By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Jordan Megiveron (So., Edmonds, WA/Edmonds-Woodway HS) knew well in advance that he wanted to earn an undergraduate degree in Economics and work toward a Master of Business Administration degree. He also wanted to play tennis in college.
At Willamette, he can accomplish all three of his primary goals. He's a member of the men's tennis team. He is completing course work for a bachelor's degree in Economics. And he's well on his way to participating in Willamette 3/2 MBA program. In fact, he's far enough along in the process, that he might start taking classes at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management as a junior.
Megiveron may get that one-year jump on the normal 3/2 schedule because of the many hours of college-level courses he banked while attending high school. Now, he's almost completed the requirements for his undergraduate degree.
Typically, students in the 3/2 MBA program received their undergraduate degree in four years and their master's degree in five years. They usually take some classes at Atkinson as a senior and then take all of their courses at Atkinson during their fifth year at Willamette.
With Megiveron well into his academic and athletic efforts, it's a good time to find out how he reached this point. First, he had to select a college or university to attend.
"There were a few reasons that helped me decide to go to Willamette," Megiveron said. "One of the bigger reasons was that I was quite interested in the Economics Department and I heard very good things about the quality of the education I was going to get as well as good placement after graduation. Another reason was the proximity to home because I am from Edmonds, Washington, which is right next to Seattle. The distance to home is only about a four-hour drive and it can be quite comforting knowing that home is so close, and I just love the Pacific Northwest.
"Tennis was actually one of the other reasons that I wanted to go here, because tennis was a major part of my life before college, and I just was not ready to let go of that in a competitive capacity," Megiveron continued. "I had a chance to come and play for Willamette which was a very tempting decision. I love competing and I really just wanted to extend that experience into college at a higher level and get better at a collegiate level after playing competitive tennis for the majority of my life."
The process was aided by all the college-level courses he had already completed at Edmonds-Woodway High School before arriving at Willamette as a first-year student-athlete.
"When I describe my situation to people I generally call myself a second-year senior," Megiveron said, "So this is my second year on campus, but in terms of academics it really is my senior year in terms of classes and course work in which I only need about 3.5 credits next semester to enter the 3/2 program and start taking master's classes next year. So instead of an accelerated 3/2 program, for me it is more of a super accelerated 2+2 dual MBA/BA degree because my BA was so quick after I focused on my major and total credits taken.
"I got this early start mainly from my high school classes, where I went to an International Baccalaureate (IB) school and took exams to get a lot of credits to carry over," Megiveron explained "When I first entered Willamette, I basically came in as a sophomore. Then I had to play my cards right and take classes that satisfy certain credit requirements like general education and so on, which I did, allowing me to enter the 3/2 program as I met their credit requirements. I will be able to get in my senior Economics capstone class in the spring of 2021."
He is on the edge of being able to start taking classes at Atkinson during the 2021-22 academic year, which will be his third year at Willamette.
"As of now some things are still up in the air, as there have only been a few cases of this expedited schedule," Megiveron said. "From what I understand I will be exclusively taking graduate school classes next year at Atkinson. I want to concentrate on finance and investment courses."
Megiveron is looking forward to taking classes at Atkinson. He sees Willamettte's 3/2 MBA program as having several key benefits.
"I do not know much about the master's side of the program as I have not started that portion yet, but from what I do know, I love the speed and efficiency of the program," Megiveron said. "I can use the resources at Atkinson for career development and an internship or job placement. I have only heard good things about the courses and education I will get from Atkinson. In terms of the undergraduate part of the program, I have thoroughly enjoyed my classes and the pace at which I focus on my major courses. But again in general, the greatest appeal of the program is the speed at which I get two degrees in the same time frame that many people get just one."
Away from the classroom, Megiveron has been active with the Willamette men's tennis team. Despite COVID-19 and the nearby wildfires, the Bearcats were able to practice during the fall semester after missing out on most of the 2020 spring season.
"Fall practices went well this year, but there were definitely some obstacles surrounding COVID as well as that period of time with the fires," Megiveron recalled. "Overall, practice was very enjoyable as an activity to get out and get some recreational exercise and to just get out in general in a time of being stuck inside the rest of the day. Masks were required at all times on the courts. Even without any real competition in the fall, the team did well to stay motivated and work hard to get better and I think Coach Rick Wood and Assistant Coach Gene Perle-Jones did a great job of keeping us safe but also holding beneficial practices. I think every single player on the team improved significantly over the semester even with all the obstacles, which is quite a testament to the grit and determination of our team to get better at tennis.
"I think we learned a lot from this semester," Megiveron continued. "Not only did every player get better in terms of actual tennis strokes, positioning, and strategy, I think we all learned a lot in terms of the mental game as this was such a mentally taxing time with COVID and the fires. I legitimately think it helped train us to be more in control of our mental game as well."
Megiveron has been playing competitive tennis for many years. During his many years of playing the sport, he has one moment that stands out.
"The most exciting moment was most likely my senior year of high school when we played our rival school for the top spot in the conference," Megiveron recalled. "I was captain of our tennis team that year. That season, our team and one of our rival schools in the conference had been undefeated. Whoever won that match would be conference champs and would most likely carry out the rest of the season undefeated as we were the top two teams in our area. I specifically remember after winning my match, going to watch my team and seeing our freshman doubles team win their match, securing us a close team win 4-3 against a team that beat us all the other years. It was really like a turning of the tide, where we were now the top school in our league. I was happy to leave my high school with that achievement, which secured us as conference champions, and then we ended the season undefeated."
