How Far Does B-Stats 101 Take You?

As I sat in each of my two in-class finals during exam week in my final semester at Richmond, I couldn't help but wonder why they insist on giving second semester seniors final exams. That of course extended into why we even have exams in general. I have always pondered whether or not what I learn in the classroom will actually be applicable in real world situations. Not suprisingly, the answer is both yes and no.

As I think back on my past consulting internship experiences, I can't say that I have used the t-test from B-Stats II or overhead variance from Managerial Accounting, so why are we forced to memorize all of these things and demonstrate our knowledge of them? Clearly the business world has computers that do this for them. But then I thought about classes like Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management and best of all, Software Tools. Now those will get me somewhere.

Last summer some of the most important skills I used from school were those that involved working in a team. How you react in given situations and interact with your coworkers tells others a lot about you and can ultimately influence your success. Oh, and I hope you paid attention in that Microsoft Excel course, because spreadsheets don't just make themselves. That's what first year staff are for. Brush up on your shortcuts to save some time in the office.

So, although I'd like to think that showing up for class and exams was just a formality, I might actually use some of the things I learned in business school in the real world.