My Business School Experience

The old story used to be that holding a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was a guaranteed way to get a better job and better salary.

While that guarantee might no longer be a 100% certainty, graduating from a business school can offer you many benefits.

The business program I graduated from was a case-based program which means that the majority of classroom work was based around business case studies, studies that were based on real life business situations.

The case study would typically describe a problem or challenge that a company was facing and would ask a few key questions

After reading the case study, we'd discuss the case in class and would debate possible options for the company to move forward. The goal was really to survey the situation, explore various options, debate them, and then to try to decide on the best possible way forward.

I graduated from an undergraduate business program in 1994 and I can say that I benefited in many ways:

1. It helped me develop my debating skills. The program I attended was largely based on class participation. We were expected to offer our opinions and thoughts during class and some individual classes had up to 50% of my class mark based on my participation in class! If you didn't participate enough, you had a talk with the professor to figure out what it was going to take to get you to participate more frequently. It was an integral part of graduating from the program.

2. It improved my presentation skills. Many of my business classes included presentations where I was required to present material - either individually or as a group - in front of my class which usually had between 30 and 72 people in them. These presentations helped to make me a more confident public speaker.

3. It exposed me to a variety of business functions. Over the course of the program, I took courses in accounting, introductory marketing, business to business marketing, operations, communications, finance, organizational behavior, and business policy among others. It enabled me to get a good, overall sense of how each business function is important to the business as a whole. Plus it helped me learn more about which function(s) I was most interested in pursuing as a career.

4. It helped me understand how to approach real life business problems. One of the big benefits about the case study method that my business school utilized is that the cases were based on real-life situations. Many times, the name of the company was changed but most of the other facts in the cases were real. We had to debate and discuss real problems and try to figure out what we'd do if we were the decision-maker. In other words, we simulated real business problems that we might face in our business careers.

5. It exposed me to many great companies and decision makers. One of the things that many top business schools generally do well is network with the local (and even national) business community. During my business school experience, I attended numerous presentations and conferences attended by well-known business professionals, many of whom graduated from my business school. The school also did a great job of bringing hiring representatives from large companies onto campus to discuss job opportunities with us.

My Business School Program

Approximately 1 out of every 4 people who applied were accepted.

During the first year, we were split into two classes of 72 people each and we all took the same courses so we got to know the other 71 people in our class very well.

In the second year, we got to choose our own courses and some of the classes were ones that had MBA students in them so we got to debate older and more experienced business professionals which was interesting!

Plus, the business school I attended did a great job of ensuring that students got to know each other. They planned various social events that helped us to get to know each other and to have some fun while we were learning.

Overall, my business school experience was an excellent one. I liked virtually every aspect of it and am very glad that I got to experience it.

Are you thinking about pursuing a business school education? Here are some options:

Master of Business Administration
The MBA is one of the most well-known Masters degrees and for good reason. It can provide you with specific and professional business training to further your skills and your career possibilities.

Online MBA Program
While a traditional Master of Business Administration program might not fit your schedule or budget, the online MBA might be more suitable for your situation.

Executive MBA Program
The Executive MBA program is also know as the Executive MBA or simply EMBA and targets people with at least several (or more) years of work experience who want to improve their education and have money to spend on such a program.

Online Executive MBA
An online Executive MBA (online EMBA) can be a viable alternative to getting your MBA in person in a traditional Master of Business Administration program or in a traditional EMBA program since it might offer you flexibility and cost savings that are appealing to your specific situation.

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