The Decision of Getting an Mba

The Decision of Getting an MBA

Like many other Brazilian graduates, I am one of those who always had a dream of having my MBA accomplished in the USA. But unlike most of them, I was one of a few who decided to leave my comfort zone behind, my tranquil life in my sweet hometown, my family members , my business I had built for 12 years in Brazil, and move to the USA for the sake of pursuing my dream career: Having my MBA on Global Management. Will it be worth it?

It has been 5 years since I moved to the USA and reality is different over here. As far I can see, pursuing an MBA in the USA is a big and hard task.

When the topic of pursuing an MBA comes up, most people tend to change the subject or divert from such thoughts and plan. Although an MBA is supposed to boost job opportunities, there are many issues that cause people to run away screaming. Those obstacles include the obvious ones: Cost, time, and the ones people don't tend to think about, like the support of family and friends.

The amount it costs to get an MBA is probably the most popular issue people face. Tuition costs do not come lightly. They range from $20,000.00 to $40,000.00 for a program that lasts about 2 years and the students have 4 hours of class per week. As a matter of fact, one might think that he or she may be able to get away from not paying for that extravagant tuition. But fact is that a full scholarship for an MBA is almost impossible to get for most scholarships like Pell Grants, if you are lucky enough, are only available to undergraduate students.

Time is another big issue. People usually say that all it takes to go back to school is your willing to do it. We all know that is not only that. The person might want it more than anything but by the time they start the classes they are usually caught up by other unpredictable things that normally happen in life. For instance, if the person is married and or have kids, the person will naturally go through unexpected situations such as a newborn, a spouse who just got a new job, sudden difficulties to find a trustworthy person to take care of the kids. If the person is not married and does not have kids, they will also have unexpected issues from work, or struggles to be able to pay the bills, and the like.

Meanwhile, there is always the issue of how long it will take to pursue an MBA. One might not want to spend such length of time on it considering that they already spent most of their life investing years on their Education.

A big issue that is usually not recognized is the support of family and friends and the consequences of getting an MBA would have on them. Most families and friends may agree that pursuing an MBA in the 40s, for instance, is completely pointless. A spouse might disagree on the decision of pursuing your Masters Degree because of financial issues. Kids might feel it is an embarrassment