Is an MBA worth it?
A reader, Brandon, asked for my opinion on the utility of an MBA that’s not from a top school. And by top school, I’m assuming he’s talking about Ivy League sorts. Here’s my straight up opinion, untainted by the fact that my day job actually involves, among other things, enrolling students in an MBA program.
I think can be valuable. My opinion is slightly skewed because I didn’t get my MBA right out of college. I spent a bunch of years working, both domestically and abroad, before going back to school. For me, the decision to get an MBA was more about learning how to break through my own perceived "career ceiling" than it was about getting the sheepskin. I knew that I wanted to advance my career and I knew that I needed new skills to do it. If I had been disciplined enough to just read a bunch of books on my own, and assimilate their knowledge, I likely could’ve achieved the same results.
On the other hand, some career paths require an advanced degree. That’s not to say you couldn’t do the job without the degree, but it’d definitely involve more luck and probably more time proving your abilities at a lower level before being given the opportunity. There are always plenty of examples to the contrary, though.
Two more thoughts that might be useful. Thought one, the process of getting an MBA is a natural network building exercise. You go through your program with a bunch of other smart and motivated people and when you graduate you all go your separate ways. But you’re still available to help each other out, if needed. That’s a nice thing to have. Thought two, a good MBA program lets you try out various disciplines that you might otherwise have a tough time getting into. For instance, I was working in Organization Development when I went through my program. I got lots of good hands-on time doing finance stuff, marketing stuff and entrepreneurial exercises that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to stuff into such a short time frame.
For me, a huge part of the value of doing my MBA was the prior work experience I brought with me, and my clear sense of wanting to expand my skill sets. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that, for me at least, doing my MBA straight out of college would’ve been a waste of money and time. I wouldn’t have had the experience or context into which I could immediately apply all this new knowledge. Plus, I was an idiot right out of college–I mainly just wanted to go surfing and not work. Okay, that’s still true.
So, bottom line is that I think an MBA is useful for future success, but I don’t think it’s a requirement. I guess you’d have to look at your own use-case and figure out where you want to go with your career and whether the time and money spent would add value to that process. It definitely has for me, but I also know folks who are very successful in their fields who, though they’d no doubt benefit from an MBA, just wouldn’t get full value from an MBA program. That’s because they’re pretty far along in their careers and the time spent away from their business is more destructive to their trajectory than the time spent building knowledge and skills in the classroom. That said, though, there are plenty of good executive MBA programs around that address exactly this issue and do a good job of allowing folks to continue to focus on career and work, while simultaneously building new skills.
So that’s it. As usual, the answer to the question: "Is an MBA worth it?" is "Maybe."
Thanks for the advice. I’m in what sounds to be a similiar situation to what you were. I’ve been working in IT for the last five years after graduating from university with a degree in Geology (of all things). Working with technology is great, but I feel like I have the capacity to go beyond a pure techy role and was struggling to figure out how to take myself to the next level.
Enter the MBA. I was accepted to a few “Top 50″ schools this year, but decided that I should wait at least until next year as I felt I was still . During one interview I was told that my only weakness as an applicant was that I was perhaps a bit younger than what would be ideal (I’m 28). My less than illustrious academics in university (I discovered beer and women – give me a break) is partly what I believe is holding me back from getting into an “Ivy League” type school, but thankfully my abnormal talent for standardized testing ensured I got a GMAT score suitable for any school in the world. So, after being rejected from London Business School (the so-called best in the UK and fifth in the world), I am trying to figure how to pitch myself for applications to similiar schools in the coming year.
A good deal of your job finding advice really applies to school applications as well. The first step (and perhaps the hardest), is just to get your application read.
I completed a part-timr MBA at R.H. Smith School, University of Maryland. It is typically seen as a top 20 school, depending on which list you are using. The courses and professors were the same for both the part-time and full-time programs. Many full-time students took the evening courses out of convenience or due to scheduling issues.
I enjoyed the education and I believe it was intellectually worthwhile. I think it is especially useful for developing a “business” perspective. Having been an engineer by education, I needed this other point of view. I started the MBA because I became a manager. I couldn’t find a decent role-model in my work place and didn’t feel as if I was learning anything new. Furthermore, the limited reading I had done on the subject, primarily Drucker, led me to believe that most of the management “didn’t get it.” Therefore, I took it upon myself to learn more through formal education.
One downside to this was an increased awareness of how much we were doing wrong or at least how far we were from best practices. It was somewhat disheartening and though I tried to bring about change, my lack of persuasive talent and skill made it difficult and may have actually done some minor damage to my career path. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t be taken as a negative or a whine, I just felt it was an odd result of the education. I have since changed divisions and I am doing great.
