It’s official: We have survived our first semester of grad school. We’ve been out of class for almost a week now, but I wanted to make sure I passed econ before I started talking about survival. (I did.)
It’s amazing how quickly you can get back into the swing of things. (At least, I hope it’s as quick in reverse come January.) Not even a week later, classes and studying and group meetings seem like a distant memory. But it’s not going to stay that way.
We have a long break, thankfully; it’s about four and a half weeks in-between sessions. It’s definitely time to live it up now — it’s the longest period of time we’ll have off until we finish the program in August 2009. Next year, our December break is only three weeks, so I’m grateful for the extra week this year.
And the break comes at a good time. We’re far enough into the program to know what to expect — officially one-seventh of the way through! And if you ask me, we’ve been in just long enough to need the break. We’re getting use to the demands of the program but not enough to have all the studying and writing come as second nature.
And we’ve got plenty to do to keep us busy. By the time classes begin again on January 7, we’re supposed to have more than 100 pages read as well as some group homework for Economics 2 due on the first day. (Nope, I’m not free from econ yet.)
Of course, 100 pages isn’t a lot when you spread it across four weeks. And yet, I can pretty much promise you that I’ll be reading it the weekend before classes start. It’s a long break, but it’s a busy time of year. And there’s everything else I’ve let slip since school started — going to the gym, cleaning the house, seeing my friends.
Then again, it’s a good chance to start ramping up for the coming year when our breaks will be few and far between — and maybe a good time to start honing my speed-reading skills.
If you’re in an MBA program, how much time do you get off for the holidays? How much work do you have to do before classes start up again? When do you think you’ll get it done — will you work on it throughout the break or wait until the last minute like me?
