Concerns About Getting an MBA Degree

Many people would like to go to school and get their MBA degree, but are either reluctant to, or afraid to, for a variety of reasons. This is certainly understandable. Going to school full time (or even part time) for a couple of years is a major undertaking. In most cases getting an MBA will require people to leave their employment and regular paycheck while they work hard to better themselves. This can seem like a huge gamble.

There are many other concerns, too, and all of them are legitimate. Each person will have to make up his or her own mind, after carefully weighing all the pros and cons of either going back to school or declining to do so. However, it's important to keep in mind that it's easy to see the negative consequences of going back to school for a couple of years to get an MBA, but it can be difficult to stay focused on the positive benefits that can result from such a decision. Yes, going back to school full time for a couple of years truly is a huge undertaking. What many people lose sight of is the fact that the rewards for doing so can also be huge. An MBA can lead to a much more satisfying and fulfilling job, much higher pay, more prestige, more opportunities for promotions, a better retirement, etc. These should all be kept in mind when making the decision about whether or not to get an MBA.

I Can't Afford MBA School

Money is probably the most common concern cited by people who would like to earn an MBA degree but up until now haven't applied to any programs. There's no denying that the cost of an MBA is a big factor to consider. The cost of the average MBA program is already quite significant, and it continues to rise every year. Some programs at elite MBA schools are now charging in the neighborhood of $50,000 per year, for a total cost of nearly $100,000 to earn a degree. No matter what your income bracket is, that is without doubt a significant investment. When combined with the fact that the typical student will have no salary while studying for an MBA, it looks like a double whammy.

However, that is only one side of the story. The other side is that prospective students need to consider how much additional income they will earn over the course of their lifetime due to their possessing an MBA. When one looks at it that way, it's clear that the price of tuition is an investment.

According to one well-known study, ten years after earning an MBA, the average student has earned 177% more money than the student’s counterparts who passed up the opportunity to get a graduate degree in business.
That's nearly twice as much as a non-MBA will have made, and it's a return on investment of nearly ten percent per year. Even that 177% figure doesn't tell the whole story, because the typical MBA grad will work in his or her career for a lot longer than ten years after graduation, and each year will usually bring higher salaries, which has a compounding effect.
It's not uncommon for an MBA holder to retire having made two and a half to three times the lifetime earnings of non-MBA colleagues, on average. Some will do much better than that. So don't let the price of tuition scare you off.
Think of your tuition as a long-term investment. Keep in mind, too, that there are some very good MBA programs at perfectly good schools that charge a lot less than the top-tier schools.

The Economy is Too Sluggish to Get an MBA Right Now

Many would-be MBA school students have postponed going back to business school because they have concerns about the economy. This is understandable. The American economy is certainly not as robust as it was from the middle of the 1990s up until about 2006, and many economists and other prognosticators predict that it could be a very long time before we again see similar business conditions in the U.S. Although this objection might seem sound at first glance, it's actually a very good argument for enrolling in an MBA degree program as soon as possible.

Why? Because in a sluggish or stagnating economy, there are still millions and millions of people being hired and promoted. It's not as if nearly all business activity has come to a standstill; far from it.

America has a population of over 300 million people, and even with the high unemployment rate of recent years, over 90% of people in the labor force have jobs.
Even during the Great Depression, three-quarters of people who wanted to work had jobs, and things are nowhere close to being that bad today.
Trillions of dollars still change hands every year in the U.S., and companies still need managers and executives, and lots of them.

There is one remarkable difference between the present economy and the one we experienced during the roaring 1990s. Back then there were far more jobs available than qualified people to fill them, at all levels of the economy. “Help wanted” signs were everywhere, and the Sunday newspaper's classified ad sections bulged with ads for workers. Now the opposite is true – there are more qualified workers available than jobs for them. What does this mean? It means that you'll need to stand out from the crowd when applying for jobs and promotions, and you'll want every credential you can get, and no other credential compares to an MBA degree. One large survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admissions Council found that 75% of full-time MBA students in 2009 were already working. One excellent option for anyone with concerns about the economy or job prospects is to enroll in a part-time MBA program, which allows a person to keep working, unlike students in full-time programs. A sluggish economy is not a reason to avoid getting an MBA. On the contrary, it's one of the best reasons for getting one.

