The MBA
 

Who here has their mba, currently pursuing their mba, or thinking about going for their mba? I ask because I want to get my mba soon after I get my bachelors. It seems like a huge process from getting work experience, taking the gmats, applying to the school or schools you want to go to, then financing it which is like $50,000 a year all expenses included. Does anyone have any stories, is the mba worth it?

Matt

I have my MBA. While it is nice to say I have my MBA, it has not paid off monitarily. I went straight through from my bachelors to my MBA. Interviewers, as well as headhunters, have told me the MBA is great, but my work history is much more important. My current employer told me they were much more impressed with my experience than with the degree.

Everyone has been very impressed with my professional history-- I was (at 23years old) a cash manager for a Fortune 500 company. The company was bought out and the new company already had their own "corporate people". While I no longer have the title and the secretary--I do have a job with no stress, I leave my work at the office, and I have alot of flexibility.

Previously I was chained to my desk-often at work at 11pm to meet deadline and back in the office at 6am, so I could reach the trade floors to buy/sell currency in the European markets. It was also not uncommon for me to run into the office at 2am to shoot off an email. There is none of that now-- and i LOVE it!!!! And I have the same pay!!!:D

I am happy I have my MBA-- but as far as pay is concerned it has made no difference.

Good luck.
wendi

thanks, what school did you go to get your mba?

I finished my MBA two years ago, and it made a big difference for me. I got my bachelor's degree in sociology, and I always like to say that a degree in sociology isn't worth the piece of paper it's printed on. I worked a just-above-entry-level job in a bank for a little over two years before I decided to go back to school. Now I work as a management consultant for a large accounting/consulting firm. I racked up about $26,000 in student loans, but I have the means to pay them back. So for me, my MBA improved my situation greatly (although keep in mind I had a LOT of room for improvement to begin with).

did any of you take a preparation course for the gmats?

i just earned my bachelors degree in business this past May and have been considering going back to get my MBA. I want to wait to have more work experience first as I've been told that: a) many business schools won't accept you w/o at least 2 years of professional experience, b) you won't appreciate the MBA as much unless you work, c) although an MBA is great to have, many employers would rather you have the equivalent work experience. In this economy, many of my friends have decided to get their MBA instead of trying to find a job. After talking to a few people who recently got their MBA but have no work experience, they have told me that their salaries are not what they expected. With the lack of jobs out there, they are being considered for the same positions in companies along with recent bachelor degree graduates....and they'll be paid the same.

My view: work for a few years and then return to get the MBA. The MBA will be more of value then.

I am going to take the GMAT's this fall. I'd rather take them when I am fresh out of school than a few years from now when I haven't studied in years.

An MBA is more of a formality than anything else. Unless you're asked to get one by your current company or you're aiming for a top 10 school, and the companies that recruit at those schools, they usually are worthless.

-Rudey

Thanks for posting this chief. I was also a SOC major and am planning on going back to school for my MBA in the fall.

Did anyone go to Wharton??? It seems like an interesting place.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/edlife/EDMBAT.html

This article talks about the hierarchy of business schools. If you want to get recruited and salivate for any of those glam jobs, you better be going to a good core school.

-Rudey

Why would you get an MBA and then go on to graduate work in Child Psych? :confused:

My neighbor went to Wharton for undergrad and Harvard for her MBA. She's an overachiever.

Is she bling blinging and hot?

-Rudey

I will have my MBA in 6 weeks! :D

It will payoff for me (I work in Accounting/Finance). You basically need one now in order to qualify to sit for the CPA exam, which I will be doing this summer.

Before I started grad school, I had at least 3 years of work experience as well as a BA in Accounting.

Please be sure as to what your career aspirations are befoe starting ANY Masters program because grad school IS NOT cheap! :o :p

She's married and has a bling bling daughter. I'll give her your number in 16 years when she is 21.

Is this from state to state? I have a friend--who just graduated from college in May 2003--who took the CPA exam; it was required for her job. She didn't have an MBA.

No you need 150 hours of classes and 2 years of accounting experience except many states let you work in other areas and not just accounting.

I never understood why anyone got an mba if they wanted to stay in accounting, but then again i never understood why people got MBAs in general unless they went to a core school to brag since it's not like you learn anything too valuable.

-Rudey

would you consider
 

working at the college where you intend to pursue your higher degree. I understand that most schools have some type of tuition assistance programs.

What are the core schools, Rudith?

--I'm starting to see a dude who's getting his MBA and I need to know if I need to drop him for going to a shitty school.

MBA
 

If you want an internationally recognized MBA, where you don't have to have an undergraduate degree (assuming you have been working for a number of years), look into Harriott-Watt (Spelling?) out of Edinburgh, Scotland.

You can do it through correspondance, too.

Trust me, it is not a "fly-by-night-pay-$15,000.00-and-get-a-piece-of-paper" kind of school.

i'm thinking about pursuing this after i get my PE license.

hmm, would it help me out?

