Ashlee Reily
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How a Johns Hopkins Online MBA Pays Dividends: Ashlee Reilly

Why it matters:

New Yorker and Moody’s employee Ashlee Reilly wanted to take the next step in her career. She enrolled in an Online MBA program at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. While taking class as a Johns Hopkins MBA student, Ashlee was promoted at Moody’s. The courses with residencies for Online MBA students were a highlight of her experience.

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Ashlee Reilly (MBA ’18) was a research manager at Moody’s Investors Service when she realized she wanted to move to credit ratings, but she needed more hard-financial skills to make the move. Reilly decided to pursue an online MBA at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School to gain the experience she needed to make a change.
“I was already working at Moody’s but in a research capacity, but I was finding it hard to move because I didn’t have the background,” she said.

Online MBA at Johns Hopkins pays off

Living in New York, Ashlee enrolled in online courses in Carey’s Flexible MBA program. She said an online MBA was right for because it “gave me the flexibility to do my school work” around her schedule.

The investment in a Johns Hopkins MBA paid off – Ashlee was promoted to Associate Analyst on the rating side while enrolled in Carey’s online MBA program.

“I found a lot of the material I was learning in class I could directly apply to my new position,” she said.

Reilly added she liked the diversity in the program in terms of professions, industries and educational backgrounds.

“What I really enjoyed about the (online MBA) program is that not everyone is doing the same thing that I’m doing. It was nice because people, since they had different backgrounds, were able to share ideas in different ways,” she said.

Flexible MBA alumna Ashlee Reilly wanted to take the next step in her career in finance, so she enrolled in the part-time and online MBA program at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Hear how Ashlee was able to land a new promotion just before graduating.

Value of Residencies

During her time as a Johns Hopkins MBA student, Ashlee said she valued visiting Carey’s Harbor East campus for the online courses with residencies. Online MBA students at Carey attend three residencies in Baltimore during their program. At these events, students collaborate on key course assignments in-person, but also get to network with faculty, staff, and other students, including full-time and on-ground Johns Hopkins MBA students. She said she enjoyed the opportunity to meet in-person with classmates she had only interacted with virtually. “I think the residencies were great for meeting my peers and professors because I could finally put a face to a name for people I’ve been talking to already,” she said.

“It was great because we had the chance to actually debate our ideas in person, in real time rather than just through the online forum, which made our online interactions so much better.” She said she was initially unsure about networking enrolling online. She was thankful for the residencies, which allowed her that in-person contact.

“I was nervous that with the online (MBA) program that I wouldn’t have the ability to network. But with the residencies, I found that completely quelled my fears and I was able to make long-lasting friendships.

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