Hello,
I am a computational biologist/chemist (phd) in USA and been working as scientist for ~10 years now. I am interested in pursuing a career in management. I have worked on multiple, diverse, disease-related projects as well as with diverse experimental collaborators. But it is not clear regarding how to enter science-related management position.
My main questions are:
1) Is MBA degree essential to get a management-related job?
2) Will online MBA be useful?
3) Is there anyone in this forum with similar background (phd with MBA) and can you share your experience/advice?
4) Finally, any comment about online MBA degree from Indian universities? They seem to be less expensive.
Your comments/suggestions will be helpful.
Thanks
An MBA is not essential for a science management-related job. Whether it is required/useful depends on the context, there are different types of management positions. An MBA wouldn't help in getting a science management position in academia and is not required in industry although it may be beneficial for career progression. It seems that once some management level is reached in industry, many people have an MBA, at least in the US. On the financial side, consider what it will cost you both in fees and lost revenue while you study and whether this would be offset by higher salaries down the road. The alternative is to jump straight into a science management position. Many scientist positions in industry are already of a managerial type and would presumably be available to you and could be a good starting point.