A Glimpse of my MBA Experience

All good things must come to an end...

2010-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

It is OFFICIAL! I am a Walton College MBA Graduate! Wow, I can't believe it is over! So, I thought I would start with some pictures from the past week of celebration! Then, I will wrap my last blog up with some advice to future MBA'ers and the current class of 2011.

This is most of the MBA Class of 2010. We had a party at the Garden Room on Dickson that was hosted by the Graduate School of Business. It was so much fun to meet everyone's family and celebrate with my fellow classmates.

This is at the Garden Room, a few of my good friends. Austin, myself, Matt, Sophie, and Kalid!

This is a few of us out celebrating being done with school! These 3 have become some of my best friends, who I will never lose touch with. Whitney, Kalid, myself, and William. We were in a lot of group projects together and I have enjoyed getting to know all of them! :)

Whitney, William, and me before walking at graduation. I am so happy that I have gotten to know these two. Whitney plans on staying in Fayetteville to work, and hopefully William will too! If not, he will be in Little Rock, which isn't too far away!

The boys before graduation. Kalid, Austin, Benoit, Jeff, and William. These guys are so great!

So, I was thinking about it and I thought...what would I have wanted to know before I started the MBA Program at the University of Arkansas...So, here is the advice I have for others.

1.Get your Professional Development and Speaker Series hours as soon as possible! Even though the workload is a lot less in the Spring, you are still consumed with looking for a job(at least I was) So, it is best to get as much done as possible your first semester.

2. Network, Network, Network. I did not start doing this till it was almost too late. Get your name out there, go to functions, and meet NEW people. It can be scary at first, but it can really make a difference.

3. Make use of the career center. They are there for you!

I know there is more, but that is all I can think of for right now. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. I have enjoyed sharing one of the most amazing experiences of my life with you. I am ready to start a new chapter in my life as a "big" kid and enter the professional world. If you are interested in getting your MBA or another Masters, I am a strong believer that the University of Arkansas is the right place for you and there are so many opportunities that come with it. Best of Luck!

The hunt is finally over...Well, for now at least!

2010-04-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

So, lots has happened in the last week. I got a job! Woohoo! Well, it is an internship..for now at least! There is possibility of it turning into a full-time after the internship, so we will see! I am really excited because it is with an amazing company and is at the top of my list of companies I would LOVE to work for. So, I am excited! I am looking forward to it because it will be great experience for me, since I have little work experience coming right out of undergrad into the MBA program.

We had our ERP final today. I think it went really well. I also just turned in my last individual assignment for Strategy, which is also a relief! As far as the rest of the week goes, I have my last formal day of Strategy tomorrow. In our Category Management class, we are taking a field trip to Red Dot Square, which should be very interesting. I will blog more about it later. After our field trip, we have our business professional class picture. All I have for Wednesday is an ERP group project presentation, and then I am DONE with CLASSES! Therefore, all I will have left is a take home final for Category Management, a group paper in Strategy, and a strategy final! Then, I will be an MBA graduate and start the next phase of my life. I can't wait!

7 days of class left!

2010-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't know where this semester went..It has gone by soooo fast! We only have 7 days of actual class left. Crazy! This week is pretty calm as far as assignments go. Next week I have my ERP Final, an ERP final report and presentation, and one last Strategy assignment due. Then, I will have 2 tests during finals week and a couple other projects due that week. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. As far as the job search is going, I had an interview last week that went pretty well. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed and waiting to hear back on that.

This weekend was a big weekend for my family. My brother proposed to his girlfriend of over two years and we had a big surprise engagement party for them. It was so much fun and I am so excited she is going to be a part of our family! Speaking of weddings, a couple of my closest friends are getting married this summer that I am involved in. So, on top of finishing school and applying for jobs, I am trying to schedule wedding showers! Almost every single weekend of my entire summer is consumed with a wedding this year! 9 total weddings! Ahhh, I am not ready to grow up yet! Ha, oh well.

Better get back to working on stuff for next week, since I have some free time this week!

Spring Break Pics

2010-04-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

So, as I promised, I FINALLY got some pictures uploaded to my computer from Spring Break, so here are a few. This was by far the best Spring Break EVER. I just can't believe it was my last one.. :( I guess you have to grow up sometime..

This picture is from our first night on the boat, before we had dinner.

