but they do well, no question about it. The funny piece of this story is the most successful guy I know has no bachelors degree, spent 4 years in the Navy, and locked on with Cisco as a sales rep. Now he is a VP of sales with Cisco and makes a killing. It's frightening how much that guy makes. It just shows you sales, are sales either you are good at it or you are not.

Either way good luck on your journey I hope you accomplish all that you seek.

I decided to run with WGU on their MBA program and have been pleasently surprised. The HR and eBusiness courses have been very informative and have really opened up some doors. I find reading extra material fills in a lot of knowledge gaps that I possess. Personally for me the best way to have gone about this is exactly I how I am doing it now. Spend a few years in a leadership business role and then back fill the knowledge my mentor/mentors haven't been able to provide.

MickQ

Lucky gits, N2. Good on them.

Pf, I remember going with my younger brother to a ND Vs Navy game here in Ireland, many years ago. We were invited to a nice BBQ afterwards and it was all good fun.

N2IT

Sorry to throw another comment in here, but one year I had the chance to see Notre Dame play Michigan in Michigan. It was a great time, talk about two prestigous programs going nose to nose. It was the best football game I have ever seen.

Score some tickets if you get up there!

powerfool

Well, I have decided to continue on this summer... if I am feeling burned out afterwards... I can always take off the fall semester, right?

The positive factors here are:

1) I take tuition reimbursement sooner, which means the "payback" happens sooner.
2) I push the ball forward and am I actually going to take a break with just one class left? I doubt it.

Thanks for the support all.

powerfool

I got a peek at the syllabus this morning. Very interesting, but we have one fewer paper to write this semester... so the weighting for all of the work is different. More weight is now given to each individual paper over each group paper, which is a good thing. Also, our reading assignment for the first week is The Art of War, so this might be exciting. The title is Global Cybersecurity. Anyhow, class starts next week. Starting semester 5 (of 6) is finally looking positive... and I can see this long road winding down... but there is still a lot left to do.

erpadmin

Art of War and The Prince are permanent parts of my Kindle collection... If you've never read it, you will have fun. You could probably read the whole book by the end of the summer, but I'm sure there's just parts your professor wants to drive home. Sounds like it'll be a fun course.

powerfool

I've gone through passages before. I have both of those on my Kindle, as well.