Exploring Graduate Business Degrees

There are plenty of options for graduate business school.

In terms of scheduling, professional concentration, location, and even online access, today’s b-schools offer more opportunities than ever before to help you find a program meets your specific needs.

First, narrow down your choices, Ask yourself--and your family--some tough questions to determine what your best fit will be:

Financial Questions

• Do I need to work full time while going to school?
• Will the company I work for sponsor my education?
• Do I need financial aid, including loans or a scholarship?
• Do I prefer to have financial aid?
• Do I need to spread the cost of an MBA out to minimize my debt?

Lifestyle Questions

Work/life Balance

• Could I handle a full-time workload and full-time course load?
• Is it important that the school offer peer groups of people with my  interests and experience level?
• Will I want total immersion (activities outside of class and my network)?
• Am I ready to assume the responsibilities of an MBA-level position?

Family Considerations

• What special needs might my family have?
• Will my spouse need to relocate and enter a new job market?
• Is there a school-run organization to help spouses and families?

Program Style

• Will I stay with my current employer after I earn my degree?
• What kind of learning environments work best for me?
• What biases exist in my targeted industry or company that could affect my choice of program type?
• Do I already have a functional or industry specialty?
• Do I need an MBA to develop a functional/industry specialty?

Location

• Do I want to study in my home country, within my region, or abroad?
• What do I need from a location? Do I want a college town, a city?
• Will the local business community be an advantage? A disadvantage? (Consider the school’s access to speakers, the availability of local internships, and access to local companies for class projects)

School Culture

• Does the prevailing culture of a school fit with my personality?
• Do I like the dominant personalities of the student body, staff, faculty, and alumni?

Take the time to design your ideal program in advance. Rank your choices against your expectations in areas like career, lifestyle, financial issues, and curriculum, and you’ll have a much better idea of whether you’ll want to go a traditional, two-year full-time program, a part-time program, or even focus on a specialized master's degree.