Why did you get an MBA or why are you getting an MBA? Feeling very lost as my ultimate goal is to relocate to my country of origin (developing country) to pursue my entrepreneurial journey (cotd)

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MBA has nothing to do with entrepreneurship, contrary to what you think. It would be wise to take the money and spend it elsewhere. like starting a company, you will learn much more. Then again, if you look to infiltrate the upper echelons of society without existing connections, MBA could be the key. Just make sure you choose a prestigious one, with many connections to the grifters

likehelpful

Thank you, absolutely! I’ve also been thinking being that much in debt all because of network isn’t worth it

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MBA, like any other educational qualification, is a degree that will provide you basic grounding in business components - accounting, finance, math/statistics, economics, marketing and an area of focus of your choice (the specialization). A large majority of people have no clue why they want an MBA. For them, "it get me a potential brand and/or gets me connections to help me find a job". A large majority of people I've come across (those with MBAs) have no clue what how to leverage this degree to their benefit. Case in point - most "managers/directors/MDs etc." are sad examples of "leadership".

Why I did it - because I needed an official stamp of an MBA for skills I already possessed. I have a vision for how I want to run a team, and possibly a business some day. But that vision didn't get any buy-in from many folks because of "oh you don't have an MBA, so you're opinion don't matter". I've overcome that "checkbox". There was nothing that I didn't know about management that I got from an MBA - communication is important, hiring talent is tough, retaining talent is even tougher and very important, developing relations is beyond bottom line impact, and politics sucks (and I plan to rout out all bureaucracy and politics within my sphere of influence). Those are the skills you're expected to learn, acknowledge, and implement through your MBA learning. In addition, you get subject matter knowledge about different concepts.

likehelpful
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Looking at the ROI for top business schools. It has been declining for years. No point of going to a business school that’s not ranked top 20. You’ll be in massive debt with knowledge you could have gained on the job.

likehelpful

Ivy > state school 100

Because I was a psychology major in UG. 🥴

likefunny

To make more money

Before MBA=20k , After MBA = 200k

And honestly getting mba is a cakewalk, you can literally not study ever and still end up getting the degree.

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I don’t like this example. I was making 24K a year as a researcher. I didn’t study business, I studied neuroscience and biology. I transitioned to consulting and made 90K in my first year. I had almost no debt from undergrad and it took $0 for me to make that jump in salary. Within 3-4 years, I’m expecting to make $130k/year. I’m able to save money for a house and retirement now without having additional payments (like student loans). You can make 200k as an MBA grad from a top school, but what’s the actual percent of people that make that? It’s lower than you think, even for top school grads (ROI for top school available online). And you lose 2 years of work and owe at least 100k (lowballing here). So...

likefunny

It’s an incredible journey filled with fun, friendships, hard work, learnings, successes and failures. I was pushed way out of my comfort zone and did things I never thought I was capable of doing. As I reflect back, it almost feels like I was a totally different person pre MBA. Business school changed for good 🙂

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Non business

Plus if you get hired into consulting or I banking they will reimburse one year of tuition (after tax)

likesmart

It was capped when my colleagues went through it, at least in my DTE. Not sure how they are doing this in the new growth model.

Once got into big 4 consulting, didn’t see a point of pursuing a MBA. Had to jump ship once to bring my salary on par with the top MBA school grads. I’m all about the ROI.

likehelpful

If your goal is working at big4, then definitely not worth getting an MBA.

