It goes without saying that a master’s degree in business has the potential to equip an individual with the necessary knowledge, skills, and connection to advance his or her career. However, a traditional “campus education” program is not always a feasible option for attaining a master’s degree. With that being said, a variety of options for attaining a master’s degree in business are available, but one of the most viable, doable options is obtaining a master’s degree in business through an online program.
By completing an online business degree, an individual is given the opportunity to continue working in his or her field and to further his or her education, making the connections and on-the-job training two-fold. Aside from just a master’s in business administration, additional online master’s level business degrees include entrepreneurship, accounting, and marketing.
What Is a Graduate Business Degree?
In any field of work, a graduate level degree is attained by completing a graduate program following successful completion of an undergraduate or bachelor’s program. A graduate business degree requires an individual to complete an entire graduate level curriculum in business or an associated field. Such a program involves the completion of traditional coursework as well as more hands-on investigation and learning. Typically a fairly extensive program, the in-depth work and study combination prepares individuals for work in higher levels and positions of management including government as well as nonprofit positions.
What Does an Online Graduate Business Program Involve?
Whether attending a traditional program or completing an online degree, individuals quickly discover that graduate school is not like college. The point of a graduate level program is to build upon an individual’s prior knowledge or his or her field and equip him or her as a specialist in the chosen field. The work in a graduate program is more targeted and less supervised by the professor. A graduate program is more about what an individual can do with the knowledge he or she has to apply it and problem solve. This point is where previous or current work experience is crucial. A graduate program requires extensive reading, researching, and writing. Additionally, students in graduate business programs are required to work as a team to problem solve and create just as they would in the workplace.
Typical master’s degree programs in business involve a course structure that combines a variety of different classes such as accounting, finance, human resources, and management processes. However, graduate programs can be even more tailored to focus on these specific areas such as a Master’s of Business Administration in Accounting. Additionally online programs feature unique learning communities that are largely facilitated virtually and require the same type of class participation as a traditional course.
What Does the News Say?
While the online learning locale may seem like a new learning phenomenon, the system is largely established and is just as effective in preparing today’s students as tomorrow’s leaders. Research conducted by U.S. News purports that online programs are just as effective as their “brick and mortar” counterparts and names a few exemplary school options in the article “U.S. News Ranks 2013 Best Online Education Programs.”
Whether looking to further a current career or change paths entirely, individuals can make an effective, productive impact on their own marketability by completing an online master’s in business degree.