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Your mindset and your attitude set the tone for your success and happiness. Don’t allow your attitude to affect and diminish your outlook. A positive mindset is one of the most essential components of your college experience--especially as a non-traditional student. Your perspective matters.
Believe in your abilities. Know you can grow and develop your skills and talents into a force that positively impacts your personal and professional life.
It can be easy to get down on yourself when you’re swamped with work, school, family, bills, friends, the dog, and the gym. It’s a lot to juggle. But maintaining an even keel and a positive outlook will keep all these things in perspective and help you to power through. Use verbiage like “I can” and “I will.”
If you find yourself up against a difficult task, think in terms of “yet.” You’re capable. You just haven’t mastered it yet!
As an adult student, you’re already exposed to the idea of positive thinking to influence your worldview. Hundreds of motivational speakers, self-help books, and seminars on the topic exist. You will have some experience altering your mindset to influence your perspective.
If you haven’t practiced it, there’s no better time than the present to adopt a pattern of growth-minded thinking. And it shouldn’t be lost that you’re already in a learning frame of mind. So what’s learning one more thing? Easy.
College is temporary. The experiences and education are forever. Allow yourself to look back and know you made the most of your time and made strides to be more positive.
Contact an advisor today to begin your journey at Amberton University and unlock your full potential.
As a person of faith, you understand in your heart that your relationship with God and your faith are the qualities that truly define you and bring success to your life. It’s not your job title or income. In Christ, you find your identity.
However, you can align your career with your faith and find personal fulfillment. Aligning your career path with God’s will ultimately bring peace and prosperity to your life.
Recent studies show that job satisfaction has increased, with roughly half of American workers reporting job satisfaction. Experts attribute this uptick to the improved labor market, which allows individuals to move into jobs they enjoy and that complement their skillsets.
As a working adult, it’s relatively easy to identify your skills and professional passions. Exposure to the workforce has given you time to evaluate your strengths and gifts. Continuing your education provides an opportunity to refine these abilities further.
We all have goals and dreams about the kind of career we’d like to have and the professional accomplishments we’d like to attain. There’s nothing wrong with that. God has made each of us with desires and talents.
The key is to leverage these skills and passions to further His work. Your attitude toward the definition of success heavily influences your happiness. Are you more concerned with prestige, salary, job titles, or serving God and others where you are?
Pay attention to the gifts with which you have been blessed. There is a reason God placed these skills and passions within you. Seek out His direction on how you ought to implement these talents. Go to Him in prayer, and your path will become clear. Stay focused on worldly standards of success.
No matter what situation or season you find yourself in, remember to work for Christ, not for man; commit your heart and strive for excellence as a witness. One of the greatest testimonies a Christian can have is daily living with integrity and consistency.
By aligning your career with your faith, you find fulfillment and success and serve as a beacon of God’s love and truth in the professional world.
Paying for your education doesn’t have to be a scary undertaking. At Amberton University, our pay-as-you-go system allows students to graduate without debt. However, we make navigating the financials as simple as possible for those who need to take advantage of student loans.
Amberton believes in affordable education. We offer courses for $ 900 per 3 credit hours. Pretty great, right? This rate applies to undergraduate, graduate, in-state, and out-of-state students, as well as lecture and distance-learning courses. Even better, we’ve already done the math and the educational cost breakdown for you. Amberton's up-front, cost-effective tuition is specifically designed for working adults. We aim to get you to graduation without being buried in educational debt.
Now that you know how much to expect to pay for your tuition, you can figure out what you need to do to budget for it. Many companies offer tuition assistance or reimbursement as an added benefit for employees. They understand and appreciate how beneficial an educated workforce is. But if your employer isn’t paying for your education, and you can’t afford to pay for it out-of-pocket, there are loan solutions for private universities.
Amberton University provides a Private Loan Worksheet to help you determine your estimated cost of tuition, fees, and books. You must complete the worksheet before applying for a private student loan.
To qualify for private student loans, students must meet the following criteria:
A quick Google search will also provide you with various lender options. Find the one that best fits your financial situation and consider interest rates, repayment options, and deferment and forbearance.
Sallie Mae® currently offers loans to qualified Amberton students through the Smart Option Student Loan® program. Students can apply directly online and receive approval within a few hours.
Amberton’s staff are eager to assist you in achieving educational success and satisfaction. You can reach our Financial Aid Office at finaid@amberton.edu or contact Student Services at (972) 279-6511 to help you navigate the process and get your future started!
The working world has changed dramatically, and the need for a degree is evident in every career field, including human resources.
As organizational expectations of the potential contributions of a human resources professional have increased, so has the need for HR leaders to possess both experience and a degree.
Managers and supervisors are keys to overall business success.
