Every Dawg has its day

Last Friday I became an official alumnus of the University of Georgia. Don’t worry, this blog will remain strictly BC. I’ll leave the quality UGA blogging to Paul, LD, and Kyle. But indulge me for a moment while I sing the praises of UGA and explain what it was like going from full Eagle to part Dawg.

In my opinion BC is the best school in the world. I loved my time there, my education, my friends and obviously my wife. BC was the perfect school for me. When I first moved to Atlanta after graduation, I was sort of surprised by how Georgians felt about UGA. I knew it was a good school with a good football program. But having been too young to remember the Walker days and as transplanted Yankee, I always viewed the UGA faithful’s constant boasts about the school’s academics and athletics a little skeptically.

A few years ago, I decided to get my MBA. I didn’t want to put life on hold so part-time seemed like the best answer. Fortunately in Atlanta I had numerous options from which to choose. With each analysis of where I should go, UGA kept coming up as the right school for me. Everyone I know had described part-time MBA programs as slow torture, I wasn’t thrilled about battling Atlanta traffic a couple nights a week, and there was part of me that couldn’t believe after all my years of rolling my eyes at UGA folks, that I might become one of them, so in the Fall 2003 I begrudgingly applied.

A few weeks later I got a call from the Director of the program congratulating me on my acceptance. After a few minutes of talk about the program he said “there’s been something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about ever since I read your application.”

My mind started racing. Is he going to ask me about my horrendous GPA my freshman year? Or the class I had to drop Junior year? Or try to make sense of my “unique” career path? Nope. Instead he had been waiting to ask “what do you think about BC joining the ACC?” From there I knew things would be okay.

I started back in January 2004 and the past two and half years have been a blur. And while there were plenty of Sundays when I hated doing homework and tons of wasted hours on Atlanta roads, I never felt I wasted a minute being in the classroom. The UGA faculty was great and very engaging. Going back to school with some experience under my belt put many more things in perspective. I really enjoyed my classmates. The support staff was always very helpful, especially considering none of us had the time or access to Athens to deal with all the administrative BS that school entails. I am glad it is over, but I left Athens on Friday very happy with the experience and very proud to call myself a University of Georgia graduate.

Like I said this blog and my loyalty will always be with BC. Going back to school made me appreciate my time at BC more. But the experience served as a reminder of how many great schools are out there and how everyone’s time is different. Ultimately it is about finding the right environment and making the most of your time there. I still think BC is perfect, but that little school in Athens is pretty good, too.