At the time of this writing, I am 27 and I’ve just completed my MBA. As of March 2022, I graduated from Western Governors University with a master’s degree in Business Administration. I am still in disbelief that I could have ever achieved such an accomplishment. To clarify, I was not a particularly good student at any point in early grade school, and I was not a good student in high school. I am what would be classified by most standards as a late-bloomer, and I think even my parents would agree with that statement; my mom has always told people around our family that “Kale will do things when is he ready to do them” and that is the honest truth.
In 2015, I was given the best advice of my life from a family friend who told me that “Whatever you do with your education, be sure to finish something, whether that be an associate’s degree, a certification or license. Just be sure to finish.” With that advice in mind, I decided I would finish my associate’s degree at the University of Phoenix after wasting my life at small junior colleges that will remain unnamed in this writing. It took me roughly a year to finish, and it greatly satisfying to finish that degree, I might add. At that point, I decided that I was done with my college adventure.
Time passed and in 2019, I joined a healthcare organization’s IT department as a contractor. The year went by, and I became a full-time employee with the organization, which was a massive win for me. Still, I quickly concluded that if I wanted to move my way up the chain, I needed to go back to school. I needed to do so in a hurry; wasting two years on a bachelor’s degree did not interest me in the slightness.
Enter Capella University, an online college that allows you to learn at your own pace. In short, Capella is a university that has all classes based on competency-based learning; in all classes, you write papers, submit your paper, and the course instructors will grade your writing and give it a competency-based score. The faster you write, the faster you finish with the degree is an even shorter description. Anyone on Reddit who says that “Capella isn’t a creditable university because of competency-based learning” is a jackass and should be disregarded. Earning my degree from Capella immediately unlocked new doors to different jobs that were previously closed. I finished my degree in about four months due to the pandemic and I did it for a little under five grand. I managed to pay for the whole kit and kaboodle out of pocket, with no student debt. I believe I wrote a little over 105 papers in about 4 months. Not being truly satisfied with my accomplishment, there was only one thing left to do, my MBA.
Enter WGU, the famous non-profit university that all the smug hipsters talk about while sipping on their Americano at their favorite java establishment. In truth, I picked WGU because I witnessed the MBA experience first-hand from my father. My father can be a difficult study; he makes most educational adventures look effortless and can learn at a freighting rate that has regularly left people stunned. I, too, have picked up on how to learn in a way that is effective for my learning style, but I do not have the lifetime of experience that he has in doing it. To give you a rough idea, he completed his MBA in about a month… Yeah, let that one soak in. It took me a year; from March 2021 to March 2022. WGU works mainly the same as Capella; well, it only kinda does. Both Capella and WGU are the same in nature, I suppose. The only difference is that WGU has exams you have to take in various courses. I will say that the course exams at WGU range from pretty easy to not for the faint of heart. Some of the exams have you stuff an overkill amount of knowledge in your brain. Since you are on a time limit pre-semester, you best learn quickly. I had two classes that took the wind out of my sails simply because I had no knowledge of the subject matter that was being taught. Still, I felt that the classes did a decent job filling in the gaps.
I will only say in closing that completing my MBA was the most satisfying goal I have ever achieved and that you should go and complete yours if you have the chance; your family will thank you, you’ll thank yourself, and hell, your own co-workers may thank you because you might end up being their boss instead of some other asshole.
