Internet MBA Degrees: Why are they so popular?
The most popular online degree, by far is the MBA, in fact it is no stretch to say that the internet MBA created the entire online learning business. The reason that the internet MBA degree is so popular is that they are necessary in order to get ahead at work. Because of the way that the degree programs are normally structured it is often not possible for people to get a traditional MBA. This has resulted in a huge demand for online degrees as it allows people to get the degree they need without having to give up their job.
The obvious reason that online MBA degrees are so popular is that they are necessary for career advancement. These days an MBA is virtually a requirement in order to have any chance of getting promoted into a management job. There was a time when only senior managers required an MBA but those days are well in the past, nowadays even relatively junior managers require an MBA. The internet has massively increased the number of people who have MBA's since they are now much more accessible than they used to be. This means that almost everybody you are competing with for promotion is going to have an MBA, in order to have any real chance of getting ahead you are going to need one as well.
One of the reasons that an MBA is so popular is that it applies to virtually every career field. An MBA is relevant to any job that requires business skills or management skills. Unlike other graduate degrees that normally require an undergraduate degree in a related field and are only relevant to people working in that field and MBA applies to virtually everybody. An MBA basically teaches how to run business, since that applies to almost everybody the degree is very popular. In fact you can benefit from an MBA even if you aren't interested in running a business. Managers of non-profits, government employees and military officers often enrol MBA programs since the skills learned can help in these careers as well.
One of the problems with a traditional MBA is that because you usually require work experience before you can enter the program most potential applicants find returning to school to be difficult. After a few years in the workforce it can be difficult to give up the salary that a job provides and go back to school, this is especially true if you have a family. This is the major reason that internet MBA degrees have become so popular, they allow students to continue to work and earn their degree part time. This has proven to be such a popular option that there are schools being created specifically to offer internet MBA degrees. It is fair to say that the MBA is almost single handedly responsible for the growth of online learning. The demand for them forced virtually every school to offer one, whether they wanted to or not. Once they were in the online degree business it became easy for them to start offering other programs.