MBA stands for Master of Business Administration. It is a master’s degree designed to strengthen and increase individual knowledge by training professionals in the areas of finance and business management, in order to enhance their career opportunities.
An MBA helps professionals gain a broader, more organized vision of what an efficient and productive business administration implies. It is oriented towards growth, sustainability and the development of ideas that allow improving and optimizing production-worker relationships in companies. A professional with an MBA accesses managerial positions in a company more easily than one who does not.
Who can benefit from completing an MBA?
This type of degree has been designed for graduate students who are interested in gaining business management, strategic leadership, and financial skills.
This means that an MBA is advantageous in a business environment for an extensive list of professionals, which includes different kinds of executives and entrepreneurs from all sorts of fields. Marketing managers, as well as economists and analysts, have been benefiting from the leverage an MBA grants for decades. Even specialists in the healthcare industry such as nurses, now consider a degree in Business Administration a powerful tool to advance in their line of work.
Completing an MBA is also beneficial for graduates who are seeking international job opportunities and would like to have an upper hand.
How to choose the right MBA program for you
Deciding on a course at an advanced level like an MBA is a process that should be thought out as there are many options to choose from.
First of all, you need to clearly define your goal and reasons for wanting to do an MBA, which should always align with your career goals to actually make the most out of it. This applies equally for those who would like to climb the ladder in their field and professionals seeking to change career paths alike. Therefore, it is imperative for you to decide if you wish to narrow your focus on areas like finance, human resources information systems, international economics or marketing (among many others), or if you just simply want a standard MBA degree.
Another important aspect when trying to decide on which MBA studies to take, is whether you want to do it part time or if you can truly afford leaving the workforce to take a full-time course. Accelerated MBA programs are a great option for those who would like to get an MBA but are not able to devote two years of studies to do so. Getting an MBA online is another option among professionals who wish to save or maximize their time, making it one of the most popular and sought after ways to getting an MBA nowadays, especially with the current health crisis the world is experiencing.
Picking the right school should not be underestimated. In order to take full advantage of an MBA degree, you must first select a course that best fits your career goals but also has a solid reputation. Make sure to do the proper research by using tools that are available online to compare different institutions and their MBA curricula. There are many high-level local programs and some of them offer MBA courses abroad; an ideal alternative if you are thinking of getting international exposure and would like to work in other countries.
For a greater display of your professional qualifications you can look into MBA programs with active and engaged alumni, which will benefit you in the long-term due to their powerful network and connections. Ultimately, choosing the right MBA program for you is going to depend on how much you can afford to invest on it, what is going to be the return on investment, how much you expect to earn, and how soon you plan on getting started.
What alternatives are there to an MBA?
There are different options to choosing an MBA that are also excellent ways for professionals to grow academically and develop their networks through recognized institutions like a master´s in a specific field, mini MBA programs or the Harvard Business School’s Credentials of Readiness course.
Additional valid alternatives to an MBA are a master´s in organizational leadership, an executive certificate in business administration or an entrepreneurial course, all of which are rather accessible and quite useful.
Having an MBA: The big picture
By completing an MBA program, a professional will be able to develop their knowledge and skills to efficiently run a company, demonstrating the application of innovative measures with economic returns in mid and long term, for both themselves and their employers. Meanwhile, an international MBA can certainly add more prestige to anyone´s résumé. This goes without mentioning the many advantages of belonging to an exclusive group that is more than just well-connected.
On the other hand, an MBA program serves as practical learning since much of its content can be used in real life situations, apart from the ever demanding world of business where efficient solutions to various complications also need to be found. Knowing the true value of an MBA will help you understand the importance of growing as a professional in the fields of business administration and finances, as well as an individual who appreciates and applies their knowledge successfully in their day to day.