“Adept at juggling numerous initiatives.” “Keeps things running smoothly.” “Organized AF.” I consider myself to be an organized person and I’ve received enough positive feedback from clients and coworkers to back up that opinion. Which is why I was shocked at how much I struggled when I started my grad degree.
Hi, I’m Jenn. Marketing Director, mom of two, occasional nonprofit volunteer, lover of a good side gig, and now grad student at none other than my place of work: Goldey-Beacom College (GBC). I started working at GBC in September of 2024 and I knew from the moment I saw our employee benefits that I would get a master’s degree. While I value self-improvement and continuous learning, and I do think a graduate degree will help me advance if I continue my career in higher education, I’m also motivated by the desire to fully understand the product I market. The wisdom of my long-ago undergrad professors has stayed with me through the decades, “Be a student of your industry.” So, I always shop my own product.
In my professional life, I trend on the, “Type A, organize-all-the-things” side. At home I loosen up a little bit, but I successfully maintain a household schedule of family activities, homework, paperwork, shopping, doctor appointments, vet appointment, bills, and occasionally fighting back the rising tide of Lego debris. Even with a full schedule, I figured I could easily squeeze in one class per semester and keep on top of things. Cue the ominous foreshadowing music…
Confession: I am bad at grad school. Like really, really bad. I pour all my energy and time into work and kids and by 8:30pm each night, the last thing I want to do is read a textbook or write a paper. Motivated by the desire to understand our grad students, I signed up for a mix of hybrid and online classes and personally experienced the benefits and challenges of each.
In-person Saturday classes were long, and I felt guilty about the babysitting favors I called in, but I enjoyed the face time with classmates and the instructors. Online classes, on the other hand, were a STRUGGLE. This shocked me. Immediately after completing my bachelor’s degree over a decade ago, I had taken some online classes towards a master’s degree with no issue. But what I failed to consider were the drastic changes in my life since.
In my early 20s, I didn’t have children. Or a job that challenged me. It was easy to pour energy into classes because I didn’t have any competing priorities or passions.
I watched myself, almost as a passive observer, as I missed assignments and had to email teachers about my confusion over due dates. I put time blocks on my calendar for coursework but then didn’t plan accordingly with my husband and found myself cooking dinner or putting kids to bed when I should have been doing classwork. I learned that undergraduate degrees in visual communication and media design do not a foundation for an MBA make.
I felt dumb, disorganized, and frustrated with myself. But I also learned some valuable lessons.
Grad school is hard. The busier your life (and the more Type A you are), the harder it’s going to be. I’ve been overexposed to “find your why” advice so I’m cringing while typing this BUT it needs to be said. If you don’t have a clear reason for getting a graduate degree and the impact you expect it to have on your career, what’s going to keep you going when it gets hard? And how do you know you’re not wasting your time? A grad degree can do a lot of things for you, but without a plan it’s just a piece of paper.
I changed my major only two classes in. When I first blithely announced I was going to get a grad degree, I chose the one that sounded most challenging while still being relevant to my field: a Master of Business Administration, Analytical Track. I was allowed to continue because my coworkers foolishly trusted my naive optimism. As it turns out, Marketing Directors DO NOT need accounting skills to manage an advertising budget, and while I passed Financial Reporting, one glance at the final projects from an Econometrics and Forecasting class had me swapping my degree to the Master of Management. (And yes, I did link all of the degree and course names because it’s GOOD FOR SEO, and I won’t apologize for it.)
Marketing is an interesting field, because we’re often in the position of being the client while serving the client. In the midst of my own struggles with grad classes, I was interviewing other grad students to better understand their experience and try to discover who our optimal target student is. One of those students provided a lightbulb moment when she described how she prepared for grad school by talking to her employer and partner, cutting back hours at work, and planning time for classes and coursework. It feels so obvious in hindsight, but I had been relying on my “organizational skills” to somehow magically triage the coursework without specifically building it into my schedule.
I thought I knew, for 100% sure, that I would prefer online classes. Self-paced, flexible, fits into your regular life. A clear win. Color me shocked to learn that I, Queen of Systems and Organization, cannot stick to a schedule if I’m not physically forced to be in the classroom. And while online classes often incorporate discussion boards or, like my most recent class, may creatively use video to give students a feel for their classmates’ personalities, it’s just harder to connect with people you don’t see face to face. Even as an introvert who successfully worked remote jobs for six years before coming to GBC, I find the face time with coworkers and classmates to have a positive impact on my mental health, and I’ve enjoyed the networking/continued connection with my Saturday class peers. That being said, I have had good experiences with online classes at other times in my life. My suggestion is to see what works for you and not make assumptions about what you’ll prefer.
My most consistent workout routines are always when I have a class or schedule with my sister. She shows up, so I show up. Somehow, it hadn’t occurred to me to try this tactic with classes. Then I jokingly told my husband we should take classes together and somehow the joke coalesced into an actual plan. Now we take turns nagging each other on unmotivated weeks, we compare notes when we’re not sure how to tackle an assignment, and we discuss the chapters in our textbook FOR FUN. It’s been fantastic, both for staying motivated and for our individual follow-through. Obviously, this particular setup won’t work for everyone, but accountabilibuddies can be found everywhere. Just ask a friend or family member who cares about your goals to check in with you and offer to hold them accountable to a goal of their own. The goals may vary but having someone to report in to makes a world of difference.
What I’ve learned is that everyone’s journey is different. Some people just know what they want. Others, like me, need to take a winding path. I won’t say grad school is for everyone. But I do think, with sufficient preparation, planning, and drive, anyone can succeed at grad school. One benefit of working and learning in a small school: the answer to my questions is never more than a five-minute walk away.
I won’t say grad school is for everyone. But I do think, with sufficient preparation, planning, and drive, anyone can succeed at grad school. I’m currently halfway through my own master’s, thanks to a combination of transfer credits, creative application of courses I took for a different degree (thanks, Deb!), and finally getting my head in the right place to strategically plan out the rest of my courses.
If we’re being honest, this echoes my undergraduate degree experience. I began my college career as a mechanical engineering student, changed majors three times, and finally discovered graphic design. While I floundered, I watched friends and family choose career goals right out of high school and work towards them with seemingly little doubt.
But what I’ve learned is that everyone’s journey is different. Some people just know what they want and plow straight through any obstacles in their way. Others, like me, need to take a winding path to figure out exactly what they want to do. And there are benefits to an indirect route. I’ve booked a nonprofit client for a web design project who liked that I had worked a job in an energy trading firm because I had familiarity with the power grid. I’ve been able to work more easily alongside developers because I have passing familiarity with programming languages from some of the IT classes I took.
Whether you have career goals and just need help matching a degree to your aspirations or you need to dip your toe in and figure things out along the way, GBC’s admissions and advising teams are here to help. One benefit of working and learning in a small school: the answer to my questions is never more than a five-minute walk away.
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