You can never, ever, have too much education. An overeducated person? That’s an oxymoron. We are forever students of life – noticing, learning, internalizing, analyzing, sifting through, and embracing new ideas, concepts, processes, facts, theories, and information on an ongoing basis throughout our daily lives. There are many reasons to pursue and earn a Master of Business Administration; here are four:
1. You’ll have a solid underpinning of business.
With graduate-level courses in significant business areas like research methods and quantitative analysis, management strategies, legal and ethical issues in management, managerial economics, and management of human resources, the core curriculum of a Master of Business Administration catapults your knowledge and understanding of the essentials of effective business administration to a whole new level of insight and expertise. As an undergraduate, you might scan the surface of these topics, but as a graduate student, you get to peruse them. You explore the topics deep below the surface; you internalize them and develop an authentic understanding of them. They naturally become an integral part of your decision-making process in both your professional and personal life.
2. You have tons of choices for your area of concentration.
You don’t have to be a business major to earn a Master of Business Administration. Moreover, you don’t have to focus on “business” as your area of concentration. Today’s forward-thinking universities are offering MBAs in various specialties, including awesome areas of study like: Sports Management, Data Analytics, Finance, Healthcare Administration, Human Resources Management, International Business, Leadership, and Marketing. Sure the MBA in and of itself will add to your credentials; however, your chosen area of concentration will distinctly differentiate you from other candidates vying for the same specialty positions as you.
3. You’ll have ongoing opportunities to network naturally.
One of the first things you’ll be asked to do at the beginning of each online graduate course in which you are enrolled is to introduce yourself and virtually say “hello” to your classmates. Here you’ll be able to share whatever information about yourself you choose. (Think twice, post once!) From your current position, your family life and your hobbies, to your career goals and the reasons why you chose to pursue a graduate degree, this is the first meeting place where you can develop lifelong relationships with your classmates and instructors. As you journey through each course, you’ll read the thoughts, ideas and perspectives of the other non-traditional learners in your classes. You’ll find like-minded peers and you’ll discover diverse and new ways of looking at the same topic. Through the whole experience, you’re networking. There will be all sorts of other professionals in your courses with varying titles and positions of leadership. They will read what you post for discussion, see how you respond to others, and get an idea of your work ethic by the quality and timeliness of your posts. You will make an impression on your instructors as well as your peers. And, they will make an impression on you.
Whether it’s the launching pad for new friendships (when you email each other at midnight for clarification on an assignment) or you look forward to reading a particular student’s ideas on the discussion board each week because you respect his or her perspective, you’re networking.
4. Those who have been there and done that, recommend it.
Harvard Business Review shared that when 21,000 business-school graduates throughout the country were asked if they could go back in time, would they still earn their MBA. Ninety-five percent of them responded unequivocally with “Yes!” Getting the perspectives of others who have been there and done that is the absolute best way to get a true sense of the experience and value of anything, including earning an MBA. While those who have never gone on to pursue an advanced degree and those who have dropped out of a program will naturally say they don’t see the value in it, the individuals who have completed their MBA will have a much more optimistic, realistic and authentic understanding of the value it adds to one’s life.
There are countless reasons to continue on with your formal education and earn an MBA. From securing a solid foundation of effective business administration and being able to choose from an awesome list of interesting areas of concentration, to building a network of lifelong professional and personal friends, and knowing that all the time, energy, and efforts you invest in your MBA will be well worth it — pursuing an MBA will be a life-changer for you. While you’ll always be a student of life, earning the formal credential of an MBA affirms to your family, your colleagues, the world and yourself, just how passionate and serious you are about living, exploring and embracing life to the fullest.
Learn about our MBA programs here: