These are the four objects that a bride is traditionally supposed to carry on her wedding day to bring good luck. Whilst an MBA is not yet considered one of the seven sacraments, the lucky 31 entrants to this year’s full-time programme certainly felt some wedding style jitters as they took the obligatory selfie by the front doors on the first day “back to school.” This was a solemn commitment that we were making for better or worse until August 2020 do us part.
Stretching the analogy, a bit further:
Something old – It has been a number of years since most classmates left full time studies. The first couple of weeks saw the muscle memories slowly return – mounting assignments, stacks of readings and missed deadlines all came flooding back. From a personal point of view the greatest difference between the MBA and previous studies was quickly revealed as a focus and reliance on group work – more in tune with real world. As a result, I can now look forward to the fact that I won’t be consuming the €70 of fresher’s week Supermacs vouchers in isolation.
Foundation Week with Orangeworks
Something new – in a wedding sense, this refers to optimism for the future and is apt to the MBA programme. Very quickly during the ice-breaking sessions of Foundation week, we found that there was a huge spread of skills and backgrounds throughout the class. Interesting people with interesting backgrounds. This was a key draw to the programme from a personal point of view and is a unique opportunity to work across cultures and disciplines. Group think isn’t an option when the group is comprised of such a spread of folks.
Something borrowed – this symbolises borrowed happiness – whilst perhaps too romantic a notion to place on course material such as “Financial Reporting”, it does capture that as full-time students we’ve hit pause on careers to sit back and take stock with the goal of being unleashed in 12 months wiser, more efficient and more impactful.
Something blue – this can only refer to Dublin. 5-in-a-row Dublin as our international classmates quickly learned in Coppers. For close on 50% of the class, this is the first time to immerse themselves in one of the great cities of Europe. A city that has given Joyce & Guinness to the world. As we learned during Business economics it also gave the double Irish tax treatment to the world prompting the ire of a multiple of acronyms including CCTB and BEPS.
Unlike most great weddings, our reception was held in Bray Bowling alley and it was a BYOB affair. Chat and warm beer were flowing in equal measures and it was clear that the initial goals of the program had been achieved. A disparate group had bonded and was looking forward to the year ahead. The honeymoon is over and the feared MBA stone is on the horizon.
Class Night Out
Martin Naughton, FT MBA 19-20