Is an MBA Worth It?

Earning an MBA can provide a lot of different benefits as you work to reach your career goals. To help give you a better understanding of what these might look like, here are 6 ways that earning an MBA degree may benefit you:

Like any degree, an MBA is primarily focused on helping students develop abilities that they can bring to the workplace. While enrolled in an MBA degree program, you'll likely take courses in a variety of business subjects that can be used in your professional life such as accounting, information technology and marketing. As a graduate degree, an MBA takes many of the skills that you’re likely to learn during a Bachelor's in Business program and builds upon them, leaving you with a deeper level of specialized knowledge.

An MBA degree can be a useful credential to have on your resume to show your dedication to lifelong learning and professional development, as well as your competence in the business field. An MBA degree may also allow you to consider higher-level jobs or apply for promotions as you move through your career, depending on the requirements of the roles.

Resumes are a bit like trophy shelves, in that the more you achieve, the more impressive they are. Adding a graduate credential like an MBA can be very impressive to employers and can help you stand out in the talent pool or in a specific industry.

While an MBA degree focuses mostly on business administration, it also provides you with the chance to develop your abilities in people managing, communication and collaboration. With this wider understanding of how to move through the business world, MBA degree holders may find themselves able to consider management positions in their current field or in another industry that interests them.

Like any graduate degree, an MBA can help you broaden your skillset and prepare to pursue new job opportunities. But what is unique about an MBA, is that in addition to its emphasis on business administration, it also teaches many base level skills in other disciplines which may allow you to consider a wider range of opportunities in both in and out of the business world.

A well-developed professional network can be beneficial to your business career. MBA students are likely to meet professionals, business leaders and entrepreneurs who can help them connect with other business graduates, find job opportunities or get help starting their own business ventures. These contacts, which may include business school alumni, may be able to help you reach your professional goals by providing advice, mentorship and other guidance.

It’s important to keep in mind that while an MBA can be a tool that helps you prepare to pursue higher-level or management positions, salaries can vary based on your experience and the company or industry. For a general understanding of earning potential for different career paths, we recommend referencing the occupational data provided by the BLS. There, you can learn more about median salary ranges, education requirements and more based on the occupation you select.

Another benefit of earning an MBA is that it can provide insights that help develop your understanding of different cultures, customs and practices and see how business transactions are managed in a truly international environment. This is beneficial in an economy that depends upon relationships and supply chains that span continents and oceans. 

While job security can be a concern for anyone, BLS data indicates that individuals who’ve earned a master’s degree are less likely to experience unemployment than those who hold lower-level degrees. In their 2021 population survey of persons 25 and over, BLS found an unemployment rate of only 2.6% among individuals who’ve earned a master’s degree, compared with a total unemployment rate of 4.7%. 

At DeVry, you can earn your Master's Degree in Business Administration in as little as 2 years + 2 months* or even more quickly with qualifying transfer credits. Our MBA program can be completed 100% online, enabling you to balance your commitment to education with work, family or community obligations.

MBA admissions requirements will vary among schools and programs. At DeVry and our Keller Graduate School of Management, admissions requirements for our graduate degree programs are simple. If you hold a bachelor’s degree from a University-recognized institution and meet certain prerequisite skills requirements, you are eligible for admission.

As an applicant, you’ll need to demonstrate math and verbal skills proficiency by achieving an undergraduate GPA higher than 2.50 on a 4.0 scale, submitting an acceptable Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test score, or submitting an acceptable Keller-administered test score.

You can find more information in our Graduate Academic Catalog.

At DeVry, we believe there are many benefits to earning an MBA degree, especially when it comes to increasing your skill set and helping you prepare to pursue your career goals. As a graduate-level program, an MBA can help you build skills that you may not have had the chance to nurture during a bachelor's degree program. Another benefit of earning an MBA is the potential for increased career growth. A higher-level degree may help you stand out when pursuing a job opportunity, making an MBA a beneficial option for people who want to advance their career in the world of business.

