MBA and Motherhood

Although my blog is not necessarily directed at women, I am posting this link to an article I saw in Business Week today. It talks about female MBA graduates that decide to become stay-at-home moms after a few years into their career.

The article is interesting, but I think it could use a little bit more research. I do not think you need an MBA, a PhD, a JD, or MD degree to decide to stay home. I think women choose motherhood over career regardless of their education. I also do not think that it is easier for MBA moms to stay home because they spent less money on their education than a JD, or MD mom. Also, the article does not say how many MBA moms work part-time or have their own business at home.

At the end of the day, I believe that the problem is not that MBA moms want to stay at home. The problem is that businesses are not very flexible or family-friendly. If they were, I am sure more MBA moms would opt to keep working. Plus it would be a better business practice. A family-friendly, flexible environment would keep the employees - male and female - happy, and more productive.

The U.S. seems to be more reluctant to change in this respect. Many European countries allow one of the parents to take two or three years off, and the government pays them either a fixed salary or a percentage of their most recent salary. Even so, a lot of parents decide to keep their jobs and either hire a nanny or have a member of the family take care of the children. But at least the options are there.

I hope that by the time I decide to have children, I am going to be working for a company that will offer some options. Right now, I do not think I want to be a stay-at-home mom, but I still want to be there for my baby as much as possible. There are so many firsts in a baby's life, and I do not want to miss them. So flexibility is definitely something I would look for in a company. Anything is possible, you just have to be open to it.

Orientation Week

I wrote and re-wrote this entry many, many times in my head. It has been a very eventful week, so there are a lot of things to talk about. I will take the chronological approach, so that you can get the most of this account.

Sunday, August 17th, was the first day of orientation. There were about 200 of us, nervous and overwhelmed to see so many new faces, but very excited to meet everybody. It helped a lot that a few days before, the campus organized an informal welcome reception giving us a head start in getting to know one another. Now, a bit less intimidated, we proceeded to take pictures, get our ID’s, take some more pictures, and talk some more.

Monday was the day that most of us headed to Calamigos Ranch for a retreat and for our first class in Organizational Behavior. It was a very interesting experience, but also very draining. We spent the next couple of days talking, networking, bonding, sharing a lot of emotional stories and space, and also some umm... brewing, sugary… water!? I swear there was some water in that!

Although very tiring, Calamigos gave us the opportunity to meet a looot of interesting people from all over the world. We definitely heard some amazing, eye-opening stories. I wish I could repeat them here, but for obvious reasons, I cannot. I just remember thinking: “Wow! Do these things really happen now in the 21st century?” It made me realize that we talk about globalization as an economic advantage, but we are more often than not clueless about what is really going on in the world.

Thursday was a full day of career workshops. I personally love that Pepperdine, and the Graziadio School in particular, puts so much effort into offering career resources. The sessions were very insightful and helpful, and I was pleased to see that some of the guests were actually MBA alumni. As Pepperdine graduates, we might not have the same career-launching platform as students attending big school names, but we do have the biggest alumni network in California. And sometimes, in business, and especially in LA ☺, it is not about what you know, it is who you know.

Hope of Deliverance

I have to say I am really impressed with Pepperdine. I got my class and orientation schedules at least a month ago. I have been receiving lots of e-mails from staff and faculty about orientation, classes, career services, financial aid, etc. I have even been assigned a mentor and received e-mails from her. At this point, I think I know everything I need to know to start my program.

It seems though that not all schools do the same. A friend of mine - who was accepted into a graduate program at another private university in Los Angeles - was very concerned because she is starting school in a week and has still not received further information. Her program, she said, seemed so disorganized that she was not even sure if there was anybody else attending it. She was obviously exaggerating a bit, but I could relate to her story to a certain extent.

Last year, I applied to that school’s MBA program. I knew that the program - though a very good and competitive one - was not a good fit for me, but like everyone else, I thought I needed a back-up school. I got all my documents together and sent in my application. Surprise! To this day, I have not heard back from them one way or the other. To their defense, they did contact me once to ask for my original transcripts. When I called to follow up, I was told that they received everything, and that if there was anything missing they would call me. I have not heard from them since, nor did I call back again.

The point of this story is that I know my case and my friend’s are not unique. I have heard similar stories from other people as well. Some found out they were accepted three weeks before their program started, some had to call the school to find out that indeed they were accepted, but were never sent a letter. To me, that is just bad customer service. And it is really sad to see that a reputable university with great programs is sabotaging itself. I was told that this happens because of the very high number of applications. From a business standpoint, I do not see how that could be an acceptable explanation. If you, as an organization, promise something, you have to deliver. If you cannot, then let your customers know! I am happy to see that so far Pepperdine is not only great at marketing, but also at delivering on its word.

Orientation starts tomorrow! Brace yourself for my next entry! ☺

The End and the Beginning

I am writing this entry at my desk in our beautiful new apartment. Yes, we finally moved. It only took 12 hours yesterday to move everything, but we are more or less settled in now.

I cannot believe though how quiet and spacious this neighborhood is. Just like any other person living in L.A., I have a love-hate relationship with the city. I love the diversity, but I do not like the self-absorbed and sometimes biased people. I love driving, but I hate the traffic. Here, people smile and seem genuinely interested in the conversation you are having. I was eating some zucchini fritti today and somebody came over and asked me if I ever tried that with ranch. She loved it and wanted me to try it as well. She would never go back to marinara, she added. I was very pleasantly surprised by both the lady and the zucchini-ranch combination. So far, I love this place.

Friday turned out to be a very emotional and surprising day. It was my last day at work, and although I knew people saw me as a fun but fair boss and co-worker, I did not expect them to actually be sorry to see me leave. They went all out, got me a cake, a laptop bag all decked out with everything I need for school, including an organizer with everybody’s contact information so that I “have to keep in touch”. Also – and this was the cherry on top – they gave me a photo album with everybody’s picture, pictures from different events we organized and went to, as well as pictures of some of our students. I was so touched! I admit, I even teared up.

It is strange how life works. The end to something means the beginning of something else, pain becomes joy, and the unknown can become very exciting. I am usually very nervous at the end of a journey, because I do not know what to expect. For the first time, I am not really sure what lies before me, but I cannot wait to find out. It is a good kind of anxiety. I am ready to find out where this journey takes me. And it all begins in a few days!

Stress code: yellow

I guess the first day of school is fast approaching because I’m getting more and more e-mails from school and lists are piling up on my desk.

The other day I received my first message from one of my professors. Yes, it was in English, but I didn’t understand half the things he was talking about. What is “Bb”, what is “e-Reserves”, what book, and my questions continued. I read the message after a crazy day at work, I was hungry, and already anticipating packing, doing some more stats, and reading more pages from the book I was assigned for orientation. I didn’t need more work! Not yet! I’m sure I’ll have enough work once school starts.

I felt so overwhelmed. I stood up, fed my growling stomach, and then went back to my computer. Let there be light! And there was! I realized Bb referred to the Blackboard feature that I never used (until then), and the e-Reserves referred to a link where I could find the readings for the first day of class.

Well, food was not the key to deciphering the message, but taking a break definitely helped. I realized then how easy it is to feel overwhelmed now in the middle of all these changes (new school, new apartment, new neighborhood, new colleagues, new everything). Things should quiet down though for the next couple of weeks. It’s my last week at work, then I have a week off, and then it’s orientation week. I’m really excited to meet everybody, so I’m counting down the days!