6. Illiad Assessment Center Results

Earlier in the In Class Sessions portion, I summarized my assessment center results this year and contrasted it to my experience as a first year student. I actually scored much higher in all categories this year compared to last year. In Section 1, I assessed all my skills as much lower, at least 20 points lower, than what they actually were. For my initiative, I assessed myself at a 30 while I was actually a 77, for my decision making, I said I was 30 when I actually scored a 96, for my organizing, I thought I would score a 40 when I actually scored a 85, for communication I believed I would score a 30 when I actually received a 96, and finally for my teamwork I scored a 85 when I rated myself to be a 60. This contrasts to last year’s results because I overrated myself on both communication and teamwork. These results showed me just how much I improved on all my skills, but especially on teamwork and decision- making. Also I am proud of and impressed with my decision making result (96) because I have always considered myself an indecisive individual since it takes me a longer time than most people to make simple decisions such as deciding to buy what brand of bread at the grocery store or what to order at a restaurant. Sometimes I even look up the menu beforehand just to read each option and be prepared with my decision, so it was unexpected but reassuring to know that I could make strategic decisions amidst a stressful environment.

Overall, my in-basket assessment score was rated the highest out of all the activities, with a 91. The customer service meeting closely followed with an 89. I am not surprised because I have always been a skilled writer, and was an editor for my high school monthly newspaper. My writing quality was also ranked as a 95.

On the list of detailed behaviors exhibited, I improved greatly from last year because I didn’t have any -1s and my confidence went up by two points from a -1 last year to a 2. I’m extremely proud of myself for that because self-confidence has been something I have always struggled with. It’s so great to have an affirmation that all my hard work from last year has finally paid off.

However, one aspect I need to work on is my attention to detail, a score that represents the relative number of correct responses I had when additional attention to detail was needed. I only scored in the 40^th percentile and I’m not surprised because I have always known one of my greatest weaknesses is my lack of attention to detail and not being thorough or patient enough. To take action to improve my attention to detail, I am currently training myself to double check all my answers on exams before handing them in, as well as rechecking the process I use to get there. Especially for Managerial Accounting, which is one of my classes this semester, attention to detail is highly crucial because the whole class consists of crunching a bunch of numbers and memorizes budgets and which numbers should be added or subtracted from others ones. By being more organized and detailed when completing my homework, I have been improving my attention to detail and even noticed a substantial change in my test performance. When I go back at the end and double check all my answers, I notice I actually got many questions incorrect due to careless errors that could’ve been easily avoided had I paid more attention.

Something else I can improve on is my leadership emergence, which ranks the number of meetings in which I was viewed as taking a leadership role. I scored the minimum, 0, because I wasn’t viewed to have taken charge at any of the meetings. This was slightly disappointing but I know I will have to work harder at not being so passive and sometimes taking charge of situations instead of letting other people always do all the work.

One thing I have tried to do to improve my leadership throughout this semester is becoming a peer mentor and TA for the first year CPBE class. Serving as a TA for the first years has been an incredibly valuable and rewarding experience thus far because I get the opportunity to serve as a mentor to fellow peers who are following the same path and doing all the same assignments and activities that I did one year ago. The TA position has allowed me to connect to first year students and my assigned mentees. An especially powerful experience I had just last week was when I was studying in my dorm, Denton, and a first year student whom I recognized from colloquium walked in. Although I didn’t know her, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get to know more first years, so I started chatting with her. We ended up talking for almost an hour and she asked me for advice regarding her major (she’s currently undecided), how to approach the PCR, and many other academic and personal topics. At the end of the talk, I realized I truly enjoyed connecting with her in a setting outside the classroom. I also realized she almost regarded me as a mentor figure or leader. This took me a little by surprise because I have never considered myself a leader in many situations such as group projects because I don’t often like to take charge. However, I liked my role as a mentor figure and realize why could I not be a leader? My encounter with her provided me with confidence that I can be a leader and to not be afraid to speak up in the future because what I have to say is valuable.