#71: A Guide to Majoring in Business

Are you considering majoring in Business? Are you interested in eventually earning an MBA? What must you understand about this field of study and career, especially as a Christ-follower? In this episode, I discuss these questions and many more with Dr. Mark Washington, the National Director of InterVarsity’s MBA Ministry. For more than two decades, Mark has helped shape the next generation of faith-driven business leaders, working with MBA students and faculty at some of the top business schools in the country. He brings a unique blend of ministry, theology, and business experience to our conversation.

In this podcast we discuss:

• Mark’s journey into an MBA, starting his career in business, and now helping others who are beginning this journey 
• How his faith influenced him to do an MBA  
• Where biblical truth was consistent with his MBA studies, and where he found conflict
• Finding Christian community on campus and in the workplace
• Unique academic and spiritual challenges that today’s MBA students face
• Advantages and disadvantages of doing an MBA part-time or full-time
• Advantages and disadvantages of doing an MBA at a top-30 school
• Good undergraduate majors to prepare for an MBA (they are not what you think!)
• How AI is changing the landscape of business, what AI will not change, and how to prepare  
• Advice on how to earn an MBA a few years after college
• False advertising by MBA programs to know about
• How an Executive MBA differs from other MBA programs
• The pressures of being an MBA student
• Qualities and character traits helpful to success in an MBA program and a career in business
• The importance of a correctly grounded identity and worth in Christ while doing an MBA 
• Positive and negative winds of change within business
• His advice to 18-year olds about majoring in business, and to undergraduate students thinking about doing an MBA  

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• Mike Schutt, “A Guide to Majoring in Pre-Law,” College Faith Podcast #64
• Faith Driven Investor, Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Solving the World’s Greatest Problems
• Praxis  
• The Fellows Initiative
• The Christian Employee Resource Group
• The Christian Economic Forum
• The National Faith and Work Association
• The Theology of Work Project