Samuel Hacker knew before he completed his bachelor杏吧专区檚 in chemical engineering that he wanted to supplement his STEM knowledge; he wanted to earn an MBA degree. 
杏吧专区淚 knew if I really wanted to take my career opportunities and my professional growth to the next level, I should pursue that MBA,杏吧专区 says Hacker, of Lake Charles, La.
As he neared the end of his undergrad, Hacker already had a full-time job lined up with Citgo Petroleum and international travel plans.
The 杏吧专区 MBA degree program online became an obvious choice when Hacker considered potential study concentrations, course length, and enrollment terms.
杏吧专区淚 evaluated a lot of different options,杏吧专区 says Hacker. 杏吧专区淚t was a lot more accelerated, and you can take A and B term courses. I could jump in a lot faster and get out a lot faster with UL Lafayette. With that accelerated program, I got a lot deeper, more comprehensive understanding of business than I think I would have gotten with anyone else.杏吧专区
Value of MBA for Engineers
With his engineering degree, Hacker learned the skills and concepts that make him valuable in the energy sector workforce as a process engineer. He杏吧专区檚 adept at monitoring and analyzing key performance indicators within his assigned refinery operations and troubleshooting systems as needed.
But he still had a knowledge gap.
杏吧专区淚 had this technical background, but I didn't have that comprehensive understanding of business to combine with that background,杏吧专区 he says.
After consulting with engineering colleagues who杏吧专区檇 pursued MBA degrees, Hacker enrolled in the MBA with a concentration in Finance.
Finance, he says, was a great fit for where he wants to take his career 杏吧专区 business operations or business engineering 杏吧专区 while gaining data analytics skills for his current role.
Through Data Analysis, QMET 510, Hacker says he was able to leverage the data interpretation he does every day, and create more advanced, accurate models.
"Taking the data, filtering out the outliers that are going to throw everything off, building linear regression strategies and just being able to build a model to kind of better understand data was really my favorite part of the program,杏吧专区 he says.
Hacker was then able to combine those skills with everything else he杏吧专区檇 learned in the MBA degree program through the capstone course to analyze a company of his choice.
杏吧专区淚t was awesome to choose a company and then really break it down,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淵ou really put all the classes together, so I really valued that in the MBA program.杏吧专区
Time for Business and Play
Hacker杏吧专区檚 courses as an undergrad had moved to online and remote delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so he was well-versed in taking online courses and how to balance coursework with other priorities.
For Hacker, that meant creating a calendar of official deadlines as well as personal deadlines to complete different aspects of his coursework.
杏吧专区淐ramming may work for other people, but for me, I found myself having more free time by organizing how much time I allot to something,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淪o, I杏吧专区檇 put a reminder on my phone, hook it up to my Outlook calendar, and say, 杏吧专区榙o introduction and overview tonight杏吧专区. A little alarm would go off on my phone, and then I'd knock it out.杏吧专区
Strategizing around deadlines also gave Hacker the flexibility to travel to destinations from Washington to Iceland.
"With the MBA, I knew that wouldn杏吧专区檛 slow me down for traveling; that's something I've always loved doing,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淚 could easily coordinate with my instructors and keep up to speed with everything. I knew I could load up on the front end of the term, do the trips, and then come back and start right where I left off.杏吧专区
The flexibility of the MBA degree program online remains one of the most outstanding aspects of Hacker杏吧专区檚 time in the program. It allowed him to pursue his passion while excelling in his graduate program.
As a graduate student, Hacker was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi for his achievements.
Hacker isn杏吧专区檛 keeping the value of the MBA program online to himself.
"I have actually suggested UL Lafayette to a couple of my friends,杏吧专区 he says. "I could have easily sat out a term if something popped up, and I'd still get on track to graduate. That's what was really attractive to me is that there's a lot of flexibility. Just having more control of my time was very valuable.杏吧专区