The Value of an MBA Degree

Albers Dean Joe Phillips
 Joe Phillips, Dean of Albers

Earning your MBA degree is one of the best investments you can make in yourself. A Master's in Business Administration degree provides you with a body of knowledge that is very important for your professional and personal life: understanding how businesses function. By being able to anticipate how changes in the economy, markets, or people are likely to affect your organization, you will be able to make recommendations or take actions effectively. As you demonstrate keen insight, along with strong interpersonal and analytical skills, others will take notice.

Some people may say that you don’t need a graduate degree to advance. This may be true for some, but you do need the competencies to be seen as someone ready for greater responsibility. Included in these are skills in working with others: leadership, teamwork, and ethical means of persuasion. The MBA has been shown for years to impart many of the competencies organizations seek. But in recent years, individuals who also hold a graduate or post-graduate degree have seen even better wage growth than their bachelor's-only peers. In this way, it is very valuable for career flexibility and advancement. 

In addition, the value of an MBA degree extends to your personal life. On a tactical level, whether you are buying a car, negotiating for a home, contracting for services, managing your taxes, or overseeing your investments, you are likely to benefit from having an MBA. Whether you're earning an EMBAfull-time MBApart-time MBAonline MBA or MBA in Sport & Entertainment Management, the coursework in accounting, finance, statistics, business law, negotiations, economics, and managing people will be helpful in these and other situations you face in daily life. 

All this explains why, according to GMAT, knowing what they know today, 94% of MBA graduates would do it all again. Yet an Albers MBA degree program goes far beyond the tactical. We challenge you to think more broadly about the role of business in society – and to define your role in the larger Commons. On issues such as ethics and social justice, you will learn how to be a voice for good in your career. And as you craft a meaningful life, your Jesuit MBA prepares you to be a better world citizen

The knowledge and skills you gain through this course of graduate study will pay dividends for years in your professional and personal life. When you graduate, you will find you not only “know” more, but “are” more as you seek to make the world a better place.

Learn more about the different Albers MBA Programs: