Flexibility of the Masters of Business Administration

By Renea Kissell


The selection of graduate degree can be a very important choice for students. It is certainly an investment of a tremendous amount of time and money. Among business graduate degrees, the big choice is usually whether to pursue the broad scope Masters of Business Administration with a specialization or a more narrow focus specialty degrees, such us the Masters of Health Administration or the Masters of Real Estate Development.

Both options have merit. Job candidates with either one have advantages over those who do not. When a corporation is recruiting for a position, among candidates with similar experience, having an advanced degree is a clear advantage. Also, it can be difficult to be promoted beyond a certain point without this kind of education.

The MBA has a number of advantages over other graduate business degrees. The first would be that the Masters of Business Administration has a two part philosophy. The first half of the program, the student studies core subjects that are applicable to all areas of business management. During the remainder, the student goes further in depth as to how business administration is applied to a specialty area, for example human resources or international business. Because of that structure, focusing first on just the skills of managing a business, the MBA is the most versatile of any higher education degree.

In one area, the broad base of knowledge gained with the MBA is the only option, starting a small business. Entrepreneurs are frequently required to fulfill various functions throughout a start-up, or at least to have a direct hand in managing them. No specialty business degree offers this level of adaptability.

Earnings are also benefited by the MBA. A professional with five to nine years of experience can make up to an additional eighteen thousand dollars per year just by virtue of having the degree. In some industries, like health administration, the benefit can be even more striking.

Another advantage to the MBA is the classroom experience. Beyond just the gratification of successfully completing the program, the program offers excellent business networking opportunities. After all, almost everyone in the program will already be involved in business management, and some will continue to advance their careers into upper management. Contacts can be made in the classroom that lead to profitable business alliances in the future.

In terms of diversity of application, the MBA clearly had the advantage. The material covered by the MBA can be applied in any business regardless of field. This allows the MBA graduate to continue to see value from the degree even if they move from one specialty area to another. That flexibility makes the Masters of Business Administration the most well respected business degree in the world..




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