Online MBA Programs

The Master of Business Administration degree has been around since the turn of the 20th century, maturing into its present form at Harvard, which is still one of the top five business schools in the nation.  The MBA is the premier graduate-level business degree and, because it emphasizes management, is often pursued by businesspeople who have reached a ceiling in their careers in terms of promotion and salary.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Melissa Korn and Joe Light, the average starting salary of MBA graduates between 2002 and 2011, adjusted for inflation, has consistently hovered around $90,000.  Some of the Top 100 employers sought by MBA graduates in 2009 include Google, Apple, Nike, J. P. Morgan, and Microsoft.

This increased earning potential and opportunity means that the MBA is often pursued part-time by working professionals, which makes the online option one of the most practical.  Not unsurprisingly, the MBA is the most common distance degree program in existence according to Get Educated.com, a site that compiles statistics about online college programs for comparison.  An online MBA option is available from some of the most prestigious business schools in the world, including Duke University and the University of Florida.

Some of the pros of an distance MBA, as per the Official GMAT Web Site are that students can 1) earn their degrees while working at the same time, 2) refine their already-established business skills through continuing education, 3) save time, and 4) pursue financing options unavailable in tradition institutions (although online MBAs are not necessarily cheaper in the long run).  The cons of the distance option include 1) the lack of social interaction that is often important to the college experience, which provide motivation and allow students to establish friendships with other business leaders, 2) the emphasis on self-motivation, which many students struggle with, 3) the technology, which can create arbitrary impediments to learning, and 4) the occasional lack of financial aid options.  The University of Massachusetts publication, BusinessWeek Online, corroborates much of this information, adding that online MBA programs often involve fewer electives, which could be a pro or con depending on the perspective.

The online MBA is neither a watered-down nor an obscure version of the traditional degree.  Get Educated.com states that MBAs earned via the Internet:

• …are offered at nearly 200 institutions.
• …take about 3 years to finish (part-time).
• …cost an average of $22,000 (only a bit cheaper on average than the traditional school, according to BusinessWeek Online)

The specializations available to enrolled students depend on both the division (accounting, human resources, etc.) and the industry (health care, banking, etc.) of interest.  For example, the six concentrations offered by Duke University’s online program, the Cross Continent MBA, are:

• Energy and Environment, the correlation between business and the environment, particularly energy usage and environmental law.
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the search for potential markets and opportunities, and securing the resources necessary to take advantage of them.
• Finance, including investments, record-keeping, restructuring, and equity.
• Marketing, the identification of new markets for already-established products and services and the maintenance of newly acquired customers.
• Strategy, a broad-based specialization for making long-term decisions (alliances with other companies, investing in emerging markets, etc.) based on economic data, corporate finances, and predictions.
• Health Sector Management, one of Duke’s premier programs, that focuses on the health scare industry; specifically, health finance options for patients, HMOs, administrative costs in medical facilities, and so on.

MBA.com, the website of the Graduate Management Admission Council that administers the GMAT, describes the typical MBA candidate as someone with work experience in industries as diverse as auditing, engineering, sales, nonprofits, and economics, and is between the age of 25 and 34 (although these by no means represent the upper or lower limits).