As a part-time student taking Professor Murmann’s MORS class and Accounting my first quarter (Winter 2003) at Kellogg , in addition to working full-time, I was confronting time management challenges, as are most TMP students. Throughout the first couple weeks, one wonders how it can all be done - working full-time and keeping up the same work performance, studying during the weeks and weekends for the two classes, and eating and sleeping some time in between. You realize that the old undergrad methods of "cramming the night before all-nighters" just don't work as well. Not only is that technique bad for learning and retaining anything, you realize that the next day post all-nighter is still a workday, not a sleepday as it once was back in the good ol' college days. You also realize that the evenings and weekends of "doing nothing" are scarce. You start to wonder what you did with all your time pre grad school. Maybe it was filled with more sleep. Maybe you thought you could still pull off the Monday night (and Tues, Wed, Th) mid-week bar scene. Maybe the extra time meant more sports activities, more TV, more exercise. It's not that school replaces any or all of these extracurricular activities; it's just that you become more efficient and cognizant of your time. One thing I don't miss about undergrad is the frequent inefficient group meetings, with minimal productivity - basically meeting to set up your next meeting time. Because everyone in the TMP is working, possibly married or has kids, and would like to retain some sort of social life, the group meetings are much more productive and efficient. They have to be. Otherwise, there would be more unhappy spouses, less understanding girlfriends or boyfriends, more unhappy employers, more stressed out students.

So, my advice to new TMP students would be to attempt to perfect your time management skills from the beginning. Plan ahead. Study each week, even if homework isn't due. Work efficiently. The same words of wisdom you've heard your whole life, only maybe now you'll be forced to heed the advice, with the additional demands on your time. After all, you don't want to give up your mid-week O'Toole's pub routine entirely.