Fulfilling Personal Goals Part-time at Northwestern
As a leader in the global infrastructure services group at Accenture, a father of two, and a husband, Santi Haag was looking to fulfill a personal goal of receiving his bachelor’s degree when he decided to begin his studies in the part-time degree program at Northwestern University School of Professional Studies (SPS).
Now, a year into the evening and online undergraduate program, Santi is taking a diverse range of courses. As a prospective psychology major, Santi recently took a Developmental Psychology course that he said helped him better understand his own children. As he works through his undergraduate requirements, he is “trying to choose classes around where I am right now…classes that I could use in my everyday life.”
Taking advantage of the flexibility of a part-time college degree at Northwestern
With the birth of his third child in November of 2018, Santi was especially grateful for the flexibility that the School of Professional Studies offered him when it came to course scheduling. He was able to take a mix of online and on-campus courses, so that he could be at home as frequently as possible for his wife Bonnie, his newborn daughter Julia, and his sons, Andres (three years old) and Leo (two years old). In his experience, Santi has found that many of the online classes at SPS are “incremental work... You do something every week and then when you get to the final, the midterm, you’re already on top of your stuff.” He also emphasized that he appreciates that the professors at SPS “understand that we’re all grownups. I think that helps a lot.”
"The SPS program in particular is well-tailored to the realities of being a student while you're doing something else full-time, both with regard to when courses are offered and with regard to the school’s culture. Most of the faculty I know who teach in SPS are pretty willing to make reasonable accommodations to help students balance their academics with everything else that they’re doing.”
–Ben Gorvine, Psychology Professor at SPS
Santi on how Northwestern University's part-time undergraduate degree has impacted his career
When asked about the future, Santi explained that the program has already impacted his career in that he is now “hungry for learning. Everything I read is opening my eyes to a world of opportunity, something I wouldn’t have read if I wasn’t in school.” He does not yet know what post-graduation will look like for him, but thinks that the degree will most impact his personal life and how he understands the world around him.
Balancing work, family, and part-time education at Northwestern
On how he manages a work-school-family balance, Santi said he owes it all to his support structure, specifically his wife. He also mentioned that incorporating working out into his daily life and being mindful of both his mental and physical health has helped him “be more focused in class and make better use of my time.”
In addition, Student Services at Northwestern SPS offers a number of resources to help students navigate their education, including one-on-one advising, tutoring services, career advising, student groups, and more.
Toward the end of the conversation, Santi made sure to say , “If I can do it, anyone can do it. I’m not anything special. I have three kids, I have a full-time job where the work hasn’t slowed down.” And despite all that, Santi is committed to his coursework, receiving mainly A’s, and was recently chosen to be SPS’s Student Alliance Board President.
Santi’s advice to prospective students? “Come in with an open mind. I think it’s important. And this doesn’t mean that you have to change how you think, but understand that others think differently.”
Check out the SPS website to learn more about Northwestern’s part-time undergraduate program.