A few years ago, Megan Lees, MBA’18, realized her career was plateauing.
“The skills I had in the marketing and operations space were what I’d figured out on my own from reading articles and experimenting,” she says. “I was fortunate to work in places where I could try things, identify a problem and go solve it. But I didn’t really have any credibility.”
Like many students who enroll in the Kelley School of Business Evening MBA Program at IUPUI, Lees sought a graduate business degree in order to advance in her career—not necessarily to switch careers. Students like Lees are often looking for tactical and practical learnings they can immediately implement at work, and the Kelley Evening MBA provides the means to expand foundational skills into actionable results.
“I was ready to earn my master’s degree, and I thought an MBA would provide options for creating upward trajectory from my career plateau,” says Lees. “My bachelor’s degree in liberal arts could only take me so far, and it wasn’t giving me what I wanted in a business setting.”
After earning her undergraduate degree, Lees spent several years in a variety of operations and marketing roles. She knew she wanted to stay in the operations space, but she aspired to become an expert in that sphere and gain a well-rounded approach to business as a whole.
“I wanted to be an effective utility player; a good chameleon capable of playing a lot of different roles,” she says “That’s why I sought an MBA.”
Lees discussed the prospect of business school with her bosses.
“They told me if I was serious about an MBA, I should enroll at Kelley. They said the Kelley network and name recognition around the country would do great things for me and open up a lot of doors, regardless of where I landed.”