We were laying out by the pool one afternoon and we were picked from the crowd to be in a dance contest. It was 4 girls and 4 guys. I lost the contest with the girls, but Justin won! We got these awesome medals and he got a trophy. I was so proud! Haha, it was a blast!

This was our first stop in Progresso, where we hung out on the beach all day. It was beautiful!

I can't believe we only have 4 more weeks of class left. This means I only have 16 days of classes. This program has gone by so fast! This week other than class, I have my exit interview, 2 speaker series to attend, an MBA intramural softball game, 1 assignment due, and lots of GA work to catch up on. It doesn't sound too bad, but for some reason, I still feel like there is never enough time! Somewhere in there I have got to apply, apply, apply for more jobs. Woohoo!

Spring Break Wrapping Up

2010-03-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

It has been WAY to long since my last blog, wow! I planned on blogging right before spring break started, but I got a little busy with school and packing for my big trip. Lets just say that this spring break was one of the best I have had..EVER. Justin and I started the trip by driving to New Orleans on Friday morning. We got in to NOLA around 7 and went straight to our friend's house. He took us to an amazing restaurant in the French Quarter and then we hit the town. It was soooo much fun! It was so much fun because one of my best friend's was also in town, and I haven't seen him in soooo long. He met up with us that night. It was a really great night!

The next day, we boarded the Carnival Triumph and sailed off at 4pm. The weather the first night and Sunday afternoon was pretty rough. The captain of the ship said it was one of the worst he had experienced! Lucky us, huh? It was really windy, cold, and the boat was rocking pretty bad. Several people on the boat were sea sick, including my boyfriend... :( Luckily, the next day was BEAUTIFUL! We got into Progresso and got off the boat in the morning. We walked along the beach, had lunch, and got some sun. The next day we visited Cozumel, which was so much fun as well.

The trip was so much fun because the majority of the people on the boat were from ARKANSAS. I believe we called the hogs at least one time a day! Ha, it was great! I really enjoyed it because I really felt like I was at home and everyone was so friendly. I am sad the trip is over, especially since I am back to reality and have done 5 loads of laundry already! Ugh! I am going to catch up on some Grad Assistant work tonight and tomorrow. Depending on the weather, I will hopefully be cheering on the diamond hogs tomorrow! I love this time of year, and I can't believe I only have 5 weeks of school left....!!!

I will have pictures up from the trip, SOON!! :)

Spring Time is my Favorite Time!

2010-03-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

The weather this weekend was AMAZING and it is starting to feel a little bit like Spring time! I am so excited about this. This excites me for a number of reasons...

1. Spring Break is in 10 days! Mexico, here I come!
2. I can start doing yard work...Yes, I know this may come as a shock as something to be excited about, but I am ready to do some tree trimming, lawn mowing, and planting some flowers!
3. I can run outside and take my dog to the park!
4. Baseball Season...enough said.
5. The beautiful weather puts me in such a better mood when I am stressed about school and finding a job.
6. St. Patricks Day-Als0 my brothers birthday and a good excuse to get together with my family :)

There are so many more, but those are the things I keep thinking about when I wake up and see that the high today is 71...These are the things I try to think about instead of the midterm that is due today, 2 papers due Thursday, and HOURS of Grad Assistant work to catch up on...Sounds like a fun week, huh? Hopefully I can get most of it done today, and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Midterms!

2010-03-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

It has almost been 2 weeks since my last blog, and that is terrible! Sorry! I have been a crazy person these last few weeks, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better with all that is going on! I just keep telling myself, that there is only 18 days till spring break...ahhhh.. Anyway, I have 2 midterms this week-One in Category Management and another in Strategy. I am looking forward to getting them over with because after that, there are only a few assignments between me and spring break.

This past weekend, I was able to get away for the weekend to visit my sister, brother in law, and their kids. I haven't seen them for over a month, so it was really nice to see them finally! Here are some pics of my niece and nephew(twins). They are at such a fun age right now!

Matthew & Madison

I have constantly been looking for jobs and applying when I find ones that I am interested in, but unfortunately have not had any luck yet. I believe only 3 or 4 students from our entire class have jobs lined up after graduation. Hopefully that number will go up in the next few months... Speaking of graduation, I finally completed the application process the other day after class. I can't believe that I will be an MBA graduate in about 2 months. CRAZY!

Let's play catch up..

