[Closed] Tell me about doing an MBA..

Unless your company sponsors you (targeting career promotion) or someone put a gun at your head ... don't do it. It's a waste of time and money.

If you think it can turn you into successful business person then you have already failed big time because you have forgotten the common sense approach to life ...

You would be better off studying something more specialised ...

This is good advice.

Waste of cash.

Done by "high flyers" who've fallen. Often heard from redundant City types - "Oh, it's OK, I filled my time doing a MBA...."

seems to be the ones firms want to loose for a while who get put on these courses.

Do a specialist course related to what you already do.

Got an offer for sponsorship but yep that's what I thought......

Depends how big you are thinking. A buddy of mine has done one at Stanford and this has opened all sorts of doors for him.

Depends on the field you work in and where on the globe that field is. Different industries see them differently. It is hard work, it is very time consuming (an understanding family is essential) and you'll study some stuff you really don't want to study. You may find out you really like something you didn't even know about before and pursue that in your own time. Mrs TT has just completed an MBA so this is all from very recent experience (while I do my own more specialised MSc).

3 reasons for doing an MBA (in order):

- the people you meet and network with
- the better the name of the school the more doors are open
- what you learn

Also majority of those teaching MBA know diddly squat (learned the phrase from cowboy mate of mine from Texas) about running a business and they called themselves the "experts" ... 🙄

Also majority of those teaching MBA know diddly squat (learned the phrase from cowboy mate of mine from Texas) about running a business and they called themselves the "experts" ...

I did one. Depends what you want out of it. They can be brilliant but you need a clear view of what you are trying to achieve. Also massively depends where you do it - if it is not a "top" school unlikely to get you far so choose carefully. My opinion is that it is an all or nothing thing - go big or don't bother.

davidjones15 - Member

Quality of school is probably more important then the letters themselves.

This one ^^^ 🙂

The Fopster - Member

My opinion is that it is an all or nothing thing - go big or don't bother.

This one too ^^^

Unless it's a top international school e.g. Insead, don't bother. Just a worthless qualification on a CV, taught a load of text book nonsense by people who've never run a business in their lives. Much better to have done a merger / acquisition and have that on your CV, than 'got 82% in M&A module' - which basically means you know nothing.

MBA's are growing in significance in uk / European job market, they've yet to reach the levels of the US where they are regarded as almost essential for fast track management programmes at many companies. The lowest risk way to do one is part time ideally with financial assistance from your employer. Whether you think it's worth the time, cost and loss of earnings depends what you want to do with the MBA and which industry you are interested in working in. I recently saw a quote that starting salaries of graduates from one of the better (but not top) schools was £50-£70k. I take that with a little pinch of salt but there is no doubt that you are elevated above the normal BSc / MSc crowd with an MBA

If you've really got what it takes in business you'd be earning a lot more than £50-70k before you applied for the MBA. The top schools only take high fliers with a proven tack record. The tag-along schools take anyone who can pay the fees...

The traits that make people good leaders in business e.g. drive, charisma, judgement etc are all things that are part of a personality and not things you can teach. A middle manager with an MBA is still a middle manager, just he lost a years salary and has a £30k debt to pay off.

jambalaya - Member

MBA's are growing in significance in uk / European job market, they've yet to reach the levels of the US where they are regarded as almost essential for fast track management programmes at many companies.

Wonder how their industries are doing nowadays ... hmmm ...

@chewkw US Industries ? They are doing a lot better than we are in the UK.

@footflaps The better UK companies will pay for their mgmt trainees to do MBAs full/part time. Typically a person would do an MBA 3-5 yrs after starting employment. Whether they would already be earning £50-£70 we cannot say.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but the better mgmt schools are setting up in Asia as the demand for places is fierce and the standard of the candidates is high. Those candidates will be competing for the same top management jobs as the rest of us here in Europe.

I did mine when I was 27 and had no wife or kids then so i had the time. Work paid for it (I wouldnt have had £12k a year for 3 years to spend on it). I finished it and got made redundant in a year! Anyway I worked for myself for a year then got a job with a big company on the back of having the MBA. I have changed jobs twice since, always with the MBA being cited as the main reason they interviewed me in the first place, and the salary I can get is way higher than if I didnt have one. Im at the top of the figures quoted above basic - I wouldnt have been on the radar if I just had my BAHons like everybody else. Oh and I am classed as 'middle management'. Im glad I did mine (even though its questionable what I actually learnt)

load of text book nonsense by people who've never run a business in their lives

those that can, do, and those that cant, teach, and those that cant teach, teach PE

As usual an excellent and diverse set of opinions here.

Why are you considering doing an MBA? Really?

Getting clear on the answer will help you decide. There may be lots more options than you are curently considering...

TM

P.s. did mine 1999/2000 and turned out to be an absolutely amazing experience. Huge working hours, fantastic group work, massive personal development too. No regrets about the investment both in time and money

IMO needs to be at a top school, in the UK this means London, Cass, Cranfield, Manchester, Imperial, Said etc

Which one you chose should depend on the focus of the course - eg Cranfield is more softer skill focussed, Cass more analytical with an eye on the City and so on.

As others have mentioned the value comes from the network it opens.

In terms of difficulty its not very hard per se in terms of the subject matter - what is hard is the sheer breadth and workload - there will be a subject you struggle at. I best describe it as doing 10 A levels at once.

Mine has opened lots of doors for me and was well worth it. The real benefit is if you want to go off and do your own thing; they're quite confidence inspiring.

To reinforce what others have said - it's got to be a real prestige uni or paid for by someone else (in which case you still need to judge the benefit/workload). I've met quite a few people for whom it's made no difference at all - seems a lot of pain if it doesn't.

No regrets here but would support importance of choice of Bus School. Immense work up to week 7. Get past that and you will probably succeed. The textbook criticism is a little shallow IMO. It's not just the case studies/textbooks that matter as courses often share the same material - how many times has the Braniff (EasyJet) case study been used to demonstrate market segmentation over the years - its the quality of the debate around it and the perspectives that different people bring that really matters. Hence quality of experience and courses differs massively.

Hard to fit family life around an MBA. It really is a full-on experience especially term 1.

I was tempted years ago but am glad I didn’t, I did an industry specific course instead and what I learnt was directly relevant to what I do. I work in a professional consultancy firm (linked with property management / finance) and the culture in our firm is a good education / degree (based on grades / course / quality of uni) is very much a positive, it will help you get in and get on up the ladder, but a loosely relevant degree or business degree is not a critical issue or significant advantage a directly relevant specific qualification is an advantage.

I understand in the US it is different where the MBA at the top collage is ‘the course’ for a route in to a good graduate scheme and decent networking / job prospects but I don’t think that culture exists here. I certainly haven’t seen it.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but the better mgmt schools are setting up in Asia as the demand for places is fierce and the standard of the candidates is high. Those candidates will be competing for the same top management jobs as the rest of us here in Europe.

It's a market and the schools are just cashing in on demand. It doesn't necessarily follow that the students get a good return on their investment in every market. Admittedly, in some countries, any Western European / US qualification has massive prestige attached to it and will be career enhancing.

However, I am very skeptical that an MBA, from anything other than a top 10 international school, will generate a good return on investment in the UK. I've met and employed far too many mediocre managers with an MBA and they're still just mediocre, only with delusional aspirations and a big debt to pay off.

On the plus side, a friend with an MBA from Insead, has just retired a millionaire at 41. However, I suspect he would have achieved similar without the qualification.

Go for the top 15 schools if you must.

🙂