My GMAT Score Isn't Good Enough for an MBA Program

Many people would like to enroll in an MBA school/a> and greatly enhance their future career prospects, but are afraid to apply for fear that their GMAT scores are too low. Is this a reasonable objection to applying for an MBA degree program? There are certainly some cases where it is, but in many other cases, it isn't. If there is a legitimate concern over a low score, there are steps a person can take to remedy the situation, which we'll discuss.

Let's start off by being brutally frank. If you took the GMAT offered by the GMAC and scored somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 400, and you weren't sick or dealing with some other major mitigating factor, then an MBA program probably isn't for you. However, most people who are worried about their GMAT score being too low have scores that are quite a bit higher than 300 to 400. Many of them even have scores above the national average, which is around 570. However, they read that the median GMAT score of MBA students at the top-tier schools is over 700, and they panic.

This is almost always an overreaction, unless a person is obsessed with winning admission to a school like Wharton, Stanford, Harvard, etc. Even those schools, however, rely on other factors besides the GMAT score. There is much more to an MBA application than the GMAT score, and the other factors help paint a picture of the whole person.

There are also numerous business schools that have great programs that aren't in the top tier, and their students' scores are generally lower. So one option for dealing with this concern is to broaden your horizons and apply to a wider range of schools. The other option is to retake the GMAT and try for a much better score. This will usually require the use of some study aids to see a radical improvement, but if your score is that worrisome, it's probably worth it. In addition to raising your score, taking the GMAT for a second or third time and doing better than the first attempt will also demonstrate to admissions officers that you're committed to getting an MBA and you're not afraid of hard work.

My Undergrad GPA Isn't High Enough to Qualify for an MBA Program

A weak undergraduate record is another common concern given by people who would like to enroll in one of America's MBA schools but haven't done so yet. This is certainly a legitimate concern, and it's more difficult to get around than a low GMAT score. In that case, a person can study hard and retake the exam and earn a considerably higher score. A GPA is for life, however. Short of going back to school and earning another bachelor's degree, a person is stuck with his or her GPA. So, let go of the past, and start thinking about the MBA degree in your future.

However, just as with the GMAT score, you should always keep in mind that your GPA is just one aspect of your application. It's an important one, but it is by no means the only one. In most cases, a person applying for an MBA program will have been out of college for at least a few years, and if one can demonstrate having come a long way since then, one can greatly improve one’s chances of being admitted to business school.

So if you've made some remarkable career achievements in a short time, this can go a long way toward mitigating a less than stellar GPA. Another great way to compensate for a low GPA is to earn a great score on the GMAT.

Either or both of these factors can balance out a less than impressive GPA, especially if you can make a good case during the interview why your GPA is not an accurate reflection of your abilities. So balance your weaknesses with strong showings in other areas, and don't hesitate to apply to a larger than average number of MBA degree programs to increase your chances of being accepted.

I Won't Be Able to Live Up to the Time and Energy Demands of an MBA Program

If this is one of the concerns holding you back from enrolling in an MBA school, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that you are right to be concerned about what a major undertaking getting MBA degrees can be. Many people enroll in business school blissfully ignorant of the rigorous challenge ahead, thinking they'll just be reliving their undergraduate college experience. Nothing could be further from the truth; those suffering from this delusion are going to be in for the shock of their lives once school starts. It will take a great deal of effort and self- discipline for these "Pollyannas" to adjust to the reality of the situation, and not all of them will be able to do so successfully.

