A master's degree is the new bachelor's degree.
This saying is being thrown around more and more frequently as students vie to gain a competitive edge in the job market. Seemingly, everyone today is getting a bachelor's degree, so in order to stand out from the crowd, grad school is looking to be the way to go.
Between 2010 and 2011, the online career community CareerBliss analyzed and compared the salaries earned by people holding a master's versus a bachelor's degree. The largest difference between earnings was found in business managers who made 22 per cent more if they graduated with a master's degree.
Across Canada, master's business programs are available in every province.
The University of Lethbridge in Alberta offers a master of science (management) program that Helen Kelley, acting associate dean of the School of Graduate Studies, says is a proven alternative to an MBA program.
Both programs are of equal importance, says Kelley. They just have different pathways for students as far as career opportunities and the information or the knowledge that is being acquired during the programs. The master of science (management) program is more geared towards students interested in conducting research about specific managerial problems or issues that are important to [an] organization, she says.
The program is also run on a cohort basis, meaning that all the students start at the same time every year in September and take the same courses over the same amount of time.
Kelley also adds that the faculty only accepts around 14 students each year in order to facilitate one-on-one interaction with faculty members during the times when the students are busy completing their theses.
On the east coast, Dalhousie University is the only institution in Canada with a corporate residency MBA program. Director Dan Shaw says it focuses largely on career and soft-skill development.
The program is very practical and skills-focused and our employers are engaged in the program, aiding in curriculum development, doing panel discussions, and contributing in the classroom with guest lectures and pro-bono consulting projects, says Shaw.
This 22-month program also caters to small class sizes accepting around 40ÔÇô60 students each year. Applicants must have a 3.0 GPA in their undergraduate degree (in any field) and at least a 550 GMAT score.
In Ontario, Brock University's Goodman School of Business is one of the newest business schools in the country, according to their website.
The MBA program at the Goodman School of Business, although serving those with significant work experience, also provides students with a little business experience, the opportunity to engage in in-depth studies in business, and to focus their studies by concentrating or majoring in specific fields of business such as accounting, finance, marketing, and others, says Don Cyr, dean of the Goodman School of Business.
They offer three graduate-level programs: a master of accountancy, a master of business administration, and a master of science in management.
The MBA program remains the leading graduate degree in business, says Cyr.
Its greatest benefit is for individuals who have not studied business in their undergraduate degree, and who now find themselves in managerial positions, he says. Increasingly though, many individuals now enter an MBA with little work experience and use the degree to gain knowledge in specific areas of business with the intent of establishing their career.
After selecting the right grad school, there are a number of opportunities where you can begin your career. According to Shaw, your MBA can get you entry-level positions such as a trainee in commercial or personal banking, an analyst or associate consultant in management consulting, or even get you started on becoming a CEO of your own company!
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