Dallas Clarke

MBA

When Dallas Clarke was growing up, he was seen as the ‘bad boy,’ a role he fell into to be cool. ‘Too smart to be a jock, too sociable to be a geek, too athletic to be a nerd, I made the mistake of under-performing as a teenager in order to fit in. I was suspended from high school three times and had endless detentions before dropping out.’

Dallas had a tough childhood. His father died when he was eighteen months old leaving his mother, who was twenty-four and had no qualifications, to raise three children on her own. ‘To her credit, she put herself into school and just before my fourth birthday managed to gain entry into Law at UNSW. My mother was the first in our family to get a tertiary qualification.’

As Dallas got older, he saw the writing on the wall, ‘I remember waking up one morning and realising I didn't want to spend the rest of my life as a high school dropout, working full-time at McDonald's. I decided to forget about what everyone thought of me and returned to high school, but this time I was going to do things my way.’

Dallas followed in his mother’s footsteps completing a combined degree in Law and Computer Science at UNSW. ‘I look back now and realise it was more about emulating my mother than something I wanted. I realised I should stick to what I'm good at and not pursue a career based on what my parents or anyone else thinks.’

After working in IT for over ten years, Dallas graduated with a Masters of Business Administration at UTS. ‘I want to move from IT development into IT management and UTS had the best IT focused MBA for my career path.’ Dallas feels his studies at UTS have equipped him with the skills to build a successful management career in California.

‘As rough as the path has been, it was worth the pain. I'm moving forward in life. Forgetting about what everyone else thought of me was the best thing I could have done.’

Dallas’s advice to new students: 'It’s hard work. Don’t be surprised if you fail, and don’t give up if you do.