Category Archives: Academics

classes, degree planning, academic workshops, CPA exam planning and preparation

Academics, Jonathan

Lessons from Last Semester Revisited

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Where has the time gone?  It still feels like school has just begun, but we are already one month into the spring semester.  This term is proving to be radically different from the fall.  Whereas last October I felt as if I was drowning, and every day was a constant struggle to keep my head above water, now I feel more on top of things. In terms of academics, I have most of my big core accounting classes out of the way. Right now I am concentrating more on my track classes and electives. Also, recruiting is in the rearview mirror, and all of my energy is thankfully directed where it needs to be, on my classes.  Finally, just by virtue of being in the program for so many months, I have developed an effective routine that allows me to get my work done every single day.

Last October I wrote a short post about several strategies I was planning to adopt to help me become more successful in this program. Some of them I was able to carry out. Others have been more of a challenge. With the the benefit of hindsight and with the perspective that a new semester and new classes bring, here is an updated analysis of my self improvement goals from last semester.

Textbook Readings

The strategy: Last October, I decided that reading my textbooks was not an efficient use of my time.  Reviewing my class notes and doing homework problems was to become the new focus of my energy.

The result: This strategy actually ended up paying dividends for me last semester by allowing me to use my time more efficiently and by forcing me to focus on key concepts and cast aside inconsequential details. Unfortunately, I have had to abandon my n0-read plan this spring as my classes are much more reading- and concept-intensive and less problem driven.  Without my textbooks, I would be completely in the dark this semester.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

The strategy:  After an exhausting couple of months, I was determined to go to sleep earlier and sacrifice some study time for sleep.

The result:  I never had the guts to carry out this plan all the way. If I felt uneasy about a class, I would cave in and study into the early morning hours. So far, I have been able to control my sleep this spring, but I have not been truly tested yet.

Quality over Volume

The strategy:  Rather than do hundreds of homework problems, I decided that I would try doing fewer problems, but attempt to understand each one better. Continue reading Lessons from Last Semester Revisited →

Academics, Riny, Student Life

Tax Planning

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Professor Singer
Professor Singer

I wanted to talk about a particularly interesting class I am taking this semester, taught by Dr. Stuart Singer, called  “Tax Planning for Business Entities,” for three reasons:

First, it is unlike any class I have ever taken before because the professor is funny, but the context discussed couldn’t be more serious.

Second, it makes you appreciate the crazy things that professionals have to think about when they undertake any restructuring deals (mergers, acquisitions, etc., etc.).

Third, the class doesn’t have any exams, and you’d think that’s nice, but I’m here to tell you… it’s not. It doesn’t really make a difference in graduate school, everyone. Exam or no exam, classes at this level are super challenging and you have to read a lot if you want to understand concepts talked about in class.

Speaking of concepts, you will get a healthy dose of them in this class, for sure. Taken from Dr. Singer’s syllabus: You can expect to learn topics ranging from “running the tax end of a deal,” to “determining whether it should be taxable or not, costing the variables for the client and identifying+ resolving the principal tax issues involved.”

Dr. Singer has years and years of tax planning experience. So he really takes the class through the practical side of things. We, in return, are expected to (try) to perform at a level equivalent to a professional with 4-5 years under his or her belt.  This is applicable to both the issues we address and the manner in which we do it.  So if a student starts a sentence with,”Like…”, or “Umm…”,  Dr. Singer will ask you, very politely, to start over. Intimidated? Don’t be, because the mood in the class is never dull or gloomy.  I think it’s because Dr. Singer puts students at ease with his sense of humor. His observations and comments make you think and laugh at the same time. Seriously, guys, this class is awesome.

Anyway, I ended up taking it because one of the recruiters during my interviews last semester told me that tax planning is a great area to get some exposure to. He was so right. The learning curve is steep. And, at the risk of sounding like a geek–never has it been quite so enjoyable!

Academics, Jarrett, Student Life

MPA Daily Life: Five Need-to-Know Topics

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For this week’s blog post, I thought I should describe some essential parts of daily MPA life. These are things to which you’ll become accustomed very quickly on a daily basis.

  1. MPA Mailboxes: Professors and TAs will return any graded assignments to your mailbox. Mailboxes are located on the fourth floor of CBA in McCombs. There is a room with four cabinets with cubby holes. Each cubby is assigned to one MPA student. It is here that you will find your graded homework, tests and announcements from the MPA Office.
  2. Blackboard: At my undergraduate institution, we had an online platform called eLearning, which professors used to post announcements, readings and assignments for the class. At UT, we use Blackboard. Most professors in the MPA program will use Blackboard to post the class syllabus, additional readings, class notes, practice tests and solutions to assigned homework problems. In my government and not-for-profit accounting class, we even submit homework assignments on blackboard.
  3. Name plate: At the beginning of the fall semester, the MPA Office gave each student a name plate to place in front of his/her seat in class. If there is one piece of advice I can give students, it’s don’t forget your nameplate! Professors usually stipulate in their syllabi that they expect students to have their nameplates for each class. Additionally, some professors will call on students who don’t have their nameplates.
  4. Suit lockers: During recruiting, you will be wearing a suit a lot. Most likely, you will only need it for an event immediately after school or for an interview in the middle of the day. To avoid wearing a suit all day, you can check out suit lockers from the MPA Office. It’s free, and the lockers are conveniently located around the corner from the changing rooms. You only need your UT EID to check out the lockers. They are available for check out between 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A word of warning: If you don’t return your locker key on time, you will be locked out of the on-campus recruiting system until you return the key or pay a lost key fee. This is the system you will use during recruiting to apply for jobs and schedule interviews.
  5. Bevo Bucks: Many universities have their own version of this type of system where students put money on their student ID cards and use this like a debit card at on campus diners and select area merchants. You will also use Bevo Bucks to print in the main business school computer lab, the Millenium Lab, and in the Perry Castaneda Library.

