Brighter

Had it not for Dr. Teehankee’s reminder last Friday, I would not have started – or finished – my blogs for Term 3.

My ManSci plight has finally come to an end; except that as of this writing, I have not yet seen my grade posted online. To those who know my unfortunate situation, I thank you for listening to my endless quibbles not about the rigidness of the subject but about the snag of having a thoughtless groupmate!

Confession: I can say that, having gone through a lot in my two previous terms, my ManSci gave me an enormous amount of stress. Frankly speaking, I was traumatized. Contrary to what I had expected at the start of the term, I was never happy in the class. Contrary to my other subjects like BusWri, ManStat, CSR, and BusCom, I was never excited to be in my Mansci class.

And why am I telling you this? Or why am I writing about this knowing that any of my classmates or an MBA student might stumble upon this blog?

Situations like this do happen in grad school. And I want to encourage you (and in the process, encourage myself!) that we all have the choice to do something about our situation, a choice to do better, to be better. At the end of the day or at the end of term, there is always a lesson or two that we can learn.

Despite my struggles this 3rd term, I showed tenacity and grim persistence. Meaning, I doggedly worked on every assignment and case study, even if I had to stay up late and sleep at three in the morning just to finish my group assignment. Admittedly, I lack natural talent in numbers, which by the way, people don’t believe me since I’m an accountant. But I labored so hard to understand what Dr. Berino was trying to teach us in class (Yes, the rumor is indeed true: he is like a bullet train). I tried so hard because I knew I was never going to top his class. I tried so hard because I knew my groupmates would never exert as much effort as I. I tried so hard because I didn’t want to get any grade lower than 3.5! For the record, I was never absent from my ManSci class.

I don't want to elaborate so much on what really transpired during those fourteen weeks, but believe me, it was not easy. Nonetheless, I was able to gather some lessons in life.

In ManSci, I learned to rely on God’s grace and wisdom. I learned to be humble. I learned to be persistent with my academic goals, and at the same time, be patient with people. I learned to express my classroom concerns to my professor. I learned to look for inspiration in spite of my frustrations. I learned to pray for my groupmates.

Confession: I realized that graduate school is about relationships. It’s about those professors who tirelessly share their knowledge and skills with us, those who unselfishly help us discover our gifts and remind us of our roles as change agents of this world, and those who, in return, deserve high respect and deep appreciation for shaping our minds and characters. It’s about those classmates who understand…and those who don’t. It’s about those groupmates who help you answer case studies…and those who don’t! It’s about those schoolmates who tip us off about the best professors…and especially the worst! It’s about having a little community of friends coming from different family backgrounds, having different professions, and representing different nations.

For me, it is not just about carrying the burden of answering our ManSci assignments or making a report on behalf and in behalf (the prepositional phrases have different meanings, by the way) of my group, which I will never tolerate again next time—ever!

In a more meaningful perspective, graduate school is about sharing one’s light to make someone else’s life a little brighter.

Oh, well. I never thought I’d learn something worthwhile from the experience, but I did, just when I least expected it.

P.S.

I had the heart to confront "the groupmate" about his poor academic discipline. I told him point-blank how I felt about his lackadaisical attitude. I just thought that if I'd tell him that, he'd change. Oh, well…Good luck to his future classmates in the succeeding terms!