So what's the good news? The good news is that your concern about the major demands MBA school will make on your time and energy demonstrate (somewhat paradoxically, it might seem) that you're the kind of person who would do very well in such a program. You're aware of the challenges and difficulties ahead, and so, unlike many of your classmates, you won't be in for a complete shock.

Yes, getting an MBA will be quite challenging; in fact, it will be one of the most difficult accomplishments of your life. However, every year over 100,000 people successfully navigate the waters of MBA school and walk across the stage to accept their diploma, and there's no reason you can't do the same.
Yes, it will take self-discipline and some measure of sacrifice, but don't think you can't do it. And you'll be glad you did – a recent survey of MBA grads found that 91% of them rated their degree as either a good, excellent, or outstanding value. So don't write it off because it will be tough.
If you need to, take advantage of a part-time MBA program to work around your family or employment duties. If you truly want an MBA, there's a way to earn one, and with determination you will find that you are up to the challenge of earning one.

I'm Not Sure What My Future Plans Are

This is another of the most common objections or concerns people cite as to why they haven't yet applied for admission to an MBA program. However, of all the most common concerns or objections about earning MBA degrees, this is without doubt the least valid. No one should postpone getting an MBA another minute because of doubt about future plans. That's not a reason not to go to business school at all! In fact, being undecided about your future career path is one of the most powerful reasons a person should enroll in MBA schools.

Why is that? It's because no matter what your hopes and dreams for your future career in business look like, an MBA degree can help you achieve them, and can help you do so much faster than you could without the degree.

There is no conceivable career path in the business world that would not be expedited greatly by the possession of an MBA degree.
Whether you want to go into sales, accounting, marketing, finance, information technology, or even human resources, having an MBA will enable you to go further than most of your colleagues, and do so at a faster pace.

It's true that some MBA students choose to specialize in one area or another, but this isn't a requirement in most programs. Even when it is required, students will still be taking a broad range of classes in subjects outside their specialization.

Think of it this way: you would never put off buying a car because you don't know for sure exactly where you want to go tomorrow, or the next day, or the next month, etc. Well, think of your undecided career goal as a bunch of possible destinations, and the MBA degree as the vehicle that can take you there. In fact, even if you're thinking of a career outside the world of business, an MBA can be very valuable.
More and more charities and other non-profit organizations are hiring people with an MBA to run their organizations. Even churches and other religious ministries are hiring people with MBAs these days. So don't let a vague career goal keep you from earning an MBA, because no matter where you hope to wind up, an MBA will help you get there.

An MBA Degree Is Only for People Who Want to Work in Huge Companies

This is a common misconception that holds people back from getting MBA degrees and accelerating their career progress. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that the only people who should enroll in MBA schools are those hard-charging personalities who envision themselves one day as the CEO or CFO of a massive corporation like Proctor & Gamble or General Motors. Although it's true that an MBA degree will be an advantage to anyone who hopes to run a huge corporation one day, it's not at all true that those are the only people who can benefit from MBA school.

On the contrary, having a person with an MBA on staff will be beneficial to any business of any size, and smart business owners and managers know this, and are looking to hire people with MBA degrees to help run their small and medium-sized firms. After all, many of the owners of these smaller firms have fond dreams of turning them into huge corporations one day, and they know they need the best and the brightest managers and executives if they're going to have any hopes of pulling that off. Virtually every huge corporation in existence was once a small, fledgling start-up.

Even owners of tiny businesses who have no designs on massive growth still want their companies to prosper and be managed well, and this means hiring the most talented people they can find. There are tiny artisan bakeries and cheese shops that employ people with MBAs, along with many other small businesses in similar categories. Likewise, there are many MBAs working in careers that have nothing to do with typical businesses. There are people with MBA degrees working in non-profit groups, churches, seminaries, high schools, colleges, universities, the military, and the list goes on and on. No matter the size or the nature of the organization you hope to work for one day, having an MBA will allow you to do the job better.