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our b-school grades for quantitative subjects were released last friday. for our program, we are required to pass 25% of our quanti grades. So out of 17 units, we must not fail in 3.75 units; although we are still taking up the remaining 3 units of the total. i was fortunate enough to fail in 2 units, in Language of Business (LOB). so I still need to pass Financial Management 2 to seal my quanti subjects for the first year. some of my friends, weren't so fortunate thought. 4 Filipinos were advised that they cannot anymore proceed to 2nd year, but they can stay to complete the 8th month since they are already paid for.
its ironic how one of Asia's premiere business school has undertaken its MBA 16-month program in a moderately unstructured fashion. the delivery of the program is questionable. a lot of emphasis was veered towards speeding up the process but retention or inculcation of the learnings was given secondary though, based on my opinion. since the start of the program, there were already a mismatch of the student's progress and speed of delivery of the courses. eventually the courses were slowed down for us students to breath but the feedback process was terrible. wash grades were incomplete and teacher feedback did not mirror an exact picture of how student's were faring in class. moreover, some students say some mentors aren't much help to them. the previous batch who were still under the 2-year mba program had an allowable failure rate of 11 units. i think AIM restructured the program to weed out mba's who weren't good enough, but then its not enough to be stricter on rules, without restructuring the teaching and feedback program.
i feel the program could have been rolled out better. i hope the administration acknowledges their shortcoming and work better with the students if they still want to regain being the number one b-school for Asia. i wish goog luck to my friends an to myself who still need to pass FM2 to proceed to second year.
i'm going to hold my dance walkabout tomorrow : Social Dancing 101, the idiots guide to dancing chachacha, tango and swing. i didn't put the 'idiots guide' in the poster though. :D
I was supposed to climb Mt. Banahaw covertly. yes covertly. when I ventured into Brgy. Kinabuhayan Dolores, I met with my guide and we were instructed to go pass by the Barangay Hall to register our climb. Unfortunately, we were instructed to hire a Barangay Tanod to accompany us at my expense. And the only available place would be Tatlong Tangke, a short hiking trip far away from the peak -- a walk in the park. I was asked if I had secured a DENR permit to forego the Tanod from accompanying us and to be given the go signal to climp up to the peak (Durungawan area)... and so I traveled from Kinabuhayan Dolores to Tayabas and then to Pagbilao, wasting around two hours looking for that permit. I was able to pinpoint where to find that permit, it was only 10 minutes away from Brgy Kinabuhayan. At the end of the day, after carrying my hiking pack I was dead tired. The next day I was supposed to go back to Kinabuhayan to secure that permit. It was too much strain on me physically.
Thus today I officially end my Banahaw Walkabout plans. Although if you look at it, the setbacks are exactly what the risks are. But I'll concede this battle to fight another tomorrow.
I'm thinking about taking pictures of Manila's destitute population... at night. I don't really need to go that far. Makati has its share of that populace. Too much hypocrisy with the high-rise buildings around the Glorietta area. Alternatively, I'm thinking about a 'corporate' social dancing DANCEabout.
the recent weeks have been plagued with scandals. this country basically eats scandals for breakfast. and im sick of it.
B-school on the other hand is too fast.. or perhaps i'm getting slower. too many deadlines have gone by and i've forgotten about this blog. anyways, im looking forward to our one week break next week. i'm doing my walkabout trip to Banahaw... yes its pushing through. i've contacted someone to guide me through the mountain covertly. but i'm going there alone. im not sharing the risk of going there. furthermore, from a project management perspective, everything falls into place. from the setbacks to the opportunities, the consequences and risk factor... that's why i must go... and find the mystic in me. there are reports of NPA activity though. That doesn't really concern me as a civilian. there are lots of people from the University of the Philippines who have gone to the mountains in protest of the government. And these are people who have first-class college education. I am not an enemy thus I do not feel any conflict with them or with any of their beliefs. I'm still trying to clear the plans with the contact... so for now, they are but plans....
my walkabout just flew away!
in 2 weeks we will be having our first B-school break for this year. and in 2 weeks i'm supposed to lead a team to scale Mt. Banahaw-- considered a holy mountain where mystics, cultists and mountain hikers frequently scale to meditate and commune with nature. Alas, I guess I didn't do my homework that early. Mt. Banahaw is closed to the public up to next year. Apparently they closed it because a lot of visitors were polluting the area. And so with 2 weeks notice, I am left without any walkabout.
B-school has been uneventful except for deadlines. It seems our WAC adventures have stopped. It seems that unofficially we only have 12 WAC cases instead of the planned 16. I actually love the challenge posed by WAC, but then again there is too little time left for the weekend to de-stress so we may start fresh the next week. The past few weeks has been like a train ride to wherever. So many stuff to read. Wednesdays feel like Mondays and Fridays like Sundays.
And so back to my Walkabout. I'm not looking forward to doing a Ballroom Dancing Workshop. For me its too boring. But I may be looking at it from a different viewpoint. We'll see...
it seems my jan 8 post didnt' push through. anyways, i learned something about project management today. i had planned a ballroom dancing activity here in AIM and I had the go signal from the Student Council and the SSAR (i think it mean student s... for academic relations :-D). According to my contact in the SSAR, they would be the ones reserving the SGV Conference hall II for today's activity. unfortunately, perhaps due to oversight it was not reserved. But still it was fine, the guards say nobody was reserved for today. But when I went there there was this leadership seminar. The guards asked why there was this seminar without any reservations. Apparently that seminar was not finished yesterday and they had the room reserved also for today. I could have contested the issue but I had no official papers to show that I was reserved since I was assured that they would be the ones reserving the venue. But I'm not pointing fingers here. I actually find the event fruitful for me.
