Category Archives: Academics

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

Academics, Bingchao, Student Life

Discomfort with Mental Discomfort is a Liability

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try to confront discomfort

Nine out of ten times, I go to the writing center seeking help before turning in any writing assignments. “English is my second language” is no longer an excuse after five+ years (Yes, I learned some Texan slang, “How are ya’ll doing?” or “Hook’em Horns!”). But writing still makes me uncomfortable.

Paradoxically, when I saw the MPA blogger application opened, I jumped right in. This responsibility involves quite a bit of writing in addition to my class assignments (approximately 30 to 35 blogs per school year). Different from school work, the blog posts will have a broad audience. AND this is not just about me getting a good or bad grade, but my posts may leave a small impression on prospective students about the MPA program. Despite all that, I eagerly applied and was grateful that April, our Marketing Director, gave me this opportunity. So why did I do this? Besides wanting to share information and MPA experience with blog readers, I want to confront my mental discomfort with writing.

Cal Newport, who is an expert in learning techniques, once said in his book So Good They Cannot Ignore You, “Discomfort with mental discomfort is a liability.” Immersed in my accounting class, I immediately try to define liability in accounting terms: the future sacrifice. It makes perfect sense in this context. If you let your mental discomfort turn you away from improving yourself, then you will sacrifice opportunities to cultivate important skills, whether it is career-related or a more personal goal.

Choose something that is essential and challenging to you and work on it. Turn it into an asset (in accounting, the probable future benefit) of yours.

Some on-campus learning resources that may be helpful:

1) Writing appointments for graduate students: excellent tutors who are graduate students in Journalism, English, and Communication, among others.

2) Writing center for undergraduate students: similar to 1), but for undergrads.

3) Meet a learning specialist: Learning specialists assist students with study-related questions or concerns, including preparation for presentations, improving grade, dealing with exam stress, etc.

4) UT Sciences Toastmasters: “a club where people gather to gain experiences in public speaking and leadership in a fun and encouraging environment.” Highly recommend if you want to improve public speaking or communication in general.

Academics, Bingchao, Student Life

Healthy Horns Take Naps

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nap and book

What is the worst time of the day? The consensus is early afternoon. Why? Because most people feel drowsy, sluggish, and exhausted after lunch. While it makes biological sense, it makes no sense to Horns’ busy lifestyles. If you invest 30 minutes in napping instead of working inefficiently, you might save hours in productivity.

From my past three years of experience taking naps almost daily on campus, here is a list of my favorite spots rated on a combination of factors, such quietness, distance to the business school, availability, etc.

  1. Main tower 2nd floor- Life Science Library. With more than 12 genuine leather couches and quiet, high-ceiling open study space, you can nap comfortably.
  2. Union 2nd floor. This place is designed for taking naps. It is a blessing that Wifi in this small part of building does not work well, so no extra noise is generated.
  3. As the “living room” of UT, SAC has a lot going on and can get noisy and crowded sometimes. But it is still on my list, because it has so many comfortable chairs and couches.
  4. PCL 2nd floor (and scattered couches throughout the building). Great napping spot if you are short on time.

If you want to know more, University Health Services website provides a map of the most popular nap spots as voted on by UT students.

A few tips:

Bring a light cover or jacket. You may feel cold when taking a nap or even catch a cold because of the powerful AC systems in many of these places.

Secure your things. Nothing of mine has ever been stolen on campus, but it is good to be alert rather than sorry.

Academics, Karin, Student Life

Jumping Right In

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Hi y’all! My name is Karin Schultz and I’m a Louisiana native that came to the MPA program by way of New York and California. I’m currently enrolled in two summer courses with about 30 other tMPA students gearing up for the fall semester. I’m happy to say that I’ve survived my first three weeks of class, including a Financial Accounting test and a Tax test! In our short summer sessions we have our second tests in both courses coming up this week.

Tax Present
We even got a present our first day of tax!

Coming into the program I wasn’t sure what to expect: I took my prerequisites at a local California university, and honestly, they weren’t very challenging. Being out of a rigorous academic environment for two years had led to some mental shock that can be best described using phrases such as, “Will the ratio of 10 chapters of reading/5 hours of sleep=coffee?” and “I’ve been doing my taxes wrong all this time.” Both professors, Lendecky (but please, call him Brian) and Holbrook, are excellent; they take time to explain things that students don’t understand and have office hours multiple days a week for us to come ask our ever mounting questions.

