Lisa's IMC Experience:
I'm just two short evenings away from completing the part-time IMC program. Was it worth it? YES. Was it hard work? YES. Did I learn a lot? YES. Did I make great connections? ABSOLUTELY!
My Path to IMC
I never planned on graduate school, mostly because I didn't think there were any programs that were right for me. Being an English and communications undergrad, I felt a traditional MBA program was not a good fit for what I wanted to do. Did I really need to sit through accounting and econ to learn to be a better marketer? I had approximately 10 years of marketing communications experience under my belt, but I knew I lacked a lot of skills--from basic marketing quant skills to a fresh exposure to the future of marketing.
Then I heard about IMC. The outside-in, customer-centric approach of IMC was refreshing. It looked like IMC had the perfect balance of fundamentals and forward-thinking classes to set me on the path to success.
The Courses
I'm pleased with the variety of coursework. We covered a wide range of topics--from marketing management and finance, to consumer insight and crisis communications.
I was afraid of stats, finance and database analysis. But I made it through just fine. In fact, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed marketing finance. The profs know that some of the quant concepts are new to students, and they make a point to explain how these concepts apply to real-world examples.
Most classes have group projects, and typically these projects are for actual companies. In most cases, we'd present to these "clients" to get real advice and input. I found that I learned just as much from team members as I did from working for the clients.
One great thing about IMC is that many of the professors either still work outside academia and/or they have strong ties to marketing leaders at a wide range of companies. We had a lot of excellent guest speakers--from marketing VPs at Fortune 500 companies to entrepreneurs who are shaking up the marketing landscape.
The Connections
I know I've make friends for life in the IMC program. There's a great deal of camaraderie and encouragement among part-time IMC students. Everyone is helpful. I can turn to classmates for advice and for insight into areas outside of my work experience. We get together outside of class, too--end-of-quarter parties were always a blast!
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2 comments:
There was this one person on our orientation panel of recent grads who explained the IMC experience so well that two years later I still remember it. The question posed was: "How hard is it with two classes and a full-time job?"
Her answer was: "Well, (long pause) sometime school trumped work and sometimes work trumped school." It's just that simple=)
I think the greatest thing about the professors in this program is that most of them are really prominent in their field so they continue to at least consult at most maintain full-time jobs. So, when you have to go out of town for a convention they are incredibly helpful in making sure you get the materials from class and learn the information. I haven't heard that about any other part-time program from any of my colleagues.
Work and school somehow seemed to all fit in -- I actually had my most productive work year, the 2nd year of the IMC program becasue I finally figured out how to manage my time and became super-organized.
Ultimately, the coursework taught me how to approach my job with new ideas and, while much of it was very time-taxing, I truly was rewarded when we finished.
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