Today, more and more adults are
returning to the classroom to either
finish working on an undergraduate degree or to earn a higher degree. Many of
these students already have jobs and are
returning to earn a degree that will potentially lead to a better job and higher pay.
However, how many times does a graduate degree actually lead to a better job?
“The degrees have not only been utilized
to transition into another career, but they
have also supplemented the work I do here
on the Columbus Police Department,” says
Keith Winn.
Winn graduated from Mount Vernon
Nazarene University with a bachelor’s
degree in business administration in 2005.
He also earned a Master of Business
Administration and a Master of Science in
Management in 2007. He also worked full
time as a police officer on the CPD and is a
husband and father.
Smart Business talked to Winn about the
advantages and disadvantages of returning
to school while juggling the demands of
everyday life.
Describe your experience as a student with
full-time responsibilities.
The graduate work was a bridge program, bridging the Master of Science in
Management and the Master of Business
Administration, with the MBA requiring the
completion of five additional courses.
There was more in the concentration of
quantitative coursework being completed
to obtain the MBA.
Each course is a six-week class, one class
at a time, one day a week. At the end of the
course, there is a one-week break and then
you go back and do the next six-week
course. It took six to seven months to complete the entire program. I continued to
work full-time for the Columbus Police
Department and as a husband, a father and
a student.
How does the bridge work?
After the school developed the MBA, it went to the Higher Learning Commission
to get approval for the program. As a result,
the school was able to cross over courses
that were similar for requirement for completion. Since all of the courses crossed
over, except for the need of additional
quantitative coursework to be completed,
Mount Vernon was able to bind the two
programs together.
Compare the undergraduate workload to the
graduate workload.
The undergraduate courses are the same
style. Classes are taken one at a time. The
length of time for the classes may range
from four weeks to seven weeks.
The MBA program was strictly a six-week period of time for each class. Both
were only one class, one night a week for
four hours each. There were obviously less
classes in the MBA program in comparison
to the undergraduate program.
Why continue into the MBA program if you
already had a good career?
The encouragement of the instructors.
They saw something in me; the drive to
learn more and study more, and they continued to encourage me to achieve more
and to push forward.
Timing was also important. I liked the
program and the style that Mount Vernon
offered. One program led right into the
next, and there was no break in service or
class time. I knew the instructors, the programs and the university, and the instructors knew me. I had also developed quite a
few friendships with my classmates. There
were a lot of connecting points.
Was getting to class a hassle?
There are satellite campuses throughout
the area, including one in Cincinnati, and I
live pretty close to the ones I attended. I did
my undergrad and MBA work at a campus
that is probably two miles from my house.
I earned the MSM at a campus that was 10
or 15 minutes away.
How will you use your graduate degrees?
I see myself changing careers. I signed a
contract with Mount Vernon Nazarene
University to teach part time and I have
done some adjunct teaching. The school
gave me the opportunity to teach part time
with an even greater opportunity to teach
full time upon the completion of my police
work. I’m eligible to retire in three years, so
I am starting the transition now. I will teach
an introduction to strategic management
this fall and hope to go back to school later
to earn my doctorate.
The tools I’ve learned are valuable to me
even now as a police officer. I just worked
a diversity assignment running a recruiting
department for the city, and I was able to
incorporate a lot of the strategies, changed
management courses, and leadership and
financial classes into the strategic plans to
help the city make adjustments.
KEITH WINN has earned two graduate degrees from Mount
Vernon Nazarene University.
