Lessons learned from I-Core

I am officially in an academic nightmare. If you're in the business school, you know that I'm talking about I-Core. In the past five days I've taken four exams, each extremely difficult and each carrying a tough curve. That's just a glimpse of what my semester is like.\nI-Core is essentially a business boot camp. Hundreds of students take four classes together, competing against one another for a place on the set grade curve. (I think the curve is communist, but that's another column). The drama climaxes at the end of the semester when small groups of students, or "Kelleys," as the business school likes to call us, present a long and detailed "case" to the professors.\nSo why am I telling you about all of this? Well, partly because everyone else is talking about "9-11," partly because I'm going to insist I get some material out of such a challenging experience, and also because I think everyone (yes, even you) can learn something from it.\nA wise friend once told me, "Don't let school get in the way of your education." I liked that a lot when I heard it, and I still think it's a good principle to live by. Lately I've started to wonder if I-Core is cramping my style and getting in the way of my education.\nDon't get me wrong, I love studying business. Why else would I be majoring in it? But I want freedom and time to get a healthy dose of other things that school just can't offer. (I'm not talking about beer and women). I'm talking about real world experiences that class lectures can't impart. That philosophy has treated me well, I think, and I've been happy with the results. Until now.\nThe first round of I-Core tests came at me like Cruise missiles headed to Afghanistan. I refused to be taken off guard for the second round, so I hit the books even harder. You might be wondering, "Why hit the books? They didn't do anything wrong." In this war a "Kelley" can spare no mercy (especially when getting into law school depends on it).\nI still don't have some scores back from the second round of exams, but I don't need to know them. I already know I've learned a lot. There's something to be said for being pushed down, and having to fight your way back up. Given the right response, it makes you stronger. I keep a folder in my room of things reminding me of my rejections and failures, and you can be sure that some of my I-Core test grades are in there. I keep them because they drive me to succeed even more. And taking on those challenges is what I-Core is all about.\nI've learned not all business professors are the evil robots in pursuit of destroying my life I thought they were. They're human, they do care, and they can even offer real-world lessons.\nI-Core isn't cramping my style, it's strengthening it. It's not getting in the way of my education, it's making it richer. It just takes the right response when you meet a hurdle. To quote the great professor David Rubenstein, "Kelleys do!" To anyone with power over my grades, I say bring it on!