Feeling a Part of the Ross Community as an Online MBA Student

By Jackie Kim, OMBA '22

As part of the first class of Online MBA students at the Ross School of Business, one of my biggest concerns was that I wouldn’t be able to participate on campus and engage with other students in a meaningful way.

At my day job as the director of events at Mysterious Galaxy, an independent bookstore in San Diego, I experience the power of local and community connections daily and I hoped to have that at Ross. And while I loved the flexibility that the Online MBA program afforded me, I wasn’t sure how much of a contribution I was going to make to the Ross community.

Pretty soon, I saw that the Ross community warmly extended its welcome beyond campus boundaries. I explained my status as an online student to the officers in the Entertainment and Digital Media Club at Ross, and they welcomed me into their ranks as the EVP of Treks. The position made sense for me, since the trek was in Los Angeles, and I lived in Southern California. Moreso, I was able to chat with the other officers and learn from their them; Rachel Teeter, the VP of Treks, and I had a long conversation about how she navigated her time at Ross as a part-time MBA student and how I would be able to make the most of mine. 

In addition to my role in the EDM Club, I have been continuously impressed by how much the online MBA cohort supports one another on our shared Slack channel and are constantly looking for ways to connect with one another using our online resources. Over the last few months, Grace Brevart, an online MBA student in my class, has been coordinating a Women’s Book Club. Our first book is Radical Acceptance by Kim Scott and our first meeting in a few weeks. I’ve experienced the unifying power of books my entire life and this was no different; even though our first meeting is weeks away, I already feel more connected to the women in the club through our shared reading of this book.

I just finished my first two classes at Ross and am confident that I will continue to find the people and community that will support my goals and journey. The support and drive that I’ve seen from the other students in the Ross program is inspiring and I hope others who come to the program get to experience the same.

Learn more about the Online MBA