How to Determine Your Career Path (Pt 4. Deciding if an MBA is Right For You)

One of many options that is very enticing to a lot of Postgraduates is whether or not it’s worth it to get an MBA. There are tons of resources out there to provide you with the tools and information necessary to help you decide if it’s a practical option or not. When I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to get my MBA, I just started hitting up a lot of the sites out there and gathered as much information as I could. I ultimately decided to not get my MBA, and started a business instead.

This post is basically a summary of all the research I did. If you read this introductory  post, and are really interested in getting an MBA, then I strongly recommend you check the links at the bottom of my post that provide websites that are dedicated to this specific topic. With that being said…

What is an MBA?

Before I get too crazy about what you need to do to get an MBA, I want to first briefly explain what an MBA even is. MBA stands for Masters of Business Administration—it is basically a graduate school level degree that you get if you want to pursue a promotion (people who own an MBA earn on average about $20,000 more per year than someone in the same field that doesn’t have an MBA), or a better career. In either case, getting an MBA can be a great investment of time and energy if you are working in the fields of:

• Investment Banking
• Non-profit Companies
• Sales
• Engineering
• Consultant
• Website Designer
• Auditor
• Economist
• Copywriter for an Agency

This is not necessarily a comprehensive list, but definitely covers a lot of people who would be interested in getting an MBA degree. Generally speaking, if you are working in any business, there is some practical usefulness to getting an MBA. This degree opens a whole new plane in the field of career options for you. The overall usefulness of getting an MBA is so great that many others (who are not in the work fields listed above) consider getting it just for the sake of personal growth and expanded job opportunities.

Should I get an MBA, then?

After giving an explanation of what an MBA is, you may still be asking, is it really for me? Only you can really decide that, and to do so, I really think you need to spend time trying to figure out what you want to do with your life first. What are your career goals?  I recommend taking a look at my previous post on Researching Job Opportunities, and create a list of careers that you may want to pursue. Honestly, a little research goes a LONG way in helping to determine what career path is right for you.  If you have absolutely no idea what you want to do, you may consider using the Myer Briggs test to help give you a few initial ideas.

Once you have determined what your career path is (or at least created a list of three to four different jobs you may find interesting), start researching information on the job(s) of your choice, and find out if an MBA will be beneficial for your particular work field. You’d be surprised as to how far reaching MBA degrees can be these days. There are literally hundreds of programs that offer very unique and specific MBAs that cover a broad range of needs and wants.

What Do I Need to Do Before Applying For an MBA?

If you’ve decided you want an MBA, or you’re still considering whether or not you should get it, here are a couple things that you need to know/prepare before you can even begin. MBA programs gauge their applicants primarily on two things:

1. Work Experience. This is by far the most important factor in qualifying for an MBA program. Most programs look for anywhere between 2-5 years of prior work experience (although most prefer at least 4-5 years), and most applicants are between 25-34 years of age.
2. GMAT Score. If you decide to pursue an MBA, you have to start preparing for your GMAT right away. One of the wonderful things about a GMAT test is that once you take it, the score can be used for up to 5 years after taking the test. Therefore, even if you aren’t planning on getting your MBA right away, you may want to consider starting your test taking a lot earlier. This way, if you score poorly on your first few exams, you can keep taking it before you actually want to apply to a business school. Wisdom suggests that taking your GMAT right before you plan on applying is bad planning. Typically speaking, for top tier business schools, you need a score of over 600 on the GMAT. However, just because you get a good score doesn’t mean you’ll get into a good MBA program. I’ll provide a link with more information on the GMAT at the end of this post, and will probably cover the subject in detail on a much later post.

Besides that, here are some things you need to do before applying:

1. Gather Transcripts (Undergraduate Transcripts, although grades ultimately matter a lot less than your GMAT score and Work Experience)
2. Gather References and Letters of Recommendation (from employers that are impressed with you and will give you raving reviews)
3. Sharpen Your Essay Writing Skills (each business school has their specific essay requirements/questions. Almost all of them have to do with why you actually want to get your MBA).

Does My Undergraduate Major Matter for an MBA?

The overly simplified answer to this question is no. Ultimately, your major does not really matter when it comes to getting an MBA. However, it can matter if you apply to some business schools that may prefer more technical majors (like business and accounting). Most MBAs require competent knowledge of Calculus, Statistics, and Economics, and may require you to take some preparatory courses in these subjects before you can even apply. The best way to find out if you need to take these courses is to start researching what MBA schools you may be interested in applying to and once you have researched this information, check to see what courses they require before you can be accepted into their program. After you have this information, you will probably want to consider attending a Junior College to prepare for Business School.

How Much Does It Cost to get an MBA?

I’m sure the average cost of getting an MBA degree is an important factor to a lot of people out there. It’s really hard to say how much it will cost exactly, because there are so many different programs to choose from. Generally speaking, you will be expecting to pay $40,000 a year for an MBA degree. This seems like a ridiculous number, but most people who have completed an MBA program are actually quite satisfied with the payback that they get from getting the degree. This is because the MBA program does offer a lot in terms of getting a pay raise.

In order to meet this cost, you want to ideally start preparing financially for an MBA years before you even start the program. Save up as much money as possible (stop eating all that fast food and drinking so much Starbucks!) and put as much money away as possible. If you still don’t have enough money, there are actually quite a number of loans, scholarships, and other funding options that are available to those who care enough to research it. In particular, getting a loan may not be a bad choice—if you get the degree, chances are you will be making enough money to easily pay back the loan in the future.

What Types of MBA Programs Are Available?

There are many different types of programs available, but the more popular choices are:

• Two-Year Full Time MBA Program. This program is typically favorable for people who are seeking a career change or for someone who gets sponsored by their current employer to get an MBA. Choosing this option requires quite a bit of money (unless your employer pays for it), so make sure you have money saved up or have a good financial plan (with loans included).
• One-Year Full Time MBA Program. The difference between the two-year and one-year program is that whereas the two-year covers more of the core classes, one year programs are usually specialized for a specific work scenario/environment. People who pursue a one-year program are those who  want to stay in the same career path but want to increase their skills/pay/abilities in their desired work field.
• Part Time MBA Program. Classes for this program are scheduled outside of business hours so that people who are currently working and do not want to change careers can take classes while working at the same time. Pursuing this option can take anywhere from four to five years to complete, but how long it takes really depends on how big of a workload you can handle.
• Distance Learning Programs. With the advent of internet, you now have access to a plethora of online classes. Overall, distance learning requires less of a time commitment, and is perfect for people who are happy with their careers but want to increase their effectiveness in their particular field. However, you need to have a lot of self motivation for this—not being physically there is very damaging on a psychological level sometimes when it comes to work ethic.

What Are The Benefits Of Getting an MBA?

I’ve already talked about the financial benefits a little, but beyond that, the bottom line is this degree is going to help you on a professional level for the rest of your life. Regardless of what you want to do in the future, people with an MBA have an edge over those who do not—most companies really value this degree, and are more apt to hire someone with an MBA amongst a pool of applicants. With the current employment rate as low as it is, getting an MBA may REALLY be worth your while. The main thing is to make sure you figure out what you want to do before you actually decide to get it. I will cover more stuff on this subject in the future. Until then, here are some VERY helpful links about the MBA. Most of the content of this post was ultimately a paraphrasing of information I found on these websites:

What is an MBA – Very thorough Website on the subject of the MBA. This site is very useful but isn’t the most navigating friendly.

MBA.com – The .com name says it all. This site is super easy to navigate and will give you tons of useful information on the subject of getting an MBA.