Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yeah, I'm definitely not going to get it. To the ones who weighed in saying it's not worth it unless it's to improve my current situation, I agree with you. I have no way to do it without paying for it myself and that's a huge no unless I win the lottery.
Rational Expectations, again, I appreciate your insight but I don't want to be a lawyer, period, no matter where I'd work or what I'd be doing. I'd rather not explain because it's very personal and very TMI but I'd work as a canary in a coal mine first.
I have been thinking about getting my MBA for many years now. It's something I thought about years ago but my dad put me off (he has one and thought it wasn't a good idea). But I've always wanted to work in business, helping businesses make decisions about how to operate, etc. Right now however I work at a job I don't think I'm right for and have 3 degrees but none of them are business-related at all. I wouldn't have the time or money to go to school now so I'd have to quit my job and of course that's not something I take lightly. I've been researching MBA programs in my area but there are a few things I'm not sure about. If you have this degree, can you please tell me:
1. Where did you go to business school? Did you go to a top school? I've heard you can't get a job with an MBA unless you go to a top school. I've looked at the websites for some of them just for kicks and no way could I afford them. I still have student loans to pay off and I'm close to 40 already.
2. Which brings me to question 2 - is doing this at my age a bad idea? I keep hearing about age-ism in the workforce and I'm assuming it's like that for older people applying to entry level jobs.
3. What exactly is your job/job title? I tried to look up jobs on Indeed requiring an MBA to see what people do and only ended up confused because I can't tell just exactly *what* job(s) people with this degree apply to. It's not like being a doctor or lawyer where you know exactly what job title to search for.
I don't hate my job now but like I said, I just don't think it's for me. Maybe this is just a case of grass is greener, but I just don't think I'll be happy with the field I'm in now. Any thoughts or advice or info would be greatly appreciated.
Study very very very hard and take the GMAT. See what your score is. Apply to top schools. If you make it go. If not don't. An MBA degree from some locally known college only serves as a check mark in a local company that needs to differentiate at some magical level between managers. The cost of the MBA would probably outweigh the career benefit.
I have one from Babson College. It cost me $10 as my company paid 100%.
I would not have bought one on my own as I already had 2 engineering degrees.
It helped me a bit in my jobs.
At 71, I am now mostly retired.
My first wife also got one from Babson.
We paid for it. Her BA was in Elementary Education.
She doubled her salary the day she got the MBA and the new job. Huge ROI.
It helped her a lot.
On the other hand, one of our sons is in school to be an engineer and was strongly considering getting his MBA at the same time. My DH has now advised him not to do this. It is his opinion getting it right away (at least in the engineering world) is a waste of time. Our son will go back for it later as well.
Good advice. An MBA is not very valuable/relevant unless you have some years of full-time work experience before getting that. And most if not all highly ranked programs prefer that candidates have that professional experience prior to applying.
A lot depends on what you are doing now and what your goal is. What specialization of MBA exactly? Can you go into investment banking after MBA? Probably not. Can get into sales? Yes but you should have the skills.
I have seen success and failures both and getting a degree is not a guarantee.
You should just apply to the top MBA programs. If they admit you, then go for it. It means you have something to offer the business world. If they do not admit, then, forget about it. Do something else with your life. Me personally, I have several years of experience and I'm in my 2nd year at a ranked program and I have to turn down offers. Then again I've spent my whole life studying+working in business related functions. I"m sure I'll be ceo somewhere. If it's what you really want then go for it, apply. Don't worry about the cost. Business leaders are always in demand.
My son is in an MBA program now at a state school. Nothing big name about it. His post college job became frustrating after a few years and he wasn't finding anything better so when the opportunity for an MBA came along he decided to take it. It's inexpensive compared to other programs and thankfully he's not taking any loans. I have no idea how or if it will pay off but it got him enthused and he's starting a business of his own so time will tell.
I have been thinking about getting my MBA for many years now. It's something I thought about years ago but my dad put me off (he has one and thought it wasn't a good idea). But I've always wanted to work in business, helping businesses make decisions about how to operate, etc. Right now however I work at a job I don't think I'm right for and have 3 degrees but none of them are business-related at all. I wouldn't have the time or money to go to school now so I'd have to quit my job and of course that's not something I take lightly. I've been researching MBA programs in my area but there are a few things I'm not sure about. If you have this degree, can you please tell me:
1. Where did you go to business school? Did you go to a top school? I've heard you can't get a job with an MBA unless you go to a top school. I've looked at the websites for some of them just for kicks and no way could I afford them. I still have student loans to pay off and I'm close to 40 already.
2. Which brings me to question 2 - is doing this at my age a bad idea? I keep hearing about age-ism in the workforce and I'm assuming it's like that for older people applying to entry level jobs.
3. What exactly is your job/job title? I tried to look up jobs on Indeed requiring an MBA to see what people do and only ended up confused because I can't tell just exactly *what* job(s) people with this degree apply to. It's not like being a doctor or lawyer where you know exactly what job title to search for.
I don't hate my job now but like I said, I just don't think it's for me. Maybe this is just a case of grass is greener, but I just don't think I'll be happy with the field I'm in now. Any thoughts or advice or info would be greatly appreciated.
Sure, here's some: in MIS for General Managers, we learned to limit messages to 250 words, about three paragraphs. Ups the odds of it being read and responded to. Execs often send communiques of mere sentences, and others "get it." It's when they write tomes I get nervous, because buried somewhere is the REAL message on who's about to get clipped.
1. S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. About no. 15 across the decades. Entered at 39, graduated at 41
2. Depends? For me, management consulting, I now have unimpeachable creds that definitely catch others' attention, and yes that matters and has absolutely allowed me to command a higher bill rate.
3. Principal PM, at the moment, PMO Director or Principal Consultant being equivalents. That's ten years after graduation. ROI has been impressive, roughly $400K and counting w/ten more years to go: about a million bucks in ROI due to that $93K outlay and two years' of time.
Product Managers in IT better have an MBA. Management consulting, at DeLoitte, Accenture, and similar it helps but isn't necessarily mandatory. PWC, Boston, Bain, it might be for many roles. Some even say, "top tier MBA" or "Ivy" because there is no such thing as an Ivy B-school that isn't Top-20.
I'm assuming you're smart enough to get into a top program, most of them tell the vast majority of candidates to try again, at Moo U. Moo U MBAs are okay regionally, btw, but impress few nationally or internationally.
Well, there are some things that the MBA program offers.
1) Education in accounting, finance, and how to analyze financial information.
Very useful and important.
2) Basic information about psychology, how to manage people, etc.
Maybe somewhat useful if you are a naïve person. But if you don't like managing people; i.e., dealing with all their personal crises, their interpersonal conflicts with others, and the expectation that you re-engineer middle aged men and women to be different people than they are - then taking a bunch of courses about it isn't going to change you or them.
3) Inculcating "leadership".
Waste of time in my opinion. You either have leadership or you don't. It may (emphasis on "may") be possible to fine tune one's leadership techniques, but I don't think taking a bunch of courses in "leadership" complete with case studies will make much difference in actual ability to lead people.
My own personal perspective is as someone who managed people for 25+ years, never enjoyed the baby-sitting aspect of it, took numerous business courses, and now have extricated myself from the day to day management world but continue to exert considerable implicit leadership by my experience, personality, and ability to convince people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