2010-02-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy few days, with school, group meetings, GA work, family time, and Valentine's Day. So, a little recap of the last week... In my ERP class, we are split into groups and we are selling cereal within a simulation. My group did not do so well in the practice rounds, but we are confident we are going to to better in the real rounds that start tomorrow. Tomorrow morning we are meeting before class to finalize our decisions, and hopefully sell LOTS of cereal! It is a really confusing simulation, but I am looking forward to understand it better in the coming weeks.

In Strategy, we are also divided into teams and will be working on projects to be presented to Walmart Executives. This is going to be a great experience, but a lot of hard work. I'm sure I will blog more about that, once we get more involved in the project.

In my Marketing class, we have been assigned to pick a category and research the background of the history. This includes the size, how much they sell annually, how many products are in the category, and so on. Then, we are supposed to go to a mass merchandiser that carries the category and observe the category structure. We have to draw a layout or take a picture of the layout. We then have to watch at least 10 customers interact with the category and see if we can get a rough idea of the decision tree process they go through to make their purchase decisions. I am looking forward to this project because this is the type of marketing that interests me.

Other than school, I have been doing a lot of GA work. I enjoy what I am doing because I can do it out of my house from my computer. I have quite a few assignments from my GA, so I am staying busy.

Valentine's Day this past weekend was nice and relaxing. Justin and I decided to keep it pretty low key this year and went to dinner and a movie. We decided to do this since we are going on a cruise in 31 days!!!!! Woohoo, I have been counting down EVERY day! My dad's 60th birthday was Sunday(yep, Valentine's Day). I also babysat my niece and nephew for my brother and sister n law on Monday night, so they could go on a date for Valentine's Day! I had a blast with my niece and nephew and was happy I could do that for my brother and sister!

Another Snow Day!

2010-02-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today classes were postponed till 10 am due to the weather that came in yesterday. Therefore, my Strategy class was canceled at 9:30. There were several people that could not make it to my 11:00 Marketing class, so the teacher decided to cancel it as well, since it is a very small class. So, I was able to get a lot of work and reading done. I worked several hours on my GA assignment and read for my marketing class. I was also able to get a lot of house work done, too. Needless to say, it was a very productive day!

Here is a pic of me and Justin when we got 6 or 7 inches last week! It was so much fun to play in the snow and go sledding!

I have really enjoyed the snow, but I am ready for some warmer weather. Baseball season opens next weekend, and I am SOOOOO excited. Baseball games are really fun to go to because you can tailgate behind the fence in the outfield. A lot of students go to the game, which makes it a lot of fun. The Hogs basketball team is also doing really well and has been exciting to watch. They play LSU tomorrow night, and they have won their past 4 games! Hopefully they can keep it going!

Spring Break Booked!

2010-02-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

I know it is only February 3rd, but Spring Break is right around the corner. The last month has flown by, so I am hoping that this next month does as well. This will be my last spring break as a student, so I wanted to do something fun. My boyfriend and I have decided to go on a cruise! We booked it 2 days ago, and we are both so excited!

The cruise is 5 days long and leaves out of New Orleans. It will stop in Cozumel and Progreso Yucatan Mexico. While in Progreso, we are thinking about doing a tour of the Mayan Pyramids of Chitzen Itza. I was able to visit them when I was a Freshman in High School on a Spanish Club trip. They are amazing and I would love to see them again. I have been on a couple cruises with my family, and I think you get the most for your money on them. We are also really excited about leaving out of New Orleans so we can spend a couple days there. It is going to be such a great trip! 45 days and counting!

My Last Semester So Far...

2010-01-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

So, I have only had 2 weeks of school so far, but I can tell that I am really going to enjoy this semester. As I have mentioned, I am only taking 9 hours of class. This is giving me so much more time for my GA and for job searching! On Monday and Wednesday, my only class is Enterprise Systems which has been interesting so far. We had a "draft" the other day where the class chose team captains and then the team captains had a draft after class for the rest of us. I have a great team, so I am really looking forward to the group work that we will be doing.

On Tuesday and Thursday, I have Strategic Management and Category Management. In Strategic Management, we have also been put into teams and we have had a couple assignments due already. My group in that class is also great, so I am looking forward to group work in there as well! Although I enjoy ERP and Strategy so far, I believe my favorite class is going to be Category Management. Since this class is related to my concentration, Marketing, I can relate to it the most. The class is very interactive and small, which is nice. I enjoy it because it is directly related to what I would like to do in my future career. I have also had the teacher in my undergraduate Marketing Research class a few years ago. She is very knowledgeable and a great teacher, so I am looking forward to that class the most.

