People continue to attend university in large numbers studying for an undergraduate or professional degree in the subject they are interested in or a qualification towards a future career.
Normally students first studying for a specialist named bachelor degree over 3-4 years. In both America and United Kingdom it’s common for people returning to university to complete a master degree in the same specialism.
Should I get an MBA if I already have a maters degree?
All of us have different study & career aspirations, although each person requires asserting they’re own goals for studying another graduate degree.
An MBA as a second master’s degree is only useful in career development to managerial positions or various specialist job roles, although can be used in a wide range of industries.
Think about; is a general or specialist MBA helpful in getting hired in you’re desired job role or aid you in achieving promotion to department or management level with a present employer?
You don’t require a business administration management masters degree if you’ll not be in a position of responsibility working in an organization.
Company senior manager or leadership positions are held by employees with a personal profile that includes specialist industry knowledge, business acumen, soft skills and can make decisive decisions for the better.
See Can I be a teacher with an MBA
Doing an MBA after a masters degree
Can you complete two masters degrees
Is it bad to get two masters degrees
Management knowledge & skills
A general management MBA provides different knowledge learning to specialist masters such as logistics or biology; this gives you additional soft skills & business functional department or company wide managerial capabilities.
In contrast a specialist MBA in health care management would complement an existing masters degree in heath care, and may not contribute a lot towards you’re learning or career goals, basically a waste of time.
One objective to think about is how does a master of business administration (MBA) fit into extending learning or acquiring new knowledge & skills for you to succeed in you’re chosen career?
Should you be a specialist in your chosen career job role and you are likely to be promoted to middle management an MBA as an additional master’s degree would be useful to provide a range of management knowledge & skills.
Return on investment study an MBA
Tuition fees for any MBA course cost thousands of dollars in the USA or UK. Would you receive a big enough return on investment from completing an MBA in relation to:
- Salary package significant increase in you’re present role, through a promotion or changing job to another company to compensate the opportunity cost of time studying.
- Offered promotion in the organization you are presently working to middle or senior manager level on a long term basis.
- Company pays the university tuition fees.
Course admission
Laying out your career plan, university admissions people will understand your need for an MBA. If you are applying for an additional master’s degree, although don’t explain yourself in the application the admissions department could question your motivation or requirement for another graduate degree, lessening your admittance chances to popular courses.
Also see Fun jobs for MBA graduates
Cons & benefits of an MBA as second masters
Benefits
1. A general master of business administration graduate degree can be used in all industries. Degree holders can choose to work in a wide variety of organizations & business as course learning content covers running a functional department and entire organization.
2. Low risk investment of time starting an MBA qualification part time if you’re employer asks you to take a promotion, and also pays for you’re course tuition fee. The employer is effectively positively encouraging:
- You to progress in the company & positively affecting you’re career advancement.
- Investing in you’re education & personal growth & development.
3. Graduates with an MBA & other masters have specialist knowledge in they’re field of work & business management knowledge to manage a functional department or company effectively towards profit.
4. Obtaining a general or specialist MBA provides the graduate business administration skills & knowledge to become more confident & efficient in a specialist job role they presently work in.
5. New specialist MBA graduates or experienced workers can make a career change applying for a job that requires specific technical skills & knowledge. You can combine industry expertise with knowledge from the MBA course to work in roles such as consultant, analyst, product manager or scientific laboratory specialist.
6. An MBA in not only a highly recognizable world wide graduate qualification it can enable the holder to gain a specialist job role, become a middle or senior manager or use the knowledge to start & run a business yourself.
Cons
1. Potential return on investment is low after spending a significant amount of money & time studying for an MBA only to discover no company will employ you in you’re desired industry job role.
2. Employers look to recruit applicants with a business graduate degree, numerous soft skills, decision making and industry work experience. Not all MBA holders secure a graduate level job, as organizations don’t see some people having the right personal profile to match the position or company.
3. Specialist MBA, and especially general management qualification could be a waste of time by not contributing to you’re specialist field of work, as another masters or doctorate degree in the field would have been more beneficial.
4. Gaining a low quality cheap MBA is not worth it as a second masters is you wish to become a senior manager or executive in a medium sized USA or UK company as it may not be seen as much value by employers.
5. Equally an online MBA can look bad if you wish to be employed as an analyst or management consultant for a well known company, as online graduate degrees can be seen as less rigors as in class learning.