Caroline Fuller, a general business major in her senior year of Belmont's adult degree program, shares her inspiring story of finding her true passion and embracing lifelong learning.
Caroline Fuller's journey to Belmont University and the world of business has been one of self-discovery, perseverance and a willingness to embrace change. After initially pursuing a pre-med path at the University of Mississippi, Fuller took a step back to gain valuable life and work experience before returning to education. In this Q&A, she shares the power of following one's passion and the importance of lifelong learning.
What led you to Belmont and the general business major?
I graduated high school in 2016, and straight from there, I went to the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, and stayed for about a year and a half. I realized the pre-med major I was in was not quite for me. I took about three years off from school to get work experience and life experience and moved around a little bit to a few different states. I ended up here in Nashville to find a bigger city, but with that small town feel, and worked a little bit more. Then, I decided it was time to go back to school. I applied to Nashville State, and I had so many credits from my pre-med route that I decided to get my associate's degree in health sciences. And then I was enrolled at the same time at Belmont and started here and transferred over to business.
Why did you initially choose pre-med, and what made you realize it wasn't for you?
I very much wanted to be a surgeon. I've had a few relatives who were doctors. I was always drawn to math and sciences, so that seemed a very logical choice. Turns out I didn't really like it.
Why did you choose health sciences for your associate's degree?
At that point, I had just put so much work and effort into the classes I had taken, and knowledge is never a waste in general. But I also wanted to prove that I could finish what I started in some way or another. I stuck it out and ended up taking Organic Chemistry I and II during the pandemic. It was a very interesting time, and I got my degree.
Why business?
I also have a lot of relatives who are businessmen, business people, business women. I never really knew much about what they did or what their jobs really entailed, but I decided one day just to talk to them, and it sounded really cool and way more interesting. I never really saw myself as being a business major, and I fell in love with it once I started.
What do you love about business, and what have been some of your favorite classes?
I really have enjoyed the entrepreneurship side of business. I think in business in general, I like the vastness of it because I have a variety of interests. Business drew me because there are still so many options. You can go to different places and meet and work with different people. It just seemed like there was a lot more opportunity with business than with some other things I may have thought of or, like, just specifically accounting, there’s more or less one direction with that, but with general business it's more open.
Where do you see yourself in the future, career-wise?
Actually, all throughout my time here, I've had my own pet-sitting business. And so that also kind of drew me into taking entrepreneurship classes to see if I could expand my knowledge and keep growing my own business. That gives me a lot of potential in the future. I'm not really sure what kind of business I would open, but I have had a lot of ideas over the years of different businesses I could open, so I like the opportunity to be able to think on it and maybe start my own business later on.
What have been some of your favorite projects or assignments in your business classes?
We've had a lot of papers to write and analyze many business movies or business people. For instance, we watched the movie “The Founder,” which is about the McDonald's Corporation. It's really cool to be able to see where they started from and where they were going and put that back into my own life. They didn't start from very much, but they were able to grow that. It gives me the courage to also maybe take a risk or two and try and grow that, too.
Who have been some of your favorite professors?
I took multiple classes from Dr. Paula Roberts. She did a lot of the management and leadership courses. A lot of my professors, if I could take them a second time, I absolutely did because I thought you could feel much of their passion and work, and they truly cared about connecting with their students and seeing them succeed. I feel like that's a lot more rare nowadays. Dr. Yang He and Dr. Barry Padgett were also some of my favorite professors and demonstrated this love for teaching.
As an adult student, how has your experience been in Belmont's adult degree program?
It's been amazing. Being the age I am and having a bit more life experience, I don't think I would have appreciated being at Belmont or being in any business program if I had gone straight into it out of high school. I'm here at the time that I've needed to be in my life, and I like to think that's my higher power at work. I found Belmont as a match, and it was perfect timing for me to turn just old enough to get into the adult degree program. It was a perfect storm for everything to work at once. I feel like that was an opportunity calling to me that I had to take.
Did you feel supported as an adult student?
Katie Rockey has been there since the beginning of my time here, and she's always been very responsive, supportive and encouraging, as has my advisor, Brad Childs. I felt very supported. Some of my younger classmates have been some of my biggest supporters, too, which is really cool. Half of them don't even know that I'm older either. They’rea little shocked when I tell them my age.
What resources or opportunities have you taken advantage of at Belmont?
All of the resources that the business program offers have been awesome, like the Career Development Center. I've really enjoyed the WELL Core offerings as well, because I could go in and pick which ones I wanted to participate in that were interesting to me. So I think that was a really cool aspect of it all.
You own your own business. Can you tell us more about it?
I call it Pet Care with Carol. I like a good alliteration. I actually have been mainly word of mouth, which is really cool. I like to think that my work speaks for itself in that sense. It's been really awesome. I love animals. I've always been that way, and so it's something that offers the flexibility for me to still put the time and dedication into my schoolwork that is necessary. I've made nearly a 4.0 most semesters and having a business with such flexibility has allowed me the time to focus on my schoolwork, and I'm very grateful for that.
I mainly work with dogs, especially reactive and. I work a lot with very reactive and dog and aggressive dogs. I also work with a lot of cats as well. I love cats, and my cat actually lives with my parents, so it lets me live vicariously through other people. I also am an occasional babysitter and nanny, but mainly it is my pet-sitting business. I live in an apartment complex, so I've become like the resident dog sitter.
What advice would you give to your younger self or someone considering returning to school?
One thing for me, and I touched a little bit on this, is that you are on your own path. You're on your own timeline, and that has been one of the biggest realizations for me, because there’s just so much comparison in our society nowadays in every single aspect of our lives. And you know, I have a lot of friends who are married and have kids and all that kind of thing. And so every once in a while, I'll look and be like, Oh, well, why am I not there? But no, I'm in the spot that I'm supposed to be right now, and I truly believe that. I think that's been one of the biggest things that has helped me feel confident about what I'm doing.
Any final thoughts for prospective students considering Belmont's adult degree program?
I think one of the main things to know is that it’s never too late. You can always learn more. You can always go back. It doesn't matter how young or old you are or whatever else. I think it's worth the quote, unquote risk. Also, take advantage of everything Belmont has to offer, because there are just so many offerings, half of which I’ve not even learned about. That’s one thing – if I could go back again, I would take a lot more advantage of what Belmont has to offer. It's an amazing school here with amazing staff and students. I've loved it.
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