A master of business administration (MBA) is a graduate degree program designed to equip professionals with the knowledge and skills to succeed in business.
If you’re considering pursuing an MBA, you’re not alone. Over 250,000 individuals were enrolled in MBA programs worldwide in April 2022, and it’s been the most popular graduate degree in the United States since 2011.
What makes this degree so popular, and how do you know if it’s right for you? Here are seven benefits of getting an MBA, tips for assessing whether to pursue one, and how to prepare.
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DOWNLOAD NOW7 Benefits of Getting an MBA
1. Critical Hard and Soft Skills
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of earning an MBA is that you’ll learn various hard and soft business skills.
So-called hard skills are more technical and typically taught in the first year of business school. These can include creating and evaluating financial statements; crafting marketing strategies based on key performance indicators and market research; and gathering, processing, and analyzing data to drive business decisions.
Soft skills are the competencies needed to work with others, including leadership, management, empathy, time and project management, and strategic and innovative thinking.
Business leaders must possess both sets of skills so they can execute tasks to drive results and empower their team to do the same.
“An MBA teaches you the hard and soft skills you need in business,” says Vai Schierholtz, director of marketing for MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School. “Alumni will often say that the hard skills helped them in the first three years of their first job, but their career accelerates after they start using the soft skills they developed in the MBA program.”
2. Job Prospect Expansion
Another benefit of earning your MBA is expanding your job prospects. Not only will you gain additional skills that make you qualified for new roles and responsibilities, but many companies specifically look for an MBA on resumes, which could set you apart from other applicants.
In a 2022 survey by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, 92 percent of corporate recruiters say they expect to hire newly minted MBAs this year, as do 95 percent of staffing firms. Additionally, 87 percent of corporate recruiters say they’re confident or highly confident in business schools’ ability to prepare individuals to be successful in their organizations.
Earning your MBA can help you stand out in the job application process and gain the skills to advance your career.
3. Increased Salary Potential
In addition to improving your job prospects, getting an MBA can also increase your earning potential.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary in 2022 for master’s degree holders is $81,848. Yet, the median base salary for HBS graduates is $175,000. Earning an MBA doesn’t guarantee a specific salary, but it can increase your earning potential.
Schierholtz encourages recent graduates to think about the value of an MBA long-term when considering the financial return on investment.
“There’s a cost for you to go to business school, but the return on investment from a purely financial standpoint is compelling,” Schierholtz says. “Especially when you factor in long-term career prospects like earning potential and the ability to make an impact in an industry that’s important to you, business school is a fantastic choice.”
4. Real-World Practice Solving Business Challenges
After graduating from business school, you’ll be required to navigate complex challenges at work. An MBA provides real-world practice, so you know how to think strategically when issues and opportunities arise.
At HBS, this skill is taught using the case method, a learning model in which students are presented with a real-world business problem and asked how they would solve it. After analyzing the problem, working through it individually, and discussing as a class, students are told how the real scenario played out.
Over the two-year program, HBS MBA students read, analyze, and discuss about 500 cases, taking away lessons they’ll use throughout their careers.
5. Empathy and a Global Mindset
Another benefit of earning an MBA is developing empathy and a global mindset. Most MBA programs strive to accept a diverse pool of students from various countries. Working, sharing ideas, and bonding with people from different backgrounds can strengthen your ability to consider others’ viewpoints and emotions—a critical skill for aspiring leaders.
“Because of the global context and curriculum you will be exposed to—from international classmates to cases about global companies—you’re going to develop the empathy and interpersonal skills that will be essential in your future career when you’re managing teams,” Schierholtz says.
Not only is this skill useful for managing teams, but also for thinking about business on a global scale. Your classmates may provide perspective on what business is like in their home countries, giving you a new outlook you can use when planning global strategies.
6. Lifelong Friendships and Extensive Alumni Network
“Something people may not consider about business school is that it's two years to make new friends from incredible places around the world,” Schierholtz says.
Many MBA programs frontload required curriculum into the first year, so you’re consistently taking courses with the same group of students, often called a section. Because you’re all in classes together and collaborating on group assignments, you’ll likely get to know your section mates quite well.
“Some of my best friends in life now are from my time at business school,” Schierholtz continues. “Business school is a transformative experience. Any time you go through a transformative experience with others, it creates bonds that will last a long time. I think that's one of those returns on investment that you can't really value.”
In addition to your section, you can also build connections within your school’s alumni network. HBS, for instance, has 87,000 alumni worldwide, spanning 170 countries and countless roles and industries. Once you’ve graduated, take advantage of your school’s alumni events to meet and reconnect with fellow graduates, which can lead to future opportunities and friendships.
7. Time to Reflect
Not only will you leave an MBA program with the skills to advance your career and be a better leader, but you’ll also have a heightened sense of the impact you want to make on society and the tools to make it happen.
“You get two years to reflect on what impact you want to make on the world,” Schierholtz says. “Because you’re exposed to so many ideas and people from different backgrounds, you leave the program feeling like you have a more developed sense of who you are, what’s important to you, and what you want to prioritize in the future.”
Through reflection, you might decide to start your own business or foundation to address an issue you care about, or maybe you’ll uncover what a fulfilling career path means to you.
“People often come to business school with the hypothesis that they want to work in a specific industry,” Schierholtz says. “Then, they learn something in business school—whether it's through academics, classmates, or professors—and they set a new path for their career.”
Schierholtz experienced this as an MBA student himself.
“For me, it was that I wanted to work finance, which I did,” he says. “But there was something about higher education and bringing people together that was really interesting to me, and that ultimately drove me to come back to Harvard Business School. Once I had the opportunity to see it and to be a part of this community, my career priorities changed.”
Related: 10 Reasons It Makes Sense to Get an MBA
Deciding if an MBA Is Right for You
While an MBA provides many benefits, choosing to pursue one is a big decision. To decide whether it’s right for you, Schierholtz recommends first considering your personal circumstances.
“I usually recommend people start by asking themselves: Does business school make sense from a family, financial and career perspective?” Schierholtz says.
Consider what schools make sense geographically, whether taking a program part time or full time works best for you and your family’s schedule, and explore financial aid options.
After considering your personal circumstances, think about your professional goals.
“Professionally, I’d recommend thinking about where you might want to be five, 10, or 15 years from now and whether an MBA is something that will help you reach those goals,” Schierholtz continues. “If your goal is to be a business leader making decisions across an organization, then an MBA would make a lot of sense for you.”
Business school is an investment of both time and money, but if it aligns with your personal circumstances and professional goals, it can be well worth the investment and offer numerous benefits that can advance your skills, accelerate your career, and enrich your life.
How to Prepare for Your MBA
If you’ve decided to pursue an MBA, preparing in advance will enable you to get the most out of the experience.
One way to do so is by taking a program that teaches essential business skills, like HBS Online’s Credential of Readiness (CORe) program.
“From a purely academic standpoint, I wish I had done more preparation before business school,” Schierholtz says of his experience. “Taking something like HBS Online’s CORe program that exposes you to business fundamentals will pay dividends when you actually get in the classroom.”
CORe is comprised of three online courses: Business Analytics, Financial Accounting, and Economics for Managers. It equips you with business skills you’ll need in the MBA classroom and can help you transition back into the student mindset.
With advance preparation and hard work, you can earn your MBA and the host of benefits that come with it.
Are you considering earning an MBA? Explore our three-course Credential of Readiness (CORe) program and download our free guide to preparing for business school.