I picked up a Masters in Public Adminstration for three reasons:

1) Too many MBA’s
2) Too many Lawyers
3) my Political Science Bachelors wasn’t doing much for my career

likefunny

Good answer - congrats to you :)

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1) you most definitely don’t need an MBA to become successful and make money. So anyone that tells you otherwise is full of shit. Now, onto why I think you should get one.
2) I personally recommend folks to go back to school (top 10). The ROI is realized not immediately but in the long run. it’ll pay for itself. I personally got a 100k bump post business school and now I can compete for more elusive roles. When job postings say MBA preferred, in my experience, that usually means required.
3) the network you build in business school is not the same as the network you build working at a consulting firm. Your business school network will go above and beyond to help you. The bond you develop with your classmates doesn’t compare to the one you’ve developed with your coworkers
4) you’ll have the opportunity to learn from some truly remarkable professors.
5) Brand equity - whether you like it or not, brand equity matters a lot in the world.
6) recruiting opportunities - you’ll have the chance to interview at any and every company that you can think of and they’ll be for amazing roles
7) it’s fun af. Almost no one that went to business school will tell you that it wasn’t worth it. It’ll be the most fun two years of your life. Yes it’s expensive, very expensive, but if your financial situation allows you to do it, please do. You will not regret it.

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I ask myself this question daily, still not sure why I did it.

upliftingfunny

Where did you go?

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I am lawyer, so not the best person to give an advise on MBA...however, you don’t need an MBA to pursue your entrepreneurial endeavours. I think you should consider the costs and the time you have to devote on the program and see if that’s the best option for you.

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1) Differentiation 2) Knowledge is power 3) MBA covers different biz content at greater depth 4) presenting /communication f
Growth 5) money - 6) advancement potential

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It's just a cosmetic. Anybody can do business these days.

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Everyone gets an MBA for different reasons. For me, the core of it was knowing that I didn’t want to be a consulting partner, but I wasn’t sure what “not consulting” looked like. I also was seeking a way to better align my passions with my career. The exposure I had in the MBA of opportunities to align those someday was really inspiring (since it’ll be a journey to get to that dream job). And finally, it was the growth experience as I sought to become a more global American. I attended a top European program, and I had the opportunity to live abroad, travel the world, and learn about so many different countries and cultures courtesy of my classmates.

I 100% recommend you figure out why you want an MBA before applying. It helps you find your perfect school in terms of location, available courses/professors, student culture, alumni/network, and companies that recruit on campus. And doing this pre-work gives you the confidence to stick to your own path when consulting and IB recruiters are always on campus and have very structured recruitment processes.

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Only people who aren't genuinely smart need an MBA these days.

likesmartfunny

Fair, will see if C4 adds more color, or gained a new perspective after reading these.

In this case I have no longterm career goals or any plans of climbing the Corportate ladder. What are your thoughts on this? Is the MBA still worth the shot ? Undergraduate Business degree from a state school but with great experience for example attending HBS’s week long MBA experience program during my junior year in college.

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Unless you know specifically what you want to gain from it, I wouldn’t do an MBA. Everyone I talked to before I did mine said this and I found it was true; if you don’t have a clear goal on how it will be useful to you, you don’t get nearly as much out of it.

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I haven’t yet but I’ve always wanted to take a shot at IB. Somehow got further and further away from that as I went through college and early career, so for me the MBA is hopefully a way to reset

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C3 is referring to graduate student assistance. Basically D will pay for your MBA at top schools if you get into the program, but it’s a highly competitive process. Side note, I wasn’t referring to GSAP in my previous comments- just talking about getting an MBA in general

This may seem boring for some but it all comes down to this: what is the outcome you are trying to achieve? What are the skills you need to develop and the experience you need to obtain to prepare you for that outcome? There is more than one path to acquire those preparatory achievements, but they all take different amounts of time and money. Some pay you to acquire them but they take longer. Some you pay for but you acquire them quicker. All paths require you to give it your all otherwise you risk wasting time, reputation, money, and opportunity.

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It’s all about your surrounding.. let’s say you work on implementation.. you’ll be surrounded by people who are just focused on implementing systems and getting paid.

You get a MBA to surround yourself with people hopefully with the same entrepreneurial spirit. The MBA will expand your network and surround yourself with people of similar drive and ambition.

It’s not a requirement to have a MBA to be an entrepreneur, but maybe it’s the easiest and most conventional way.

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Just know that there is a world full of amazing things and it doesn’t give a damn whether or not you have your mba. If you don’t really want it, put the time and money into what does matter.

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