MBA (Master of Business Administration)

Earning an MBA, or Masters of Business Administration degree is an educational process that is designed to teach masters level students several aspects of business, such as marketing, accounting, and operations management. Some programs allow students to select an area (or areas) of concentration. In these programs, students will focus about a third of their coursework on one or more particular subjects of interest.

In the United States there are three main entities that accredit MBA programs that indicate that a school’s curriculum meets certain standards of quality. They are: the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), the ACBSP (Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs), and the IACBE (International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education). All three accredit schools outside the United States too. The Commissiono n the Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, or CAHME, is an additional accrediting body for schools with specialization options in healthcare management.

Finishing an MBA usually requires two academic years of full-time study, but accelerated programs also exist. In accelerated MBA programs, the course load is higher and the class and exam schedules are more intense. Typically there is no summer break, and the time between semesters may be a few days rather than a few weeks in normal programs. Part-time MBA study programs often hold classes in evenings, on weekends, or both. These programs generally take three or more academic years to complete.

Working professionals often choose part-time MBA programs to accommodate their work schedule. Some schools also offer executive MBA, or EMBA programs that allow executives to earn a degree in two years, or sometimes less, while they continue to work full-time. Today, distance learning programs, such as online MBA programs are becoming popular as internet degree programs increase in acceptance.

Acceptance into an MBA program usually comes after an evaluation of a candidate’s score on the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), undergraduate transcripts, letters of recommendation, and work experience. Selective schools will also evaluate factors like community service, extracurricular activities, and how a candidate’s particular qualifications add to the student body overall. Some schools in the US require at least five years of work experience for admission.

In the first year of an MBA program, students typically study a broad survey of courses, and in the second year, students may choose certain areas for specialization. Some of the areas of specialization include project management, economics, finance, real estate, and accounting.

In the United States, professionals with MBA degrees report salaries that range from the $60,000 range to over $200,000, depending on factors such as job title, years of experience, what school they obtained their degree from, and the type of company they work for. CEOs of large companies tend to earn the top salaries, while financial analysts and people working for non-profit organizations tend to earn the lower MBA salaries. The MBA is one of the most popular master’s degrees available, and they are regularly ranked by publications such as Business Week based on criteria like interviews with recruiters for various corporations, and other criteria that the publications are usually not open about sharing. Any ranking of a particular school’s program in a general interest publication should always be taken with a pinch of salt, because the “best” MBA program for a person will often depend on factors that these rankings fail to account for.