What I Learned in Grad School

The program may be over, but the lessons stay with you forever.

1. At 42, I discovered that accounting was based on credits and debits. Who knew?
2. Cliques are still rampant as hell. You find your academic soulmates within 2 days.
   
3. Professors LOVE to have you read their text books. Hell, at $99 a pop, it probably pays better than teaching the 4-week class.
4. Half.com can then sell that same book and recoup almost 45% the original value.
5. Finance is one of the most complicated aspects of business. But if you master it, you're golden.
6. I still have no short-term memory. I mean the moment I would open a book...wait, what number are we on?
7. Michael Porter is considered the God of MBA programs. He made my life a living hell.
   
8. Every class still has a prom queen and a dork.
9. The professors who teach the more obscure classes (cough, cough...ethics) are usually the most adamant about how valuable their subjects are to the business community. Clearly the scholastic Napoleon complex.
10. Executive-level programs, no matter how much more money they cost, are worth every penny to have your books handed to you and never step one foot into the bookstore.
11. My student ID gets me discounts at movie theaters. So by going to 35,000 movies I should make a profit from this education.
    
12. When going to Vietnam, buy more things, even if you think you don't need them. Spa treatments are also less than half the price than in the states.
13. Having laptops with Internet connection in classrooms is probably the single biggest mistake in the educational system.
    
14. Working in teams sounds like it will be less work...it isn't; it's usually worse.
15. Making yourself just one little bit smarter, is the best thing you can ever do.