This weekend I have been looking for jobs, and I may have a couple good prospects. Keeping my fingers crossed! I had a pretty relaxing weekend of staying in and catching up on some reading. Since the break, I have also been reading a lot more books for pleasure, which is so nice to finally get to do! Maybe if this semester is less stressful, I will be able to continue reading for pleasure! :)

My Wonderful 4 Day Weekend!

2010-01-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend was full of celebrations, but now it is back to school once again. As I mentioned in my previous blog, my family had not celebrated Christmas yet because we had not been able to all get together. So, we had several reasons to get together this weekend. First of all, my dad, my boyfriend, and myself were inducted into the Harrison High School Hall of Fame for Athletics. Every year, our high school inducts 20 people into the Hall of Fame for athletics or distinguished service in the community. Myself and Justin, my boyfriend, were inducted because of our athletic achievements. My dad was inducted for his distinguished service in the community. It was a really special for all three of us to get inducted the same year. All the inductees had to give acceptance speeches and they played a 20 minute slide show of pictures from our athletic careers. Here are a few pictures from the banquet:

My dad, me, and Justin before the banquet

All the inductees from the night

Me and Justin before the banquet

Since my entire family was in town for the banquet, we also celebrated Christmas and my birthday. It was so much fun watching my nieces and nephews opening their gifts. On Sunday, which was my actual birthday, we had a big family lunch and birthday cake. I came back to Fayetteville that night, and went out to dinner with Justin and then out to Dickson St. with a couple friends. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.Here are some pics from Sunday, out with some friends:

Austin(MBA student) and me out on my birthday!

Whitney(MBA student) and me out for my birthday!

Christmas Break Come Back!!!

2010-01-10T19:24:00.001-08:00

The break has come to an end, which gives me mixed emotions..I am sad because I have had such a good time traveling to see my family and working on stuff in my house. I was actually really productive during the break and got a lot done that I have put off this past semester due to school. I traveled to Iowa and spent time with family during Christmas. I also went home to my parents for a couple days. Although I am sad the break is over, my "Christmas" with my family hasn't even begun. I have so many siblings, sibling in laws, nieces, and nephews, that we have not been able to have our family Christmas yet. Therefore, we are all going home this weekend to my parents to celebrate and open presents from one another. It's also my birthday this weekend :) so it will be fun to celebrate with my family.

Although I am sad that the break is over, I am excited to begin my last semester of school. I have spent time over the break applying and looking for jobs. HOPEFULLY, I will find something soon. Since I studied abroad this summer and received 6 hours of credit, I only need 9 more hours to complete my degree! This schedule will give me more time to look for jobs!

This past year has gone by SOOOO fast. I can't believe we aren't the "new kids" anymore. Seems like just yesterday we were doing the case competition that the new class will be competing in tomorrow and getting to know each other at orientation. I have had such a great experience this past year, and I am looking forward to what lies ahead!

Distractions while Studying

2009-12-10T04:53:00.001-08:00

So, today is my last final....woohoo! This is our accounting final, and it is comprehensive over the whole semester. While studying for several hours, I seem to get distracted by reading other blogs, checking facebook, or watching funny videos. While studying for my accounting exam, I decided to take a little break and watch a few "weird news" videos from msnbc.com. There are usually crazy and funny videos from around the World. Little did I know that I would come to find a video that was not only about the University of Arkansas, but a friend of mine is the reporter on the story.

Two University of Arkansas freshmen were caught buying reptiles online and keeping them within their dorm rooms, with the intent to sell them online. The two students were fined not only for violating the "no pets" policy in the University of Arkansas dorm room, but also for the intent to sell the reptiles without a license. If you want to read more on the story, check it on msnbc.com.

Now I guess I should get back to studying. This test and a marketing research project report is all that stands in my way of Christmas Break. :)

Thanksgiving Break

2009-11-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving break is over...back to school I go. It is Sunday night, and I am up at school working on one of my last projects. I can't wait for these next two weeks to be over with! My Thanksgiving break was wonderful, but definitely too short. I went home, which is Harrison, Arkansas for 4 days. My brothers and sister, and their kids all came home as well. It is rare for all of us to be in the same place all at once, so I value the time I get to spend with my family.

