Sometimes, in order to prove yourself, how much you want something, you need to be able to get over a situation. In some cases getting over means that you need to look for different paths that still will let you achieve your goal. This happened to me when, because of the several restrictions that my country imposed, my interest for pursuing a Master in Business Administration was thwarted. I found instead some different master’s degree alternatives for the well-known Master in Business Administration and I will show you those findings in the following lines.
Before explaining the master alternatives that I found, it is important that you consider your bachelor’s degree, you work experience, and the specific core subjects you want to develop or improve. As a reference for this article I am going to use my own background and expectations to explain different options for graduate studies besides an MBA. Considering my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, my one year work experience and my interest in supply chain operations, project management and financial decisions, I ended up with the following two options for master degrees.
Master in Management. Related to Business Administration, Management gives you the opportunity to develop almost all the same abilities as an MBA. The difference is very little. On the one hand, Management degree programs prepare individuals for planning, managing, organizing, and running the essential procedures and tasks of organized bodies, such as companies or firms. On the other hand, a degree in Business Administration exposes students to a selection of core subjects. The core subjects normally include: business law and ethics, accounting, finance, economics, marketing, management information systems, organizational behavior and management, operations management, strategic management, and operations research. Both programs have almost the same subjects and according to the Global MIM Survey 2012, Master in Management and MBA programs overlap by about 30 percent. However, it is important to mention that MIM has a theoretical focus, while a MBA has a more practical one. This happens because MIM programs accept students with little or none work experience and MBA programs require at least 2 or 3 years of experience. Another important aspect to mention is that MIM programs are less expensive than MBA programs, allowing you to save for other expenses.
Master in Engineering Management. This option represents a perfect match between engineering and Management, giving you the chance to improve your technical knowledge meanwhile you are learning new skills for managing processes or business. This specialization not only covers multi- disciplinary topics but also allows you to get deep into focus areas of study. The core courses in this kind of program include Management, Finance, Marketing, Business Law, and Entrepreneurship, subjects quite related to Business administrations degrees. Just as the MIM, the MEM programs accept students without considering a long period of work experience and the costs are relatively lower than those for an MBA.
Besides these before-mentioned two options, there are other programs that you can take into consideration—for instance the Master in International Business—but in my case they don’t match with my preferences. However, as you can see, finding several opportunities for a graduate program is not as difficult if you miss the MBA opportunity. The important aspect of all of this is to be conscious of the choice you are making, always considering the great investment and the possible outcomes of this decision.
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