Invest in yourself.

The decision to "go back to school" was a pretty easy one for me. I wanted the additional training and skills, and knew that my career ambitions depended upon further business knowledge. But deciding what program I wanted to study in wasn't so simple.

The debate over traditional grad school and professional part-time programs wasn't much of a debate at all: I wasn't willing to give up the paycheck and benefits for a backpack and a studio apartment.

I'd weighed out the pros and cons of a traditional MBA. Over the period of about a year I looked at a few different options from public and private universities here in my home state. A few friends had taken that leap and provided great perspective on the ups-and-downs of a formalized post-grad business school experience.

And then there were the programs like Kansas State's Master of AgriBusiness. I'd seen advertisements for Purdue's Agribusiness Management Program and the Colorado State program, too. I'd even looked into other graduate programs with an emphasis in agriculture sciences and business. But the MAB option just kept coming to the top of my pile.

My career and interests are well-seeded in the industry, and the idea of continuing my learning specialized in agriculture seemed very appealing. But there were numerous schools offering advanced agriculture degrees, and I wasn't quite sure which one would meet my needs and really benefit me in the long run.

It was a phone call from Lynnette Brummett, the K-State program's coordinator, that tipped the scale. I had filled out the online information request form, and she followed-up. We talked for a while about my background, interests and goals for a graduate degree. She took the time to find out what I wanted from a graduate experience and answered my specific questions about the courses and timeline for completing the degree.

After the conversation she identified some alumni with similar backgrounds as me and setup a phone call and some e-mails to have them provide a perspective of MAB. It was a very personal approach, and showed just how hard the K-State staff worked to make their (perspective) students feel like valued individuals.

I took that as a sign of good things to come, and sent a completed application back to campus to start the process. Now here I sit, working towards the MAB degree with hopes of finishing in May of 2010. And it's truly what I hoped it would be.

The work is challenging, but rewarding. There's little doubt that I'm learning something valuable in each course. I'm able to use the skills in my current job, and it's all shaping my future career plans, too.

My investment looks to be a good one. I'm seeing the returns already. It's two and a half years of nearly constant courses and learning, along with a tuition bill that would buy you a new American-made sedan without too many bells and whistles. But in the end I'll have the advanced degree and the knowledge. To me, it's been worth the time and effort so far, and I suspect it'll pay off pretty well to finish things out and take home the diploma.

I guess that's my point in today's post: make sure your investment is one that will pay off. If you're considering a program like this, choose based on what you need from the degree. Make sure what you want in the learning and where you'd like to be when you're done fit the enrollment you're considering.

The advanced degree and advancement.

It's not uncommon to hear of people seeking out higher learning, like the MAB program, as a means of career advancement or career change. Based on conversations I've had with my classmates, I'd say our group is a pretty good mix of both.

If you are considering the MAB program for either option, I've run across an article worth reading. This HR World piece lays out the case for and against a graduate degree. It highlights the employer's debate over higher learning and work experience.

Best of all, though, is the fact that MAB students work full-time while enrolled in the program. So you'll obtain higher learning while continuing to accumulate career experience!

Look a little deeper.

When I started the blog, my goal was to provide a little deeper look into what the student experience is like -- what kinds of things I was learning and how those things were changing my thinking or enhancing my knowledge of agribusiness.

So today I've got one for you. An interesting article and web item I ran across that's straight from the subject of our most recent MAB course.

The Class of 2010 just wrapped up Dr. Bergtold's Optimization course (Ag Ec 761). It was a fast-paced look at optimization models and how agribusinesses can utilize data to make better decisions. The course essentially taught me to take data and trends and turn them into functional, decision-making models in Microsoft Excel.

This was new territory. I didn't do this in my job prior to the class. And I never toyed with building models in Excel in order to streamline business decisions. But, as I learned from Dr. Bergtold, it's big business in a lot of big businesses.

And my recent find in BusinessWeek magazine has me wondering about the kinds of opportunities this work will present in the agriculture and food sector.

There's a neat article and accompanying video clip about Stephen Baker's new book, "The Numerati". He's a writer for the magazine who has taken a deep look into the business of optimization and operations research -- essentially, the practice of numerating business data in order to build models like the ones we studied in our MAB course.

I've not picked up the book yet, but hope to add it to my fall reading list. I'm not sure if this will end up being part of my MAB thesis yet, but I did find the whole practice pretty interesting. Over the two month period of Ag Ec 761 we learned a lot about decision variables and modeling data to determine optimal outcomes in business. And Dr. Bergtold assures me there's much, much more to discover about operations research for the student who is so inclined.

Give the subject a quick Google search and you'll see there is a lot out there. And it's just a part of the knowledge we're surfacing throughout our first year in K-State's MAB program.

Nearing a benchmark.

My MAB cohort just started our next class; it's the Risk Management course that will take us through the end of the 2008 school year.

As I thumbed through the program booklet last night, it dawned on me that we're nearing a bit of a benchmark for the MAB program. At the completion of this course, we'll have one full year of learning and 15 credit hours behind us! Some of my classmates will be even further along, having picked up a course or two ahead of the official start of our program in January.

We all must meet the 42 credit hour requirement in order to receive a degree. But if you knock out the three hours of capstone course, take away six hours granted in our thesis work, and three hours of elective we'll choose next year and you end up at 33. So we're almost halfway through the general coursework.

Whew. Time is flying right on by.

Another one down.

The MAB Class of 2010 wrapped up the applied economics course almost a month ago, and we've been on a bit of break since then. It's been a nice respite from courses and a chance to enjoy the summer without worrying about homework assignments or chat sessions.

I've noticed a few of us keeping in touch, despite the break, via e-mails and online chatting. It's neat to see how the program has fostered these friendships over the last seven months. We're catching up on non-academic items and keeping tabs on each other before the next course begins.

Speaking of that course -- we're set to start the Optimization course this week with Dr. Bergtold. It's another online-based course, and looks to be pretty fast paced. I'll keep you posted on this one, as time permits.

Cournot Duopoly is only a phone call away.

Too long since the last post. Sorry about that!

We're 3/4 of the way through the "spring" class. It's Managerial Economics, and it's entirely online -- no campus sessions for this one. Between the text book, the weekend chat sessions and the online lectures, it's a very comprehensive course.

I had some economics in my undergrad, but I'm learning a whole host of new information and skills in this practical approach to economics in business.

Today was a good example of how functional the distance learning structure can be. I'd been reviewing slide from the chat session and thumbing through my book, but just couldn't solve a problem in this week's homework assignment.

After 40 minutes of being stumped, with the onset of growing frustration, I decided to reach out for some assistance with my Cournot Duopoloy problems. I could have sent out an e-mail to classmates, posted a message on the course's e-board, or go 'old school' with a phone call to the professor.

I opted for the most direct route, and one phone call and a few minutes later the instructor had talked me through my error and gotten me back on track to finishing the assignment. Seems my algebra is a bit rusty this week, but all is good and well after a little guidance from the professor.

It's another example of the flexibility and functionality of this MAB program and why it is worth looking into.

Economics anyone?

We're enjoying a lighter pace now. It's slow-going compared to last session and no one is complaining.

This session we're committed to one class: Applied Agribusiness Economics. We've got three months to study the coursework and complete the assignments and there's no other classes to worry about.

It seems like a piece of a cake, having just finished three classes at once. They tell us that's by design. Push through the first three and be rewarded by getting back some free time.

This class won't require a trip to Manhattan for a campus session. It's all at a distance, with weekly lectures online, assignments turned in via K-State's distance learning portal and plenty of time to e-mail and chat with your classmates when you've got questions or need some help getting through the new material.

I'll keep you posted.