Has anyone gone back to school to get a MBA/EMBA? Worth it?

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My understanding is that most lawyers who do this end up right back in law after graduation. Not worth it.

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I did a JD and MBA at once. Went into big law. I don’t know — even though the MBA part was invaluable — I would not have taken myself out of the market to do an MBA later. I knew that , which I why I opted for a dual degree. Now, and this is the real question, is there something you could learn from an MBA or EMBA that could help you? It depends on the program I suppose.

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I went back and did a weekend MBA program at U of M. I was a litigator and wanted to go in house and this degree helped me get in for sure. If you’re looking to get out of law, I’d definitely go to a top program and network your butt off. If you’re looking to add skills and transition to some other type of role, it’s still helpful - just fully understand what you’re trying to accomplish and also understand it will take effort. The degree itself isn’t the golden ticket to anything. It still took me networking and two years of adding other skills (some transactional and employment work) to get my in house job. It gives me a different perspective and a lot of credibility to the business and upper management though.

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I think worth it in your situation (I read what you wrote about the added context). It’s expensive but it’s a great education and it will help you see things differently. There are a lot of weekend, executive & “part time” programs out there so you don’t have to take time off work to pursue this. I put part time in quotes bc a lot of them still finish in 2 years but go year round (and still seem like pretty full time). I found it to be manageable but I did it before I was married and had kids. My classmates seemed to find a way though if you have more demands on your time. Good luck!

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An MBA degree to a lawyer is like a comb to a bald…

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Lots of interesting thoughts here. Some context: I lead my legal team but would like to become more of a strategic partner versus a paper pusher.

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I don’t see anything different here. You should be able to draw up a clear career/business plan, including clearly define what strategic partner means (roadmap/steps), do your extensive due diligence (email your management, school’s career service, mentors…etc), and assess the probability of your plan to reach your goal through an MBA.

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It really depends on which MBA program you attend, and what you want to get out of it. No offense, but most people who say they don’t get much out of it or went back to law have not done much due diligence or plan for the degree. Like everything else in life, if you expect to be given or get the best opportunity in life just because you are in an MBA program, you are going to get a rude awakening in life sooner or later.

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Experience in the field trumps adding an MBA to your resume. Especially if your goal is to move up in the company in house, then you’ll be much better off gaining real world experience than taking more classes. Companies want to hire people that have been successful when given opportunities, I’d say climb the ladder and don’t waste your money.

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I have - but for very different reasons. I basically wanted to move to finance and I did work in finance for a bit, but for other unrelated reasons, returned to law.
I have to say though doing the MBA definitely gives you a different perspective. I am in house and I do have a solid understanding of the financials and have no issues working with the finance and business development teams here.
Is it worth the experience? I would say yes. Is it worth the $$? Depends. I would not pay full price frankly. I got merit scholarship at my top MBA program so tuition was low but in general should factor in the opportunity cost for not working during that time. I was on a career break so didn’t really have much of an opportunity cost so it worked well for me.

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I know at least a couple of partners who did this to generate business and were successful. They both went to a top10 EMBA program and those connections led to drumming up more business. Granted they spent 200-250k or some ridiculous amount but prob was worth it for them.

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And if you really plan out going into a top MBA program, I am not sure how you would end up right back in law (if it’s your intention to leave the practice). That just means you never really written and thought out a business plan of what you want to get out of the MBA program.

It’s most likely the person didn’t do enough due diligence and planning before decide to spend 100k+ into the program. Someone I know planned her MBA journey so well. She knew she wanted to transition from big law into management consulting (MBB). She was already networking with MBB prior to the start of her MBA. She got her interviews/offers even before anyone in the program putting in their applications. That showed clear commitment and clear execution of her business plan.

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Thank you.

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New fish here.
I have an interview with
Amazon for Program Manager (non tech) role. Need suggestions how to prepare.
Profile: YOE : 5
Qualifications: BTech + MBA
Amazon

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Need some honest advice!

I'm working as a project manager in a product based company, and can also consider roles such as technical project manager, technical account manager in the future if I need to switch.
I'm thinking of going for an MBA and switching to a Consultant/Product manager role.
I have some questions:

1. Are consultants/product managers more highly paid than project managers?
2. Will consultant/ product manager role be more desirable and better wrt growth/opportunities?
YOE:2

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