Getting a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) is a great idea for people who wish to boost their career in the field of management and business administration. It is a course with great learning opportunities that can enhance your overall knowledge and give you practical experience of how the work is done. If you are professional seeking work as a manager, it can enhance your chances of getting hired, increase your salary prospects, and help you land in an overall better job more easily.
Since MBA is a course that can train a person very well and improve his capabilities for managing a business efficiently, the employers approach candidates who have this degree more seriously. They prefer hiring people who have a degree in this field as compared to some other professionals. If you want to do an MBA with a concentration or a major, then you should know about the Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations.
What is an MBA Concentration?
An MBA concentration is just like taking a specific major in a certain field of MBA. To explain better, MBA has a variety of aspects that you can study such as Accounting, Finance, Economics, Entrepreneurship, and many more. Since it can get quite hard to learn in-depth about all these aspects of an MBA, the people are left with two options.
The first option would be to study all these aspects to some extent and get a good idea of how the work is done in each field. While this will give you some knowledge about all the aspects, it doesn’t equip you with enough skills to work efficiently in every field. You will get some information on these fields but in-depth knowledge about them would be lacking.
The second option would be to choose a major or “concentration” for your MBA. In this method, you will simply choose a field of management that you want to study the most. For example, if you like to study Accounts and want to equip yourself with the knowledge regarding the same, then you can choose “Accounting” as your concentration. Once you select a concentration, your entire course will be focused on providing you with in-depth knowledge about the field that you have opted for. The knowledge you will get here will train you to work and give you practical experience that will help you get the required skills.
The Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations should also be noted before you decide to pursue your MBA with a concentration.
The Benefits of MBA Concentrations
While both the options of MBA have their advantages, if you have a specific field of management that you wish to work in and are already aware of it then it would be best to get an MBA with a concentration so that you could get specialized skills for that field and become well-equipped to start working right away.
For instance, if you know that you want to become a manager in finance and are pretty sure that you are passionate about it then there is no point in studying all the fields when you can just choose Finance as your concentration and get a specialized MBA course that is focused to give you knowledge about MBA in finance. By getting a concentration, you get various advantages such as:
- Specialized MBA: Once you choose a concentration for your MBA, your entire MBA program will be specialized for the field you wish to study. This will be good for you as you can focus on the aspect that will help you in your work life.
- Increases Career Prospect: A specialization can increase your chances of getting hired as a manager in a specific field. If you wish to become a finance manager and already have a degree of MBA in Finance, the employers will be impressed by your qualifications and your chances of getting hired will increase significantly. Even the Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations could boost your career.
- Accelerated Course: Specialised courses are generally faster or “accelerated” as compared to general MBA courses since they are more focused on a specific field. It will give you knowledge on your desired field of work a lot faster than a general MBA as you do not have to spend your time in other non-core areas of work. This will help you dedicate your time and efforts specifically to one field.
- Training: It will get you trained and well-equipped with all the skills, knowledge, and practical experience that you require to give a head-start to your career in a specific field. While if you do a general MBA, you might not be clear about the work-life possibilities in a specific field, this same thing does not happen in a concentration. An MBA concentration will make you ready for the job.
- Interesting: If you study what you like then you will show more interest in your studies. Since you are studying your desired subjects, you will be more interested in studying and will devote more time to the course.
- Efficient: If you develop more interest in your studies, you will devote more time to it without feeling tired. This will, in turn, increase the overall efficiency of the program. As you are applying efforts only where it is required, the results will be better while keeping efforts minimum.
What is the Average MBA Salary by Concentration?
The average MBA salary with a concentration varies depending on the specialization that you have chosen. An average figure for all the concentrations would be misleading since it would be affected by the extreme highs and lows. Seeing the average salary per concentration would be a better representative factor as you can understand the salary prospects by pursuing a specific concentration. Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations can help you decide your specialization.
