Is an MBA Degree for You?

Many working professionals are continuing their education by going back to school to get their MBA. But this path isn't for everyone. You will find that completing an MBA program will require a large commitment of time. While you're working on your MBA degree, you might need to take a couple of years off of working to commit full time to your studies, but the end result should make up for the time you took off.

In one way or another, most first-year MBA students find themselves swimming upstream. As people begin to realize this, the real stories start to come out. Unlike the rosy pictures we all painted during orientation, our early careers were a series of fits and starts, big wins, upsetting steps backward, and, at times, complete stagnation.

That's why we're in business school. At least, for me, a big reason I came to business school was that I thought if I had an MBA, I would have the credentials to skip forward and never find myself standing still. And while business school has delivered on just about everything I expected, it's not possible for an MBA to provide that. Because the most important thing I've learned in business school is that business is messy.

No doubt, the economy has played a part in this. Many MBAs nationwide don't have jobs. Some will work for free this summer, hoping to prove themselves, and some have accepted positions they swore they would not take in September. The value of an MBA has been called into question.

Investing in an MBA degree program online can put you in a position to move up in your career, but is won't necessarily guarantee you a better job. MBA's on average will make significantly more than they did only holding a bachelors degree, but salaries can vary greatly.