At the end of the month, a ping on her cell phone comes from Tulane... Oh my God, Tulane has finally made a decision regarding the MBA/MGM dual degree program! It better be good, or else my entire plan will be delayed, or even ruined! Even if I could somehow get in at, say, CMU Tepper or Berkeley Haas, both of which I know love women in IT AND deal in quiz bowl, which my grades and GMAT suggest it would NOT stop me from attending any of these, there would be no guarantee I could even get to play quiz bowl at all, and, on top of that I think I will get fired over an MBA if they find out by then I don't stick to B-schools in this region; after all they don't want to pay for a degree and remain idle for two years and only after two years I can actually be productive! Imélie ponders, while reviewing the implications of what a rejection from Tulane Freeman would mean for her.
What an acceptance would instead mean is that she can proceed with phase 2 of her plan for rebuilding Tulane's quiz bowl program, that is, outreach and scouting. Especially since Tulane's remaining undergraduate admissions are due to be released around the same time.
She starts reading her email from Tulane Freeman's admissions office. "Dear Imélie: Congratulations! You have been admitted to Tulane's professional Master of Business Administration program" And then the email proceeds with the admission packet being in the mail, as well as a link to the confirmation form and the resulting payment information, which is done either by check, money order, wire transfer or credit card. So they actually had a seat left? From what I've seen in past admits I had information on, it basically amounted to whether they had a seat left in the program or not; I was the kind of person for whom not even Magic-7s would have been a GPA or GMAT problem. Time for me to make my $750 payment; the deposit is a bit expensive but it will be applied against the first term's tuition, Imélie remarked, while she filled out the formalities and made her payment.
"Woohoo! I got in!" Imélie exclaimed in front of Sun, jumping out in joy.
"There never was a question in my mind, I knew you would succeed" Sun tells her, jubilant.
"If I wanted to, I could always aim for much higher-ranked programs than Tulane for next year, but, given my current career situation, my job made my proverbial bed for me to sleep in it. The real thing, in B-school, especially if one attends full-time, is that academics are not what people want out of the degree so much as networking, and jobs in specific industries. You seem to think as if I wanted to go to law school or some other graduate program whose admission was mostly determined by one's GPA and a score on a standardized test! I'm in it for career advancement"
Also, as she knows the season for the release of undergraduate admission decisions starts soon, she starts looking up social media pages for incoming Tulane undergraduates because she feels her plan is more likely to succeed with new undergraduates than with the current team members. From what she saw of the current Green Wave squad, they have, for all intents and purposes, fallen into the death trap of demoralization which, in her mind, is at least partially caused by incompetent leadership.
All it takes for the first year of my Green Wave reconstruction plan is four lower-division undergraduates; I need to email the faculty advisor immediately, stating that, now that I am attending Tulane for the next season, I want to join the team, as well as assume some leadership responsibility given that I was a past Green Wave player, and I will also ask for whether I can go forward with scouting. I know they are not taking quiz bowl seriously, she thinks while attempting to formulate her email to write to the faculty advisor of the team, as well as a brief overview of quiz bowl and provide contact information of both the faculty advisor and herself on the relevant social media pages.
Meanwhile, the faculty advisor is surprised that there is anyone that made their quiz bowl intentions for the following season clear this far out from the beginning of the new season; in his experience in that role, interest did not begin to be expressed by prospective players until a week or two before the start of fall classes. So to him it was a breath of fresh air.
"Dear Imélie, you're aware that the quiz bowl team has a high turnover problem. In recent history, most people stayed with the team for only one season, and often do not play a complete season. You also have a much better idea than most prospective recruits as to the challenges faced by the Tulane quiz bowl program. For this reason, you're tentatively the captain of the team for the next season, with all the responsibilities that entails, and you have full authorization to start scouting for the next season" Imélie reads the answer from the faculty advisor.
Oh boy... the Green Wave of my time was totally clueless at scouting, and once believed that just having a webpage on the club directory with an open-entry policy was enough to keep the team afloat. Unfortunately, so many, especially undergraduates, come to Tulane because of its party school scene, and, once they start partying, it's harder to get them to join student organizations, so the best bet for scouting, as far as I'm concerned, is to reach out to incoming students before they arrive on campus, Imélie thinks while she reviews informational material for quiz bowl intended to introduce new people to the activity, and even plan for practices to be held at times that work for their members once their schedules are confirmed.
