Who Needs A Whole MBA?

摘要

When you consider going back to school to hone your business skills, chances are you're thinking about getting an MBA. But an MBA isn't the only game in graduate business education. With a bit of research, you may find that what you really want may be a specialized master's degree in business. Specialized master's business programs have been around for decades. But they proliferated in the 1990s, as business schools discovered that a curriculum showcasing their academic specialty allows them to better compete for students. The mainstays of the alternative business programs used to focus on accounting and finance, but now you can pursue a master's degree in international business, health-care administration, marketing, nonprofit management, or human resources. In the late 1990s, the hot new programs were in information technology and e-commerce. At least 60 of 403 B-schools surveyed by BusinessWeek in 2001 offered master's degrees in these new specialties. Even now, schools say, interest in the programs has remained steady.