Choices, Choices: Your Master's Thesis

You'll spend months, even years completing it. You may love it now, but someday you may wish you'd never laid eyes on it. It's your master's thesis. So choose wisely, because you're stuck with it.

You've taken all the MBA program classes; now it's time to start your master's thesis. As an MBA candidate, you deal in practical applications. So the goal of an MBA candidate's thesis is to solve problems or improve processes, while demonstrating the skills you've learned. Choosing a thesis topic shouldn't be taken lightly.

• Make your topic directly relevant to the skills you've learned in your MBA program.
• You will spend a long time with this topic, so it had better be one you care about. If you don't even like your thesis, who else will?
• Make sure that the topic isn't too large or too small to be researched in your allotted time.
• Your MBA program thesis often influences the direction of your career, shaping your professional identity. Are you willing to be associated with your topic?
• Choose a topic that you have at least a rudimentary understanding of, so that you may offer solutions based on personal experience.
• How much information actually exists about your topic? Do you have the time and/or resources to conduct original research?
• Consult your MBA graduate or faculty advisors for thesis topic ideas, or for help with "polishing" a rough idea. You might also ask companies about problems that need solving.

Many distance-learning or online degree programs don't require a final thesis. Each online degree program has its own requirements, and some MBA programs require a final comprehensive examination instead. Consider them all carefully before applying.

Your MBA thesis says a lot about what you know ? what will yours say about you?