Sable Pokorny didn’t plan to return to college, at least not right away. Like many, she began college after high school and completed a couple years at Sam Houston State University, then stepped into real estate and built a life around family and work.
Living in North Carolina with her husband and two young sons, working in real estate provided the flexibility to raise her children and contribute to providing for their family while her husband served in the army and earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Upon completing his service, and his MBA, the family moved back to Texas. As her husband focused on his two entrepreneurial businesses, and their sons (ages 8 and 11) attended school, timing and opportunity finally aligned for Pokorny, giving her the chance to pause her real estate career and walk through a reopened door. What made the decision even clearer was access.
Through her husband’s military service and disability status, her education is fully covered by veteran benefits. This removed a major barrier for her family and allowed her to focus fully on finishing her degree.
For Pokorny, going back to college suddenly made sense.
“My husband finished his education, now it was my turn,” she said. “The support of the military benefits was a big, big deal for our family, and that’s when kind of like a light bulb went off…it was a no-brainer at that point.”
While making the decision to go back to school was easy, the idea of going back to school was harder to overcome.
“I actually applied and didn't tell anyone, I didn't even tell my husband,” Pokorny admits, “because I was so nervous. It had been almost 20 years since I was in school!”
Now a recent graduate of the Rawls College Online Bachelor of Business Administration (OBBA) program, Pokorny says taking classes full time, balancing coursework with family life, was a rewarding journey in rediscovering what it meant to learn on her own terms - and one she isn’t slowing down anytime soon. This fall, she will begin an online master’s in marketing research and analytics through the Rawls College.
“We wanted to show our boys that, yes, life happens, and you can still go back and finish what you started,” she said. “And honestly, I feel like it meant more going back later than right after high school.”
Q&A
When you were exploring online business programs, what ultimately convinced you the Rawls College OBBA was the right fit?
Pokorny: We were back in Texas and knew I wanted to go to a Texas school. I had applied to Sam Houston’s figuring, why not – I went there before and we live maybe 45 minutes from there – but then my husband was like, can you get a better school?
I also looked at UT, but they did not offer an online BBA in general business.
Then my sister-in-law, a Red Raider alumna, encouraged me to look at Texas Tech and when I saw Rawls College had an online business degree, I decided it was the one.
What stood out about the Rawls College OBBA compared to other online business programs you considered?
Pokorny: I definitely think offering this online degree is beneficial for so many people, not only who are like me with family commitments, but who also want to attend Texas Tech and can't be in Lubbock.
I have a girlfriend that is in a master's program at A&M right now, and her classes have set meeting times. She has a six-year-old and when class begins, she has to lock herself in a room to get it done. My husband's courses were the same way – sometimes we wouldn’t see him until 10 p.m.
My OBBA courses were asynchronous, so we didn't have a meeting time. I think that’s beneficial because when you put a time on it, it’s harder for people to lock into a schedule.
What expectations did you have going into the program, and how were they met or exceeded?
Pokorny: I figured there would be a set list of classes – accounting is this one, marketing is that one – but it was nice to have different accounting and marketing classes to choose. Nice to have options.
How did you integrate your coursework into your work/life schedule?
Pokorny: I drop our boys off at 7:45 a.m. and I pick them up at 3:30 p.m., so I knocked out my class work, as best as I could, during the day when they were at school. I enjoyed that some professors release the work either all up front or in stages, not just weekly. That way, if I had the extra time, I was able to knock out as much as possible.
For example, in my AI course, that professor opened everything up and I finished it early. That's the freedom you get with an online course – you can do it when you have the time.
Being a mom, that was very helpful especially when the kids had Christmas or spring break, or even when they had a day that they’re off for teacher in-service. Since I had access to all the course work that’s due, I was able to plan for those times and do my school ahead of time.
There was one summer I did courses with them home – that one was a little bit of a struggle…I had to move my office upstairs for that one.
How would you describe the support you received from faculty, advisors, or staff?
Pokorny: The support was amazing. For example, I'd e-mail my accounting professor with a question, and she’d jump on a Zoom call with me to help me understand something. Having that support from professors, even though you’re not on campus, was nice.
Also, my advisor – Elaina Ingrahm – was great. She not only answered all my annoying questions, but early on, when the program switched from 16 weeks to eight, she helped me play chess with my courses so that my schedule would fulfill the full-time requirement for the VA benefits.
All the support was really great.
How connected did you feel to the Rawls College community despite being online?
Pokorny: Throughout the program, I worked in several different group projects. I will say that is a little tougher in the online setting because everyone's on their own schedules, so it is hard to get people locked in, but I mean that's part of the online experience. Through those group projects, though, you meet people.
A guy that was in my program actually literally lives in my same town, so that’s been neat, and a girlfriend of mine – we became really close through the program – lives like an hour from me. It’s been nice to make those connections and relationships I probably wouldn’t have without this program.
I’ve only gone up to Tech one time – we drove through Lubbock on our way to Colorado and we stopped on campus and showed the boys. It was summer so there wasn’t a lot going on, but it was fun to see the buildings.
Which course or project was the most meaningful to you and why?
Pokorny: I really enjoyed the two marketing courses with Mary Frances Weatherly. I think a lot of that has to do with how much effort you feel the professor puts into the class. When their lecture videos are engaging, especially for an online course, that entices me to want to learn and be more involved with the class, and she is amazing at that.
I’m not the biggest fan of accounting, but my professor was amazing in that class, too, and I found myself wanting to learn as much as I could from her lectures.
What advice would you give to someone considering an online BBA?
Pokorny: Definitely make sure that you are disciplined enough, because I feel that you know if you're not disciplined enough – not to necessarily teach yourself, but to tell yourself, OK, I need to sit at this computer and I need to get this done in a timely manner.
I have always worked from home with real estate and so I'm very self-disciplined,
it was an easy transition for me. I feel like because of COVID, a lot of people had
to work from home so maybe they did build that up over that time, but definitely knowing
your own level of self-discipline is important.