There’s a very tricky element to Prof. Austin’s class, the Position Outline (or PO as the hipsters call it). We have to write up 4 POs over the course of the half-semester. These are 300 word case write-ups. The key here is “300”. Verrrrrry short. When I first read about the 300 words I thought, “Sweet.” No. Not sweet. Not sweet at all. Sour, actually. Some of my classmates have spent their 20+ years of life mastering a sort of refined eloquence. For them, I’m sure 300 words is no problem. Me, I’m all about barely coherent rambling. I drop 300 words in about 4 seconds. So POs and I don’t get along. I write out my thoughts but by the time I wrestle them down to 300 words, the mangled corpse of a paper that remains bears no resemblance to what I intended. “…competitive advantage good barriers to entry purple monkey dishwasher.” …and words like “the” and “a” never make the final cut.
So the POs are tough, but they force you to be succinct. Which is good. And they force you to choose between a myriad of issues and focus on just a couple. Which is also good, especially for someone like me. It’s interesting because so much of the class is just common sense, but it’s surprising how many elements of a situation one misses when thinking about things. This is a core class and that’s good. I think it will make us all better business professionals.
If you’re one who worries about grades, word of advice. Sit on the right side of the classroom in Prof. Austin’s class. Participation is 1/4th of the grade and her hair sometimes falls over her left eye. I’m convinced that Brittany doesn’t get called on because peripheral vision doesn’t exist when it comes to the left side of the room. Got to get out from behind the blonde curtain. Besides, all the cool kids sit on the right. It’s like the back seat of the school bus.
Speaking of the cool kids, we 1st years beat the 2nd year and MACC students in the annual basketball game. We rule the school. (When I say “we” beat them, I should point out that “we” is not “me.” I played basketball in 8th grade and scored 2 points all season. That’s my career.) Apparently Dmitri hit the game winner. Hardwood assassin. It has come to light over the course of the year that our class is so much better than all of the other classes at absolutely everything.
300 words exactly. (Not even close.)
Very accurate description Tony. Both about Prof. Austin's POs and that the cool kids sit on the right.
ReplyDeleteI do have to say, when you started mentioning 300 words, and followed that up with a picture of Gerard Bulter in the movie, "P.S. I Love You", all I could think of was the movie "300"...... A few students in the class protested the 300 word POs and said "This is madness." Prof. Austin responds, "No. THIS IS BUSINESS STRATEGY!"
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Interesting observation about which side of the class to sit on. Today, in fact, Jarom F sat on the opposite of the side you suggested, because he felt that Professor Austin solicits more feedback from that side.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a statistical analysis is in order!