As a career changer, Georgia Tech’s Evening MBA Program far exceeded Dacia Tarleton’s expectations. “I ended up with seven amazing offers,” she says.

An avid runner of half marathons, Tarleton challenged herself to cover as much ground on campus as possible to build a strong professional network. The connections she made really paid off in helping her get a job as senior consultant with North Highland after graduation in May 2011.

Tarleton, who served as networking chair for the student government organization Graduate Evening Students in Management, also participated in Tech’s Pro Bono Consulting Program, which helps Atlanta nonprofits resolve key strategic challenges. This program afforded her the opportunity to work with two full-time MBA students who went to work for North Highland a year earlier. “They really helped me get my foot in the door,” Tarleton says. “They could say I’ve worked with Dacia and she’s got a great work ethic.”

"At Tech, not only do you get great education from phenomenal faculty, but also you are able to build an amazing network," she says. "It’s really hard to do that if you are on a satellite campus."

Tarleton, who holds a BS in electrical engineering from Morgan State University and a master’s in electrical engineering from Cornell University, worked as a Web developer and portal administrator at AT&T during her three years in the Evening MBA Program.

"With 10 years of experience working in various industries and roles within information technology, I realized that as I grew in my career I needed an MBA to open up more opportunities," says Tarleton, a native of Baltimore, Maryland. “My plan was to use my MBA to balance out my technical background in order to leverage my analytical skills in not just technical roles, but also business roles."

Consulting appealed to Tarleton because of her wide range of interests. “I decided I needed to consult because I like to do a lot of different things, from business intelligence and data analytics to marketing and finance.”