Jennifer Carter, MBA (2018)

I received my undergraduate degree (Elementary Education) at Columbia College in Columbia SC. I taught for a couple of years, but decided I wanted a different career. I was accepted into the US Coast Guard’s Officer Candidate School and worked as a marine Navigator as a vessel inspector for four years. After my contract was over, I chose to go back to school, utilizing my GI Bill to get my degree in Accounting. I started working as a tax consultant at Stockman Kast Ryan in January and graduated with my MBA (emphasis in Accounting) in May.

I moved to Colorado Springs because my husband lived here and I chose UCCS because I wanted to go to school locally. I like the ability to take classes in person and not have to take everything online. I also liked the smaller class sizes at UCCS and the Veteran’s Office was very helpful in setting up my GI Bill.

I loved my experience as a student in the MBA program. All of the professors are great; they are always available for students and truly are dedicated to helping students succeed. The other students in the program are also clearly focused on succeeding in the program as well and are easy to work with in collaborative groups. Class sizes are small, but there is still a great diversity of students from all different age ranges, careers experiences, and backgrounds. My course load was easily laid out for me by the MBA peer advisor, and any questions I had were quickly answered. Classes were flexible with both on campus and online options.

I think an MBA is a great achievement. Having an MBA makes someone much more marketable in the workforce than other potential candidates who do not yet have an MBA. It makes a young professional much more well-rounded as well, because they are exposed to many different aspects of business that they may not otherwise experience. Generally, the MBA is achievable while working full time, and many of the projects and topics that are learned in the program can be directly applied to current work situations.