Makayla Dean wants to make the most of her time.
“I work hard and I like to travel. I want to see the world while I’m young,” she says.
The soon-to-be college grad found she could achieve those personal goals along with her academic goals by making the move to an online bachelor’s degree program.
Superior Business Education
Dean, now 22, enrolled at the University of ֱ at Lafayette the fall after high school graduation. Her love of math and her natural leadership abilities drew her to study business.
“I heard great things about the business school at UL Lafayette,” she says. “I wanted to get a superior education and to stay in my hometown near friends and family.”
She was about half-way to completing her BSBA in Management degree through the B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration when she learned the University’s business school offers the same degree online.
“I learned about it through a friend. She did the online program because she was working a full-time job. I was also working full-time, so I figured why not do the online program?” Dean says.
The chance to receive the same degree and have the same career opportunities after graduation convinced Dean to make the switch. The benefits of fitting her education into her life, instead of the other way around, appealed to her immediately.
“With online, you get this freedom to just live your life, but you’re also getting your education at the same time because you don’t have to physically be there,” she says.
Careful Planning
Dean admits all that flexibility and autonomy requires a great deal of personal responsibility and organization.
“There are due dates you have to reach and be responsible for. The instructors give you a starting point, and everything else is up to you,” she says. “Whether you succeed or fail comes from what you put into it.”
After she switched to the online program, Dean was able to work full-time in her medical office administration position – the field in which she plans to continue building her career – as well as travel.
“I have family who live in the Dallas area, so I have been back and forth quite a few times. I also traveled to Jacksonville, Fla.,” she says. “It was really nice to be able to travel whenever I pleased. If I needed to get away and relax, I would simply pack my computer and go.”
Dean feels her business degree has given her direction, strengthened her leadership skills, developed her work ethic, and prepared her to be professional in the face of unexpected obstacles.
“Working full-time, I had the insight and ability to jumpstart my life as an adult. It has given me an understanding of responsibility and dedication as a working adult. And it’s helped me to mature and prioritize things in my life,” she says.
Those attributes are among the reasons Dean was named the Moody College of Business Department of Management’s Outstanding Graduate this semester.
After graduation, Dean has her eye on Dallas. She is looking for roles in medical office management in the metropolitan area and hopes to one day open her own business.