We celebrated my niece & nephews 1st birthday on Friday. Their birthday was actually November 6th, but this past week was the first time we were all together so we had a birthday party for them. I bought them both cakes from Rick's Bakery in Fayetteville before I went home last week. (Their cakes are AMAZING if you are looking for a good bakery in town) This was really cute because we put bibs on them and let them have it on their cakes. Here are some pictures of them with their cakes. Matthew LOVED his, as you can see from the pictures. He managed to get cake everywhere. Madison, on the other hand, was much more careful with her cake and did not like getting it all over her hands.

This picture is of my four adorable nieces and nephews: Macy(3), Jack(19 Months), Madison(1) and Matthew(1). My mom bought them matching PJ's so we could get some good pictures for the Christmas card. As you can imagine, it is tough getting 4 young kids to take a picture together!

Well, better get back to working on my project! I just have to keep telling myself we only have 2 more weeks.... :)

Crunch Time!

2009-11-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

As I said in my last blog, this is when the year gets really crazy and intense. I have 3 presentations I am currently working on and a couple tests I am preparing for in the next couple weeks. Thanksgiving could not come at a better time! I am ready for a little bit of a break so I can see my family, get some sleep, and prepare for the last few weeks of school.

Presentations started Monday in our Management class. So far, the presentations have been great. We were put into groups at the beginning of the year. In these groups, we have discussed and completed 5 case studies over the semester. The other group assignment we are responsible for is to complete an HR Plan for a fictitious company. Three groups presented on Monday, two presented today, and two will present on Monday of next week. We have heard HR plans from Duff Beer to the ever so famous Snuggie to "Lame Busters"(a party planning company that helps parties to be "not lame"). We have lots of creativity in our class which makes these presentations very interesting. My group will present on Monday, which I am looking forward because it will be one more thing checked off my list!

Other presentations and projects I am working on are: Marketing Research Survey Analysis Project and a Shopper Buyer Sustainability Project. My marketing research group has been working on getting surveys completed by undergraduate and graduate students. We have around 100 surveys completed, and are starting the analysis process of the project this week. Our surveys are looking at how consumers perceive the new Great Value packaging, and how the package appearance influences their purchases. As for our Shopper Buyer presentation, we are looking at what countries are doing differently as far as sustainability. Also, how much the government is involved, what people think, and so on. It has been pretty interesting so far, and I will be sharing the results in a future blog.

We have one more accounting project that is due in a couple weeks, but fortunately we do not have to give a presentation.Hopefully I can be really productive over Thanksgiving break and get some stuff done! This is probably the first time I have ever been excited about having a break from school, so I can have time to work on school...wow.

What a Week!

2009-11-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

This has by far been the craziest week of my semester so far. I had an accounting project due Monday, Memo due on Monday, had to print out 100 surveys and have them filled out, marketing research assignment, marketing paper, and a 2nd interview where I had to prepare a 10 minute presentation about myself. On top of all that, I had 10 hours of Professional Development class that I had to complete. Phew! It is a good thing my GA is very flexible!

The interview I had went very well. It is for an external GA position that would start right away. This would be such a great experience. We are supposed to find out by Tuesday. I am looking forward to finding out! This next week is going to be pretty busy as well. I have a couple presentations that I need to work on. I would like to get them done this next week before we leave for Thanksgiving Break. I know that if I do not get my stuff done, then I will be working on them instead of spending valuable time with my family!

Is it really November 3rd?

2009-10-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is November 3rd! This semester has gone by SOOOO fast! This is when things start to get really hectic. I guess that explains why I spent my Sunday up at school, trying to get stuff done. This weekend ended up being a pretty great weekend. Friday night, Austin Bray, a fellow MBA classmate had a Halloween party at his house. Quite a few people came and we had a really good time! Austin even gave out prizes for the best costumes. He was such a great host!

Saturday was Homecoming and the Hogs played East Michigan. Hogs won pretty easily, 63 to 27. I went to the game with my parents, their friends, and my boyfriend. Before the game, we ate lunch at Hog Haus then tailgated for a couple hours. I love being able to see my family on the weekends, since they live pretty close to Fayetteville. Here is a pic of my and my boyfriend, Justin, and a pic of my mom and dad.