Sorry I'm just now seeing this. Maybe its just my awesome financial mind but accounting and finance are two fields you can jiggle between if you play cards right. In today's market, I would hope that people would do their best to make themselves "marketable" or to at least not miss out on a good opportunity over something as simple as a piece of paper.

Anyway, I'm currently working in finance where an (*surprise*) MBA is a requirement for my position. I'm happy. :)

Imagine that.

And besides, do people really brag about that stuff? What losers..

I would definitely echo this sentiment. Remember that an MBA, while valuable, is not the only way into the business world.
Especially with a highly analytic grad. degrees like math, statistics, engineering, etc. , alot of companies need people with that skill set.

Plus there's the whole hierarchy in MBA's. It almost seems like if it isn't from Wharton, Kellogg, Harvard, etc., its not worth it.

I plan on getting my MBA ... I'd like to start the process now (studying for GMAT...) so I can start in a year or so.

Like people have already said, getting the MBA is great, but it's worthless if you don't have any work experience.

I have several friends currently in the MBA program @ TCU & SMU, and EVERYONE in those classes has been in the work world for at least 2 years. It helps to use your "real world" experience and apply it to your classes, projects, etc.

One of the upsides of waiting until you get a real job is that a lot of companies will actually pay some or all of the costs to obtain your MBA :)

Good point. Although I think what's worthless is going to grad school simply to say "I have an MBA" and that's it. Spending all that money for bragging rights is silly to me. It ranks up there with those people that question why I went to grad school since I plan to be a stay at home mom once I have kids.

But seriously, unless you have aspirations to work on Wall Street, NY or Chicago Stock Exchange, etc. an MBA from anyplace besides a top tier school isn't completely worthless. Not everyone has aspirations to wear a Brooks Brother suit, spend 70 hours at the office in order to have a summer house in the Hamptons. As with an investment (and this one being in you :) ) you need to weigh the pros and cons as it relates to you.

That is definitely true. No seems about it.

Re: would you consider
 

i got my master's for free by TA'ing.

I'm sure my posts may be interpreted a bit negatively so bear with me :)

Most of the material taught in an MBA program is easily available in books. And ultimately, really you learn on the job. The value is in the networking that you do. When you set foot on campus you get a book of alums and a stack of business cards. I never liked the idea that someone should be required to get an MBA.

I'm sure for you the transition from accounting to finance was very easy. I suppose if someone was an English major, then there is more value in the MBA for them. Really though, I learned accounting and finance on the job and I'm not so sure I would have been able to handle that torture for months through a textbook.

-Rudey

I see what your saying Rudey :) but in the big scheme of things that applies to your undergraduate degree as well.

Who really uses a large percentage of the knowledge learned undergrad (aside from the medical profession and a few select others). I'll be the first to say that I probably use about 10-15% of what I learned in an undegrad classroom - everything else was learned OTJ. So in essence, an undergrad degree is just as worthless (in the terms you've laid out) but there are tons of jobs that require it anyway.

Same deal with an MBA. Now having an MBA doesn't automatically mean that you will instantly began making fat loot. There is tons of factors that come into play such as where you live, your profession, how competitive the market is, etc.

Its all about going into grad school with realistic expectations and I don't think everyone does. But I wouldn't call it worthless though (depending upon what you plan to use it for).

Well, football players grow in college before joining the NFL. I tend to think that the undergrad experience just pushes you to think in new ways (or at least mine did).

I once read an article on how recruiters liked MBAs for one reason...that they were commited to the job. If they were willing to plunk down that much money for the MBA, clearly they wanted the position. Plus there is that whole keeping up with the Jonses mentality - IBM has lots of Harvard MBAs so now we need to also.

Heck I might go get an MBA. I have no idea. Maybe I'll go to med school. If I could skip all that and just collect a pension and live in a retirement community, I might just do that.

-Rudey

I used to date a guy who was taking his CPA and gearing up for his MBA.

He had two girlfriends: me and a 19 yr old KD he knew from William & Mary. He got busted when he invited us both to the same party.

You think you could support me too? I'd make a great traveling companion. :cool:

I'd like to shake his hand.

-Rudey

Do you know how to drive an RV?

-Rudey

I'll also note he played golf for W&M. And LOVED that song "Wicked Games".

-- What was I thinking?

wow, what a dumbass.

What was his handicap?

-Rudey

I don't know. I'd look it up but he had a really common name. It'd be like looking up Bryan Adams' golf scores. Only I didn't date Bryan Adams.

Starang, to be fair, this KD was the only non-attractive KD I've ever met. Very horsey looking. And she had long thin hair that kind of looked like a mane.

OK, I lied. He was pretty easy to find when I used his name, the word "golf", and the school.

"Bryan Adams moved up two notches to 13th after shooting a 74 in the third and final round of the tournament (76-72-74—222)" I don't know what that means. He wasn't a very good kisser.

lol, good god. that's harsh as hell. she was that bad, huh?