MBA vs Specialized Business Master’s – Which One is Better for Your Career?

Nina Laudon graduated from the Master of Science in Marketing at McCombs School of Business in 2019, and is now a Senior Segment Research Manager at Amazon. She shared with us the experiences she gained during her time at McCombs, and talks at length about how her skillset has developed throughout her studies.

“The MS in Marketing was an invaluable step in my career. It armed me with analytical skills, business acumen, and the ability to succeed in an ambiguous environment.

“My professors challenged me to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to problems, while always guiding my decisions with data. The program taught me perseverance and grit, which will help me succeed throughout my career,” she said.

Having had an avid interest in research, the MS in Marketing offered Nina the opportunity to pursue research in industry.

“I wanted to see the impact of my work more directly than I thought I would be able to in academia.

“I identified consumer insights as a career path I was interested in, and felt the rigorous curriculum in marketing would help prepare me for that role, and I’m so grateful this was the path I chose.

Now, as a Senior Segment Research Manager, Nina is able to apply her master’s theory to her real-life job.

“I do market research across all product lines for Amazon Devices, including emerging devices.

“My role is to be the voice of the customer for both product and marketing teams, helping to discover and share customer stories.

“I utilize both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to go beyond answering ‘what’ customers are doing, but delving into the ‘why’.”

Master of Science in Business Analytics graduate Chloe Kwon is a Data Scientist at Walmart Technology. Before turning her hand to tech, Chloe was a business analyst for an oil and gas company where she “learned how to communicate with customers and deliver solutions that fit their current needs.”

When it came to pursuing the MS in Business Analytics, Chloe tells us she wanted to gain a more technical skillset which would, in turn, “provide higher impact solutions to her customers.”

“I felt that I could achieve a lot more with technical skills as opposed to the general business skills you learn in an MBA. Although I haven't discounted an MBA altogether in my future, I will have to see whether there will be enough justification to pursue one,” she said.

Fast forward to today, and Chloe believes the MS in Business Analytics has played a key role in both her academic and professional career.

“The MS in Business Analytics has definitely opened the doors for me in terms of pivoting my career from oil and gas to tech.

“Our data science team at Walmart mainly uses Python as a scripting language and the master’s classes helped sharpen my Python skill as well as SQL, statistics, math, big data tools, and machine learning algorithms.

“We learned the fundamentals of data science through our courses with professors from different departments -- from statistics and programming to marketing and supply chain -- and through our Capstone course, we learned how to approach a business problem by understanding the problem, evaluating the feasibility of different technical solutions, and pitching the impact and value of the solution.

“Without the MSBA program, I would not have accumulated enough knowledge and tools to be able to effectively solve problems as a data scientist.”

James Freathy studied the Master of Science in Finance at McCombs School of Business and is now a Research Analyst at Dimensional Fund Advisors.

When considering what impact the MS in Finance program has had on his career so far, James had nothing but praise for it. He told us: “It allowed me to take my undergraduate experiences both in economics and as a research assistant, and apply those to a field that not only was I always interested in, but that I felt was a natural extension of my previous studies.”

Before enrolling on the program, James’ sole experience was as a research assistant at the University of Texas. And without knowing what type of career he wanted to pursue before the program, he was grateful for the industry exposure the program had given him.

“I wasn’t always sure what type of career I wanted to pursue, but the master’s program allowed me to have exposure across a wide array of fields within finance.

“The research-oriented role I’m in now was always an interest of mine, but was something that I only learnt deeply about from my time in the master’s program,” said James.

Mike Shin studied the Master of Science in Information Technology and Management, and is now a Software Engineer working in the data engineering team at EOG Resources. Originally looking for a master’s in computer science, Mike instead found himself considering the MS in Information Technology and Management, instead.

“The biggest point that the program made that convinced me to join was that it would teach skills useful in a corporate environment.

“Especially after my time in my previous job, I knew I needed more than just good coding skills to succeed in an intense work environment and I believed this program would be able to teach me those skills.”

Prior to studying the MS in Information Technology and Management, Mike was a software developer and tech team lead in a startup. Being no stranger to the software, Mike always knew that a career in development was what he was after, but in which field exactly was another question.

“Thankfully, there were plenty of projects and hackathons in both the MS in Information Technology and Management and beyond that gave me perspective about many fields in the tech industry.

“These were great opportunities for me to find exactly what type of career I wanted to pursue.”