An MBA is a game changer for many professionals — a way to build specialized skills, make salary gains and valuable professional connections, or even change careers.
But it’s not the right fit for everyone. Before committing to graduate business school to pursue a master of business administration degree, it’s important to consider the time commitment, costs, potential return on investment and your personal career goals, experts say.
“You don’t do it because you don’t have anything else to do,” says Sue Oldham, associate dean of MBA operations at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management in Tennessee. “You are doing it because you really want this career pivot and you want to be doing something different.”
What to Consider Before Applying to an MBA Program
Time Commitment
A full-time MBA program typically takes two years, although accelerated full-time programs can take a single year. Executive and part-time MBA programs, designed for professionals who are attending school while working a full-time job, vary in length depending on how many credits a student takes each semester. Online and hybrid programs are also options, but every pathway to an MBA is a significant time investment.
Students should consider whether it’s the right “season of life” to commit to an MBA program, Oldham says.
“Are you at a place in your life where you can step out of the workforce for two years (for a full-time MBA) and invest in yourself like that?” she says. “I think that’s why part-time MBA programs are a much better option for people that are like, ‘Listen, I can’t take two years off. I’ve got to work. I’ve got a family. I’ve got a mortgage.'”
[READ: How to Write a Strong MBA Resume]
Academic Needs
Before applying, build a list of schools that meet your educational requirements, such as location, class size and academic tracks that align with your career goals.
“Unless you are definitely bound and determined and headed toward one of the very few slots available at the Ivys, the world is at your disposal for what you need and want,” says Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform, which focuses on expanding educational opportunities.
Allen says some non-Ivy League colleges and newer MBA programs may offer “a better service — they are better priced; they are accelerated in terms of graduating; they are personalized to your needs; they are often competency-based. And that’s going to get you your best education.”
Experts advise visiting prospective programs virtually or in person, especially while classes are in session.
“Spend some time getting to know the students, the alumni and the staff at the various schools, because I always think culture really matters and each school has its own unique culture,” Oldham says. “You have to figure out what that school’s culture is and say, ‘Does this mesh with who I am, the way I learn and the way I want to work?'”
Return on Investment
According to the 2023 Corporate Recruiters Survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, the organization that designs and administers the GMAT, MBA graduates had the highest median earning potential in the U.S. among business school graduates, with an estimated median starting salary of $125,000 in 2023. Hiring is expected to remain stable over the next five years.
To decide whether an MBA program offers good return on investment, consider tuition costs and potential starting salaries — which most schools track — and calculate the salary-to-debt ratio. The return on investment is calculated by dividing the average salary and signing bonus of recent grads by the average student debt of those who borrowed.
Per GMAC’s 2023 Enrolled Students report — which surveyed more than 660 enrolled business graduate students or recent graduates in 36 countries — 90% of respondents rated the overall value of their graduate business degree as “good,” “excellent” or “outstanding.” In addition, median total compensation increased by one-third after graduate business training, with greater increases for full-time MBA students, according to the study.
The question is, “do you see the degree helping to advance your salary, your work experiences and your opportunities to make a difference, in the sense of being able to pay that (debt) down so that’s not some overwhelming burden?” says Sean Schrader, an MBA student in his final year at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business and president of the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students.
[READ: 3 Factors to Help Find the MBA Program That’s Right for You.]
Postgraduation, he plans to study abroad before pursuing more graduate education in law school. Schrader’s ultimate goal is to work in public and government service.
“A lot of people would say, ‘Why would you want to get an MBA if you’re more interested in government?'” he says. “That can be a fair point. But I think that the MBA gives you a lot of skills that are very relevant in almost any environment.”
Benefits of an MBA
Skill and Career Development
The best MBA programs help you develop entrepreneurial habits, Allen says. “They build your ability to move, develop and manage programs in more innovative ways. It’s not so much about what skills (you gain), it’s about what kind of learning is going to best set you up for an increasingly complex, technologically sophisticated society, where just about anybody can start a business, manage or create a product.”
Andrew Walker, director of research analysis and communications at GMAC, says MBA candidates want to graduate with problem-solving, communication, data interpretation and leadership skills, among others.
“Employers say things like patience, data analytics and strategy are the most important skills that graduate management education alumni can have and bring to their organizations,” he says. “And these skills are only going to grow in importance in the next five years or so. There is a lot of alignment with the type of skills that candidates are looking for out of business school and what employers are looking for, which to us (means) a lot of business schools really are on the right track with what they are teaching alumni to be successful.”
With full-time programs in particular, students graduate “better prepared to work in a culturally diverse organization,” Oldham says.
Even more valuable is that MBA programs also teach certain hard skills, says Daniel Snow, director of MBA programs at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business in Utah.
“I think that a lot of people out there think that an MBA program is about ticking boxes on a series of skills,” he says. “And while our program and other top programs do give you those skills, the really important differentiator is when you come out of an MBA program with managerial judgment. You can look at a messy situation that hasn’t been contemplated in your textbooks, find the core of the problem and then you can go after that problem leading an organization.”
[Read: Is Graduate School Worth the Cost?]
An MBA may bring salary, promotion or job market benefits. But “if you think you’re going to get an MBA and it’s automatically catapult you into a CEO job, that’s a bad reason to get an MBA,” Allen says. “It can’t necessarily do that and doesn’t. It all depends on who you are.”
Success with an MBA “really is (about) what you put into it and whether or not it helps you advance things that you already can do, but you want to take it to another level completely,” she says. “It doesn’t teach you business. It builds a mindset and an understanding of business culture and exposure to what’s happening in the world of business that you don’t necessarily get just by reading on your own.”
A New Professional Network
Experts say an MBA also helps students expand their professional networks and build new connections that may broaden their opportunities and advance their career goals.
Networks vary by school, and experts recommend considering that in your research. Some MBA programs have alumni living around the world, for instance, while others are more localized.
“It’s not just quality, but where do you want to go live your career geographically?” Snow says. “The quality of the people that you are going to be around is related to the network. … You don’t want to just be some place where you are not going to be pushed. You want to be around people who are going to really push you, that are excellent, that are striving to do the same things that you are doing.”
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How to Decide if an MBA Is Worth it originally appeared on usnews.com
