Personal Perspective
The decision to pursue an MBA is never an easy one and with any difficult choice the individual needs to measure the risks versus the opportunities. The most obvious reason for gradate students to further education is the expectation of an increased salary or opportunity for upper executive positions (Economist.com, 2003). This paper looks to examine the rationale for pursuing a graduate degree as well as my individual expectations of the program.
My initial decision to pursue an MBA began a number of years ago when my I was passed over for a senior position for a candidate with a graduate degree. According to the US Department of Labor, in 2004 there were 2.3 million top executive jobs, of which over 60% held graduate degrees. The next determining factor for my decision was the salary increase potential. A report from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) estimated the 2006 starting annual base salary for new MBA graduates at $80,809, compared to the $78,040 that graduates got in 2005. Overall, average salaries have increased 21 percent for the last seven years. According to MBAschools.com website once MBA employees hit senior level positions salaries can increase as much as fifty percent (MBAschools.com, 2007)). The final factor in deciding to pursue a graduate degree was my change in industry. An article posted on the Economist.com in March 2003 found that changing careers is greatest reason for students working toward an MBA. With the rationale for choosing an MBA program established, I then moved forward in determining what school to attend and how to finance the decision.
When choosing where to attend school a number of factors were used: Including location, time commitment, accreditation, and cost. The decision to attend an online University met the majority of those needs and according to research; the overall online education market is estimated at 700,000 students (Fisher, 2000). Yunus et al. (2002) found that...
View Full Essay