More Back to School!

Okay, so, those "Tuesday/Thursday" classes I said I'd talk about:

Shopper, Buyer, and Consumer Behavior ("Behavior") - Jeff Murray
I am probably far more excited about this class than is socially acceptable, but it's what I love. I would love to eventually work in shopper insights/consumer behavior, so THIS is the class I've been looking forward to taking. It's an interesting format, too. Dr. Murray (who I've never had before but who everyone raves about) hasn't assigned us a textbook. Instead, we're reading more "pop culture" themed books - the Gladwell trio (Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers) and a book called Mind Wide Open (which I like as of the first chapter). The books are meant to complement the lectures and give us references to cite when we write our essays (basically the only graded component of the class). We have six essays, spaced throughout the semester, and one group project. No exams. Quite different from the classes I've taken in the past, but the emphasis is on creativity - so that's just plain exciting!

Consumer and Market Research ("Research") - Scot Burton
Although I may be less excited about this class than I am Behavior, I am still glad to have it on my schedule. With what I'd like to eventually do (focus on shopper marketing/insights and then *eventually* teach in a university setting), I need the skills this class will provide - the basics behind research design, implementation, and evaluation. I've had Dr. Burton before, and I liked the class I took with him as an undergrad, so I see this going well. We do have a HUGE group project that will take the entire semester, but once we get going, I'm thinking it may actually be fun...we'll see.

These are my two "career track" classes, the addition of which is new this semester. Up until now, we've ALL had class together. With the tracks, we split up into four sections (marketing [yay!], tlog, finance, and entrepreneurship). As a result, we are now taking classes with sub-sections of the class...which means my normal little study/social group is split up. It's kinda odd to not see them all everyday...

Anyway, we had normal lectures today, and I'm still just as excited about Behavior as I was on day one. Plus, I'm already getting into the reading (a good sign!). Research seems to be going well, too, with the only hiccup as of yet being the "group formation" time we had at the end of class.

Dr. Burton said we could team up in groups of, at minimum, five people. Well, conveniently enough, the little piece of our "group" that is enrolled in the class happened to be a five person version of the whole...so I assumed we'd work together. Yeah, I was wrong and that didn't work...at all. Team formation was actually a bit tense there for a sec (I'm honestly still a little confused as to how all of that happened, but, no matter). Turns out, this will probably be for the best. Those of us that ended up together are getting to work with some of the class that we don't normally get to hang out with, so, yay new friends!

As mentioned before, we don't have class on Fridays, so I'll spend all day tomorrow at the office. We're gearing up for a big meeting with Walmart on Thursday, so there's a lot to get done before then. After that, it's weekend time! Oh, and we have our first India class on Saturday - yay! That'll be a fun post, I hope.

And, did I mention that it felt like fall today? Oh, it was so nice. Almost football weather! Can't wait for that to start back up - Go Hogs!