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MBA has reigned supreme in the highly coveted realm of business academics for
quite a while. The Application Trends Survey reports that in 2017, out of half a
million applications for the 956 business programs that responded to their
survey, 79% were for MBA programs.
The decline in MBA Applications
That being said, the survey also found that overall, the applications for
full-time MBA programs are on a relative decline, the “relative” part coming
from fluctuations in the demand for the different forms of MBA programs based on
their length, format, and location.
But the stats of other surveys in the U.S. paint a far gloomier MBA landscape.
According to a survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council which looked
at 1,087 graduate business programs at 363 business schools, there’s a decline
in the number of applications for a staggering 70% of the two-year full-time MBA
programs in the U.S. for 2018.
Even institutions that represent the very pinnacle of business education can
testify to that. Stanford’s Graduate School of Business saw a 4.6% decline in
applications, for Harvard Business School, the decline was 4.5%, while Wharton’s
was the highest of the three – 6.7%.
Experts believe this drop is attributed to the U.S.’s anti-immigrant policies,
as MBA in other countries is still as sought after as ever. Another factor which
comes into play is
MBA’s decline in value-added ratio which refers to the salary an MBA would
earn you juxtaposed with the tuition fees.
All those alarming stats are bound to bring aspiring business professionals to
one question: What about an online MBA?
Surge in Popularity of Online MBA
Indeed, from all MBA programs which the Application Trends Survey looked at,
online MBA is one if not the steadiest program in terms of demand over the last
decade. The examples of this trend are found in various places.
For example, enrollment in the online MBA of the University of Maryland’s Smith
School of Business has risen by 151% for a single year, while the University of
North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School’s enrollment grew by 78% in the
same time span, and the enrollment for online MBA at the Australian
Universities, like the
James Cook University is also steadily increasing.
Pros of Online MBA
Flexibility
Of course, the benefit of the flexibility online education offers is hard to
argue with.
You can basically tailor online MBA to your schedule so you don’t have to
sacrifice jobs, family obligations, etc. entirely in the name of education. But
don’t take this flexibility for leniency – the extra freedom extends only to the
schedules and timelines, not the quality of an online MBA and the amount of work
it demands.
Unbound by Geography
It’s a shame to have to give up a dream because of geographical barriers. With
an online MBA, you don’t have to.
Many reputable business schools offer online formats of their MBA courses. Those
aren’t some primitive versions of the original. On the contrary, the programs
resemble the full-time ones as closely as possible.
People who have their mind on a specific institution, its approach and
philosophy, don’t have to move and sometimes leave entire lives behind in order
to attend.
Lower Costs
Online MBA formats are usually cheaper as well, which is about as universal of a
benefit as you can get. For example, IE Business School’s online MBA, which was
number one in QS’s rankings for last year, costs just under $60,000, while their
full-time MBA comes at over $83,800.
And the cost cuts don’t end there. There’re also all the indirect expenditures
like travel costs and a plethora of other little things that together amount to
an extra, decent-sized financial hassle you don’t have to worry about with
online MBA.
Not Completely Remote
It’s also worth mentioning that many online MBA courses do have some
face-to-face activities and events in which participants get to experience the
overlap of the best of both the virtual and the physical world of MBA.
Cons of Online MBA
Less Interaction and Networking
Of course, even with the occasional in-person activities, online MBA deprives
participants of many interactions and shared experiences with people who are
either after similar goals or have already achieved them and can share how.
Networking is an intangible element of any education that often translates to
very tangible rewards like job opportunities, for example.
That being said, many graduates of online MBA manage to overcome this barrier
and report all kinds of financial positives of their education.
Lots of Self-Discipline and Autonomy
Online MBA might sound almost too good to be true, but it only is for those who
have the self-discipline and autonomy to make it so.
If you imagine yourself finishing an online MBA by bashing out the occasional
assignment from the comfort of your hammock, you’re never going to finish the
course. This unprecedented freedom to obtain invaluable education from basically
anywhere, at anytime, requires lots of discipline and proactivity on your part.
Otherwise, you can never make up for the lack of a rigid structure and close
monitoring. This model isn’t for everybody.
As you can see, online MBA shouldn’t be taken as the ultimate education model,
but that’s because there isn’t one. Every form of learning has pros and cons,
and the good news about online MBA is that the pros are practically universal,
whereas the cons are a matter of certain personal qualities or the lack thereof.
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