Student Stories: Jacqueline Granado
Jacqueline Granado, known by her friends as Jackie, graduated from the Strome College of Business in May 2022 with her Master's in Business Administration (MBA). Granado took advantage of Strome's online program and completed classes remotely from Arizona. Due to her husband's military status and constantly relocating across the country, she needed a program that was flexible and affordable. That ultimately led her to the MBA program at Strome. Before starting the program in January of 2020, she attended Arizona State University (ASU) and graduated with a bachelor's degree in computational mathematics in 2017. During her time at ASU, she was really involved, especially with the university marching band.
Jacqueline was still able to enjoy her time at Strome even though she was fully remote. She credits the MBA program with giving her the confidence and resources needed to move up in her company as she was able to apply her education and skillset to her role and increase her value. This gave Granado the confidence to formally ask for and receive a raise. She specifically praised Elko Klijn, an associate professor in the program. "His enthusiasm for the material was incredibly refreshing and inspired me to invest even more deeply in my education and professional development" stated Granado. While his Strategic Management capstone course was difficult, she loved it and experienced real personal growth due to the rigorous design of his class. While completing this program, Granado received the Outstanding MBA award for her high GPA. She shared, "It felt good to be recognized for my hard work and dedication." On top of that, she was the first fully online student in the school's history to earn this amazing award.
When asked for advice for degree seeking students, she states that knowing and building relationships with classmates is extremely important. Especially since she was remote, she had to work around the time difference. Developing close relationships with her peers and professors, made it easier to communicate around the time difference. Another piece of advice was to not be afraid to reach out for help. The collaboration aspect of the classes was extremely important and supportive. Group chats made communications easier and helped with sharing experiences between peers going through the same program. She explained that, "Working full time and getting a degree is tough, so having those people to vent to, bounce ideas off of, and celebrate together made a big difference." Lasty, she recommended time-blocking your schedule. She personally had to block her schedule for her full-time job, classes, and schoolwork and set times for each to get all her work done. Granado has also been married since the end of 2017, so family was another thing to set time for. She advises, "Having set times blocked for classes, schoolwork, and possibly a job, will make your time more manageable and productive."
Since graduating, she has enjoyed the free time and fills it with reading and being outside. Granado has worked for Novvavax, a biotechnology company based out of Gaithersburg Maryland, since January of 2021 focusing on payroll and accounting tasks. She said she'd love to stay with the same company, continue to move up within it, and ultimately stay in the finance realm with a specific interest in optimizing managerial tasks since obtaining her master's degree.
