Online Student Stories: How Sam's MBA Helped Propel Her Career

When Sam Roach-Gerber started her online MBA program at Champlain College Online, she was already working for VCET (Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies), but knew she wanted to better understand the business aspects of her work given her previous education had been in the communications space. Sam's job is focused on consulting with entrepreneurs–typically in the tech industry–who are exploring starting a business or growing a business. Given that, she knew she needed to increase her business acumen, especially financial, to better serve her clients.

I started my MBA online because I had a lot of street smarts in business after years of working in start-ups, but was missing the foundational knowledge, especially the financial pieces. I knew if I invested in building my business acumen, I would be a better consultant, I would give better advice, and I would become more confident."

Sam decided that Champlain was the right online college for her because it is extremely flexible, affordable and most importantly, designs its curriculum to be immediately applicable to the job. This was absolutely critical in her decision-making process. If the content wasn't going to be immediately useful, it wasn't going to be worth the investment of time or money.

I was attracted to the MBA at Champlain because it was as stripped down as possible and clearly designed for people with careers. No fluff. No filler. I continue to be blown away by how applicable all of my learning is. Every assignment is fully relatable to my career and anytime an assignment doesn't apply to my work, the faculty allow me to customize it to be."

Not only does Sam find CCO faculty to be flexible and responsive to her needs, they are also highly engaged, thoughtful, experienced, and fun to learn from. 

Champlain has clearly made an effort to hire instructors with a lot of life and career experience, and that has made all the difference!"

One of the highlights of Sam's online learning experience is how diverse and inclusive her classes are. Learning online brings people from all walks of life together to share experiences and knowledge and that is really rewarding for Sam. 

I have been very pleasantly surprised by how diverse and inclusive the classes are. My classmates seem to be all over the world and working for a huge variety of organizations. It makes for a much richer learning experience."

Sam knew she made the right choice to go back to school for an MBA when she was offered the role of Vice President at VCET. During her promotion conversation a colleague expressed that initially he wasn't convinced that earning an MBA would make a big difference for Sam, but that he'd since noticed a huge change in her confidence, her business skills, and her approach to her work. It was rewarding to hear that her investment in herself and her career is already paying off.