{"id":18463,"date":"2021-03-08T11:59:25","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T16:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/08\/an-unconventional-path\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T18:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:34:18","slug":"an-unconventional-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/08\/an-unconventional-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenkins MBA Alumni ’20 Spotlight: An Unconventional Path"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Danielle Brown<\/a> earned a series of promotions over the first decade or so of her career.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She eventually found herself with overseeing 170 people spread across three labs, plus responsibility for all aspects of those sites\u2019 operations \u2014 finance, marketing and more. Brown was a highly trained scientist, but had little background in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Danielle Brown, Professional Online MBA Student<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

George Astridge<\/a> used to sit in meetings at work with colleagues from accounting, finance, marketing and other departments in his role as a data analyst. He knew that sometimes he was missing the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’d be in a meeting with finance, and they’d be talking about things that were clearly fundamental business topics that I just didn’t understand. And then I’d be in a meeting with accounting, and they’d be talking about, you know, accruals and balance sheets, and I didn\u2019t really understand that,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cI noticed that the people in the room who were most able to draw connections between those specialist groups were people who had MBAs.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Astridge also saw job postings that often contained the phrases \u201cMBA preferred\u201d or \u201cMBA required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Brown, as her responsibilities grew, she took a couple of free online finance courses to fill in gaps in her knowledge and realized she enjoyed the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really liked what I learned and thought, \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll explore doing an MBA,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the Jenkins MBA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brown looked at other business schools that her employer had relationships with. But when she looked closer to home, at NC State, where she had already earned a degree in veterinary medicine and a master\u2019s degree in veterinary pathology, she liked what she found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
George Astridge, Professional Online Student <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The program\u2019s focus on science, technology and engineering related industries was especially attractive.

\u201cI really liked it, especially that there\u2019s two bioscience electives with a concentration, so I\u2019m taking those,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astridge had earned an undergraduate degree in geography from the University of Manchester in England. He took his data analyst approach to finding the right MBA program, building a spreadsheet to compare schools based on important factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He needed flexibility \u2014 a remote program he could do at his own pace, based on his work and family commitments. He also wanted a school that would have strong name recognition in Charlotte, where he was building his career.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge number of NC State graduates in Charlotte,\u201d he says. When he put an NC State sticker on his laptop and studied in the break room at work, \u201cthe number of people that would come by, from senior executives in their 60s to new graduates in their early 20s, and say \u2018Oh yeah, I went to State,\u2019 was just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From classroom to corporate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though Brown and Astridge are only partway through the program, both say it has already helped them at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown says she often finds herself taking notes in class about things she wants to do or apply in her job.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cThe marketing class is incredibly helpful,\u201d she says. \u201cI actually use some of the articles our professor had us read and apply it directly to our teams. I\u2019m definitely applying things right away.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Astridge notes that the MBA curriculum can be divided, in a sense, into two sections: core business classes and then specialized courses and electives. He has taken core classes first to bolster his business knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose were really useful from that connecting-the-dots perspective \u2014 especially strategy classes and things like that I didn\u2019t have any exposure to beforehand,\u201d Astridge says. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to apply the concepts from those core classes in my work as I\u2019ve been taking those classes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the MBA gives her a strong business background, Brown says she\u2019s started to think about the possibility of a more global leadership role in her current company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she didn\u2019t go into the MBA program thinking about a promotion. She went into thinking about how it would provide an immediate return on investment. \u201cHow can I learn to really be the best that I can be in this job that I\u2019m doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post was originally published<\/a> in Jenkins MBA News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

Danielle Brown<\/a> earned a series of promotions over the first decade or so of her career.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She eventually found herself with overseeing 170 people spread across three labs, plus responsibility for all aspects of those sites\u2019 operations \u2014 finance, marketing and more. Brown was a highly trained scientist, but had little background in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Danielle Brown, Professional Online MBA Student<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

George Astridge<\/a> used to sit in meetings at work with colleagues from accounting, finance, marketing and other departments in his role as a data analyst. He knew that sometimes he was missing the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI'd be in a meeting with finance, and they'd be talking about things that were clearly fundamental business topics that I just didn't understand. And then I'd be in a meeting with accounting, and they'd be talking about, you know, accruals and balance sheets, and I didn\u2019t really understand that,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noticed that the people in the room who were most able to draw connections between those specialist groups were people who had MBAs.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Astridge also saw job postings that often contained the phrases \u201cMBA preferred\u201d or \u201cMBA required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Brown, as her responsibilities grew, she took a couple of free online finance courses to fill in gaps in her knowledge and realized she enjoyed the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really liked what I learned and thought, \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll explore doing an MBA,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the Jenkins MBA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brown looked at other business schools that her employer had relationships with. But when she looked closer to home, at NC State, where she had already earned a degree in veterinary medicine and a master\u2019s degree in veterinary pathology, she liked what she found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
George Astridge, Professional Online Student <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The program\u2019s focus on science, technology and engineering related industries was especially attractive.

\u201cI really liked it, especially that there\u2019s two bioscience electives with a concentration, so I\u2019m taking those,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astridge had earned an undergraduate degree in geography from the University of Manchester in England. He took his data analyst approach to finding the right MBA program, building a spreadsheet to compare schools based on important factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He needed flexibility \u2014 a remote program he could do at his own pace, based on his work and family commitments. He also wanted a school that would have strong name recognition in Charlotte, where he was building his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a huge number of NC State graduates in Charlotte,\u201d he says. When he put an NC State sticker on his laptop and studied in the break room at work, \u201cthe number of people that would come by, from senior executives in their 60s to new graduates in their early 20s, and say \u2018Oh yeah, I went to State,\u2019 was just incredible.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From classroom to corporate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though Brown and Astridge are only partway through the program, both say it has already helped them at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown says she often finds herself taking notes in class about things she wants to do or apply in her job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The marketing class is incredibly helpful,\u201d she says. \u201cI actually use some of the articles our professor had us read and apply it directly to our teams. I\u2019m definitely applying things right away.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Astridge notes that the MBA curriculum can be divided, in a sense, into two sections: core business classes and then specialized courses and electives. He has taken core classes first to bolster his business knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose were really useful from that connecting-the-dots perspective \u2014 especially strategy classes and things like that I didn\u2019t have any exposure to beforehand,\u201d Astridge says. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to apply the concepts from those core classes in my work as I\u2019ve been taking those classes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the MBA gives her a strong business background, Brown says she\u2019s started to think about the possibility of a more global leadership role in her current company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she didn\u2019t go into the MBA program thinking about a promotion. She went into thinking about how it would provide an immediate return on investment. \u201cHow can I learn to really be the best that I can be in this job that I\u2019m doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctors get pre-med degrees, lawyers study pre-law. So it\u2019s simple logic to think that if you\u2019re gunning for an MBA, the best undergrad degree for MBA is a business major – right? Actually… not so much. Learn how these two students, with unconventional undergrad degrees are seeing immediate returns from their MBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6048,"featured_media":18464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1802,468,9],"tags":[1784],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-18463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profiles","category-mba","category-students","tag-_from-newswire-collection-59"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6048"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18463"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226500,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18463\/revisions\/226500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18463"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=18463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}