Everyone understands that human resources are entrusted with sensitive business materials. They are also expected to contribute to employee retention, recruit candidates, develop the organization, and foster a positive working environment.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook:
"A master's degree in human resources, labor relations, or business administration with a concentration in human resources management is highly recommended for those seeking general and top management positions."
Furthering your education with a Master’s degree can only benefit your career long-term. Practitioners enjoy a variety of career options and can flex different strengths within their jobs.
There is diversity in the field.
Our HR Training and Development program graduates fill leadership positions in various public and private settings.
The faculty in the program are dedicated to their student's success, focusing on the benefit and growth of the whole individual.
"Our professors are high touch. We're constantly reaching out to our students, seeing what we can do to help them. We are there for our students, and we respond quickly, which differentiates us," said Amberton Faculty member Dr. DiAnn Sanchez.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your career, contact Amberton University advisors or read about the program here.
Life is all about problem-solving, time management, and efficiency. Those who understand how to manage the nuances and functions surrounding these issues often find professional success.
Enter the project manager.
Companies across industries incorporate project managers into their day-to-day operations and business models. They need a jack of all trades—someone who can analyze a problem, strategize solutions, manage a team, and communicate effectively.
“Project management is a pretty broad field. It deals primarily with identifying a set of requirements that various stakeholders in the company might have, then taking those requirements and building a program or project to address or solve those requirements,” said Amberton Business Associate Faculty Dr. Blair Stephenson.
When deciding where to pursue a degree in project management, keep in mind the importance of practical application.
You need to prove you can achieve as much as you have the knowledge and academic understanding. Your technical skills are equally important as your cognitive abilities.
“Amberton has such a focus on being practical in the delivery and the content of the courses that we try to provide. As you move through the courses, you don’t really have to wait until you have the degree to gain value from what you’re studying,” Dr. Stephenson said.
A Bachelor of Business Administration in Project Management does provide you with some degree of flexibility. Basic principles and applications can be adapted across many industries. Don't be afraid of being pigeonholed after graduation. Take your instructors' and peers' experiences and testimonies and modify them to your needs and success.
Check out what Amberton's professors say about the Project Management degree program here.
If you think Amberton's BBA in Project Management could be the right fit for you, contact our advisors at advisors@amberton.edu or by phone at 972.279.6511 now!
Simply skating through college and getting the work done isn’t anyone’s idea of a great college experience - traditional student or otherwise. If you just want to tread water and get a piece of paper in the end, maybe college isn’t for you.
As an adult learner, it’s safe to say you probably want to thrive and grow during the course of your college career.
It cannot be understated that adult learners have a leg up on students entering college straight out of high school. You have maturity, you have professional and life experience, and you have the skills needed to juggle it all.
When the road seems long and unending, remember: you were made to excel and to achieve much.
Keep in mind some of these basic tips:
Rest is an essential part of the human condition. Everyone needs it, everyone benefits from it. Seek and establish a balance between work, school, family and friends.
Don’t get sucked into the vortex of research papers, tests and studying. The better able you are to shift gears, the better you’ll feel and the more you will accomplish in each of your roles.
College is a season of character building. There’s a lot going in your life right now. Expect to have moments where it seems a bit too much. As odd as it might seem, be prepared to feel completely unprepared.
The trick is knowing that you’re not the only one feeling that way. Every single college student has felt that way on more than one occasion. Focus on the horizon and ignore the waves
around you.
Your professors will give you all the details you need to be successful for the semester. Memorize the syllabus. You’ll be saving yourself a lot of heartache if you know what you need to do to communicate you understand the material.
Knowing when you have papers due, presentations, and test dates seems like a no-brainer. And it probably is. That doesn’t mean it isn’t something you just might overlook.
However you choose to organize yourself and your calendar is unique to you. If you have to write it in a planner, that’s fantastic. If you have to send yourself faxes from the future, even better. Do not forget due dates and find yourself scrambling the night before.
When you’re keeping on track and making sure all your responsibilities are staying under control, you’re going to feel like you are thriving. Establishing a time management system will make your life as an adult student much easier and much more enjoyable.
Don’t allow yourself to be swamped by all the different things you have to maintain. Never put off what can be done today.
You don't need to make the trek solo to thrive in college. In each course, find a study partner or a small study group. You’ll develop lasting relationships with people that will benefit you (and them) in the present and the future. As a working adult, you understand the importance of networking and relying on others to help improve your own skills. Iron sharpens iron. Study groups make for a better student.
Thriving in college isn’t out of reach or a cheesy catchphrase. At Amberton, the faculty and staff want you to thrive during your time at the university.
Use all of Amberton’s student resources, lean on your fellow students and your family, and you will love every bit of your college experience.
