On Saturday I woke up bright and early (okay, maybe not so bright) to attend the Pepperdine incoming MBA student orientation. By my count there were about 160 students. After getting funnelled through the ID taking room (which backed up quickly after I’d come through) we went to a breakfast room.

It became very apparent very quickly that there were not going to be an abundance of women in the program; nor were there going to be many people at my location. Everyone was attending either the West Los Angeles campus or the Irvine campus. Apparently both of these locations have actual “campuses” instead of a floor in an office building (like the Encino location).

At 9:30 we were ushered into a large classroom to watch an old video about the history of Pepperdine University. After that we had a “session” with a motivational speaker. “Close your eyes, imagine you’re going to work, what do you see?, what are you wearing? How do you feel? – now discuss with your partner” After a few more “important” people spoke a panel of five recent graduates answered questions.

Lunch was lasagna, bread and salad.

After lunch a good third (probably more) left. The program after lunch was a brief classroom simulation involving a case study. After the case study it was another question and answer session – but nobody had any questions, so it was a bit awkward. Finally, they gave out a sheet of paper that told us we have to take a math test if we’re starting Quantitative Business Analysis in the coming term (as I am).

This was breezed over like nothing – and in fact easily a third of the students aren’t even aware that they have to do this because they left after lunch and this is the only place (it isn’t on our “to do” lists or emails in our student accounts) I heard anything about it. Very important though as some professors count the completion of this test towards your grade in the class.

I started taking the test later that night. Some of it was incredibly easy (what is 3 to the power 4), but some of it was not. Apparently I need a lot of help with mutually exclusive probability word problems. (by the way, unlike the GMAT, the answers are not always multiple choice, you either know the answer or you don’t) The paper said the test typically takes 2-4 hours. I’m writing this blog entry on Tuesday and I’ve probably spent about ten hours so far. I’ve passed all the sections except for the probability… I just can’t crack it, I don’t know why to put certain numbers where… and the “study guide” doesn’t go any further than the “take two cards out of a deck of cards” questions…which are easy.

But, this leads me to be terrified of this class. After all, if I can’t pass a test on what they describe as “basic” math, how am I going to make it through the real thing?

Also, the sheet says “this test is used by Dartmouth and Stanford.” Why am I taking the same test as someone going to Stanford? My GMAT score was 50 points higher than the average incoming Pepperdine MBA student – and I’M feeling stupid taking this test… I wonder if the average really is 2-4 hours.

And also – happy birthday to my dad – who today turns…..an age evenly divisible by 5, but not 10 or 15. 😉