Back in the University of the Philippines, when we used to have dance workshops, we put up flyers for marketing and we were assured there were participants. Sort of like "If you build it, they will come." Here at AIM, marketing it isn't that easy. I sent an email to the whole batch of students and there were a few responses. There were actually a bunch of batch mates who personally told me that they will go. But as I went about calling people in their rooms to inform them that the workshop is canceled, most of them were asleep. I guess I tailored the sunday schedule to fit my schedule. I thought of doing it on a Sunday afternoon but I assumed that most people like me would be studying their case packs. Moreover, our Saturday schedules were usually spent sleeping after a WAC.
I also learned that marketing ballroom dancing which for most students here is a new thing would be quite difficult. First they do not know the current rates outside, which is pretty much twice the cost I was charging, and about 3 times more dances. Second, as students, there was a price range which they were working with. Since most of us here at AIM are studying full time, we also are working with budgets. I guessed I had an overlooked the issue since I had a different market segment in the first place. My primary market segment was the younger students whom I see always going out and dining in these expensive places. There was no secondary market identified. Plus, I did not take into consideration that most of the students are busy studying, thus they just brushed off the ballroom dancing invitation.
I learned that there are people willing to help you. But they also have jobs to do and as such they can't accommodate you even with that sincere smile and the kind words. But I don't take it against them. In the end, I should be ready, end-to-end.
I've started a new walkabout project. I'm organizing a team to scale Mt. Banahaw in Quezon. I guess what I've learned can help me prepare for this. Mt. Banahaw is one of those places where there is a lot of psychic energy. This is perhaps due to the effects of volcanic activity since it is a dormant volcano. Furthermore there is a lot of myths about the place. I hope to bring a group to that place called the 'twilight zone' where all the electromagnetic forces converge.
I have started jogging in preparation for the walkabout and also for my health. So far I've been getting my old jogging pace. I've started with slow jog but the impact is a bit heavy on my feet although, it builds up on my stamina. Also, I promised to run the marathon walkabout of my friend, so that would be my first official marathon.
There has been talk about giving the wash grades or temporary grades for the 1st year of MBA. I'm a little bit concerned because there is no immediate feedback for those classes which have ended about 2 months ago. There is only a maximum of 25% quantitative/qualitative subject which you can fail. And I feel that I haven't been very good in my quantitative subject. I cant exactly point to the exact issues why I'm having a hard time on these quantitative subjects. I am alright with algebra and calculus but finance and accounting seems very alien to me. :-)
it's my first day for the christmas break and it seems rather lonely than happy. i spent most of the day sleeping and planning what to do for the next three weeks. my main problem now is looking into what my Walkabout would be. it is a requirement for my HBO course and i'm at a loss on the possible projects to take. there are a lot of possible projects to make just for the sake of passing. i'm looking for something that is new to me, something challenging -- perhaps out of this world.
i'm looking forward to going home this xmas. i havent spent much time in the province (live a week) in 4 years. although im not looking forward to our high school reunion. most of my friend aren't gonna be there anyways. plus i'm gonna need to review finance if i plan to pass the next 12 months of b-school. i do hope i can go on a land trip going home, from manila to mindoro to cebu then to iligan. i can go through a roll-on roll-off barge then go around in buses and boats.
i've been quite busy. lots of things have happened. my recurring tonsilitis (i'm gonna have my tonsils removed soon, i hope). WACs... i realize Managing Costs and Profits can be VERY ambiguous. the AIM xmas party... it was fun but i invited my girlfriend to the party so i
ended up bringing her home instead of getting drunk but i've gotten over drinking a long time ago. smoking... i havent gone more than 6 sticks a day... that's a BIG improvement for me. my ibook seems to be slowing down more and more. i think i may need to optimize my hard disk utilization. xmas shopping... there's a lot of sale going on but im a wantin-and-savin my money from work. i'll be workless for a year more and i don't have any backup dough. although i'm gonna buy my kid an nba jersey from greenhills. it would be nice for him because he runs and run around... oh well, they say its the 'terrible two' stage. i just got my texas instruments financial calculator, it doesn't look well. but the warrior is gauged by the way he uses his weapon and not how fancy it is. i've been jogging for over a week now. around an hour everyday, rain or shine. i hope this continues. i need physical training, the mental part is already excruciating :D
i was contemplating last week for my HBO walkabout wherein we undertake a self-made process which has managerial, instructive, unfamiliar, experiential, challenging and risky qualities. but the important thing is that i get to learn something based on those qualities. or it may be based on some objectives i set beforehand. the guide basically asks me my strengths and the gaps or weaknesses. and there goes my problems what are my strengths? and weaknesses?
i have 2 more exams coming. one in finance and one in operations management. then there is that QA project. my only concern so far is finance. i was looking into amazon.com for the Bluffer's Guide to Finance and it was pretty cheap except for the shipping part. now i have to study my financial ratios...
