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Online Learner Profiles: Andrea E.

Profiles of Real Online Learners

Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Andrea E., M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications

Andrea, 30, lives outside Chicago and is married with a 2-year-old daughter. She completed her undergraduate degree in public relations at West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1998. Currently, she is employed as an account executive at Newspaper Services of America, a major print media buying and planning service provider for national and regional advertisers.

But it was the appeal of West Virginia University's Integrated Marketing Communications program that really brought her back to Morgantown, W.V.

Now armed with her master's degree, Andrea is looking to enjoy a summer break with her husband and daughter, before beginning a new job hunt. "I am hoping to find a position that allows me to utilize both my schooling and background in the advertising/marketing arena," says Andrea confidently.

We caught up with Andrea to find out what it is like to go back for a graduate degree as a working mother, and what it means to do it all where you grew up.

When and why did you start to consider going back to school?

I had been looking into an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program offered locally at a school in Chicago. But then I had read an article in a Morgantown newspaper that West Virginia University would be offering the same program online, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Why didn't you choose to go to an on-campus program? Why did you decide to go with distance learning?

The attraction to the online program through West Virginia University was two-fold for me. The ability to not travel to and from campuses all over the Chicago area appealed to me. Also, I was excited to become an alumnus of my hometown school.

So what is Integrated Marketing Communications, anyway?

The IMC program's definition goes like this: "Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the process of creating and maintaining profitable relationships with consumers and other important stakeholders by strategically controlling and influencing the communications sent to them while encouraging meaningful dialogue with them."

"IMC offers a new way of looking at the entire marketing puzzle, which once was viewed in terms of pieces, such as advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, investor relations and employee communications."

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