starringpamela

Getting Ready for School!

Hi everyone! I realize I might be a tad bit late now, as a lot of students are back in school, but I haven’t started yet so I’m still in the planning stages of going back to school so I’m still sharing this!

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So if you don’t already know, I’m heading back to school this fall for my MBA. I announced it in my Upcoming Changes post a bit ago and did a video of my school supply haul for my YouTube channel. I completed my Bachelor of Science studies at Elmhurst College in 2013, and now I’m going back to Elmhurst for my MBA.

Today I wanted to go over what I’ve been doing to prepare for when classes start. It’s been a whirlwind of materials regarding registration, financial aid, events, tech logins, student IDs, and so on.

I’d been hoping to keep my undergrad email address, in fact I had been primarily using it already. But then I got a new one as the school has switched from Gmail to Outlook. I much prefer Gmail, both functionality and the email address itself. Now I’m getting school emails to both so I’ve checked both frequently to make sure I’m not missing anything. For example, my welcome letter and information packet came to my undergrad email from my program director, who knew me when I was studying there before. But my syllabus for one of my classes was sent to my new email. So I’ve had to check both.

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As you saw in my haul video, I have a lovely new planner! Since orientation is this weekend, I have started using it. I am going to color code my planner as it’s not just for school. Black ink is for school as that’s what I’ll be using in class (remember those new pens?) while blue is for my blog, pink for fun, etc. It is weekly so I’m going to put details in there, and on the monthly pages I’m going to write my blog posts and musicals as I like to look at them all at once. There’s a notes section on the side of the monthly page so I’m going to put more information about my upcoming school work there, such as when papers are due.

Speaking of due dates, I have started entering deadlines from my syllabus. This is from my Organizational Management class. I haven’t received one from my Financial and Managerial Accounting class yet but when I do I’ll start entering that as well. In addition to due dates the syllabus has expectations for the course.

To be honest, I was surprised by some of them. Apparently I’m still being graded on attendance and participation! I would have thought we would have grown out of such silly expectations but apparently not. This is meant to be an “intro” class so maybe that could be a reason why, so as to ease us into graduate school life, but seeing as how my undergraduate program at the school had these and the professors teach both levels, I think that might be why it’s in there.

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There was also a section that gave “netiquette” tips such as don’t hit “reply all” on emails. Again, we’re supposed to already be professionals so surely we don’t need that! Then again, people never cease to surprise me and I’m sure the professor has seen it often enough that they chose to include it.

I’ve also ordered my books. I got one last week and the other today. (Fun fact, the water was shut off in the city where I work so I left to go work from home at lunch and the book had arrived!) I have printed the first slides already and saved them to my Google Drive. The latest book is the one where I already have a school assignment for so I’ll start reading that one at some point. Next week… Haha.

Somehow I managed to get my old school ID to be deactivated but now I need to find it. Then I also need to get my parking pass at school. Yay. Oh and I still need to get my school bag together. That should be fun.

For the blog, I’m working on a new schedule! Once I have it finalized I’ll update my About page and let you know. And I have been getting good feedback on my YouTube channel thus far. I do want to try to make more videos so I hope that will happen! Just depends on how much time I have.

Oh and orientation is on Saturday. I’m excited! I actually have no idea what to expect. I know I had an orientation for undergrad but I can’t remember it. I think it’s probably like a “get to know the school/professors/students/etc.” of course but I’m not sure what we’re doing beyond that. All I know is that I’m making a Starbucks run in the morning as it starts at 8:30am. Which means I have to leave home no later than 7:30am. Oh dear. I need a nap already. It’s over at 3:30pm so I might take a trip to the Lush at the nearby mall if I’m not too tired after we’re done. I don’t have a Lush near me. There’s also a giant Sephora and Barnes and Noble. Oh look at me making shopping plans!

So that’s how far I’ve gotten in my back to school preparations. Let me know if you’re going back to school and if so where you are in the process of getting ready. Are you looking forward to the school year starting again? Can’t wait to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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30 comments

  2. As much as I’m happy to be out of school, hearing about all these back to school posts has got me feeling nostalgic. One day I’ll go back for a master’s programme 🙂
    Good luck with all Pamela!!

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  3. I slowly am getting ready to go back to school. I am excited, but still nervous as many college students deal with. It is my last year of college so this coming year will be bittersweet. Textbooks have already been ordered and bought some things I do need for my suite. I am making the switch on Sunday from dorm to suite: this is my first year living in the suite and because this is my last year of undergraduate, I want to make the most of this coming year. Today, my dad, mom, and I helped get room stuff out of the attic. Crazy how it is school time already

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  7. I agree with you on the e-mail thing! I transferred schools, and my previous school used G-Mail. I’m more of a Yahoo gal, so, that transition was weird for me. Now that I’ve gotten used to G-Mail, my new college uses Outlook, which I’m not a fan of! Ha ha. The struggle is real! 😉 Good luck this semester!

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  12. Damn bb you prepared af aha, I’ve been going to my college for just over a year and have never went and got an I.D. lol rip haha. Actually heading to class now so love you bb and happy back to school! ❤

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