In my experience over the past almost 50 years in the working world, “project management” is one of the most, if not the most, universal (ubiquitous) skill sets needed by individuals throughout their careers in all types of organizations.
We encounter “projects” called by many names in our personal and professional lives. My Mother used to post a “jobs (aka projects) list” on the refrigerator when I was a kid.
So whether we call it a job, a project, a program, an operation, an assignment, a campaign, a play, or something else, it still has all the characteristics of what we would know as a “project.”
We define a project as a: “unique venture with a beginning and an end, executed to one or more meet goals.” Or, slightly stated differently, “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.”
So, a “project” would include cleaning out my garage, raising funds for my church’s youth program, building a software program to optimize my Amazon delivery routes, planning my course schedules for the academic semester, and much more.
We must bring specific skill sets to bear upon the work contemplated, whatever the “project” may be.
I need to clean out my garage! I’ve stuff stacked in there that’s been there for 25 years, and it’s. It’s to get busy and get my garage straightened up.
Define the end objective(s): My initial thought was that I needed to “clean out my garage,” but really, my actual objective is not only to clean that space but to reorganize (straighten up) the remaining contents of the garage. That latter objective is a bigger one than just cleaning the garage.
As a result, the “scope of work” has changed because I altered the end objective. Because I changed the end objective, the definition of what it means to be “done” also changed.
Top-down decomposition of work: Now that I have decided to clean AND reorganize my garage, I can figure out what work will be required to accomplish those objectives.
This process follows the adage: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The prominent two big pieces of work are:
Next, I have to break down each of these two “big” pieces into smaller segments of work; i.e., “clean out the garage” means that I need to sort the garage contents into three piles: stuff to throw away, stuff to give away; and stuff to keep.
Then, I need to break each of these down into smaller pieces of work or tasks.
For example, “stuff to give away” might break down into gather: stuff to give to our kids, stuff to give to Goodwill, and stuff to give to the Library. I would continue this work breakdown process until I have all known pieces of work broken down into tasks that would take about four hours to accomplish.
Define the resources required: Besides my effort (time), I need to think about other resources I suspect I’ll need to accomplish this project.
For example, I’ll probably need a bunch of plastic tubs to store the contents I want to keep after cleaning and reorganizing my garage. That means money: maybe 20 tubs costing $5 each for $100. I may need to rent a small cargo truck to haul stuff to Goodwill. That’s another $100.
I will think through each piece of work to estimate what resources will be required to execute that piece of work so I can plan for all necessary expenditures.
Execute the project: Obviously, somebody (me) better get to work if this project is ever going to get done. There are a couple of ways I can plan out my work schedule. Since I think I know what must be done, I can use a sequential time plan to lay out my work in a logical series of steps (tasks) based on the availability of my time over the next month or so.
In this scenario, I might start by sorting the boxes on the north side of the garage; then, I’ll sort the contents of my filing cabinets and the stuff I have stored on the shelves. After sorting, I’ll take the give-away things to Goodwill and move the trash to the curb for city pickup.
The other approach is to tackle the work in “sprints”, first addressing the most valuable piece(s) of work, followed by other pieces of work in descending order of value. In this scenario, I would tackle the boxes stored on the north side of the garage as my first sprint since getting that done has the highest value to me.
In that sprint, I would sort all the stuff in that area, move the trash to the curb, take the giveaway items to Goodwill, and re-pack the contents I want to keep into new tubs for my reorganization effort.
Then, I would move to the second sprint, which would do the same tasks for the filing cabinets. I would continue working in sprints until the project was done.
Accommodate refinement: Change always happens! Right?
I need to be thinking about potential changes that might come up that would alter the scope of work I have currently planned. For example, what would I do to accommodate my secret dream of building a woodworking shop in my garage? Or, how about following my other dream of buying a new 2025 Z06 Corvette?
Both would be great fun, but they would drastically alter my work plans for cleaning and reorganizing my garage. Maybe I’ll start a “GoFundMe” page!
Assess whether I am “done”? Assuming I stick with my original plan, how will I determine when I am “done”? Am I done when the garage is clean, trash is thrown away, giveaway stuff is delivered to Goodwill, and what I want to keep is re-packed into plastic tubs? Or, am I done when all of those tasks are completed AND the contents of the garage are logically reorganized, packed in tubs, properly labeled, and stored neatly on the shelves in my garage (and we can park our cars in the garage!)?
For me, the latter represents the vision I have in my mind’s eye as to what “done” really means.
I hope you have enjoyed this little episode designed to convince you that everyone needs to develop essential project management skill sets to successfully manage all the big and little projects, jobs, programs, operations, assignments, campaigns, etc., that are bound to come your way personally and professionally during your life and career.
Enjoy!