George Washington University

On Thursday I had my very last MBA class. I personally count it as the official end of my MBA program at GWSB. Of course, I still do not have grades for any of my classes, I still have commencement ceremonies and celebrations, and I still will have to wait 6-8 weeks to actually receive my diploma. But all those events are more of ancillary or arbitrary nature – I know that I have passing grades in all my classes, the commencement dates are just arbitrarily picked and tied to the tradition and fit for the University schedule, and arrival of diploma two months later is just an evidence of inefficient bureaucratic processes.

As a matter of fact, true to the traditions of my country of origin, it’s even better to have all those additional extended dates incrementally marking my MBA winding down – more excuses for celebrations and libations . But the last class is the last class – very real, specific point in time that cannot be negotiated. When professor in Strategy class released us, that was it: The End of MBA.

I was thinking for some “creative” titles for this post to commemorate such a remarkable event that ended a total of almost four years (if I count from the day when I took my TOEFL and started preparation for GMAT) of a very intense period of my life. All I was able to come up with for the title was so cliche and cheesy: “MBA – Mission Accomplished”, “MBA Complete – That’s the End of the World as I know It”, “MBA – Life Reloaded”, etc. You get the picture. I got tired of this nonsense, and this is how I ended up with the title you see.

Even though the last class is the most real mark of the end of the MBA program for me, I do not have the same level of exaltation as I used to have at some other points during my MBA. You can read my post from the last year with some reflections on that matter – Hooray MBA – Summer Break!. I am very excited, but as I mentioned in my previous post, it’s a bittersweet feeling.

On one hand, not having to spend weekends and long nights on the homework is a nice relief, because now I can “have my life back”, as one fellow MBA student put it. On the other hand, there is some sense of a loss of purpose. There is also a sad feeling that I will not have as many opportunities to meet with my classmates, who, as turns out, usually between the second and the third glass of beer and extended conversation, have some great and unique stories to share.

As a wise man said,”it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts”. And for me that MBA journey is (almost) over. I would not discount the destination, having the MBA degree,  altogether, because I believe it is just a start for a new journey, and new adventures and experiences. And still this MBA leg of the journey is over. OK, I could go endlessly in this circle of excitement and pity. Enough of that.

Looking forward, I am still planning to be hanging around on this blog for a while. I will probably reflect on the Commencement events, I want to add a couple of posts about my France Study abroad, I am committed to putting up all the remaining write ups for Business School MBA Cases, I will finalize the  Best MBA Textbooks section. So there is no goodby from me yet, even if you already got tired of my MBA ramblings .

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