At some point in your career, you might consider getting an advanced degree. One of the most popular degrees among those who aren’t quite sure what they want to do with their lives is the MBA. This article is for you.
First off, we need to distinguish between the two types of MBAs – the MBA and the Executive MBA. One degree tells a valuable story about a job candidate’s ambition, experience and willingness to persevere in the face of difficulty. The other is an MBA.
An MBA means nothing.
An MBA is the advanced degree equivalent of an undergraduate diploma in “General Studies”. Other degrees are designed to give you a set of skills required to do something that others simply cannot do without specialization. For example, after you go to law school you take a difficult state exam to certify you can practice law. When you go to medical school, not only do you have to pass difficult classes, but you need to work a residency to become a practicing doctor.
When you go to business school – you get an MBA – and then you practice…. business? You’re a businessman? What does that even mean?
There is no occupation where you have to have an MBA.
I just googled this. Hysterical:
Who isn’t practicing business all the time as a working adult? Having a masters degree in “making one’s living by engaging in commerce” is at best redundant, and at worst, expensively ridiculous. An MBA student is quite literally paying to go to school to do exactly what they could already be doing.
Surely it must mean something?
Sorta. The MBA degree indicates to a certain type of executive that it’s holder can speak the language of business to others who speak that language. And I’m sure those kids pick up a few things between slamming jagerbombs with their bros while yes-anding through group projects.
But let’s be brutally honest – the true purpose of having an MBA is just to impress other people.
An MBA student is attempting to purchase respect, using a degree stamped with the name of the most prestigious school that accepted them. The important part of the degree is clearly not the knowledge – everything taught in an MBA course is contained in less than 5 books available at any local library. The value of an MBA lies in two things:
- A degree with name recognition
- Connections with other people who share that degree from that institution (or wish they did)
Further – You know a degree is a joke when it isn’t hard to get. I’ve literally never met anyone who failed out of business school. Has anyone EVER said… “I tried my hand at business school but just couldn’t cut it.” Of course not. Prestigious schools are more than happy to collect millions of dollars training future “business leaders” and rubber stamping some degrees.
Why? Well, unlike becoming a doctor or a lawyer or a plumber or an electrician or anything that requires real training – if you are incompetent at “business” after getting an MBA, it doesn’t hurt the school’s reputation at all. The stakes couldn’t be lower. If you fuck up at your 9 to 5 after getting a Harvard MBA, no one is ever going to say, “Wow, Harvard didn’t train them very well.” Failure at business is a personal failure, not a failure of training.
If it is worthless, why is it so popular?
Well, sadly, it can work. The MBA is a great example of the pay-to-play nature of higher tier jobs in certain corporations. Big companies and their hiring managers like to hire the “elite”. Prestigious degrees from prestigious schools give them the warm fuzzies.
Well, that sounds nice. It can’t hurt, right?
I think it can. An MBA should HURT your chances of getting hired by anyone who knows people who got full-time MBAs. Which is basically everyone.
I hire people. When I see a full-time MBA next to a name on a resume I immediately assume (maybe unfairly) some sort of privilege. Why? Because the rest of us simply can’t afford to take a couple years off work and survive. The MBA job candidate not only halted work, but went to an expensive school to learn how to do “Business” better. While they were doing that, everyone else applying for that same job was actually doing business. The competition was out there getting real world experience in how to do the job. If you are using money to jump the queue on people who work hard everyday for their advancement and couldn’t afford to take the easy path, well, that is the definition of privilege.
“Woah now” you might be thinking… “Maybe they took loans out?” you say…. Or “Maybe they got a full ride somewhere?” you object….
Taking loans out for a full-time MBA is idiocy (see Executive MBA below). And if you were talented enough to get a full ride, then why the hell are you wasting that talent on an MBA?
And while I admit that prestigious MBAs will get you hired at places, the only people I’ve ever met who are impressed by an MBA are other people who bought similar credentials. And these are exactly the wrong kind of people to teach and mentor you. Hiring managers trying to establish a culture that rewards those who work hard and make good decisions should think twice about an Ivy League MBA who probably doesn’t need the job and hopes a purchased piece of paper entitles them to it.
I strive to work with and for people who earned their position through intelligence, grit and good decision making. An MBA tells me you may not have those qualities. Can I be convinced otherwise? Of course. But you are going in with a strike against you. Put another way – If I’m betting on a boxer, I’d look at their record in the ring, not how good they look in a pair of boxing trunks.
Hang on… What about Executive MBAs?
They are the exact opposite of everything I said about MBAs. An executive MBA is class and tells a completely different story:
- Worked a full time job AND went to school
- Managed to persevere while balancing, if not sacrificing, family/friend commitments along the way
- Applied new learnings, as they were learning, in the context of a job
As far as I’m concerned, the executive MBA – and all who pursue degrees while working – should always get the interview.
So my final advice to those of you thinking about your MBA… Figure out what you really want to be before you drop heaps of money and time on a piece of paper. If the MBA gets you there and still makes sense for you, sure, go for it. Personally, I think you are better off doing an executive MBA while working a job in the desired field for all the reasons listed above.