The One Year Degree

Already I’ve run into a bit of a problem with earning my degree in one year.  Apparently, if you start in the Spring of 2009 and you want to focus on international development, there is no way to complete your one year masters degree in one year.  Why?  Because two required classes – one required for the degree and one required as a prerequisite for higher-level development courses – are offered at the same time on Monday.  Ugh.  

That’s fine.  It costs a little more money, but perhaps it’s not so bad to have a little more time to learn something about the field.  The other unfortunate situation I’ve run into is finding the courses I want to take already full.  This happened with two courses, so one more year might give me the opportunity to take it again.

So far, I’ve registered for the following:

• Microeconomics
• Financial Management
• Institutions, Governance, and International Development – this is the intro course to development that is a prerequisite for others
• Organizational and Managerial Development
• I am wait listed on Ecoleadership.  From the syllabus:

This course will explore economic globalization and focus on the impact of the private sector on decisions that shape global society and influence the design, development and delivery of public goods.

The Ecoleadership course’s syllabus looks absolutely fascinating and everything I want to study.  Ah well, perhaps the five people ahead of me on the waitlist will drop or, or some other five people signed up to take the class.  We’ll see.

The alternative – Organizational & Managerial Development – does also interest me.  This course – taught by the same instructor as Ecoleadership – will look at organizational development theory and require us, the students, to apply the theory to real life situations in building a more efficient organization.  This process always fascinates me – the mechanics behind making an organization tick – and it’s something I had to spend a lot of time doing with Hands On Gulf Coast.  It would be interesting to learn what the ‘pros’ see and how they might navigate tricky waters.

All in all, I am excited about my course load for next semester and being in school.  Next step – financing the investment in higher learning.