I hope that by listing these five things you’ll have a better understanding of daily life in the MPA program. Sometimes describing commonplace things like the ones above paints a move vivid picture of what day-to-day to life is like here.

Academics, Austin, Jonathan

Halfway Done

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students studying
A scene not unlike the finals study ambiance in Reliant (courtesy Nigel Pepper)

Sigh…  Well, I was hoping to end the semester with a triumphant performance on my last final exam, but after Saturday evening’s Intermediate Accounting nightmare, I’m going to have to settle for the mild satisfaction of making it through the semester (half of the program) in once piece.

Exam week has been a real trial. For ten straight days, I and a crack team of five other MPA students put ourselves through daily 14-hour study marathons, lasting from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.  The days began blurry-eyed at sunrise, the six of us stumbling half-awake into the Reliant Productivity Center to take over one of the five large group study rooms.  During final week, you have to grab these rooms early.   There are so few of them, and demand is high.  It was common for us to find students asleep on the ground underneath the tables when we arrived.

Once you take over a study room in Reliant, you really cannot leave. Other students sit and watch these rooms all day, and if you leave one empty for a second, another study group will pounce and take your room over. Therefore, we didn’t leave. We ate meals, took bathroom breaks and ran errands on shifts so that we could hold onto our room.

Why was it important for us to get a study room?  They are the best places to carry out group study. My team of friends decided early on that the best way to prepare for finals was to study together.  We worked problems for different classes together and tested each other on our understanding of the material. We did this by explaining to each other the key accounting concepts and problems we encountered during the semester.  Integrated-MPA superstar, Amanda, introduced the concept of “racing” to our study sessions, and accounting races became a key component of Cost Accounting and Intermediate Accounting exam preparation.  What we would do is select out the hardest homework problems of the semester and race each other to see who could finish the problems correctly the fastest.  The races came pretty close to simulating exam-style intensity and time pressure, and also helped us stay interested and focused in when our daily study hours passed into the double digits.

While the study rooms were key to allowing us to work effectively in a group, they weren’t exactly nice places to be.  The Reliant  rooms  are cramped little hermetically sealed boxes with no windows and oppressive florescent lights.  It was easy to feel on edge with so many people crammed into one room for an extended period of time, but the privacy and sound insulation made the rooms worth using.

Now, exams are over and I will not have to worry about the classes, the Reliant Center, or study rooms for five whole weeks.

What have I been doing with my new-found free time?  Why, tonight I was able to catch up with some new friends and benefit from the diversity of  the traditional MPA student body when my classmate Daniel, a professional chef,  stopped by my apartment and treated me and some fellow students to a beautiful homemade ganache. Yum!  Over the next few days, I have a lot of catching up to do.  Though I have been at UT for almost seven months, I feel like I have yet to really explore Austin.  Over the next few days, I hope to step out and take a look at Lake Travis and Barton Springs.  I have been dying to try out the food trucks downtown, and I finally have a chance do so.

Next Thursday, I’m going to travel north to frozen Pittsburgh to meet my wife, who is finishing up her own academic program, and help her pack up and move on down with me to Texas.  The holidays will be in full swing by then.  The spring semester creeps in a little after mid-January.  You’ll be hearing more from me then.

Happy Holidays!

Academics, Jonathan, Student Life

The Final Push

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Fall classes drew to a close yesterday, and the final countdown to exams had begun in earnest.  The atmosphere has clearly changed in McCombs.  As of last Tuesday, I had become accustomed to walking into the Reliant Productivity Center (a large 24-hour study room in the business school) between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. and having the entire place to myself.  No longer.  Today, the place was jammed at the crack of dawn.  It is now 10:00 a.m., I’ve just checked, and there is not a single seat available.  Quite frankly, the loud sighs and frantic page-turning are a bit too intense for me, so I have decided to spend my day in the more civilized math library instead. 

Though there is a full week between now and my first two exams, I doubt there is really enough time to adaquately prepare.  Intermediate accounting alone requires a week of preparation.  I am probably a day or two away from feeling comfortable with my other classes, but, then again, if the second cost accounting midterm exam was any indication, the final will be a marathon.  I will need to make sure that I have fully programmed the class material into my head if  I expect to finish the exam on time.

With so much riding on time management, I have to make sure that I don’t get sidetracked with distractions this week.  Here is what I have to take care of now so that cram week gets off without a hitch.

Buy Food:  I plan to swing by MT Supermarket (best asian market in Austin) for my  final restocking this afternoon.  I’ll need two or three bunches of green vegetables, some fruit, and tofu to get me through the next 7 days.  I’m just about out of food, and if I have to run out to the market a day or two before the exam, I’ll probably start to get frantic.

Laundry:  This, I’m doing tonight.  A full load of laundry should get me through the week.   Once again, I can’t be sweating these small details before the exam.  Oh wait, I don’t have any coins…

Run to the Bank:  I need a roll of quarters for laundry.

Plane Tickets:  Check.  I took care of these a few days ago.  I am all set to fly to Pittsburgh a few days after the exam.  My wife will be moving down to Austin with me in early December (she’s finishing up school in Steel Town a week after my fall semster is done).  I can’t wait to see her, and she can’t wait so say goodbye to snowy 26-degree winter days.

Alcohol:  None until school’s over!