Keeping a Journal
It is a good idea for MBA students to get into the habit of keeping a
journal. Keeping a journal during your MBA program will assist
you in tracking your own personal and professional growth, and may
eventually become a career resource for you.
The following are some suggestions for your journal entries.
- When you complete a chapter or module in a given class, take a few
minutes to write a brief synopsis of what you learned, describe what you
thought about it or any reactions you had to it, and speculate on how you
might use the information or skill as a professional.
- When you complete an assessment exercise--whether it is a graded
assignment for one of your classes or a personal inventory survey that you
take independently--comment on what the results of the assessment were,
whether you agree with the results, and examples of why the assessment is
or is not accurate based on your past experience.
- If you are part of a student team project, spend a few minutes after
each team meeting evaluating your interactions with your teammates and
reflecting on your own characteristics or style as they relate to your
team experience. Be honest with yourself about where your strengths
lie and where you could improve. At the end of the team project,
write a longer journal entry summarizing the entire experience and
describing what you have learned from it.
- As you encounter challenges at work which are related to things you are
studying in your MBA program, try writing a journal entry in which you
describe the work challenge from a third party's perspective, and use the
principles you are learning to analyze the situation and propose a
resolution. Applying a case study approach to your own work
experiences will not only give you ownership of the education you are
receiving, but may also make you more of a resource to coworkers and
classmates alike as you bridge the gap between theory and practice.
