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MBA Student Experiences
Although nothing compares to a personal visit to the College of Business, we hope these short movies of MBA students sharing their experiences will give you a sense of what the MBA Program and our students are really like.
MBA Students Find Diverse Careers
by Melanie Marquez
With over 150 students currently enrolled and 100 graduates since the MBA program began, the College of Business is seeing the evolving success of students that walk away from USF St. Petersburg with an MBA in hand. As the students complete the program, administrators are also finding ways to improve the offered coursework.
Two of the six core MBA classes have been changed to introduce a more quantitative focus, said Ryan Langan, MBA director.
Financial Analysis and Managerial Analysis have been added. One course, Dynamics of Individuals and Technology, was replaced, and the other, Global Economic Environment, became an elective.
Langan said the program is also working toward another study abroad opportunity for students – a class that would focus on economic development and sustainability in Latin America and include a field study in Guatemala. This would be in addition to the already established Business in China summer course.
The MBA program offers opportunities for recent graduates and established professionals to develop their careers and find new opportunities. The following three students are examples of what the MBA program can lead to.
Recent Graduate Dave McCarthy Takes Flight
 Earning an MBA from USF St. Petersburg is taking Dave McCarthy further than he had expected. The St. Petersburg native was working in the U.S. Coast Guard when he decided to fulfill his lifelong goal of earning an MBA. What he didn’t foresee was the opportunity to start flight training with the Coast Guard, an accomplishment he attributes to his hard work in graduate school.
“Being in graduate school, I believe, helped me be selected for flight training,” McCarthy said. “It’s a very selective program. The MBA goes a long way in being selected because it shows I have initiative. I pursued graduate education on my own time in addition to working 50 hours a week.”
McCarthy graduated in the summer of 2008 and started his flight training shortly after. Before he began his career with the Coast Guard, he held several technology-related positions in large, medium and small companies. He received his undergraduate business degree from the University of Florida. After a trip in 2005 to Washington, D.C., McCarthy decided he wanted to go into military service. He would like to work his way up in the Coast Guard and own his own company one day.
“In the Coast Guard, having a graduate degree is extremely important if you want to get promoted to a higher rank,” McCarthy said. “For me, doing it on my own time, it gives me a step above others in the same playing field. After I get done with flight training, I don’t have to worry about getting a graduate degree.”
MBA Leads Margarita Zabelina to New Career Focus
 A native of Russia, Margarita Zabelina came to the United States with a graduate degree in law, but her degree didn’t receive the same recognition here as in Russia. As an HR manager at a local manufacturing company, Zabelina knew that a graduate degree from a school in the United States would help her remain competitive in the job market and be more useful to her employer. She didn’t know it would lead her to a new interest.
“The MBA gave me a chance to study different subjects and I found one that interested me the most,” she said. “I came to the program thinking I wanted to be an accountant, but in the process I realized that finance is a lot more fun and that’s what I want to do.”
She had worked for KPMG in the tax department in Russia before moving to Florida, but with her newly found interest in finance, the recent graduate is considering advancing her career with a PhD in finance.
“Thankfully because of the MBA program I realized I want to stay in academia,” she said. “I continue to work for the same employer, but now I have more responsibilities and I’ve gained more trust.”
MBA Puts Brian Christian on Route to Accounting Career
 As an employee and a student, Brian Christian has gotten to know the College of Business very well. As an undergraduate student in accounting, Christian worked as a student assistant until he graduated in the spring of 2007. He went directly into the graduate program with a concentration in forensic accounting.
“I decided to go into the MBA program, specifically forensic accounting, as part of fulfilling the state requirements to be eligible to sit for the CPA exam,” Christian said. “I could have simply taken additional undergraduate courses or a masters in accountancy to fulfill the educational requirements, but I wanted the additional coursework and experience that the MBA provides.”
Christian wants to become a CPA and CFE and work in public accounting in Florida. He will graduate in December of this year.
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