Master of Business Administration? There’s nothing cheap about getting an MBA, even online. But, in the midst of your “house arrest” during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be getting intellectually antsy and pondering (or even daydreaming about) getting an online MBA. Hey, a million crazier things are happening now, so why not? And, hard-pressed universities increasingly are eager to get your cash.
One way to keep inflating your online-MBA trial balloon (or pop it with a reality pin) is to pick up some cheap used books on key curriculum topics.
For example, managerial accounting is one subject usually encountered early in an MBA program. Read a book or two about it, take some notes along the way, and judge for yourself how helpful it truly might be to invest, say, $10,000-$20,000 and a couple of years’ time toward getting an advanced business degree.
New textbooks can be quite expensive, even in ebook format. So a more economical approach is to order an older-edition used textbook online. Some things will not be quite up to date in a worn textbook that’s now five or ten years old, or so. But fixed and variable costs, break-even point calculations, and the profit equation are among the many key business concepts that don’t change much over time.
Before you buy a used college textbook, however, I recommend something a bit more breezy. Managerial Accounting for Dummies by Mark P. Holtzman.
Please don’t think I am impuning your intelligence. Holtzman’s book is livelier reading than textbooks you will face in an MBA program. And, especially if your background is in small (or very small) business, it can help you get a feel for some of the manufacturing and big-service-firm topics you will have to deal with later in dense, formal texts that may cost up to $300 or more.
When I finally decided to check out a thick, MBA-level textbook, I went online and found an inexpensive, well-worn copy of Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis.
Also, I picked up a handy study guide: The Essentials® Cost & Managerial Accounting (Research & Education Association). It’s packed with facts, formulas, and concepts that will appear and reappear in MBA classes and papers. So far, I’ve invested less than $30 on deciding if I truly want to pursue an MBA.
This approach–look cheaply before you leap and have to pay big bucks–can work with many other fields and lifestyle changes, as well. Give it a try.
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