Never give up! My path to MBA and beyond.

[Kaskadian]

Hey everyone,

I felt like this needed to be said. I've had an incredible amount of support from many people in my life including many people from these forums here. Thank you all for all the support/advice, and encouragement you've provided not only me, but each other as well.

I'll be honest, I never liked school. I'm surprised I graduated from high school. I'm not a fool, but I didn't like the idea of sitting in a classroom and grinding out assignments for years on end. I felt like a prisoner, and I tried to escape from it any chance I could. Because of my dad's profession, I was able to fly anywhere in the world for free assuming there were spare seats left on the plane. I'd disappear for weeks on end to wherever I wanted to go. Graduating from high school was a huge surprise for me, and my family as well. After high school, I didn't want to go to college, so I tried to go into the military. I scored well on my ASVAB (military entrance exam) and was accepted into the Air Force and was preparing to go to BMT (basic military training) and ATC (air traffic controller) training. Before shipping out to training, a car accident put that dream to an end. I was medically disqualified and was told I could try again in a few years after being medically cleared. I felt totally lost, and disappeared into Asia for a few years. I came back, started to work and started my bachelors at a local B&M university. Still wasn't "feeling it", and vanished again into Western Europe and eventually back to Asia. I was 23 years old, sitting in my apartment in China and feeling depressed about falling behind on my education, and not having a real career. Around late 2013 - early 2014, I enrolled in TESU so I could at least finish my bachelor's degree and check that box off on my list of life goals.

As of 2015 I had still not graduated with my bachelors degree. I was doing volunteer work abroad primarily in China, and occasionally Eastern Europe. TESU for me was the best option because it allowed me to continue with my education while doing my volunteer work abroad. I believe I started at TESU sometime between late 2013, and early 2014. After returning from overseas in 2015, I still had 30-45 credits remaining to complete my bachelor's degree, and was a bit disheartened about having essentially a year left. By 2015, I was married, and had a newborn son, was working 2 jobs, and every second felt precious and whatever free time I had was extremely limited. The encouragement from folks like you guys here kept me going, and the advice of several members really lit a fire under my @**. I put my nose to the grindstone, and knocked out the last of my bachelors within 4 months through a LOT of work. It was tough, but it was definitely worth it. I received my official degree paperwork in January 2016 (WOO HOO!). Since graduating with my bachelors, I have been hired on at a large hospital system, and my job prospects are on an upswing.

I never thought I'd have graduated high school, much less graduate with my bachelors. It felt like a dream when I finally graduated. After graduation, all my motivation came back and I started to consider the idea of pursuing a graduate degree. My wife is someone who sees a lot of value in education (she's a heck of a lot wiser than I am), she graduated with a double masters in education/linguistics, and encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree as well. I had a LOT of people tell me I wouldn't get accepted into a good MBA program because of TESU (which is BS guys! Don't listen to people that hate on non-traditional/online schools!). Others said I wouldn't do well in a masters program, etc. I heard so much negativity that I started to believe it, and started to question the path that I had chosen. At this point, roughly a year had passed since I had officially graduated with my bachelors degree. I considered a bunch of different options for my MBA, but WTAMU (West Texas A&M University) made it to the top of my list for a few reasons -- state school, AACSB accredited, affordable when compared to other MBA programs, and I could complete the degree online while working full-time.

In April 2017 I was accepted into WTAMU! I'll be updating this thread on occasion as I continue to move through this process. If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them as soon as I have time. The MBA is definitely a LOT of work, but I feel the work I'm doing is more relevant to my career than the work I did during my undergrad. The level of difficulty is roughly the same, but there is a LOT more reading/writing involved in the MBA so far. That being said, I've only completed 1 class, and I'm working on my second now. When I see my son, it keeps my inspired to continue knocking out this degree knowing (assuming no significant reasons for delay) I'll be done before he is 4, and I should be done before I'm 30 (27 now). It's a ton of work, but remember, if you want something badly enough you can make it happen. If I can do it, none of you have an excuse to not progress in your education if this is the path you want to take. MAKE. IT. HAPPEN!

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Completed First Course: 08/15/2017

Grade: 98%
Overall Program GPA: 4.0
Course: 1/11