Hi everyone,

I have come to a bit of a rough spot in my career and am contemplating an MBA. I was wondering if anyone might be able to give me some more personal input on my situation.

I am about to complete a PhD in sociology next year. I first anticipated pursuing a career in academics and have been doing everything necessary to obtain a tenure track job in academia. However, I have lost my desire to do this and am considering a career change into the business world.

I know that I am interested in research and analysis of various sorts and am particularly interested in transportation and hospitality industries. Specifically, I am interested in consumer attitudes, behavior, and satisfaction and seeing how they relate to market trends.

Also, I recently obtained a well-paying short term faculty position at a university. This would have been ideal to springboard me into a tenured academic position but since I am not interested in doing this anymore, I now have a few years to budget my time to advance my career in the another direction. I am thinking to use this time to perhaps prepare for the GMAT and apply to MBA programs. I have also thought about applying to online programs because of the very decent salary I will be making and the great deal of time I will have to dedicate to my MBA coursework.

My question to people on here is twofold. First, if I want to become involved in business, management, and marketing research in transportation or hospitality, would an MBA be a smart decision? Second, would an online MBA program from a strong university be viewed favorably when combined with my other research, academic, and professional credentials?

Thank you all very much in advance.