Decisions and Their Consequences: Analyzing "The Road not Taken"

My educational and personal background can be summarized by a famous poem by Robert Frost called The Road not Taken. The poem ending statement reads “Two roads diverse in the woods, and I took the one last traveled by, and that has made all the difference”. In life, there are multiple roads and sometime the path that we embarks on might not always be the one that we choose. Situations in life will push and stir us in many different directions but we must learn to adapt and react within our environment. My college journey in which I will reveal was filled with many bumps, detours, and road stops.

The destination of my journey was not always clear but I knew that I had to keep moving forward and the experience along the ways has made all the difference in my life. I started my college career at the University of South Florida majoring in biomedical science with the aspiration of becoming a physician. During my freshmen year of college as I started to become acquainted with college life, my mom nail salon business began having financial difficulties requiring me to find a full-time job. I attempted to balance both my school and job workload, being a full time student during the day and working the night shift at local gas stations. Although I tried my best to manage both my academic and financial obligations, I knew it wasn’t sustainable and took a hiatus from school knowing that it would only hurt me academically. Several years later, I got married and was able to find a decent job at International Labs, a pharmaceutical company, and work my way up the corporate ladder. I embraced the new pharmaceutical environment that I was in but knew that I had to continue my education if I wanted to advance my career. Once again I committed myself to attending school and now with the support of my wife, I was able to finish my bachelor degree in 2014. Although it took me a lot longer than I expected to complete my undergraduate education, I consider it one of my greatest achievements as I was able struggled through it and gave a major part of my life for it. I had never heard or knew anything about South University until I was informed by my wife as she was attempting to get admitted into the nurse practitioner program at the Tampa campus. My first impression of South University was very shocking to me as I wasn’t aware of the flexible class scheduling that the school offered and their willingness to accept me given my low GPA. With the help of my admission and academic advisor, I was able to enroll in the MBA program in January of 2017. I decided to take the accelerated route as I knew I was behind the ball curve due to my lengthy undergraduate.

Although at first I was advised not to take the accelerated route, I knew deep down that I could do it and needed to prove it to myself. If I could take anything away from my imperfect undergraduate experience, it would be that it didn’t matters how smart or good a person is, it only matter how bad they want to achieve it. The knowledge that I received in my MBA program at South University allowed me to learn some of the most innovative and fundamental aspects of any business such as the creation of a business model, the selection of the appropriate business organization, the managing of financials, the marketing of products, and the understanding of why some business fail while other succeed. Some of the highlights of my education at South University were conducting research on real-life situations where many companies were at a pivotal point in which they had to make a decision that impacted if the company survived or not. Several tools that I learned were performing an effective SWOT analysis or environmental scan, implementing strategic plans, and understanding which planning strategy is appropriate for the direction the company is heading.

Examples of some planning strategies would be implementing growth strategies to expand or enter economic markets, outlining stability strategies to maintain the company market share in the economy or to executing retrenchment strategies to downsize or reduce company operation. All these planning strategies are an important part of any business as they are adaptive strategies that ensure the survival of the company in any market. Upon the completion of my Master in Healthcare Administration, I was honored to be part of the Delta Mu Delta business honor society. I embraced and believed in the core vision of the society, “Through Knowledge, Power” as no great work has ever been achieved without knowledge. Knowledge is what empower people in society to accomplish and do great things. With the privileges of being part of something greater than myself and the ability to give back to my community, I decided to accept the secretary position for the Delta Mu Delta Nu Theta chapter. I am proud to be able to cherish my profession which has inspired and encouraged me to pursue my education in the Doctoral of Business Administration.

The reason that I became interested in this doctoral program was that it specialized in both organizational culture and teaching in which I am confident that this degree will assist me in becoming a great educator and leader in any industry. Throughout both my academic and professional careers, I have often encountered several challenges that initially seemed impossible to overcome. Yet through perseverance and handwork, I was able to conquer each obstacle that I encountered. Although I didn’t start out on this path to become an educator, the experience that acquired through my life journey has taught me that all great leaders are teachers. In closing Dr. Ruth Essler, I would like to offer myself as a Ph.D. candidate to your doctoral business administration program. I hope that both my academic and professional experience has made me qualified to be part of your program. Thank you for time and consideration.