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It has become fashionable of late to cast doubt on the merits of getting an MBA degree, especially one from a two-year program that costs well into the six figures. Yet, there has been no shortage of applicants to any of the most highly selective schools that routinely reject the vast majority of candidates who apply to them.
So what are the top reasons why people still want an MBA degree? Today, the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) released its annual surveyof MBA applicants who had quite a bit to say about this question. Some 1,377 candidates who have recently applied to at least one business school responded to the web-based survey.
If you’d expect the top reason for having an MBA to be greed and power, you would be dead wrong. While there are plenty of people who see the degree as a way to make more money and achieve greater status, that is hardly what motivates most candidates who invest in the journey to get into a world class MBA program.
At the top of the list, cited by 57% of the prospective students, was the desire to acquire new skills and knowledge about business. Second on the list, cited by 49% of the respondents, was “access to job prospects, including the opportunity to transition into a new career, with the degree. Not far behind was access to a strong network and the opportunity to advance a career within the same industry (both checked off by 48% of the sample).
Slightly over a third, 38%, said flatly that they wanted the degree to increase their salary, but nearly just as many, 35%, said they pursued an MBA to make a positive difference in the world and to improve society.
AIGACSource: AIGAC 2018 survey of MBA applicants
Too often, the stereotypical view of an MBA is a sharp-elbowed, money-grabbing person who is interested in getting wealthy quick at the expense of others. That is the opposite of what I have experienced in meeting with and interviewing thousands of MBA applicants and students over the past three decades. They are among the most eclectic, thoughtful and informed young people on the planet.
And that is why so many students enroll at second- and third-tier schools to get the business basics that will allow them to lead more productive and fulfilled work lives. They are interested in the actual learning and hope to use it to gain more interesting work that they can feel passionate about. Nothing wrong about that.
John A. Byrne is editor-in-chief of PoetsandQuants.com, the leading website covering business schools. He is also the former executive editor of Businessweek and former EIC of Fast Company.
[“Source-forbes”]
