Making the decision to go back to school wasn’t easy. I worried about the commitment required and whether it would be worth it to complete an MBA program. Mostly, I struggled with deciding when the right time would be to start something of this nature. I felt that there was never a good time and that returning to school would cause me to lose the freedom I had grown accustomed to since graduating college. I finally decided to commit and return to school when I learned about the Professional MBA program offered through UofSC. My wife and I had just moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and we thought we were in a stable part of our lives.

Looking back, I can say I was dead wrong. Of course, everyone in the world had to deal with an ongoing pandemic that changed the way students participated in classes. On top of that though, we learned my wife was pregnant with our first child several weeks into starting the program. So, we had to go through the growing pains of an expanding family while I navigated classes. I also changed careers in the middle of the program, stepping into and having to learn a completely different industry than my prior background and experience. I wasn’t alone in this. There are many other students who had as many, if not more, life changes occur during the program.

As I near the end of my time in the Professional MBA Program, I want to pass along the one piece of advice I think will benefit most students who are in the program or plan to join. Commit and keep moving forward. Like every other major decision in life, there may never be a “right time” to take the leap. Distractions will always come up. This is a challenging program, but it is not an impossible task. Don’t listen to those out there that say it won’t be useful, they are wrong. Through this program, I gained knowledge, skills and experience that I never would have expected, all while growing in my career and as a person.

-Cory Hank
’22 MBA candidate
Current position/company: Operational excellence manager for Bitdefender