If you’ve been working enough years to know that you have achieved everything you can with experience and need that extra push to achieve a management position or to start your own business, it may be time to pursue an MBA. However, you may not want to take time out of your career to pursue a degree on campus. Fortunately, the number of online graduate programs has increased dramatically over the last few years, and it is relatively easy to find an online MBA from an accredited institution. The remaining question you may have is how to apply and what prerequisites you need.
Prerequisites
As with any other graduate degree, the main prerequisite you need for an online or regular MBA is a bachelors degree from an accredited university or college. You did not have to study a business-related field and can have a bachelor’s in virtually any subject. In fact, combining a graduate business degree with a bachelor’s in another discipline can help you specialize in a specific area or industry. Your grade point average upon completion of your bachelor’s degree will be relevant when you are applying for an MBA. Admissions will also want to see strong personal skills as well as advanced reasoning and problem-solving abilities.
If your bachelor’s degree was not in business, you may have to take some prerequisite courses to give you a foundation in business thinking. In many cases, you will not be required to have completed the classes before starting the MBA program but should complete them at some point while taking the course. These requirements vary from institution to institution whether it’s the University of Maryland or UAB online.
If you want to avoid taking prerequisite courses, you can take a CLEP test or a College Level Examination Program. These tests cover college-level material that a person is expected to know if they have completed certain courses. If you feel you have enough knowledge to go ahead and take these CLEP tests, they can save you a lot of time you would otherwise use for prerequisite courses. You may be able to take these exams in accounting, business law, principles of marketing, macroeconomics, and mathematics.
Experience Is an Advantage
Many people decide to pursue their MBA directly after finishing their bachelor’s degree, but many universities want to see that an applicant has completed several years of professional work before applying for an MBA. The reasoning is that those set of spent time in the workplace may relate to business topics more closely than students who have not been in the workforce. Nevertheless, a masters degree program is likely to accept those qualified which attend.
You can fill out an application form online which gives information about your professional training, academic credentials, and skills. You should also include a resume even though it contains the same information you gave for your application. You also may be asked to turn in official transcripts to verify that you have completed your degree. You may also be asked to include letters of recommendation and scores from the GMAT if taking that test is required for your course.
