We had planned to send The Boy off for the winter session, but it's a really, really big deal around here to get a 13-year-old in. The Dean has to give personal permission, papers must be signed, oaths sworn, etc. This all magically vanishes at 14.
Bureaucracy is a wondrous thing.
Not complaining, mind you: There's still plenty 'round here to teach him.
Anyway, The Boy is at his first class today. Summer session is a dicey time to start. Classes are relatively intense (two hours a day, every day) and, of course, you have the "teacher factor" magnified. An easy teacher is probably going to be extra easy in the summer, while a harder teacher is going to concentrate all the work he'd normally give into half the time.
He wanted to take a business or economics class--he's got his eye on an MBA before 20--but they were full. I suggested the cinema class. I figure that it will be interesting, and I hope not to grueling--but it will get him used to being on campus. (And get him some legit university credits.)
Update to come shortly.
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Laudable goal, MBA before 20, though no matter how impressive the credentials, employers might be reluctant to give him a position and salary commensurate with his degree.
ReplyDeleteI preferred the pace of summer sessions, especially for language classes. Even at the university level, most instruction is set at a leisurely pace, so if you're only focusing on one or two classes at most, summer is great.
(at least in my experience, with the exception being a 7-9:30AM Calculus course, and that might have had more to do with habitually not getting to bed early enough, plus a droning instructor)
Actually, he's not all that interested in being an employee. He wants to be an employer.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point about language classes. Five weeks concentrated probably beats 15 leisurely.
7AM classes? Oh, no. I did that in high school so I could go home at noon. When college rolled around, it was 9AM. I took classes at 9, 10, 11 and 12. I was never much for gaps in the schedule. And it felt like a picnic.
I was in school for so long, though, and I was so glad to get out, I never thought I'd feel any nostalgia going back.
Don't mean to be flip, but I'm not sure that spending the time and money to get an MBA is worth it if your intention is to be a business owner. Unless part of your business is marketing yourself to others, credentials don't really matter much (except in the raising capital phase of a business plan).
ReplyDeleteWould not concur with the intensive language thing. Took 12 hours of Arabic at Georgetown one summer. Three hours of class everyday with six hours of homework. Extremely hard to usefully assimilate a language at that rate.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if it had been less than 12 hours...
Glenn and Helen had an interesting podcast with a guy sort of on this subject. Sounds like you're way ahead of him! link.
ReplyDeleteOh! And as I originally intended to comment: That's wonderful! I bet he'll really enjoy it. Good for him.
ReplyDeleteXWL--
ReplyDeleteI think that's probably true. And he'll learn a lot more about business from other real-life and academic sources.
The "MBA at 19" thing is just a game. A lot will happen in the next few years to change his perspective on whether it's an important one.
Freem--
ReplyDeleteMaybe if it had been less than 12 hours...
Or 24 hours.
Six hours of "homework" sounds iffy to me. Six hours of interacting with native speakers, on the other hand...
Knox,
ReplyDeletePost-worthy link, thanks!
No prob, I wish they were still doing the podcasts. They really had a pretty good and interesting variety of topics, and I came across some good books that way.
ReplyDelete