Master of Business Administration (MBA)

The MBA is a postgraduate management degree built around the core functions of a business — finance, marketing, operations, strategy and people — taught through case discussion and group work rather than lectures alone. It is designed for people who have already worked for several years, and the class itself is part of the product: much of the learning comes from arguing a case with engineers, bankers and founders in the same room.

Formats differ more than content does. One-year programmes, common in the UK, Ireland and Europe, are intense and suit career accelerators; two-year programmes, the North American norm, include a summer internship and suit career changers who need that industry entry point. Choosing between them is a career decision before it is an academic one.

Entry requirements are broadly consistent across good schools, though the emphasis varies more than the list suggests — two programmes asking for the same things can weigh them very differently.

• A recognised bachelor's degree in any discipline. Business is not a prerequisite; engineers and doctors are well represented in most cohorts.
• Full-time work experience — competitive programmes look for three years or more, and the class average is often higher. Internships and part-time work while studying are not usually counted.
• GMAT or GRE at many schools, though a growing number waive it for a strong professional record. Where a waiver exists it is applied for, not assumed.
• English proficiency evidence where prior study was not in English.
• Essays and references — the essays are read closely, because they are where a career story either coheres or does not.
• An interview, which carries real weight for an MBA in a way it does not for most master's degrees.

The honest filter is progression rather than years served. A candidate with four years showing increasing responsibility reads more strongly than one with seven in the same role.

The MBA is a generalist qualification, so outcomes track the specialisation and the recruiting relationships of the particular school rather than the degree title.

• Management consulting — the single largest destination at many schools, and the most structured recruiting process.
• Corporate strategy and general management, often through graduate rotational programmes.
• Product management in technology firms, which recruit MBAs steadily.
• Investment banking and corporate finance, usually via the finance specialisation and usually requiring relevant prior experience.
• Operations and supply chain leadership in manufacturing, retail and logistics.
• Founding or joining a startup, supported by school incubators and the alumni network.

A career change through an MBA is normally one step at a time — industry or function, rarely both at once. Two-year programmes with an internship exist largely to make that switch possible.

Two phases: a fixed core that gives everyone the same vocabulary, then electives and an applied project where you specialise. The core is deliberately broad, because the degree is a general management qualification.

• Finance and accounting — financial and management accounting, corporate finance, and enough managerial economics to read a market.
• Marketing — marketing management, consumer behaviour, brand and pricing.
• Operations and analytics — supply chain, process design and data-driven decision making.
• People and organisations — organisational behaviour, leadership and negotiation, usually the most-cited part of the year afterwards.
• Strategy, then electives such as entrepreneurship, fintech, consulting or international business.
• An applied capstone — a live consulting project, or a summer internship on two-year programmes.

Much of the learning is not in the syllabus. Case discussion with bankers, engineers and founders in the same room is a large part of what the fee buys, which is why cohort diversity is worth checking.