Personal reflection and self-examination

¶ … family members who value education. Everyone in my extended family has not attended college, but even those who have not are quick to talk about the benefits of higher education. I never need to look far for a manifestation that their theories and aphorisms are on target. So I come easily to the idea of advancing my educational status and improving the potential for a better life for myself and my nuclear family thorough educational attainment.

To my mind, an MBA degree represents a threshold. University degrees offer the potential for substantive change in the lives of students. An MBA degree particularly marks the opening of a portal to higher achievement, on the one hand, and greater responsibility and societal contribution on the other. I am interested in enrolling in the MBA program because both of these factors are important to me.

Certainly, I want to be able to provide economic stability for my children, a goal that earning an MBA degree can facilitate. I also want to model for my children my own belief that higher education provides opportunities to access a wider, fascinating world than can be realized without that additional knowledge and perspective. While my children are still young enough, I hope to embody the idea that education never goes to waste. It may be that my expectation that this lofty degree will bring substantive financial advantage will be dashed. Still I argue that it will have been a sufficient endeavor if I learn to truly see that which lies beyond the markedly circumscribed circle of my former boundaries. It is the changed perspective, I believe, that enables the holder of an MBA to discern ways to use her social and academic capital for the greater good. From this, it is fair to reason that my family and I will experience robust counterpoint to any sacrifices associated with my matriculation for an MBA degree.

My interest in a marketing degree stems from my observation that the field represents the best of what we know about applied human psychology Behavioral research is finding its center in the field of marketing. I am fascinated by the capacity of market research to establish deep insights into the cognitive processes that are embodied in shoppers' brands choices and purchase decisions. Contemporary marketing is entering an exciting stage in which conventional approaches to advertising, market research, and marketing are running parallel to the new marketing. Advertising and media publishing are interfacing with consumers in completely new ways -- and consumers are assuming new roles in marketing that demand new skills from professionals. I am excited by the prospect of learning such an eclectic array of skills. I look to a degree in marketing to prepare me to contribute to the field now and to establish the type of academic foundation that thrives on inevitable change.