Business School / MBA

If you already have a background and I assume experience, which matters most, then you don't need an degree from a top school IMO.

You're an engineer only, no management experience? You think getting an MBA will qualify you or get you the skills to be a management consultant or what exactly is your perceived gain? Do you have a job lined up or anything?

I think the people willing to exclude non ivy league MBAs from their candidate pool are going to just as quickly exclude people with no experience. Engineering is great but managing people within processes is the important part in BPI and that is completely experienced based.

Prime_sl said:

Anyone here get an MBA from a top school (Harvard, MIT, Kellogg, etc)? I'm thinking about applying in Round 2 but not 100% sure yet.

A friend of a friend recommended that I get an admissions consultant (wasn't selling himself, just a consultant in general), but I'm pretty reluctant to drop a few thousand on something unless there are verifiable results. On the other hand, the total cost of an MBA + opportunity cost of not working is like 200k+, so what's 3k?

I'm currently an engineer and after 5 years at 2 different companies I would like a change and an MBA seems like the best. Ideally would like to get into management consulting.

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I have an MBA from a tier one school (Texas at #17). I think 60% of my cohort were scientists and engineers wanting to move up. You need to weight the cost you lose from leaving school, versus that of getting the better assignments. You are already making good money, so your ROI will be low. But is it worth it to be able to get the assigments of your choice? That's your call. Just realize that you are only going to move up so far without one.

If you are working right now, your company should have suggested MBA programs. Sometimes, they might pay for it. There's nothing wrong with an Exec MBA, if you are already making good pay. One guy at the company I was with got a fellowship. That definitely increases your ROI.

Also, if you go down this path, and think it will be easy, it will not be. I LOL'd the entire time I was in my program, as I heard Scientists and Engineers bitch about how hard it was. One person already had a PhD in the Sciences, and they quit the first day for it being too hard.

MBA's are watered down, but you are talking t1 MBA, you'll be earning it.

Palum_sl said:

You're an engineer only, no management experience? You think getting an MBA will qualify you or get you the skills to be a management consultant or what exactly is your perceived gain? Do you have a job lined up or anything?

I think the people willing to exclude non ivy league MBAs from their candidate pool are going to just as quickly exclude people with no experience. Engineering is great but managing people within processes is the important part in BPI and that is completely experienced based.

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Like I said, 60% of the people successfully switched into Junior Executive positions upon graduation. It didn't matter if they were from the Sciences, Engineering, Psychology, or working for a non profit. Maybe this was higher because Austin is a tech town. I remember being pissed at one of the people in my study group getting a fat Junior Exec role at IBM. She had zero business experience, and had worked for a non-profit. I'm going to say that only 10% of the people in my cohort actually had business experience. Alot of them were told that they had maxed out at their current position, and would need an MBA to get through the glass ceiling.

Did getting an MBA help me? I stayed in Corporate America very little after getting it. I also made $41k in my business last month. No one gives a shit about my education, being self employed, except for banks. I can go and borrow a lot more than most people (if I set up a business case for it). More than anything, the degree just helped me to have the mentality to seize the opportunity, and fuck it for all it's worth. You don't need three letters to be an Entrepeneur.

What is the endgame here? Better assignments? You want to be a CEO? Self employed? Just don't let it be for the three letters. I talked to too many people that wanted to get a t1 MBA just so they could brag about having it after their name. For an engineer, that would cost more than $250k. That's expensive bragging rights.

Palum_sl said:

Engineering is great but managing people within processes is the important part in BPI and that is completely experienced based.

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I heard the Dean of my school talk about how he filtered out scientists and engineers that he thought would not be able to lead people. He only let people in that he thought could be Executives. Some people are built only to be able to build something. There's nothing wrong with that. Engineers spend a lot of time trying to figure out if they can build something. But it takes a special type of person to be able to build something and to know how to sell it. Engineers spend a lot time building stuff that there is zero market for.

Keg, is Texas a tier 1 school and are the experiences similar to the ones Prime is considering?

Tenks_sl said:

Keg, is Texas a tier 1 school and are the experiences similar to the ones Prime is considering?

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I wouldn't know what Keg's saying, he's been on my ignore list for years. If Prime has a question for me, he can ask me. Texas ranks as high as #4, depending on what list you are looking at, and what specialty (McCombs MBA Programs Soar to New Highs in 2015 U.S. News Rankings | McCombs TODAY).

And yes, top 20 is considered tier one.

MIT Sloan MBA here. I'd say the degree is worth about as much as you can squeeze from the networking you do among your classmates and during internships, co-ops, and the built-in employment recruiting cycle. Basically, a (top) MBA is a stepping-stone for getting into the club of movers and shakers in consulting, banking, startups/private equity, and/or executive management.

Personally, I realized about halfway through the program that I'd like to have a life outside work and spend time with my family in the next 15 years, so I didn't do any of those things. (Seriously. I conservatively estimate that 30% of my classmates who were married going into those fields are now divorced.) I'm now running my own boutique consulting/software business. The degree from MIT gets me a certain amount of credibility from people who otherwise wouldn't give me the time of day, but other than that my success hinges on my work and not my background.

Don't do an admissions consultant. That sounds like a total scam. If you can't figure out how to market yourself sufficiently well to get into the program you want then you're not going to succeed anyway.