LAUNCH - LSU Flores MBA Program Orientation

August 16th - August 20th 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, was our orientation into the MBA Program. People call it the "Boot Camp" because of the hectic schedule we have.

Since it was 1st day as an MBA student, I was very excited yet sleepy ( as usual) wore a formal attire and asked pri to take a snap of mine. The session on 1st day mainly comprised about Program Overview by Ed. Watson (Director) and Dana ( Asst. Director), we then had presentation about different associations we can be members of and increase our networking from day 1 here. Post lunch we were having Statics workshop and man!!!! Probability , Permutation & Combinations again!!! NO WAYS...Till today I have always managed to skip this all together for all my exams...and guess what this time there is no way around!!!

The actual course will also be handled by Mr Chun who is taking our workshop and yeah he is a very interesting professor to have. Has excellent presentations, shows us how we can do anything and everything with excel and help us get addicted to Calculators.

Day 2, began with the workshop again and from being confused last day, I was lost totally!!! After a good pizza lunch, we had team building activities. Nothing great, the same old stuffs about team work, leadership etc but I felt it was much better than the workshop nevertheless:-)

Day 3 was interesting, since it was for the nth time people told us how our profile on Facebook (FB), help us loose a job. Here in US it is almost certain that FB is one resource through which people do a back ground check on your "Personality" ; which is measured at the highest level in the Business World we all intend to be a part of. This was followed by Hands on in SMART LAB; it is a room just replicating any stock exchange market. We have many computers, hardware and software that aid us perform real time buying/ selling of stocks. Two huge monitors like score cards indicating the stock market values of all the companies here in America. Amongst all the stuffs this week, though I didn't understand much of it, I enjoyed the SMART LAB Hands on the most!!! :-)

Day 4 began with a very disappointing lecture on "Leadership Skills" :-(. After this we had a company visit to "Grocers"; a local Retail Grocery Store . But unfortunately I missed it because I had to go to check on my fee bill for this semester. The people who went got a lovely blanket which I missed the most :-(. This was followed by the workshop which now was a sleeping class for me. But to my surprise "Personal Branding" session was just amazing!!!!! I had to use the rest room the moment the guy entered the hall, but I got so engrossed in what he was saying that I had to wait for 2.5 hours to go to the rest room. I didn't want to miss a single thing he told us!!!! I just hope he teaches at least one course for us!!!

The very same day, we had a Formal Dinner with classmates, faculty, professors, 2nd year MBA students and alumni :-D. It was 100% business formal attire dress code and was held it one of the most posh places at Baton Rouge called "Jubans". We had to take our profile pictures, then open bar with various cocktails, mocktails and cool drinks were served. After socializing with a few people, we sat in a round table for 8 for dinner. Since I am a veggie; I had a Lettuce Salad, Ice tea, Some boiled vegetables with vermi-celli, a nice desert ending with hot coffee :-)

In US, the basic ingredient is Cheese, Salt, Pepper :-P so I had not expected much from this dinner anyways ;-). And once the dinner was over, many moved for the actual "PARTY", I was also invited but I declined sweetly!!!

Day 5 started late , because of the last days party. We has a seminar on work ethics; Honesty, Integrity etc etc nothing new, but with examples of how your career may be doomed if you don't follow them, The name of the Session "How to Loose your JOB". Post lunch we had session on "Entrepreneurship" ; how a fresh MBA graduate will be aided by the LSU to start up his/ her business and some success stories till date. Here we were coming to an end of the "LAUNCH" and what a better way to end it!!! Close to 12 ex-MBA students from LSU were invited and we had a panel session!!! I enjoyed being a part of it and gathered a lot of information about them and their success stories. Lucky us, for the last presentation the monitor was under repair so we were let go early!!! Yeppy (again).

I came home and told pri, its like I have done an "MBA" going through this rigorous hectic week!!! ;-) she just smiled (grinned) ;-)

P.S :

1. On All days lunch was served by the college.

2. We got a Calculator, A Book, An ID Tag, A Leather File with a polo neck LSU T-Shirt.

3. Coffee, Cool-Drinks, Snacks were available through the day for us as well :-D

So at the end of this week, after attending session and workshops on major specializations, I realized what is exactly my stream of interest in MBA. Will discuss this further with my career guide before I post it ;-)

Photos Description:

1. The one with the Purple T-Shirt is our Flores MBA T-Shirt, we need to wear it for all our company visits.

2. Me with the suit , is what I wore for the Formal Dinner.

3. Me with bushy hair and all smiles is how I looked on the 1st day of MBA Launch