While these classes are pushing me to get my mind in shape, I’m already finding areas of accounting that appeal to me. This is fantastic, given that recruiting starts in less than a month! Three weeks from now I’ll be meeting with faculty, classmates, and recruiters as I try to figure out where I want to be when I graduate. I’ve heard it’s a wild ride, but this intensity is part of what drew me to the MPA program. I want to learn with the best, from the best, and be recruited by the best. (In case you didn’t know, my use of “best” is warranted.) In my short time on campus I’ve even learned a little phrase that will make you friends wherever you go:

Tower

Hook ‘em Horns

Academics, Olivia

Unexpected Opportunities in the tMPA Curriculum

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As I near the end of my tMPA career, I have been reflecting on three unexpected opportunities that the tMPA curriculum has brought my way.

email_nite_400W_iStock_000022788611Large1. Writing – Often when people think of accountants, they think of number crunchers. However, accountants of all types encounter plenty of writing in their professional careers in email form, report form, and everything in between. As such, the MPA curriculum incorporates quite a few writing assignments to get MPAs ready for the real world. My Ethics course (BGS 381L) this summer session has ten journal assignments and my Fraud (ACC 383K.4) course last summer session had three written cases. So to the incoming and prospective students out there, sharpen up those Word skills and get ready to hone your prose–you’ll need more than Excel to get through the MPA. Luckily Microsoft Office is sold at the UT Campus Computer Store in the Flawn Academic Center (FAC) for a steep educational discount.

2. Guest Speakers – I had no idea just how many opportunities I would have to interact with a wide range of guest speakers in the classroom such as Mack Brown, a former FBI agent, and of course several public accounting and industry professionals. The MPA Distinguished Speakers Lyceum provides the most obvious opportunity to encounter speakers, however, most of my classes also had speaker presentations. These presentations are a great opportunity to mix up the day, gain insight, and network.

3. Group Projects and Presentations – In our careers, we will likely work on countless teams. Numerous group projects are woven into the MPA curriculum that allow MPAs to work on both our team and presentation skills. School is a great opportunity to work on these skills before heading off to full-time employment.

In sum, not only has the tMPA curriculum developed my “hard” accounting skills, but it prepared me holistically for the workplace through writing assignments, guest speaker interactions, and group projects and presentations.

Academics, MPA Council, MPAC, Olivia, Student Life

Change of Plans and What I’ve Learned

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In my opinion, it’s almost never too late to change something and there’s always plenty more to learn. On the change front, two of my forward looking plans have already been scratched. First, I am not going to Buenos Aires this summer. Second, I did not attend a single SXSW event. The beauty of the latter is that the job offer I’ve accepted is in Austin, so I have plenty more chances to check out the hubbub. As for Buenos Aires, I decided to take a more low key approach to this summer by staying put in Austin, taking classes and TA-ing at UT, and hanging out with my cat. Buenos Aires will (likely) still be there to explore later down the road. But never fear, not all is lost with my goals! This Saturday I am scheduled to go on a Tower Tour with MPAC.

As for what I’ve learned? So much. Lately it’s been a struggle to write blog posts given that there is so much going on and it can be a challenge to synthesize. So, I thought I’d present to you two interesting things I learned in class this week:

Judge-Gavel

1. Getting wrapped up in intentional tort civil cases is no cake walk. In these types of cases, not only are punitive damages often tacked on to compensatory damages, but these damages are not absolved in the event of bankruptcy. Further, there are few standards, if any, for punitive damage amounts so they are often up to the complete discretion of the jury. As explained by Dean Bredeson, substituting for Frank Cross’s LEB 380 30 “Business Law” class.

hacker-attack

2. It’s frighteningly easy to hack into home routers that use system default usernames and passwords. Lizard Squad accessed over one thousand routers as an “elaborate commercial” for their new website. On a similar note, the strongest passwords are the longest passwords. Aim for over 8-12 characters and try linking together several common words. Length trumps the use of special characters as far as security and hackability are concerned. As explained by Edward Block, guest lecturer in Patti Brown’s ACC 380K 13 “ITAC” class.

I think these two tidbits well illustrate the diversity of the MPA learning experience. I had no idea I would be exposed to things here that seem on the surface to be so unrelated to accounting. Happily, the adventure continues!