What's More Important MBA Or Experience?

Posted: 1/15/2007 by Staff

The short answer to the question is 'neither' or alternatively 'both'. In order to fully take advantage of the MBA program, a person must have had some experience in the marketplace and in order to progress in one's chosen career, the MBA showcases the experience.

Some students choose to pursue their MBA immediately following undergraduate studies, but far more spend at least a few years in a career before determining to return to school to gain the graduate degree. Thus, it could be said that the experience teaches the importance of the formal education.

However, when students return to university whether on-campus or online, part of the coursework involves hands on experience in the workplace in order to better understand the premises being disseminated in the textbooks. Through planning projects, gathering information, reviews of successful programs and day-to-day living with the results, a student begins to solidify the concepts that previously were only words on paper.

Yet, in order to appreciate the need for the learning base found in textbooks, the student has already seen the principles of successful business management at work in the workplace.

It can be argued that the MBA is more financially important, as earnings level over the lifetime goes up in direct correlation to the years of education, but often the first job following graduation with an MBA degree is not due solely to the degree, but to the previous work experience or to the internship spent during the course of the MBA classes.