How a Second Chance at Life Brought Annie Wright to an Early Career MBA

Sometimes, it takes a big moment to change your life. For Annie Wright, a first-year MBA student in the Albers School of Business Early Career MBA program, that moment was almost her last.

In March 2021, Annie experienced a near-fatal car accident. “My world was quite literally flipped upside down,” she says.

At the time, she was working for Teach for America, serving in an underprivileged high school in Georgia. Annie had recently graduated with her degree in political science and was planning to apply to Columbia Law School. Coming from a family of lawyers, law school was something she just assumed she should do. But that was before her injuries left her with a fractured spine.

Annie was forced to stop working. She left Georgia to return home to Seattle and recover from her injuries—and she started questioning all the “I shoulds." “All I knew was that I wanted to be creative, to collaborate, and to make a difference,” says Annie. “When you almost lose your life, you think: Why am I doing what I’m doing? And who do I want to be? The accident made me reflect inward. I had a second chance, a fresh start. I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.”

Annie’s fresh start led her to realize her passion for business. She saw leadership as a vital way to make a difference, whether it’s working at a nonprofit, holding a position at a larger corporation, or running your own business. An MBA would enable her to build a foundational understanding of business practices and grow her professional network.

Annie compared programs in the Seattle area before deciding on the Albers School of Business at Seattle University. For her, it was an obvious choice: it came down to the culture, the education model, and the people.

Why Albers? Collaboration, not competition

While Annie knew she wanted to pursue an MBA, she wasn’t interested in a culture of cutthroat competition. “I wanted to collaborate, not compete,” she says. “I wanted an education focused on making the individual a better person, an effective leader, and a valuable contributor to our society. I found all of that at Seattle University.” The Early Career MBA