Bitten by the MBA Bug...

One day last month, I was bitten by a bug. An unexpected bite, given how well I'd been shielding myself for over 20 years now.

The MBA bug.

When I graduated with a Master's degree back in the early 1990s, I decided I was done with universities and schooling. That, of course, was set aside over time as reality meant I needed to take more courses over time to keep my skills up-to-date. But never again a formal degree, I'd decided. 

The 'rents, of course, kept asking, "Why not a Ph.D.?" or "How about an M.B.A.?"

And each time, I responded, "No, thanks. Been there, done that, why would I do it again?"

Come to think of it, that's the same answer that I've given to "Wouldn't you like to get married again?"

Over the years, I did really well as a software engineer. That was, and is, my day job. It's a fabulous career in many ways - the most important of which is that it gives me complete portability, so I am never tied to any one place unless I choose to be. This satisfies an underlying need in me - those itchy feet can never quite stay at rest. And, needless to say, it's one of the better paying careers out there for us non-artistic types.

While the day job satisfied my needs for stability and intellectual challenge in one way, it did not always satisfy the need to create, to innovate, to do something that was interesting purely because it *was* interesting.

And so was born the serial entrepreneur, yet again.

I've owned real estate, started several small software businesses, traded options and foreign exchange. Each of these has satisfied that sense of adventure. 

And yet, with each new venture, I've felt an even higher need for adventure. Sky-diving, anyone? (Yes, I've done that.)

And the "day job", while it's often had me working 12+ hours a day for weeks on end, hasn't been emotionally satisfying.

Until recently.

I asked myself WHY the extra-curricular activities were more satisfying emotionally than the career I've trained for and spent so long fine-tuning my skills at.

It took a while to arrive at the answer.

The bottom line is, I need to be able to be effective. To directly influence the outcome of whatever it is I am working on.

And as that realisation sinks in, I've had to re-evaluate how I'm living my life and what I'm doing in my career.

The re-evaluation is overhauling everything in my life. My attitude has changed almost overnight. I've gone from being a valuable but taken-for-granted code-monkey to being a valued team player whose advice is not only sought, but also followed. And there are more and more signs that the career paths are opening up to where the sky is the limit.

All of this makes my eyes turn inward yet again - WHAT DO I WANT?

And, sadly, the answer rings loud and clear in my mind: an M.B.A.

I know it's not a silver bullet.

I also know that it won't make me a different person.

But I know one thing: when I am learning something new, that's when my life takes on colour and hue and texture and motion. Everything else just sort of clicks into place. Time management comes naturally where otherwise I have to struggle to keep everything going at once.

So I looked into universities in and around Toronto, Canada, where I live. And discovered the one that makes my heart sing at the very thought of it: The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. They are unique in that they actually offer a morning MBA. Seriously. A morning MBA. Classes twice a week, starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 9. Wow. What a concept.

There are other schools. Of course there are! However, this is the one my heart is set on, so this is the one I learned all about.

And I'd heard vague mutterings ... "MBA" "GMAT" "tough test" ...

"HAH!", I thought. "If kids can do it, surely I can do it even better, with all this work experience!"

So, one fine Saturday a couple of weeks after deciding to head to Rotman, I showed up for a "sample GMAT test". It was, I later realised, offered by one of the tutoring companies that make their bread and butter training applicants to take this test.

It was a rather formal setting. A computer lab at Ryerson University (also downtown Toronto). No food or drinks. Long tables with maybe 10 terminals per side of each table. A white board with the proctor's name and the tutoring school's name. (I've forgotten the school's name already, just 3 weeks later - not a good sign for my memorization skills, and I've got a MAJOR test coming up soon, yikes).

My first shock (I'd come into this test cold, zero preparation, not even as to format and length of test) was realising that this test had to be completed as it was presented. They call this computer adaptive testing. Each question you answer provides the algorithm with some more information about your relative strength or weakness in that area, and the next question presented varies depending on the algorithm's analysis. Which means that two people who start with an identical question may well have very different sets of questions all the way through to the end. The other implication - which is what caused the shock - is that this means you have to answer each question to the best of your ability when it's presented. There is NO option of a review-and-do-over later, nor can you (as with a test on paper) set aside a difficult question until the easier ones have been dealt with.

