Rounding the Bend on the Fall Semester

By Jess Robinson

Fall is here! There is nothing like North Carolina fall, waking up to cool mornings and blessed with warm afternoons.  We are officially over halfway through the fall semester! It went faster than I had expected.

ACC 533 Accounting and Tax Research is my first class in the MAC program and my only class this fall semester. It was a smart idea to take this class first, having these skills for the upcoming classes will be a great asset. I’ve learned how to conduct research and then write about it. Most of the work has been in the form of group assignments. At first I wasn’t sure how I would like this since I know I can be a bit of a perfectionist. Working with a team is very indicative of how the professional world will operate for most of us. Our team has developed a smooth flow and it seems to be working really well. Each new assignment poses different challenges but we just stick to communication and helping each other. 

Since this was my first semester in 20 years, the beginning of the semester held many unknowns. Managing a full time job, family and personal life left me with many worries.  Despite the excellent orientation and panel of alumni speaking on behalf of best practices in the program, I knew it was just a matter of getting started. It reminded me of an essential educator mantra I was told prior to my first day in the classroom. “Start out how you can hold out”. In my opinion it means if you begin a season of difficulty strictly with time management, expectations, and study habits it’s far easier to ease up and provide more flexibility as time passes.

I am a worst case scenario kind of thinker, if i can wrap my head around how difficult something will be and how hard I will need to work then realizing something is pleasantly easier than expected is far better than realizing I didn’t properly prepare.  I started out very strict with my time, I planned to be ahead in assignments to avoid feeling frantic last minute. This has really worked for me!

This week was Spring enrollment and I feel fully prepared and ready to sign up for 2 online classes!