Jackelin Hernandez

I first heard about the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) while attending Montgomery College (MC) as an undergraduate student. I was looking to transfer to the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and found out that attending UMCP at USG could be an option for me. Ultimately, I chose to attend UMCP at the College Park campus. I studied Economics and started working after graduation, but after some time I decided that I wanted to go back to school to obtain a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

I knew that I wanted to attend the Robert H. Smith School of Business, as it is a reputable school with top-ranked professors and a flexible part-time MBA program. Given that I was working full-time at that point, I wanted to avoid commuting to College Park. USG was the perfect solution as its prime central location would provide minimal disruption to my daily commute schedule. In addition, the smaller class sizes coupled with the many readily available resources made the decision to attend the part-time MBA program at USG an easy one.

My experience in the program thus far has been nothing but positive. The part-time MBA program has dedicated advisors and career coaches on site to help guide students along the way, making the program more manageable. The same faculty who teach the full-time MBA students at College Park also teach the part-time MBA students at USG. USG has many free resources and events for its students and the library, which stays open late, offers a great study area and holds a great selection of books/study materials.

I’m pursuing an MBA for career advancement as I want to further develop my analytical and managerial skills, as well as become well versed in the wide range of business functions. I am also pursuing a Master in Public Policy (MPP), but unfortunately that is not offered at USG. I currently work as an Analyst supporting a government contract, but upon completion of my respective programs I wish to use those acquired skills to transition to the private sector as a consultant. Ultimately, I want to use the knowledge and expertise obtained through both graduate programs to effect change as a leader - marrying private and public sector initiatives to ensure productive collaboration and build a strong workforce for years to come.