Running head: WRITING AN ARGUMENT PAPER

Writing an Argument Paper
University of Phoenix

Management – MGT521
Instructor: Diane Hunt-Wagner
August 20, 2012

Writing an Argument Paper
The purpose of this paper is to raise and counter objectives regarding the decision to obtain a Masters of Business Administration (MBA). The impact of education on earning potential, job security, and becoming an entrepreneur will be examined. This paper will also discuss how raising and countering objections has been an aid in my own decision to get an MBA and how I embraced my decision to go back to school. Objections will be raised for reasons not to pursue a graduate degree and referenced information will be sited to support the raising and countering of the content.

Why an MBA
Raising Objections
Business schools have long sold the promise that, like an F1 driver zipping into the pits for fresh tires, it just takes a short hiatus on an MBA program and you will come roaring back into the career race primed to win. After all, it signals to companies that you were good enough to be accepted by a decent business school (so must be good enough for them); it plugs you into a network of fellow MBAs; and, to a much lesser extent, there's the actual classroom education. Why not just pay the bill, sign here and reap the rewards?
The problem is that these days it doesn't work like that. Rather, more and more students are finding the promise of business schools to be hollow. The return on investment on an MBA has gone the way of Greek public debt. If you have a decent job in your mid- to late- 20s, unless you have the backing of a corporate sponsor, leaving it to get an MBA is a higher risk than ever. If you are getting good business experience already, the best strategy is to keep on getting it, thereby making yourself ever more useful rather than groping for the