I'm going to be following two students as they go through a University of Phoenix Business Administration and Marketing MBA program they are starting this week.

Here are some initial comments from Michele, who works as a successful freelance graphic designer, as she gets geared up to begin the program.

From Michele ...
I can tell you initially, they have made it extremely easy. They walk you through everything. You are assigned a counselor and that counselor will take you through your first class even. I've talked to my counselor a lot. Most of the counselors are going to school at the same time. The nice thing is that (University of Phoenix) is open 24 hrs, so you can do your work any time of the day. Also, the classes are geared for working people and most of the students are over 30 - working full time and have a family. It's expensive because of the convenience. You also, only have 10-15 people in your class which makes it really which makes it a bit easier. The good thing for me is that the classes are designed to be condensed - you go to class for 6 weeks and your done with that class. They don't use traditional class methods which I didn't do well with, they ask you questions and you take that question or situation and apply it to your experiences or life and answer how you would honestly handle that particular situation. So, for me - who doesn't learn well by listening to a lecture, I will be able to do very well here.

I start on Thursday. I'll know more then.

Anyone in the world can take these classes. They are accredited through out the US so, they are transferable anywhere.

If I take 5 classes a year, I can finish in three years. If I can hussle and makes some money, then I can finish earlier.

Not sure what I'm going to do in the future, but I don't want to be limited if I have to go back out into the job market. Also, I think it will help me with my business since it's marketing. Designers don't learn marketing they learn design, but when you go out to the real world, people don't care so much about the design as much as they care about the message and is it going to make them some money by doing this marketing. I think it will be a big asset to what I do.