How has getting an MBA been beneficial in your own professional career? Would you recommend it?

For me, an MBA has been helpful in my career, especially as I’ve worked on special projects or initiatives that impacted my employer as a whole. The MBA helped me develop a solid foundation in the basic functions of any organization, so I can effectively communicate with a variety of business units. In addition, it helped me learn how to effectively think strategically and consider the organization as a whole. This has been invaluable. An MBA also forced me to come out of my shell, so to say.

As an undergraduate, I never liked doing presentations or working in groups. However, I was literally forced to become comfortable presenting to various groups and learned how to work with difficult peers, compromise, delegate, lead, and even follow. Almost every single class I took as an MBA student required a group project and usually a presentation. It was rather ironic when in my second job out of graduate school, I became trainer and gave presentations all the time as well as often facilitated groups of staff, most of whom were much more experienced than me. To this day, these skills have been an advantage in every position I have held.

For me, especially since I knew I wanted to eventually become a manager, an MBA has been an asset. It also complimented my prior career in Human Resources, even when I wasn’t in a managerial position. It’s not for everyone, though. I particularly suggest an MBA to people who want to advance through an organization, lead others, or own their own business.