The Beginning of the End

Next week is Welcome Weekend for Tepper. I've been trying to coordinate flights, hotels, a list of places to inspect (since we'll be house hunting a couple of days prior), and book a car. For some reason, car prices are sky high. I was puzzled about this greatly, until I did a little snooping and it appears that at the same time as Welcome Weekend is the Alumni Weekend.

I tend to hoard onto my vacation days at work. The U.S. is very stingy with their time off - I only get 10 days a year. But, necessity says that I need to take off the Wednesday-Friday of next week, much to the reluctant chagrin of my boss.

Unlike most applicants, my workplace knew I was applying to business school and therefore knew that I got accepted when I did. My former boss is a Harvard graduate and thought my going to business school was a great idea. He even wrote one of my recommendations. Then, at the beginning of this year, I got promoted and moved into another position to support a new business that was being spun off. My boss there is also an MBA grad from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and he was likewise as supportive. In fact, he was a little wistful at times because he loved his time in the program and reminiscing over those times got him a little teary-eyed. And what's great is that the VP-level of management that know me are also aware and supportive - a little sad that I'm going, but they know it's a great opportunity.

I've felt very comfortable asking for time off for these events such as Welcome Weekend and the upcoming Forte Conference in June; I've also got final the last day of work - July 1. Right before the Independence Day weekend.

Where Everybody Knew My Name

There is a Facebook group set up for Admitted Students of which I joined just last night. It's amazing all the people on there. Everything I fell in love with Tepper for - the friendliness of the people and how down-to-earth they all are - was just as evident in the admitted class. With just a small class, it's evident that everyone has to be relatively tight-knit.

There is also a Countdown site, where Actions Items and Things to Do are listed out, as well as helpful links, and finally a Google Groups site set up too! I really love the fact that I will know a lot of my classmates before school even starts.

There's another Australian also in the program; I think it's the first time in a while that two Aussies are in the program together.