Degrees In Business Blog

The MBA degree has received quite a bit of flack as of late, particularly with MBA holders with big names flunking out of the business world; Rick Wagoner of General Motors, to name an example.

The dimension of MBA critique is vast; some bloggers claim that a school not accreditted by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, or AACSB, should have you “running away screaming,” even though University of Phoenix–a prestigious chain of private colleges–pops up with the non-AACSB college search.

If there is one thing the Internet is known for, however, it’s negative feedback. For discussion board, forum, and blog visitors, this is commonly referred to as “flaming.” As the Internet is swept up with negative opinions, the good news is drowned out. It’s like turning on your local late night news broadcast and rolling the 80% chance there’s coverage on a local death or disaster.

Economist.com steps out from this misrepresentational ruckus of the MBA and asks their audience to look at the “good guys” of MBAs. For every faulty businessman holding an MBA, or every degree mill, there’s another excellent graduate and excellent school. Economist.com quotes:

And maybe the good-guy MBAs—for they do exist—need to shout a bit louder. Take, for example, Jason Chuei, a young British veterinary surgeon, currently studying for an MBA at Melbourne Business School in Australia. After travelling extensively in developing countries and seeing the poor state of animal welfare in many of them, he turned his back on a potential high-paying job in the corporate world for a career in the non-profit sector. His aim is to set up a global veterinary charity and he sees the MBA as a way of developing the managerial skills and the international network of contacts he will need to make that happen.

Non-profit MBAs, in fact, are not all that uncommon, and while they are not going to offer a life of absolute luxury, they provide enough lucrative benefit potentials for a comfortable–and rewarding–life.

Nonprofit MBAs are not the only specialty MBA degrees available. Different MBA programs are available to help master degree pursuers acclimate their education to their professional needs. This promotes more variability than what was offered to the MBA graduates of the 1970s and allows students to focus on the ethical values pertaining to their specific field. For example, Saint Leo University offers an MBA in Healthcare Management.

MBA holders are also contributing to the economy. MBA holders that are having difficulty finding employment are turning instead to self-employment, starting new businesses that bolster the amount of money and jobs in today’s market. These entrepreneurs make up the small business sector that holds the bottom, and the infrastructure, of the economic market.

When you head back to school for your MBA, make sure to aim towards ranking yourself among one of the “good guys.”