I wish I could have spent Halloween with my nieces and nephews, but my sister sent pics to me so I could see their costumes. My sister's children, Madison and Matthew, were monkeys. They are turning 1 this Friday! They are so sweet, and I love when I am able to get away to see them! My brother's children, Macy(3) and Jack(18 months), live in Fayetteville, but I was unable to see them on Halloween. I was unable to get a pic of Jack, because he is in that stage where it is impossible to get a picture of him! Jack was Buzz Lightyear, and Macy was a doctor. Here are pictures of Macy, Madison, and Matthew.

Wednesday Night Fun

2009-10-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

We have started a little tradition in the MBA class. Every Wednesday night, a bunch of us get together and have a game night. It is a fun way for us to get to know each other, and give us a break from thinking about exams, projects, and homework. We are going to rotate it for those who want to host each week. This week, I had the pleasure of hosting it, and we had so much fun. Some students bring friends along, who we all have gotten to know through one another. There were about 20 people at my house this past Wednesday night. Here are some pics!

We had a battle of the sexes, and played catch phrase: boys vs. girls. Girls won! :) We also played Apples to Apples and Loaded Questions. Tonight is the MBA Open House and Social. I am helping with it at 5 then going to the Social to mingle with everyone. Tomorrow, I am going to Russellville to see my sister and her twins. We are going to go to the Henderson vs. Arkansas Tech football game. It is alumni weekend at Henderson, and my sister is a graduate from there. She needs help with the twins, so I volunteered to help her out. Her husband, Ryan, is also a football coach for Arkansas Tech, which is another reason we are going to the game. GO Tech! Hogs play tomorrow against Ole Miss. Should be a good game! Hopefully, we will have better refs than we did last week against Florida. GO HOGS!

Great weekend followed by a busy week!

2009-10-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend ended up being a pretty great weekend! I was sick all last week, so since I was feeling a little better, I was able to get out and do a few things. Friday night, my boyfriend Justin and I went to Little Rock to watch Robin Williams live. I bought the tickets for him in March for his birthday, which was in May. However, Robin Williams had heart surgery and had to reschedule his tour to this fall. The wait was definitely worth it because he was hilarious, and we had such a great time!

We came back to Fayetteville Friday night, so we could be up and ready to go to the Razorback game. We ended up staying in and watching the game from the couch. It was such a great game! The Hogs pulled it out wining 44-23 over the Auburn Tigers. Hopefully we can keep the momentum and win out the rest of the season!

This week is going to be a little crazy because I am trying to play catch up from being sick last week. Today I made up my Management exam. Tomorrow I have my Marketing Research Exam, and then Wednesday I will have my Ethics Final. On top of that, I was in the library all day yesterday finishing up some GA work and have group meetings all week long. I'm already worn out and it's only MONDAY! On top of class, I have a phone interview this afternoon for an external GA, Realtime Economics Professional Development class on Tuesday, and an MBA Etiquette dinner Thursday, which is also a requirement. I can't wait for this week to be over! :)

Wooooo Pig Sooieeeee!

2009-10-07T13:26:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, the Razorbacks took on the Texas A&M Aggies in Dallas, TX. The game was in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The Hogs did great and pulled out a victory 47 to 19. The new stadium was AMAZING. The drive to Dallas from Fayetteville is about 5 hours, which is not too bad. I went with 5 other MBA classmates, and we had a really good time. We were able to meet up with some other friends in our class and tailgate. Here are some pictures from our tailgate and inside the stadium.

This is a picture of the Arkansas end zone. Our seats were on the 20th row in the end zone of the student section. It was awesome!

Some of the boys before the game: Rishi, Vijay, and Brant!

The stadium with the gloomy clouds above. It rained on us pretty much all day while we were tailgating, but we still managed to have a good time!

This weekend the Hogs take on Auburn at home. The game is at 11 AM, so it looks like we will be getting up early to tailgate! Go HOGS!

RIO 2016!

2009-10-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

"LIVE YOUR PASSION"

The decision is in and the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!!!! I am really excited about this for several reasons. First of all, I spent part of my summer studying abroad in Rio, and fell in love with the city, the culture, and the people. Some people might think this is crazy, but I loved every bit of it. There are concerns that Rio is too dangerous of a city to hold the Olympics. However, not once did I feel threatened during my stay. I think this is an amazing opportunity for the city. While studying abroad, we were to do a project on some aspect of Brazil, which could be the economy, infrastructure, culture, or anything that we could get approved by our professor. My group decided to do our presentation on the "Economic impact of Rio holding the 2016 Olympics."

Here are some interesting statistics regarding Rio and their bid:

Rio has had 4 unsuccessful bids: 1936, 1940, 2004, 2012

Advantages for Rio : 5th largest economy by 2016, Hosting 2016 World Cup, Party Atmosphere is appealing, Favorable time zones for broadcasters

Disadvantages: Crime Concern, Accommodations, and Transportation

Rio's Budget: 14.2 Billion- 56% of the venues are already in place. Several improvements to transportation system and creation of Olympic Village ( Olympic Village Proposal Picture below)

Lots to do!

2009-09-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Its Tuesday, and it feels like I have been in school for more than just one day! It is that time of the semester when things are starting to get really busy. Yesterday, I had 2 classes and then a Retail Seminar about shopper marketing and social media. This was very interesting because we discussed the impact social networks, such as facebook and twitter have on marketing. I have a facebook account, but I never have understood the big deal about twitter...So, I thought I should check it out. I can't say I have actually "tweeted" yet, but we will have to see. If you would like to follow me on twitter, my username is jessicamaland.

This morning, I had my marketing classes. In shopper buyer, we are now discussing the cultural paradigm and reading the book "Blink" by Malcom Gladwell. I am really enjoying this class because it is very different from any marketing class I have ever taken. After Shopper Buyer, I had my marketing research class. In this class, we are working on our surveys for our market research project. My group is researching the consumers perception a certain private label's packaging, old vs. new. I am interested to see how other consumers feel about the new packaging and if it has affected their purchase habits.

Realtime Economics is about to start with Professor Kali. This is a professional development course that takes place every other week on Tuesday afternoons. We discuss the current economy and our views. I really enjoyed our class discussions last semester in his class, so I knew that this professional development course would be interesting.

Let the Group Meetings Begin..

2009-09-22T13:31:00.001-07:00

This is the first week I have had to get together, outside of class, with my groups. Last semester it seems as if I was with my group every week at least 2 or 3 times. However, last semester, we had the same group in every class. Therefore, we would meet several times a week for different projects we were working on. We had to meet every week to discuss our decisions for our Markstrat Simulation decisions. Toward the end of the semester it was almost every day that we got together, since we had presentations in almost every class to prepare. This semester is a little different since we are all doing different tracks.

Last night I met with my Management group to discuss a case and put together a 2 page summary that is due Wednesday. This afternoon, I met for a few minutes with my Marketing Research group to discuss our survey questions that are due on Thursday. We are going to work on it individually, and hopefully come together tomorrow to finalize our first draft of questions. We also have an accounting assignment that is due tomorrow, which we have broken the assignment into parts that everyone is supposed to work on and we will put it together tonight. Phew, after all this group work I am going to be ready for the weekend, which starts Thursday!

What a weekend it will be, too! I have a big weekend trip planned to go to VEGAS! I am so excited and I can't wait! I am going with 7 of my cousins on my mom's side(all girls from 21 to 28). We have tickets to see "O" which I am SO excited about! I just need to stay focused to get all my stuff done for class, and then Thursday afternoon, I can forget about school for a few days for a much needed break! :)

Worn out by Wednesday

2009-09-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already Wednesday. This week has flown by because we have been so busy. The networking social went really well Monday night. Since I did not have an internship this summer and did not have a poster to present, I was able to walk around and talk to a few prospective students. I really enjoyed talking to them and answering questions they had about the program. There were also some employers there, which I was able to talk with as well. Yesterday, we had the career fair, which went pretty well. I gave my resume to 5 companies, and I have applied for a few different jobs online.

A few of my classmates and myself were talking about how the past few days has really worn us out. On top of class, the networking social, and the career fair, we have had to squeeze in a retail seminar on Monday and real time economics course with Dr. Kali. Both of these courses go toward our Professional Development hours we are required to complete each semester. We must have 48 hours by May 2010. I completed 16 hours last semester, and I believe I will complete 24 hours this semester. As well as Professional Development hours, we are also required to have 10 speaker series credits. Last semester, I received 2 credits. The Walton College has several speaker events each month, so I will have no problem getting several credits this semester.

