Now an advisor at UNT herself, Dana Mordecai shares how earning her B.A.A.S. led to a career she loves.
Early in her undergraduate studies, Dana Mordecai discovered that she didn’t want to be a lawyer. That was the path her parents had set her on, and leaving it behind led to what she describes as an “identity crisis.” Her grades began to suffer, and eventually, she moved back home to Denton, Texas, with a set of political science credits towards a degree path she no longer wanted.Then, she says, “life happened.” While taking occasional classes at the University of North Texas, she met her future-husband, got married, had children, and eventually started a corporate job.
When the manufacturing company she worked for filed for Chapter 11, they fired all of management — including Mordecai. Three weeks before Christmas, with two children under the age of 4, she had no job prospects.
She started talking with an advisor at the University of North Texas who told her about the Bachelor’s of Applied Arts and Sciences (B.A.A.S.) degree. The B.A.A.S. was designed for people such as Mordecai who had some college or military credit and were looking to complete their bachelor’s degree.
Before meeting with her advisor, she said she had lost track of all of her credits. “I knew I was close, but I didn’t know how close I was,” she said. She had kept “dipping her toe in” without knowing whether she would ever actually finish and earn her degree.
The advisor evaluated her credits and helped her come up with a plan. She had accumulated enough credits that she only had 30 hours of an undergraduate degree left. If she went to school full time, she could have her degree within a year.
She started the degree three weeks after meeting with the B.A.A.S. advisor, and, 18 years from when she started her freshman year, she graduated.
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Now an advisor at UNT herself, Dana Mordecai shares how earning her B.A.A.S. led to a career she loves. Early in her undergraduate studies, Dana Mordecai This guide provides structured insights, proven methodologies, and actionable execution steps for modern professionals.
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