Downhill slide of day 2 - MMBA Orientation

Day 2 of Walton MMBA Orientation is nearly over. Once today is over, the halfway point is reached of this 4 day extravaganza - 2 days down, 2 to go. Deb (my colleague who handles student services - I do admissions and then she takes care of our students once admitted) works really hard on our Orientations. If I do say so myself, we do a mighty fine job - our evaluations back me up. Several students made a point of letting me know today how impressed they have been by this experience thus far and how excited they are about the program. As was mentioned yesterday, these are highly successful professionals, many of whom are working for Fortune 500 companies.

Here is how their day looked:
7:30 - breakfast
8:00 - class lecture (remember, they are earning 2 credit hours during these 4 days)
10:00 - break
10:15 - Career Development Center
10:45 - introduction of 1st semester classes and instructors
11:30 - walk to Union for lunch and photo ID's
1:00 - class lecture
3:00 - break
3:15 - teambuilding and project overview
5:00 - 7:00 - Class Social - a networking event for students, faculty, and staff (chance to mingle and socialize outside of the classroom - lots of good food and company)

A word about our Career Development Center (CDC) - this fantastic resource is located in our building. Their services are provided automatically to all of our full-time students. The Walton CDC works very hard to assist our full-time students in finding internships and job placement after graduation. Their services are not incorporated into the part-time MBA program because all of these students are currently employed. We do not want to risk the positive relationships we have with our local corporate partners and many employers are offering tuition assistance to their employees who are participating in this program. It would not speak well of us if we recruited their employees into our program and then helped them to get another job.

However, that being said, our part-time students can seek their services on their own. Many are not receiving assistance from their employer and several may be seeking other options. I cannot say enough about our CDC. They work very hard and take great personal satisfaction and pleasure in assisting our students in securing placement, finding that "great job." We are a small College so whether it's the GSB or the CDC, personal relationships are formed and our students are important to us.

I will be here tomorrow so tune back in for another summary of MMBA Orientation.