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The first lead she obtains through the incoming class' social media pages is a male high school player. She is keen to both tell him about the program, and what makes it an exciting opportunity to represent Tulane in inter-collegiate competition. And, of course, to ask him about his past experiences of quiz bowling, especially his specialty subjects. Because she does not want a repeat of her undergraduate days in that she was forced to essentially play solo in team tournaments, and that a balanced team was the key to achieving what she wants for the Green Wave quiz bowl program going into the next season.
As an undergraduate I was more than just a little intimidated to take charge because while I may have captained the team in my last year of high school, that role didn't show me a whole lot of what actually goes into running a quiz bowl team. Now I am more comfortable taking the lead, because I have a much better idea of how a collegiate quiz bowl program should be run! Also, I think no one else would be able to bring this sorry excuse of a quiz bowl program called the Tulane Green Wave out of mediocrity! When I look at this season's Tulane Green Wave quiz bowl tournament performance, anything is better than what they currently have! Imélie seems to be lost in thought about how she has her work cut out for her, and how scouting is her priority at this stage of the reconstruction plan. That, even though the majority of Tulane's incoming undergraduate class got in early, be it early decision or early action.
Considering what Tulane did that season, it was hard to argue with Imélie's train of thought. Dead last at ACF Fall and Winter, they were blown out at ACF Winter. That demoralized the team so much they didn't even enter the ACF Regionals or the SCT. Several players on that quiz bowl squad had no prior experience of the game in high school; in Imélie's mind, these poor people were thrown off the deep end when they actually play.
Also, in my mind, scouting has a better chance of working if I personalize the attention I'm giving the prospects for what leads I have. On the surface, giving admitted students an opportunity to learn more about the quiz bowl program on social media pages might seem a good idea, but I have to send out reminders often on said pages since a lot of student organizations will also post on these, she thinks while also keeping track on a spreadsheet about what she thinks matters most to her: their specialty topics, their accomplishments in the quiz bowl arena, their intended majors in undergrad, and, of course, what motivates them to play quiz bowl in college, as well as how they perceive the gap between high school and collegiate QB and finally, their expectations of collegiate play.
"Now that I'm in at Tulane, and confirmed my attendance, I think it's a good idea to try to get to know better who I will be in school with. After all, I'll be spending three years going to school at night with them. B-schools always say they want people of diverse backgrounds, but I'm not sold on how diverse it can really be with such a small class size. If you were at, say, HBS or Wharton, obviously you'd run the whole gamut of professional backgrounds, however" Imélie then tells her husband.
"Hope you won't give up on me because of the program!" Sun voices his concern.
"Oh no, often working professionals must separate their work lives from their private lives. It's not like I would cheat on someone at school in a romantic sense, and frankly I'm more worried about cheating in an academic sense"
"Cheating? You are worried people would cheat on you? From what little I read about who goes to B-school their academic abilities are all over the place, and the same can be said of their motivation. You're so much smarter than that!"
"Oh Sun, you shouldn't worry about whether I can succeed in there or not" She then proceeds to kiss him. "Now, if I may, I have candles to prepare and then I'll do dinner!"
"All right, Imélie, you have good reason for the candles, I'll let you prepare dinner any way you wish"
So the reality is that she will need to save money for the first term, and then hope for the best later on. What this meant to her is that the resulting candle-lit dinner would be done on the cheap, with air-fried, home-made potato wedges being eaten. Sun didn't seem to be very happy about this meal he deemed to be as sorry an excuse for a meal as Imélie qualified Tulane's quiz bowl program in its current state.
"What is the meaning of this meal?" Sun asks her, upon seeing the potato wedges.
"We don't always have to eat refined food; sometimes less is more. Maybe you would like to eat ice cream?" she asks him about dessert.
"Ah, ice cream. Better that than no dessert"
Decidedly she gets the ice cream flavor that expires the earliest from what the couple currently has on hand, and then prepares two cups for the both of them, alongside nuts such as almonds and peanuts, both roasted, and a cherry on top of each cup of ice cream so prepared, as well as ripe banana slices. First expired, first out. This ice cream cup seems to be FEFO as a form of vengeance to her, in that it was both sweet and a dish served cold.
"This is the Sundry Sundae... or first expired, first out in revenge form! The nuts used in this meal were about to expire, and so were the ice cream and bananas used in it!" Imélie introduces the dessert.
"You always seemed, when it's your turn to cook, to use what expires first. It doesn't always taste that great, but I guess you have good reason to use the expiry date of the ingredients to decide what to cook.
"That's my way to ensure there is no wasted ingredient in this kitchen"