William Shoucair, a 2002 MBA graduate, believes a masters in business administration is more important now than it was 20 years ago.
Shoucair said an MBA is important because employers are putting it high on their priority list for employee candidates.
Recent studies show similar results.
According to the Kaplan study, “2003 Pre-MBA Snapshot,” 55 percent of polled students felt today’s MBA is more important than it was in the past.
Albert Chen, Kaplan director of graduate programs, said many people think having an MBA is a prerequisite for getting ahead in today’s increasingly competitive business environment.
“Undergraduate and graduate degrees are far more common than they were even 20 years ago,” Chen said. “Professionals in a variety of disciplines recognize that having a graduate degree is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.”
P. David Shields, director of the University Flores MBA Program, said 20 years ago only people looking to be promoted to upper management sought an MBA.
Now with the intense job market, students need a graduate degree just to get in the door of many large companies, Shields said.
Buddy Roemer, former Louisiana governor and Business Bank president and CEO, said having an MBA is not the most important attribute on a resume, but it is high on his list.
Roemer said he has seen that MBA graduates are able to come into a workplace and take on two or three different tasks, which makes them very appealing to companies.
The study also found students use the business school ranking rather than location when choosing a school to attend.
Publications like Business Week, US News and World Report and the Wall Street Journal rank schools, Chen said.
“Each uses a different set of criteria to rank the schools, but most take into account selectivity, job placement rates and reputation among business school deans and business leaders,” Chen said.
Shoucair said he chose to attend the University not because of where the school was, but where he was told it was going.
“I heard the University was making every effort to be among the top business schools,” Shoucair said.
The University currently is not ranked among the top business schools in the country.
Shields said it will be hard for the University to reach the level of top business schools because of the inability to raise the price of tuition.
“We don’t have the facilities and resources to provide the same kind of MBA program as most other schools; we just don’t have the money,” Shields said.