Why Get an MBA? Recent B-School Grads Weigh In

Four recent graduates from three schools— American University’s Kogod School of Business (No. 56 among US schools on our recent Best B-Schools ranking ), Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business (No. 54), and University of Texas-Austin’s McCombs School of Business (No. 19)—talk about their decisions to return to school full time in a business program. Common to them all: a strong sense of self and purpose and well-defined career goals requiring enhanced training and skills.

I studied biomedical engineering as an undergraduate at Boston University. I wanted to work on developing innovative medical devices, and for about two years after graduation I did that. I worked for a company that focused on spine surgery. It was acquired by Medtronic soon after I joined. To be at the company when it went through this—before, during and after the ­acquisition—I saw how the products would reach so many more people and the effect that M&A can have. I started to see that I could have a larger impact on on patients’ and ­professionals’ lives from the business side of things and still stay true to my goals. But I didn’t know anything about finance or accounting.