Back to School for my Executive MBA!
This week I received notice that I have been accepted into the Executive MBA program from PACE University. The program ranks 17 in the US and impressed me very much when I stopped by the open house.
It changes the curriculum from the factory style schooling that has been historically thought in the US to a project oriented environment (Side Note: Microsoft has sponsored a high tech high school like this as well because they have seen a gap in education and real world expectations).
Instead of classes there are modules where you're assigned to a team that is responsible for the completion of a project that closely mimics a real world situation. i.e. The creation of a Network Operations Center, from real estate planning to system configuration would be one of the 12 modules that comprise the entire program.
At the end of a module is a 3 day residency where the entire EMBA class congregates and performs that module’s final exam in the form of written test and presentations in front of industry insiders who eventually determine if your project will pass or fail based on their real life business considerations.
The program is mostly tele-learning just like a telecommuting job. Team members meet up on un-official basis in order to plan out the project and ensure success. The success of failure is purely in the hands of the team (again just like the real world) and not that of a teacher prodding you along the way. The professors act more like consultants; and as consultants they are provide ideas and information but they do not layout the execution for you, which is something I think is great.
Baptism by fire… in a safe environment. That’s what I call learning! I start in August 16th for my 1 week residency orientation. For more information on the PACE EMBA program visit their website.