If you are looking for an MBA for career change or advancement, by all means give strong consideration to their placement office (ours was called the Office of Career Management, a misnomer since you could only use them in your final year). Meeting times and programs were almost always tailored to the full-time students. I don’t have statistics for placement of part-time students, but I can say that I do not know anyone in my class that obtained employment through the schools organization.
Another thing to consider is the network (which is probably the greatest advantage of Ivy League schools). University of Maryland is primarily a regional school, few are coming from outside the immediate area to go there. So, if you end up moving, you lose that potential network and reduce the probability that a fellow alumni will be in a position to hire you. I moved to NC soon after obtaining my degree. Here, I would have been better off attending Duke or UNC.
In retrospect, I am glad that I got the MBA, but only for personal reasons. There has been little or no effect on my career. No new doors have opened. In some sense, I wish I hadn’t taken it so seriously, working hard for a 3.9, given that no one is looking at that GPA except me.
So, my final advice is get an MBA if you want to learn something for the sake of learning it. If you want to change careers, get at higher paying job, make sure that the program you are in has the means to help make that happen. Otherwise, stick to building a network and working outside the bounds of your current job.
Gosh, that’s a great piece of advice Griff.
This is why I an so optimistic about blogging… straight talk and great insights from people who really know things and have no hidden agendas.
I try to have as little illusions as possible about something before I jump in. It is good to hear from people like Griff who will give you the straight goods.
In regards to your company not following best practices: Ignorance is truly bliss. Sometimes I loathe learning new things, especially when it tells me that something else I know or am doing is completely wrong! Ok, that’s only half true as I always like learning new things, but you see my point! I’ve been fighting an uphill battle with my current employer regarding “best practices” but it looks like I am finally winning. Just in time, as well, as we are so much busier than we were before if we had not gone through the changes we’d be in well over our heads.
Yes, an MBA is worth it:
#1. All learning has value. Disciplined learning is even better. Some organizations require master’s (any master’s) level degree to be promoted to senior level positions. Also, if you want to teach in a university setting it is virtually manditory.
#2. MBA or MMS or other leadership-like program is preferred. As Brendon pointed out, you get a much broader outlook than undergrad work, generally, and you have to wrestle with people problems which is what organizations are all about. My MA in education took me pretty far and opened doors for me that allowed me to compete with MBAs…but in a business setting MBA or MMS is better.
#3. Which school? I live close enough to Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Norwestern and a slew of other universities that realistically, if your GRE is good enough, you could take your pick. My view has been that unless you want to vie for a CEO position at a major corporation where networking is everything, then it really doesn’t matter where your degree is from. What counts is performance and the philosophy of your organization. Good people come from some very small schools, which says performance does count and networking with the top 20 schools should be left to those who enjoy that sort of thing… Does this make sense?
Thanks, Tom, that all makes good sense. I’ve considered crossing the pond to go to school in the US, but right now I’m focusing on the UK despite being from Canada originally. England is my home right now and I’m not sure how much I want to relocate (although it could be fun).
I got invites from Notre Dame, Rochester and numerous others from around the world, but I take it all with a grain of salt as there were unquestionably form letters sent to everyone who scores above 700 on the GMAT. I think I’m going to focus on the program at Oxford or alternatively City University here in London.
Excellent post!
Your weblog consistently delivers exceptional content.
I hope that your new day job continues well for you.
This is priceless commentary Bren, Brandon, Griff and Tom – along with good support from Laurence and one comment from David that pierces the sound barrier: “Your weblog consistently delivers exceptional content.” It starts with Bren’s choice of relevant and interesting topics. It continues with masterful thought articulation and evolves to the highest degree of reader value with some most excellent commentary!
Sorry guys, but I appreciate this type of interaction more than you could possibly know.
Back to the MBA – Our daughter graduated from college a couple of years ago and wrestled with this very subject. Fortunately, wiser folks than me prevailed and she didn’t jump right into a program. As this is front and center on her radar screen, I’ll be forwarding the link to her.
Although my base of coffee this morning has yet to reach a desired level of saturation, I’ll continue. Folks like David St. L, Rosa and Brendon are making some unbelievable and worthwhile contributions via their blogs. Much beyond and way more importantly than the fact I love to talk about people who are out there making a difference, is – the folks this kind of content reaches who you never hear from. It is reaching them and it is making a difference!
I agree with the “maybe” conclusion. You just have to ask yourself whether or not you are doing it for the right reasons and whether or not you are willing to go deeply into debt.
Check out http://mbacaveatemptor.blogspot.com/2005/06/wharton-grads-caveat-emptor-for.html
for more detail.