The highest paying specializations of MBA are:
- MBA in Strategy: MBA in Strategy is one of the highest paying MBA concentration that is gaining huge popularity in the recent times as it prepares the students specifically for managing the global market and adapt to its dynamic changes. It equips the students with knowledge related to formulating effective business plans and policies. Due to its high demand, the employers are ready to pay a high salary to the people who have this specialization. The average starting salary of Strategy is a whopping $93,100 per annum. The normal average for this field is $148,000 annually.
- MBA in General and Strategic Management: In this specialization, the students are prepared for developing business strategies that will improve the performance of the company. It teaches them strategy skills and business analysis. The average starting salary that this specialization could get you is $84,000 per annum. Whereas, the normal average pay for this specialization is $144,000 annually.
- MBA in Finance and Real Estate: MBA in Real Estate is another MBA specialization that has huge pay even for people who have just started working. The students are taught principles of Real Estate, laws related to land, environment laws, investment, property management, and more. The starting salary stands at $78,900 per annum and the average salary of this job is $143,000 annually.
- MBA in Economics: In this specialization, the main focus of the MBA would be on the aspect of Economics. The students are taught various principles of economics, and more. In this field, you would get an average starting salary of $68,100 per annum and as an established manager, you will get $136,000 on an average per annum.
- MBA in Finance and Economics: This specialization acts like a combination of an MBA in Finance as well as Economics. With the study involving both the aspects of Economics principles and Financial management, it is a good course that students can pursue. The starting salary in this field is $64,900 per annum. This makes it the 5th most paying MBA specialization options out there in terms of their Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations. Once you have worked for a few years, you would be earning $134,000 per annum on an average.
What are the different concentrations that you could choose?
While the highest paying concentrations have already been mentioned above, you are not restricted to choosing between them only. The above-mentioned concentrations do have better career prospects and a higher average salary but you have various other options too that you could choose from if you are passionate enough. These other types of concentrations include:
- MBA in Accounting
- MBA in Entrepreneurship
- MBA in International Business
- MBA in Operations Management
- MBA in Computer Sciences
- MBA in Supply Chain Management
- MBA in Marketing
How do you know which concentration you should choose?
When you have to choose a specific MBA concentration, you should know whether it is something that you should pursue or not. First of all, the most important aspect of considering a specialization is whether you are interested in it or not. If there is a specific field that you are interested in then you should consider getting it as a concentration in your MBA course. However, if there are not sure about a specific field, you can choose a general MBA.
Once you have selected a few MBA specializations that you feel like you can do, next is to see the career prospects. It is an important consideration to know if you will be earning enough through your specialization or not. If you are confused between a few options and are not able to make a choice, then you can choose the Highest Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations.
However, this should not be your main criteria for judging what you should do as the most important factor is still the field that you are passionate about. If you are passionate about MBA in Accounts but MBA in Strategy pays you more then you should not choose Strategy just because of this. But if you find yourself confused between Strategy and Accounts since you like them both equally, then this could be a deciding factor for you only in this case.
Once you have found a specialization that has a good career prospect and has got your interest as well, you should know whether you’re capable of doing it or not. Ask yourself if you have the set of skills that are required for you to work in this field. If you lack some of the skills, you can still manage and this should not stop you from opting for this course. However, if you lack most of the skills that are required and you might not be able to perform the job properly in the future, then you should consider something that comes under your niche better.
After choosing a specialization that fits into all the specified criteria, you can opt for the course and pursue your dream easily.
What are the top careers after doing MBA with concentration?
The most popular career choices of the people who do MBA with Concentration are:
- Financial Advisor
- Logistics Manager
- Financial Manager
- Fundraiser
- HR Manager
- Marketing Manager
While these are the most popular job options, the results differ quite a bit if you change the question to “What are the most popular MBA concentrations?”.
The answer to this question would be an MBA in Finance, Accounting, Strategy, and Products and Services.
After knowing everything like Starting Salaries & Highest Paying MBA Concentrations, the type of concentrations available, the most popular jobs and specializations, the benefits of concentration, and more, you can easily determine whether you should do a specialization course or not and if yes, then which specialization should you choose. With all the information laid right in front of you, the process of choosing is quite simple.
Make your decision based on your passion as well as judgment skills now to give a head-start to your career now!
