How to Weigh the MBA Decision

To MBA or not to MBA? If that is the question, there are some important questions you should be asking yourself about your career ambitions, the type of program you need and the schools you can afford. An MBA can smash the number-cruncher stereotype, bolster your experience and enhance your career options, but is it the right move for you right now?

Education is a lifelong process. More and more financial professionals are grasping the relevance of this time-honored wisdom and are pursuing a master's degree in business administration. The knowledge that can be gained through studying for an advanced business degree has become increasingly valuable for financial professionals as their responsibilities expand. Many financial managers in their 30s and 40s (and in some cases their 50s) are evaluating how and when to squeeze an MBA into their lifelong educations. Most begin weighing the costs and potential rewards of returning to school after identifying a need to broaden their business perspective or hearing "Do you have an MBA?" once too often.

Cliff Bolen says he began growing impatient with the MBA question a year ago. Shortly after becoming vice president, controller and treasurer of Gummed Papers of America (GPA) in Chicago three years ago, Bolen began mulling over ways to broaden his business viewpoint. He says he faced a similar challenge at the beginning of his nine-year tenure as a public accountant. "When I got into public accounting, everybody asked, 'Are you a CPA?'" Bolen recalls. "The answer was no. To earn the respect of a lot of people and to get your foot in the door, that was something you needed, so I got the CPA. When I began my current responsibilities, everybody began asking, 'Do you have an MBA?'"

The answer was no. Then Bolen enrolled in an executive MBA program at the University of Chicago. For the first seven days of classes, Bolen wrestled with international economic strategies and marketing theories well past 2 a.m. During a two-week seminar over the summer at the program's sister school in Barcelona, Spain, he worked case studies and matched wits with his counterparts from dozens of different countries. At one point, one of Bolen's classmates from South Korea disappeared for two class sessions to help his company weather a crisis. "He came back and explained what he and his company were grappling with," Bolen says. "It was a very immediate and real learning experience for all of us."

Fifteen months later, Bolen has his MBA, and, he says, an entirely new set of questions, strategies and perspectives to employ against his daily challenges.