Even Cowboys Get Their MBA Degrees Online

Juggling the schedule and workload of a traditional college and a full-time job can be overwhelmingly difficult — especially when that full-time job is with the NFL like professional placekicker Billy Cundiff. After being drafted to the Dallas Cowboys fresh from his undergraduate degree, Cundiff discovered that long practice hours on the gridiron and erratic traveling for away games during the season are not your average recipe for graduate school success; nevertheless, the kicker had aspirations for higher education and started looking into online MBA degrees to fulfill them. With the flexibility of an online program, he found that he could keep doing what he loved in the present while working toward a more secure future.

“I didn’t know where I was going to be next, so I needed to start thinking about what I was going to do post-football,” says Cundiff. “We had just bought a home in Phoenix, so I had heard a ton of good things about the W. P. Carey School of Business. I decided getting an MBA from Arizona State would be the right thing to do since it would help me with my eventual transition out of football. In the meantime, this MBA program allowed me to keep up my workout routine and continue to try out for teams.”

[...] Cundiff says, “It didn’t matter where I was, as long as I had access to the Internet and attended as many group meetings as possible. I got the same education as everybody else.”

Cundiff took his first MBA classes while attending training camp after signing with the Atlanta Falcons. He also spent an offseason with the Kansas City Chiefs while still working on his degree. “Believe it or not, my online MBA team was a lot more functional than some of my NFL teams,” says Cundiff. “The online program also really helps you work on your communications and interpersonal skills, since you’re not dealing with people on a face-to-face basis.”

Not only did his college program help him out with the fundementals of school, but it also helped him with career advice on issues like salary negotiation and interview technique — skills that eventually helped him to land a solid full-time career with a venture capital firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, giving him piece of mind for when the football career runs its course.

An online degree is for everyone, from busy football stars to on-the-go businesspeople to stay-at-home moms. Are you interested in one for yourself? Check out the many accredited online MBA programs available at Get Degrees!

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