Last week, I had two interviews where both interviewers asked me why I went back to grad school for a M.S. degree, and what the difference was between an MBA and a M.S. in Marketing. I get this question pretty routinely, so there is clearly a need to explain this difference to more recruiters, as well as VPs of Marketing and Ecommerce.
I have many years of experience in marketing-related jobs. I also have a undergraduate double major, one of which is in marketing. My MBA program includes a concentration in marketing. So, before the M.S. program, I knew a little bit about marketing! But after completing the M.S. in Marketing program, I now know 200% more than what I knew before. So, I think I have a significant competitive advantage over other marketers and ecommerce peers.
To answer the recruiters’ question, “What’s the difference”, I’ll say this: The MBA is broad-based, and the M.S. is specialized. As you can see from my MBA course list below, I took four marketing courses and earned an MBA concentration in marketing (in addition to the finance, accounting, econ, and management courses). Because all of my professional work experience is marketing-related (marketing, merchandising, product management, and ecommerce), I wanted to do a deep-dive in marketing. The M.S. in marketing let me do that; all 11 courses are marketing-related, so it’s much, much broader and deeper in marketing than my MBA coursework. It was also more quantitative. I learned about things in the M.S. program that my MBA program didn't even mention.
It's the perfect degree for an Ecommerce Director or Marketer or a Digital Product Manager.
I earned my MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with a concentration in marketing in 2007, and my Master of Science in Marketing from Indiana University (Kelley School of Business) in 2017.
VCU MBA Program (traditional, full-time program)
ECON 610 Managerial Economics (Cohort)
MGMT 641 Org Leadership and Project Team Mgmt (Cohort)
FIRE 623 Financial Management (Cohort)
ACCT 608 Managerial Accounting
INFO 661 Information Systems for Managers
INFO 664 Info Systems for Business Intelligence
MGMT 642 Business Policy and Strategy*
MKTG 671 Marketing Management
SCMA 675 Operations Management
MKTG 656 International Marketing
MKTG 672 Concepts in Consumer Behavior
MKTG 691 Topics in Marketing
Indiana M.S. in Marketing Program
C570 Strategic Marketing Management
M574 Performance Driven Pricing
X521 Advanced Marketing Practicum
C571 Marketing Strategy Simulation
C572 Applied Marketing Research
M501 Marketing in the Era of Digital Technology
M544 Advertising and Promotion Management
C520 Quantitative Analysis
X522 Digital Marketing
C521 Managing Accounting Information for Decision-Making
C574 Business Marketing Strategy and Management
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