{"id":245,"date":"2011-04-28T09:25:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T14:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/?p=245"},"modified":"2011-04-28T09:25:22","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T14:25:22","slug":"how-acu-prepared-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/2011\/04\/28\/how-acu-prepared-me\/","title":{"rendered":"How ACU prepared me…"},"content":{"rendered":"

From time to time on this blog, we’ll be featuring brief conversations with recent COBA alum, asking them to share how ACU has prepared them for where they are now.<\/p>\n

Jody Walker graduated from ACU with degrees in Accounting and Finance in 2009. While at ACU, Jody played on the Wildcat football team, was a member of STAR, and was a winner in the student category in our 2009 Springboard Ideas Challenge. He’s currently studying at SMU’s Dedman School of Law and is candidate for his Juris Doctrate in 2012. We’ve asked Jody to share with us how ACU prepared him for his next steps, specifically law school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Alum Jody Walker (pictured on the left) is now a student at SMU's Dedman School of Law<\/p><\/div>\n

1) How was your learning experience at ACU (or in COBA) different from that of\u00a0your classmates at SMU?<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

One of the biggest differences was the technological innovation used throughout\u00a0the university. Professors would take surveys on iPhones, Q & A\u2019s would be\u00a0done through text messaging in chapel and even some of my tests were taken\u00a0with a remote control. None of my other classmates in graduate school had\u00a0experienced a university that incorporates technology so seamlessly into thestudent bodies\u2019 daily activities. With this exposure to a cutting-edge learning\u00a0environment, ACU (and COBA) gave me more than just a \u201ctextbook\u201d education.<\/p>\n

2) Do you think your learning experience at ACU provided better preparation than <\/strong><\/span>your classmates’ college preparation? If so, how? If no, why not?<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

ACU (and COBA) definitely excelled at preparing me academically for graduate\u00a0school, as well as for my future in the workplace. ACU is able to distinguish itself\u00a0on many different levels from the typical public university, and I believe that one\u00a0of the most beneficial aspects of ACU was the opportunity to improve my social\u00a0skills. Sounds strange, but the constant communication with my professors and\u00a0other students, daily interactions with classmates at chapel (not during chapel of\u00a0course), and socializing at the numerous school activities all helped me develop\u00a0the skills and attributes necessary to effectively communicate with the people\u00a0around me. I feel like this intangible characteristic is often neglected at bigger\u00a0universities, but with the personal environment ACU creates, it gave me the\u00a0opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with the people I encountered in\u00a0addition to learning invaluable interpersonal skills.<\/p>\n

3) What class\/program\/event\/professor helped prepare you the most for the <\/strong><\/span>workplace or grad school? What did they do that was helpful?<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

STAR (Student Training and Research) was probably the most useful program in\u00a0COBA. It was a real world application of the material I learned in class. At times\u00a0it\u2019s hard to comprehend equations and theories past the pages of your textbook,\u00a0but STAR gave me the unparalleled experience I needed to succeed in graduate\u00a0school.<\/p>\n

4) Now that you are in law school, what is one piece of advice you’d like to share <\/strong><\/span>with prospective students or current students that would have helped you?<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
Get involved, or stay involved with something at ACU. Whether it\u2019s a social club,\u00a0an organization, or some other extra curricular activity, the relationships you\u00a0build at ACU are unlike any other.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From time to time on this blog, we’ll be featuring brief conversations with recent COBA alum, asking them to share how ACU has prepared them for where they are now. Jody Walker graduated from ACU with degrees in Accounting and Finance in 2009. While at ACU, Jody played on the Wildcat football team, was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7012,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2838,2758,2752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coba-alumni","category-college-decisions","category-springboard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}