All my life, I've worked on paper-based exams and tests. This was HARD to digest. It felt like a major opportunity was being stolen from me. Yes, I'm a bit of a drama queen.

Anyway, long story short (umm, shorter. slightly).

I worked my way through all the questions. My second, even bigger, shock was at realising that the fairly basic math section was TOUGH for me. Really, really, really tough. I've forgotten most of the formulae and theorems I'd known throughout high school and my early university days. Yes, I can remember that Pythagoras' theorem applies to right angled triangles, and that the sum of the internal angles of a triangle is 180. And the formulae for the area and circumference of a circle have somehow stayed in my head. But that's about all I can remember of geometry. I can solve algebraic equations, but nowhere near as quick as I used to.

And I looked up at the timer ticking away and realised that I'd only answered about half the questions, and was already at three-quarters time! Yikes. So I started powering through the rest of the math section, finishing about 2 minutes before time ran out.

What would you expect of the result?

The verbal section was straight-forward in comparison. I finished that one with zero stress and in plenty of time.

As I expected by this point, when the score appeared, the glaring fact was that I am going to need some major math overhaul and review.

The score? 

A measly 590. With a 35th percentile ranking in the Quantitative section and an 88th percentile in the Verbal. 

Dang.

This means I get to hit the books - something I'm not fond of doing. Let me rephrase that - I am an inveterate reader, going through at least 7 books each week. But 90 percent of that reading is for pleasure, both fiction and non-fiction. And NONE of it is math.

And then, the proctor, presumably looking for candidates for tutoring, asked a question: "How many of you will be taking the new GMAT?" 

I don't know if I was the only one looking puzzled, but probably not - he refined the question: "That is, how many will take the test after June 4th?"

Oh.

Given my lovely practice test score, I am pretty sure that I'm one of the after-June-4th gang, so I put up my paw and looked around. Of the hundred or so participants, only maybe 3 others had their hands in the air.

And thus was presented a new wrinkle. This being early May, I had almost a month to brush up on my Quantitative Reasoning skills. I feasibly *could* take the test on June 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

There was one major issue, though. I love challenges.

So there were two ways to look at this - power through the studying and take the test before June 4th.

Or, make the choice to take the test after June 4th, and slot in some extra time to review the new Integrated Reasoning section.

Guess which one I chose?

Yep.

I'll be taking the test after June 4th.

And that's the reason for this blog.

A word of warning - this blog won't be ONLY about the Integrated Reasoning. In fact, only a small portion of it will be about Integrated Reasoning.

It's more of a place to hang my notes as I work my way through the Quantitative Reasoning section of the prep work.

I'll review *some* Verbal Reasoning, too, but not a whole lot, given that that's NOT where I need to be spending time right now.

My gut instinct of how well I will do on the test was obviously far from reality. Where work experience will stand me in good stead will presumably be in the actual MBA program, not here in writing tests, other than perhaps in the ability to schedule things and narrow my focus to what really needs work and still manage to allocate time to actually enjoy my life.

So, today, I plan to come up with an initial schedule, just for this first month or so, until the end of June. It needs to be a workable schedule, given that I have 5 major launches going on this month, all of them overlapping at least one and usually two of the others at any given time, making for long hours at work. In addition, I have the thrill of having the 'rents living with me for most of June on their annual tour to Toronto - I will need to make time to play hostess and daughter. AND I need time to myself, just to chill and relax and work out and all that sanity-retrieving stuff we all need to do every single day.

I'm sure things will change as I work my way through.

Things already HAVE changed - I've looked at financing prospects for the MBA and am finding that my current debt load means I'd get a "professional loan" at a rather high interest rate if I apply this year. On top of that, I need to write a couple of essays for the application (something I prefer to do over a little time), get two professional references (those are lined up) and, what's slower than most: get my transcripts sent over from India. This can take a while. And the deadline is in a few days.

So - that application to Rotman will not be completed this year. Certainly not by June 1st.

Which means I have several months to complete the GMAT, too, because Rotman has only one intake, for only one start date in September. I pretty much can wait about 8 months before Damocles' sword starts vibrating again and the fear rises like bile in my gorge.

The next six months, then, need to be given over to mastering all aspects of mathematics that will be required to ace The New GMAT.

So that's the plan.

Finger-crossing isn't going to help, so I'm out to make this dream a reality. 

Starting right here, right now, this is FemmeFlamme vs. The New GMAT!