Another reason why pursuing an MBA degree may be beneficial to your career is the ability to customize your degree with an MBA specialization. While a general MBA degree can strengthen your decision-making, analytical and leadership skills, an MBA specialization allows you to concentrate your education on a more industry-focused career path. At DeVry, we offer 10 different specializations to customize your online MBA:

Helping you to build a robust background in the theory and application of managerial and financial accounting in a business environment, our MBA with a Specialization in Accounting can provide you with the opportunity to gain corporate-level skills. If you’ve already begun your accounting career and want to level up your skills or explore new career opportunities, this online MBA program can help you develop a strong grasp of many of the skills and concepts businesses desire from their management professionals.

“Big data” is a big deal in business, and this analytics-focused MBA specialization is designed to nurture your interest in data mining, business intelligence, or big data management. Our analytics-focused online MBA Business Intelligence and Analytics Management Specialization is designed to help you develop management proficiency in the business analytics space and help you prepare to pursue a variety of roles in this  complex field.

If the excitement of planning, funding and building new business enterprises interests you the most, our MBA Entrepreneurship Specialization can teach you  many of the skills you’ll need to launch and grow competitive and innovative business enterprises. Taught by knowledgeable professors with real-world business experience and focusing on the new venture lifecycle, this program is designed to help you gain insights into the successful planning, funding and execution of new business concepts alongside core business administration skills.

Make your next career move with an MBA that’s focused on finance. Our online MBA with a Specialization in Finance can help you gain an understanding of today’s complex and dynamic financial markets. You’ll gain hands-on experience in securities analysis, mergers and acquisitions, advanced financial statement analysis and other topics as you sharpen your practical managerial skills and learn to apply business concepts in this competitive and fast-paced industry.

With an emphasis on managing global relationships, our MBA Global Supply Chain Management Specialization can help you explore the supply chain and operations management processes used by innovative organizations in many industries. Coursework in this MBA specialization covers strategic procurement, risk management, operation systems and other topics relative to this far-reaching field. You’ll learn how to leverage the skills gained in this program to pursue supply chain career opportunities in inventory, logistics, purchasing and other critical areas that all contribute to smooth-running supply chains.

Exploring the many leadership-level issues facing enterprises in today’s complex healthcare industry, our MBA Health Services Specialization can help you to sharpen your healthcare management skills and take your healthcare knowledge to the next level. This online MBA specialization will help you learn the fundamentals of insurance and risk management, and understand the evolution of health insurance and other critical management issues and emerging trends in an always-changing industry that plays such a major role in our society.

If you’d like to focus your business career on the business of people, choose our MBA Human Resources Specialization. This online MBA program can help you develop a greater understanding of workforce planning and talent management, employment law, strategic HR management, performance measurement and other crucial areas of modern human resources management, while cultivating your presentation and corporate-level communication skills.

Information systems are crucial to modern business management . Expand your technical and management competencies in the people, processes and technology of modern information systems as you prepare to pursue leadership positions in this field with our MBA in Information Systems Management. Blending management theory with real-world applications, courses in this online MBA program are taught by experienced professionals knowledgeable in the collection, storage and processing of data. You’ll also be exposed to topics related to the implementation and maintenance of computer networks as well as the acquisition and deployment of new technologies and software.

Helping you to develop marketing acumen alongside your business administration and management capabilities, our MBA Marketing Specialization focuses on building sound marketing plans for the brands and innovators of today’s digitally-driven global marketplace. A variety of marketing-oriented topics including sales management, consumer behavior, channel distribution, digital advertising and others can provide you with many of the skills many employers look for in the marketing leaders of tomorrow.  

If you’re determined to apply your problem-solving skills to make an impact in the business world, our online MBA Project Management Specialization program could be a good choice. This MBA specialization can help you make a difference in organizations where effective project management can help teams to meet objectives and implement complex, multi-faceted projects in a global business setting. The program will help cultivate your capabilities in team building and leadership, developing solutions to complex problems, balancing complex sociocultural factors, ethics and other important aspects of project management, while honing your business administration and management skills. 

People primarily earn MBA degrees if they’re working toward advancing their careers or if they want to enter a field that has higher education requirements. They may also earn an MBA to try and improve their chances of advancing in their field, to try something new or after hitting a wall where promotions in their current role become harder to gain.

The right time to earn an MBA is whenever it makes the most sense for you. For some people, it may make sense to earn their MBA directly after their bachelor's degree. For others, they may want to spend some time gaining experience in the workforce and then return to school for their MBA. There is no timeline that works for everyone. If you choose to earn your MBA, make sure its on a timeline that fits your goals.