Earning Her Degree Sooner:
Rhonda Muhammad’s Story at ANU
As a first-generation student, Rhonda Muhammad wanted to earn her education without taking too long to get her degree. Born in Palestine, Rhonda and her family moved to the US in 2017. Rhonda began her college education at American National University in 2021, and through fast tracking her education, she will finish in December 2023 with her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration Accounting. Being the first to earn a college degree in her family motivates her to earn her education, along with her love of learning and continuing to better her future.
Rhonda chose American National University because she wanted to fast-track her education and earn her degree sooner. “I can pursue my degree in less years. I [like] the flexibility of the classes, I can take the classes whenever I want – there’s weekend classes as well,” she says. Rhonda chose her program for many reasons. She has family members who own their own businesses, and she wishes to help them once she graduates. Along with that, Rhonda enjoys math and the opportunity it gives her in accounting to build her future.
When it comes to her classes, there is a lot of focus on how much she can reach out to her professors in comparison to other schools. “They give me the opportunity to talk to professors… The communication between professors and students has more flexibility and you can talk to them anytime you need help. But in other colleges, you only have the class time to ask the instructor anything.” She has learned a lot of necessary skills for the job she wants in her future – she’s learned a lot about Microsoft office tools that she will use. In her search for internships, every future employer has mentioned needing a focus on those skillsets to work.
Her goals for her future include going out in the workforce to gain some work experience after graduation. After a year, she’d like to return to ANU to earn her Master’s in Business Administration. “ANU is a really, really amazing university.”
Rhonda would definitely recommend ANU to those looking to earn their higher education. When talking about her bachelor’s in business administration accounting program experience, she says “[there are] less years to graduate. I started in 2021, and this 2023, I am going to graduate with a five-year degree. With other colleges, you cannot do that.”
Her advice for new students at ANU: “Keep working hard and pay attention to the class.”