So after we get done with all the stuff above, we have to manage time to fit in working at our Graduate Assistantships and study. Something else that I have been involved in the past 8 weeks is called NWA bootcamp. Some of my classmates think I am crazy for this because it involves me waking up at 4:30AM every morning. I got involved with it over the summer, and I have really enjoyed it. It is an intense hour long workout with a group of 30 women and 2 trainers. We do everything from running, drills, free weight exercises, and ab workouts. Each session is 4 weeks long. Tomorrow will be my last day of the second session. 8 weeks of waking up at 4:30 has definitely taken a toll on me. I thought about doing the camp for another 4 weeks, but I think my body needs a break. It makes for a long day when I am up till 2AM working on homework, then getting up 2 and 1/2 hours later to workout. I am looking forward to a day of rest this afternoon! Happy Wednesday!

These next few weeks!

2009-09-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, my fellow classmates who had internships this summer, gave presentations over what they did during their summer internships. Myself, and 3 other students, did not participate in these presentations since we chose to study abroad. I am disappointed that I did not get to participate in this competition, but I am still able to go to the networking event that will be held Monday, September 14th, where one of 6 finalists will be announced as the winner.

The following day, Tuesday, September 15th, I will attend the career fair here that is held in Walker Hall. I am looking forward to this because now is the time we should be looking for jobs to begin after we graduate in May. There are several companies attending the career fair that I am interested in talking to, so I will be doing some research this weekend to see what available positions they have right now.

Today I have a mock interview with the Career Center. The Career Center sets these up for us so we can practice our interview skills with actual employers from various companies. Hopefully this will benefit me, and teach me what I need to improve on during interviews.

This week has gone by so fast since it is only a 3 day class week! After class tomorrow, I am going to head home to see my family. Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so Happy Birthday Mom! She spent her birthday taking care of my 10 month old (twins!) niece and nephew, because they were sick and couldn't go to daycare. I am looking forward to going home and spending some time with my family. I have quite a bit of work to catch up on in my classes, so I figure I will be working on a couple papers and doing lots of reading!

Go Hogs!

2009-08-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

So, week 1 is done and week 2 is halfway there. So far so good. I am really enjoying all of my classes, and I think it is going to be a pretty good year. It is hard to stay focused this week because all I can think about is this weekend, since it is the beginning of FOOTBALL SEASON! The Hogs play in Little Rock this weekend against Missouri State. There are quite a few of us making the trip down to tailgate and cheer on the hogs. University of Arkansas students have it made when it comes to football tickets. We are able to get tickets to all the Razorback home games (Fayetteville and Little Rock) for $1 each. It is a pretty nice deal, which I hope all students take advantage of this while they can.

One more thing about me, which you probably can tell by this blog, is that I am a HUGE Razorback fan. I love going to all the games, football, basketball, baseball. So, I will probably talk about them quite a bit, and give you my opinion on why I think the SEC and Razorbacks are near and dear to my heart. :) Go Hogs!

First Things First!

2009-03-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey and welcome to my blog! First things first, let me tell you a little bit about myself...

My name is Jessica Maland and I am 23 years old. I grew up in Harrison, Arkansas, 75 miles NE of Fayetteville. I graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in General Business and a minor in Marketing. I transferred to the University of Arkansas after completing 2 years at the University of Central Arkansas, in Conway, AR. I originally went to UCA on an athletic scholarship, but later decided that I didn't have enough passion for softball anymore, with the amount of time and effort it required. So, I made the decision to transfer to the University my Junior year, and I have loved it here in Fayetteville ever since! I would consider myself a very outgoing person. I love to be outdoors and spend time with my friends and family.

So, enough about me. Today was the first day back to class! It is hard to believe that the summer is over, and my second semester in the MBA program has begun. Feels like just yesterday I was meeting my fellow classmates through orientation.

This summer we had the choice to study abroad or do an internship. My original plan was to do both, but unfortunately it did not work out that way. I studied abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for 4 weeks(which I will talk about in later blogs...only thing i will say now about it is that it was AMAZING). I planned on doing an internship when I returned in mid June, but was unable to find one that would let me start that late.

Day 1 of semester 2 is complete, which was my Management and Accounting classes, that seem to be pretty interesting. Tomorrow I will have my Marketing classes: Consumer & Market Research and Shopper Buyer Behavior. I am looking forward to a great 2nd semester and sharing it with you all!